D6 NFLNOTEBOOK Knee surgery ends


season for Owens Bengals wide receiver tore cartilage two weeks ago


ASSOCIATED PRESS Terrell Owens decided to have


knee surgery Monday, ending his revival seasonwith theCincinnati Bengals. Thewide receiver tore cartilage


in his left knee twoweeks ago, but kept playing. He aggravated the injury while making a cut on the opening series of a 19-17 win over Cleveland on Sunday, forcing him to leave the field. Owens flew to Birmingham,


Ala., on Monday and was exam- inedbyorthopedic surgeonJames Andrews. The 37-year-old Owens was scheduled for surgery later in theday. Owens led the team with 72


catches for 983 yards and nine touchdowns. l JETS:Mark Sanchez beat the


Steelerswitha sore shoulder. Coach Rex Ryan said the quar-


terback had an MRI exam on his right shoulder,whichwas “kindof sore” after it was banged up early in the team’s 22-17 win Sunday. RyanplayeddowntheMRI,saying itwas strictly“precautionary,”and Sanchez should be fine to play at Chicagonext Sunday. Ryan said Sanchez banged up


the shoulder during the Jets’ sec- onddrive.Sanchezwas 19of29for 170 yardswith a touchdown rush- ing and no interceptions, snap- pinganeight-gamestreakofbeing pickedoff at least once. l PACKERS: Green Bay


couldn’t say for sure that quarter- backAaronRodgerswillbeable to play thisweekend. Rodgers sat out Sunday night’s


31-27 loss to the Patriots a week after sustaining his second con- cussionof the season. BackupMatt Flynn played well


in Rodgers’s place, throwing for 251 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. He nearly rallied the Packers late in the fourth quarter, but a late drive endedwitha sack. l GIANTS: Less than 24 hours


after one of the greatest collapses in team history, quarterback Eli Manning decided it was time to talk to his teammates.His speech was relatively short, lasting just a couple ofminutes. His bottomline:Despite allow-


ing the Philadelphia Eagles (10-4) to score 28 points in the final 71/2 minutes to win, 38-31, on DeSean Jackson’s 65-yard punt return on the final play of their NFC East showdown, the Giants (9-5) have


JASON MICZEK/REUTERS


Terrell Owens, 37, will miss the Bengals’ final two games, but leads the team with 72 catches.


theplayoffswithintheir grasp. All they have to do is win in


Green Bay (8-5) on Sunday, and they are in. It’s that simple,Man- ning said.Don’t lose sight of it. CoachTomCoughlin,whowent


home and sat in a room without lights for 21/2


hours after probably


the most bitter loss of his career, didn’t stay to listen. “Itwas very concise fromwhat I


understand and was very posi- tive,” Coughlin said. “Itwas about howweallwin,weall lose,we’rein it together. “There are many, many teams


inthis league thatwould like to be inthepositionthatwe’re in.” l BRONCOS: Interim coach


Eric Studesville said he’s decided to startTimTebowat quarterback again against the Texans this weekend. Studesville said Kyle Orton is


still bothered by bruised ribs, but Tebow did a good job managing thegameplaninhis firstNFLstart despite a loss to theRaiders. Also, Denver waived rookie


linebackerKevinAlexanderhours after hewas arrested on a domes- tic violence allegation. Team spokesman Patrick Smyth said that although the teamwas aware of his arrest, Alexander’s release was a footballdecision. Aurora, Colo., police were


called to an apartment Monday morning andwere told by awom- an who said she was Alexander’s girlfriend that he had assaulted her Sundaynight. l COLTS: Less than 24 hours


after wide receiver Austin Collie left his third game in sevenweeks with a head injury, Coach Jim Caldwellsaidhedidn’tknowifone of the team’s top play-makers would return this season.The sec- ond-yearplayerwasinjuredlatein the first half Sunday when Jack- sonville linebacker Daryl Smith appeared to hit him in the head withhis forearm.


Vikings outside of their natural element


EZ SU


KLMNO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL Redskins Insider Excerpts from washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider


Daniels placed on injured reserve Defensive end PhillipDaniels


got his first start of the season on Sunday atDallas. Itwill stand as his last game of the season. Redskins CoachMike


Shanahan saidMonday that Danielswill be placed on season-ending injured reserve andwillmiss the team’s final two games.Daniels aggravated an abdomen injury Sunday against the Cowboys that he suffered aweek earlier against Tampa Bay. Shanahan said he did not knowwhetherDaniels would require surgery. The 37-year-oldDaniels has


played 14 seasons in theNFL.He served as a reserve end in the Redskins’ 3-4 defense. According toNFL.com, hewas credited this seasonwith 21 total tackles and two sacks. TheRedskinswere expected


to promote linebackerRob Jackson fromthe practice squad to the 53-man active roster to fill the vacancy left byDaniels, according to a person familiar


with the situation. Washington selected


Jackson in the seventh round (242nd overall) of the 2008NFL draft. Formerly a defensive end, Jackson played in three games during his rookie season and five games last season.He has been amember of the practice squad for the entire 2010 season. Shanahan also said it’s still


not clearwhether BrianOrakpo (groin/hamstring)will be able to play next Sunday at Jacksonville.Orakpo expressed some concern following the ’ loss to the Cowboys, but Shanahan said hewouldn’t knowmore on the second-year linebacker’s status until Wednesday. The same is true for defensive end Kedric Golston (groin/elbow),who sat out Sunday’s game, Shanahan said. SafetyReedDoughty suffered


a concussion early in Sunday’s game. Shanahan said hewon’t knowwhetherDoughty can return until later thisweek. Doughty said he hopes to play Sunday. Linebacker RockyMcIntosh


finished Sunday’s loss on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. Shanahan was hopeful thatMcIntosh could return this weekend against the Jaguars.


Wanted:Heated


practice field Shanahan said the team


needs a heated practice field at Redskins Park before an indoor practice facility. “I can say that for the future


that our first planwill be getting a heated field out here,” Shanahan saidMonday at the complex. “Sowhenwe have bad weather,we can practice outside. “It’s always great to practice


outside, but you have to have a heated field so you can get traction. You can’t get traction on a frozen field.” Next season, Shanahan hopes


to avert the problems that bad weather caused the teamlast week during preparations for Sunday’s 33-30 loss toDallas. Installing a heated field at the facilitywould be a good first


step, he said. Eventually, Shanahansaid,he


is determined tohave a practice bubble constructed “sowe can not only practice inside, but ifwe dohave the type of snowwhere youcan’t practice outside,we can at least get a good practice in. So that’ll be done.” Shanahan acknowledged


that the inclementweather affected the team’s preparation for the previous game. “I think everybody knows that if you don’t have a place to practice that it does affect you,” he said. “But I thought our players handled it aswell as you could possibly handle it.” Although it would be ideal


to have a bubble and heated field ready for the 2011 season, “the one thing I want tomake sure we got is the heated field,” Shanahan said. “’Cause when I was in Denver, that’s really all we used, was the heated field. “Evenwhen itwas snowing,


you know,we didn’t even care. We just stayed on the heated field, and itworked out pretty good.” —RickMaese and JasonReid


TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2010


HANNAH FOSLIEN/ASSOCIATED PRESS


After workers removed the tarp from TCF Bank Stadium at the University ofMinnesota, the Vikings played their first outdoor home game in 29 years onMonday. It ended too late for this edition.


SUNDAY’SLATEGAME Lumbering lineman’s


turns back Green Bay for 12th win of season


BY JIMMY GOLEN


foxborough, mass. — Dan Connolly caught the squib kick and buried the ball in his gut, protecting it with both hands to prepare for ahit thatnever came. Following his blockers, New


England’s 313-pound offensive lineman lumbered toward the middle of the field, tucked the ball under his left armand took off for the left sideline. Packers safety Charlie Peprah, a mere 203 pounds, tried to swat the ball free near the Green Bay 40, but Con- nolly pushed him away without slowingdown. Place kcker Mason Crosby was easily sidestepped, and so was


return boosts Patriots New England


RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST


Redskins CoachMike Shanahan, with his former starting quarterback DonovanMcNabb during Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys, is in danger of having the worst full season of his career. In 15 full seasons as a head coach, Shanahan has endured just three losing seasons.


Shanahan set to evaluate every position redskins from D1


safety Atari Bigby as Connolly cut back toward the middle of the field. He was eventually brought down at the 4-yard line after rum- bling 71 yards to set up the first of two straight touchdowns that helped the Patriots take the lead andbeat thePackers, 31-27. “I’ve never seen anything hap-


pen so slow inmy life,” said Patri- ots quarterback Tom Brady, who brokeDonMeredith’s recordwith his seventh straight game with two touchdowns and no intercep- tions. “That really was a big, big playinthegame. . . .Theywon’tbe kicking tohimanymore.” The Patriots (12-2) had won


consecutive blowouts and seemed poised to add another after Pack- ers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sidelinedwithhis secondcon- cussion of the season. But backup Matt Flynn threw three touch- down passes and had Green Bay driving at the endof the game. —AssociatedPress


Redskins, who currently tied for last with the Dallas Cowboys, can finish no higher than third, meaning they will have been third or worse six times in the last eight seasons. A division the Redskins once owned — they took five titles between 1982 and 1991 — is now the territory of others. “I think everybody’s, through


the years, said the NFC East is the division,” Shanahan said. “You take a look at Dallas, you take a look at Philly, the Giants, you take a look at Washington, and say, ‘Hey, each team is com- mitted to win.’ ” But since the Redskins’ last


division title in 1999, commit- ment hasn’t equaled results. Philadelphia has won five NFC East championships since then, the Giants three and the Cow- boys two.


Shanahan, too, is in danger of


having the worst full season of his career. In 1999 – the same year the Redskins last won a division title—Shanahan’s Den-


ver Broncos finished 6-10, not only his lowestwintotal inany of his 16 years as a head coach, but the only time he has ever fin- ished alone in last place in his division. Each time he took over a franchise previously, he man- aged to avoid disaster, going 7-9 in 1988 with the Los Angeles Raiders and 8-8 with the Bron- cos in 1995. Indeed, in 15 full seasons as a head coach – he was fired by the Raiders after start- ing 1-3 in 1989 – Shanahan has endured just three losing sea- sons. Now, he is coming to the con-


clusion of his first year inWash- ington, and he must win one of the next two games – either Sunday at Jacksonville or Jan. 2 against theNewYork Giants – to avoid the first 5-11 season of his career, and an almost certain last-place finish. There is an ar- gument that losing the last two games would benefit the Red- skins, because the worse their record, the higher the draft choice they will receive. Shanah- an said that is not his approach at all.


“You want to win every game,” Shanahansaid. “I’ve always been that way, and that will never change. If somebody loses that perspective, then they’re not in the right business. You work awful hard to . . . win. I was very disappointed yesterdaywhenwe had a chance to put it away, once we tied it, not to finish it the right way. So yeah, you always want to win.” That leads to Shanahan’s phi-


losophy with his quarterbacks over the final two games. He inserted backup Rex Grossman over Donovan McNabb against Dallas because, with the team mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, he wanted to evalu- ate not only the backup, but the rest of the offensive players with a different quarterback. Shanahan is curious, too,


about what third-stringer John Beck would be able to do. But does that mean Beck will auto- matically play against either Jacksonville or the Giants? “As I mentioned before, we


play these games to win,” Shana- han said. “Rex is going to be our


quarterback. Unless something happens, [Beck] won’t get an opportunity.” Beck will get some practice


time as the second quarterback, and Shanahan will continue his process of evaluating each and every position on the roster, a process he refers to nearly every day. But he will do it not as the team finishes off an encouraging season, but as it tries to avoid last place once again. “I’m excited about where I’m


at right now, because we’re put- ting a football team together, an organization together, and try- ing to do it the rightway,” Shana- han said. “And I’ve been given at least the chance to do it the right way, and I think that’s very im- portant.Youmake decisions that you think are in the best inter- ests of the organization. They may not be very popular, but you got to do something that you think’s right in the long run.” As in so many recent Decem-


bers, the long run is the only thing that truly matters for the Redskins now. svrlugab@washpost.com


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