MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010


Redskins 20, Jaguars 17 (OT) OT


38DEGREES


The Redskins played their fourth overtime game of the season, the first time in team history they have played that many. They are 3-1 in those contests. The NFL record for overtime games in a season is five, held by the 1983 Green Bay Packers.


The temperature at kickoff, the coldest start of a Jaguars’ home game in the franchise’s 16-season history.


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“This team has a competitive bunch of guys. And there ain’t no


quit in us.” —Casey Rabach, Redskins center


JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST Defensive end Jeremy Jarmon got the first half-sack of his career when he teamed with linebacker Andre Carter, making his fifth start this season, to bring down Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard. Anonymous defendersmake their names known


In a pinch, Washington receives crucial effort from variety of players


BY RICKMAESE


jacksonville, fla.—Formuch of the afternoon Sunday, the Red- skins’ defensive huddle could’ve benefited from a batch of name tags. Suddenly, there’s a Jackson, a Scott, a Wilson. One new guy— lineman Joe Joseph— apparently has the same first and last name. “It was basically, call the guys


by numbers because you didn’t know everybody’s name,” line- backer and defensive captain London Fletcher said with a laugh. In the end, it was the most


unlikely of players who found themselves on the field for the most crucial play in the Redskins’ 20-17 overtime win over the Jack- sonville Jaguars.For a team in the twilight of the season and a head


coach eager to evaluate new, un- tested players, the scenario pro- duced results that will pay even bigger dividends as the team’s talent evaluators decidehownext season’s roster might look. The defense produced one of


its best performances of the sea- son — four sacks, two intercep- tions and fewer yards (336) than the Redskins had allowed in a month—despite missing six reg- ular starters. “We didn’t use it as an excuse,”


said linebacker Andre Carter, who started for just the fifth time onSunday. “We didn’tcometo the game like, well, we’re wounded here, let’s just give them a show.” Duct tape and twine couldn’t


hold this unit together. Three defensive linemen were placedon injured reserve last week alone. Four defensive players were add- ed to the 53-man roster in the days leading up to the game — including two less than 24 hours before kickoff. In the end, several players madenamesfor themselveswhen


THOMAS BOSWELL Battered, bruised Redskins find strength within boswell from D1


inspiration. TheRedskins looked at each


other and found it in themselves. “The keyword is


professionalism,” said linebacker London Fletcher. “We’d like to be 9-6, not 6-9, but that’s not our reality.We get an opportunity to play on Sundaywith theman next to us.We go out and fight for each other. “Oh, andwe have great


captains,” added Fletcher, a co- captain, laughing. At that, the linebacker’swhole


corner of the locker room erupted in insults directed at the popular former Pro Bowler. “Just kiddin’, guys,” he said. The idea of theRedskins


bursting out in laughter and camaraderie after their 15th game of a season filledwith bad blood and openwounds seems hard to fathom. But pros, the best of them, have their own codes.As Fletcherwas teased, just 10 feet away stoodDonovanMcNabb, demoted to third-string quarterback thisweek. But he was grinning andmocking, too. He’ll just be doing things the classy, team-orientedway somewhere else next year,maybe on a squad thatmakes the playoffswhile theRedskins are still in early-to-mid-rebuilding mode. This game,with theGiants


ahead of themin their finale,was probably theRedskins best chance to avoid a season-ending six-game losing streak thatmight have left a cloud over the end of CoachMike Shanahan’s first year in town. TheAlbertHaynesworth


fiasco and the uglywar ofwords between the Shanahan and McNabb camps in recent days could have, andmay still, define the offseason. But thiswin gave


an alternative interpretation of theRedskins’ trend for thosewho choose to seek it. “I told our football teambefore


the game,when you are expecting to play a game against a teamthat is playing for a playoff spot and you are playing for pride, then you get to see the type of character you have in your football team,” said Shanahan. “Youwant to see how hard the guys fight. . . . They played hard. . . . Itwas pretty rough out there today. . . I give credit to our defensewith the way they adjusted [to injuries]. By halftime, even though they


led 10-7 thanks in part to Jacksonville’smistakes and penalties, theRedskins’ defense was in amad scramble to cope. During the break, defensive


coordinator JimHaslett dreamed up six newblitzes, trying to utilize the skills of the players he had left, including defensive linemen Joseph and Scott, aswell as linebacker Jackson—all of whomreallywere on their sofas lastweekwhile the teamwas in Dallas. On the decisive blitz on third


and four in overtime, the Redskins showed a nine- or 10- man front, pressing the line of scrimmage, daringGarrard,who passed for 299 yards, to figure outwhowas coming andwho was dropping back. “Fire zone,” saidHolliday,whowas one of six rushers in theRedskins’ gamble. Why didn’tGarrard simply


throwthe ball away?Awhole city, nowhanging by a playoff thread,wants to know. “Obviously on third and four you can’t throwa pick. You just can’t do it,” said Jaguars Coach Jack DelRio. “All they have to do is line up for a field goal.” Which, after two line plunges,


theRedskins, and place kicker GrahamGano, gladly did.


For Barnes,whowas


scramblingwith unfamiliar coverages all day,Garrard’s balloonwas a chance for redemption.He’d been burned on a 50-yard bomb and had been theRedskin assigned to pick up Garrard on a simple quarterback drawplay thatwent for an almost untouched 20-yard touchdown run to tie the score in regulation. “Bothmy thumbs hurt real bad


thisweek. I just didn’twant to drop it,” said Barnes. As delighted as theRedskins


werewith theirwin, not too muchweight should be given to it, aside fromthe demonstration that teammorale is still intact. Maurice Jones-Drew, who entered theweekend as theNFL’s No. 2 rusher, could not playwith a bad knee. With a typical Jones-Drewday,


coupledwithGarrard’s deep passing, theRedskinsmight have ended upwith dour faces and more concern about the development ofRexGrossman as their newquarterback of the moment. In their first two possessions, thanks to Jaguars blunders and a CarlosRogers interception, theRedskins only had to “drive” 14 yards and 18 yards to find themselveswith 10-0 first-quarter lead. ButGrossmanwas happy


enough, after a one-yard touchdown pass to FredDavis, to do the “Gator Chomp” to celebrate both his pass and his Florida almamater. “I figured therewere a lot ofGator fans in the stands so Iwanted to say hello,” he said. The rest of the day,Redskins


fansmay have gotten a hint of the Grossman theywill say “hello” to after rival defenses study some tape of him. The Cowboys and Jags have two of the league’s absolutelyworst defenses, yet Grossman completed only 19 of


it mattered most. The Jaguars were on their third play of the first drive of the overtime period. Facing third and four, quarter- back David Garrard was in a shotgun formation, and the Red- skins’ nickel unit featured just three players who’d normally be in the stating lineup (Fletcher, cornerback DeAngelo Hall and linebacker RockyMcIntosh). When the Redskins needed a


big play, their two safeties — Macho Harris and Kevin Barnes — were actually cornerbacks forced to play out of position because the team’s top four safe- ties this season were all injured. In addition to Phillip Buchanon replacing an injured Carlos Rog- ers in the second half, their nickel corner (Byron Westbrook) and outside linebacker (Chris Wilson) were both primarily special- teams contributors. One line- backer (Carter) was playing due to an injury to Brian Orakpo, and another (Rob Jackson) had been added to the 53-man roster just a fewdays earlier.


When the ball was snapped,


the group of no-names scattered. “What we try to do is disguise a


lot,” Redskins CoachMike Shana- han said. “Obviously, you can’t bring everybody or you are going to leave a couple of people short. Some people fade back into paths andother times,webring people.” The Redskins mixed up their


blitz schemes at halftime, and before the key snap in overtime, Garrard had no way of knowing that six Redskins were about to rush. And he certainly had no shot of guessing which six. “They were definitely disguis-


ing a lot,” Garrard said. McIntosh and Wilson blasted


up the middle and both reached the quarterback quickly. Garrard flung a pass nearly sidearm and off his back foot. On the right side, Barnes


thought he recognized the tight end’s route. Until last Sunday in Dallas, Barnes hadn’t played safe- ty since high school. He started last week practicing at free safety, prepared to replace Reed Dough-


ty, who’s recovering from a con- cussion. Then, when it became doubtful that Kareem Moore’s knee would allow him to play at Jacksonville, Barnes finished the week taking reps at strong safety. “I went in there, feeling like I


was 235 pounds,” Barnes said, “even though I’ma buck-95.” The afternoon hadn’t been per-


fect for Barnes and Harris, and they received coaching on the sideline after every series. Until Sunday, neither knew just how much action he’d see in Jackson- ville, but both said they were eager to take advantage of the playing time. “I had to do my homework all


week,”Harris said. Barnes felt he knew which di-


rection Marcedes Lewis was headed and stepped in front of the Jaguars’ tight end to snare the pass. He returned the intercep- tion to the Jaguars 16-yard line, settingupthe game-winning field goal.


Despite the changes to the de- fensive line, the Redskins gener-


ated pressure up front that has been lacking in recent weeks, courtesy of some names that are usually buried deep on the stat sheet. In his 15th game, Adam Carriker posted his first sack as a Redskin. Playing in his first game of the year after spending almost the entire season on the practice squad, Jackson had the first sack of his career. Jeremy Jarmon’s half-sack was also the first of his career. Since the Redskins were elimi-


nated from the playoff race, Sha- nahan has repeatedly said he’d use the remaining weeks to evalu- ate players. While much of the attention has focused on the quarterback position, several de- fensive players, pushed into ac- tion for a variety of reasons, gave the coaching staff some film that will be worth studying. “The man who comes to play


has to match that level of the guy that’s hurt or play above that,” Carter said. “That’s what certain individuals did today.” maeser@washpost.com


JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST


Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers runs an intercepted a pass back to the Jaguars 18-yard line Sunday. The Jags are a humbleNFL


39 passes for 182 yards, an interception and a 60.0 passer rating. The coldest day in Jacksonville’sNFL history (38 degrees) and a stiffwind didn’t help. But, all in all, itwas a typical late-December game for anNFC East team. Grossman didmanage a 68-


yard touchdown drive, capped by a one-yard scoring plunge by Ryan Torain on fourth and goal, for a 17-10 lead.Until then, he hadn’t converted a single third down all day. But hewas 3 for 3 on that drive, including two passes to SantanaMoss,who topped 1,000 yards receiving.


bunchwho have been outscored for the season bymore than 40 points, despite their decent 8-7 record. Yet it’s ameasure of how far theRedskins have sunk in recent years that Jacksonville was appalled by this loss, even without Jones-Drew. “We should have put our feet


on their throats at the beginning of the game,” said Jags’ defensive end JeremyMincey. Last year’sRedskins team


almost certainlywould have let themdo it. Sowould about 10 other teams since ’92 that have spentDecemberwith their hearts


elsewhere. TheRedskins have somany


areas to fix, on top of all their current injuries, that their long- termfuture hopes of becoming a playoff contender are just that— l-o-o-o-n-g term. But, on the day after


Christmas,when theymight have been thinking about the home fires theymissed or the bitter dregs of another losing season, they showed up like pros. “We’re playing,” said tight end


Chris Cooley, exhausted, eyes level, voice flat. “Just playing.” And there’s honor in that. boswellt@washpost.com


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