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31May

dallas wasn’t impressed with redskins’ 2013 draft class

In blog, football by b murf / May 31, 2013 / 1 Comment

(photo by Brian Murphy)

By now, fans of the Washington Redskins are intimately familiar with the newest additions to the roster – the players the team selected in the 2013 NFL Draft.

As a quick refresher, here are the seven college players the burgundy and gold brain trust opted to select during this year’s draft:

Cornerback David Amerson (2nd round, 51st overall)
Tight end Jordan Reed (3rd round, 85th overall)
Safety Phillip Thomas (4th round, 119th overall)
Running back Chris Thompson (5th round, 154th overall)
Linebacker Brandon Jenkins (5th round, 162nd overall)
Safety Bacarri Rambo (6th round, 191st overall)
Running back Jawan Jamison (7th round, 228th overall)

This year’s draft class clearly didn’t have the same level of name recognition of others in recent history, but that’s to be expected when a team trades away its first-round pick and is simply looking to add depth to a roster returning 21 of 22 starters from a year ago.

My personal opinion is that the Redskins targeted high-risk, high-reward players in specific areas of need – believing the coaching staff can apparently bring out the best in talented, but flawed players while helping these seven players overcome some of the deficiencies that could have possibly scared off other teams.

Take, for example, Washington’s top pick – defensive back David Amerson, out of North Carolina State. Depending on your perspective, the ‘Skins landed one of the top ball-hawking defensive backs in the country … or a burnt piece of toast who lacks discipline and tries too hard to make the highlight reel.

05May

photos from 2013 redskins rookie camp

In blog, football, photos by b murf / May 5, 2013 / No Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

One year ago, the Washington Redskins held a rookie camp that represented the debut of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Considering how many decades it had been since the Redskins had anything that remotely resembled a franchise quarterback on the roster, the entire D.C. metro area was eager to see RGIII don the burgundy and gold for the first time.

Needless to say, things are much more subdued in 2013.

With no first-round pick this season, Washington simply aimed to add depth to the roster during the ’13 NFL Draft. Those seven draft picks, as well as 12 undrafted free agents and 48 players in town on a tryout basis participated in the team’s three-day rookie camp.

Consider the Redskins are the reigning NFC East champions, roster spots are going to be hard to come by for the majority of these hopefuls.

It’s an introduction to our system, both offensively and defensively,” said head coach Mike Shanahan. “We don’t work on special teams in this camp, but we will in our OTAs. But they get a feel for what we’re trying to do. We get a chance to take a look at them, what type of athletes they are, what type of quickness and speed. And that was very impressive to see our draft choices out there and to see their size and their quickness and their speed and things we were hoping for. Their ball skills were very evident out there over the last few days. So it was a good practice.”

For those who are interested, I was out at Redskins Park covering the rookie camp. Click here for the full gallery of photos from the 2013 rookie camp.

04Feb

kirk cousins is the true super bowl XLVII MVP

In blog, football by b murf / February 4, 2013 / No Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

With all due respect to the Baltimore Ravens, there is only one possible candidate for the most valuable player of Super Bowl XLVII and it ain’t Joe Flacco.*

*And before you attempt to place a vote for yourself, Ray Lewis, no, it’s not you either.

Nope, the only logical candidate for Super Bowl XLVII MVP is Washington Redskins rookie quarterback Kirk Cousins.

That might sound absurd, considering Cousins wasn’t technically a member of either of the teams actually playing in New Orleans Sunday night, but he had as much to do with determining the outcome as anyone from the San Francisco 49ers or the Ravens.

How you ask? It’s simple — had Cousins and the Redskins not mounted their thrilling come-from-behind 31-28 victory in overtime over Baltimore, Dec. 9, the Ravens wouldn’t have captured their second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.

Still not tracking? Allow me to elaborate.

While the Redskins are generally known for a meddlesome owner, helping to decide presidential elections and/or throwing large sums of money to ill-advised free agents, they’re most recent gimmick is determining the outcome of the Super Bowl.

Not by playing in it. No, that would be too easy.

Instead they prefer to determine the NFL’s biggest winner by defeating them during the regular season.

Case in point: the Ravens are now the third-straight team who lose to the Redskins during the regular season and then went on to win the Super Bowl.

Two seasons ago, the Green Bay Packers fell to Washington 16-13 in overtime during a Week 5 match-up. Four months later, they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.

Last season, the New York Giants dropped both regular season games to “Sexy” Rex Grossman and friends before dispatching the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Basically, if you’re the head coach of a team scheduled to play the Redskins during the 2013 season, your best bet to immortalize yourself in history and bringing home a Lombardi Trophy is to ensure your squad loses to Washington during the regular season.

So let the tanking begin!

(photo by Brian Murphy)

04Feb

robert griffin III officially named NFL’s top rookie

In blog, football by b murf / February 4, 2013 / No Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

As if there was ever any doubt.

The NFL’s worst-kept secret is officially out of the bag and Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is officially the 2012 AP offensive rookie of the year.

Considering the last time RGIII’s name was in the headlines it was to announce he had successfully undergone surgery on his right knee after damaging it in Washington’s home playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks, it was a welcome feel-good story for the league’s most electrifying young talent.

“Well, it’s a truly a blessing to be up here and be able to stand, first and foremost,” Griffin said after accepting his award during the NFL Honors awards show Saturday night. “I had a tough injury there at the end of the season. I thank our coaches, thank our players. I want to give a hand clap for Alfred Morris, who’s also up for this award. All the competition for this award was extremely good … It seems like the league’s in good hands with the young quarterbacks.”

In his rookie season, the former Heisman Trophy winner completed 258 of 393 passes for 3,200 yards with 20 touchdowns and only five interceptions while leading the worst-to-first Redskins to a 10-6 record and their first NFC East title since ’99. The second-overall pick also rushed for 815 yards (an NFL record for rookie quarterbacks) with seven touchdowns.

Here’s the best part of the story — for all of the talk in some corners of the football-loving world about how Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and/or Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson were possibly more deserving of the award, Griffin won in a landslide. Seriously, it wasn’t even close.

Griffin received 29 votes from the AP’s 50-member panel, while Luck garnered 11 votes and Wilson got 10. To put it another way, RGIII earned more votes than Luck and Wilson combined.

Finally, Griffin — who said he’s been off crutches for two weeks now — firmly believes he’ll be ready to take the field with the Redskins when the season opener rolls around this fall.

“It’s feeling good,” he said. “I went through the toughest part already, so it’s now it’s just about being smart, not pushing it too much. That’s what the doctors are there for, to keep me from doing too much.”

15Jan

kirk cousins still has something to prove

In blog, feature, football by b murf / January 15, 2013 / 3 Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

For my money, Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins has one of the toughest gigs imaginable.

For starters, his lifelong dream of playing professional football doesn’t exactly go according to plan when he get drafted by a quarterback-starved franchise that was still celebrating landing Robert Griffin III.

So while so many of his peers in this talented rookie class are setting records, he spent much of his inaugural campaign sitting next to Rex Grossman on the sidelines while the most electrifying player in the NFL today took the league by storm.

When Griffin got injured and Cousins finally had the opportunity to show he too could be effective at this level, the entire offense had to be switched up because his skill set is so vastly different from RGIII’s. Just when his teammates began to settle in and get used to running the pistol, everything reverts back to a more traditional offense run by a far less mobile rookie.

And yet, you never hear Cousins complain or feel sorry for himself. You don’t hear his agent making remarks about demanding to be traded or anything like that. Instead, the 24-year-old just quietly goes about his business and handles himself with absolute class and professionalism.

Sure, he wants to play, but he knows this is Griffin’s team, so for as long as he’s in Washington he’s going to be the best teammate and backup quarterback he can be.

Before the season ended, I had the chance to sit down with Cousins for a one-on-one interview with the Michigan State standout to learn more about the young man who might very well be the starting quarterback for the Redskins when the 2013 season begins. Here’s how our conversation went:

09Jan

on robert griffin III’s knee and the grass at fedex field

In blog, football by b murf / January 9, 2013 / 3 Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

Well, it’s official — multiple sources are reporting that Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is set to undergo total reconstructive surgery to repair torn anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments in his right knee this morning.

It’s too soon to know exactly how long this surgery will sideline Griffin for, but the popular opinion seems to be that it’ll take between six to eight months for the Heisman Trophy winner to return to action. The biggest question now becomes — will RGIII still be RGIII after this procedure?

Obviously that hinges on what Dr. James Andrews finds once he begins working on the 22-year-old’s knee, so ‘Skins fans would be wise to avoid all of the talking heads and so-called experts who are overly eager to share their opinion without … you know … actually having anything to do with this particular athlete and this particular knee injury.*

*Please allow me to vent for a moment — many of these same talking heads who are standing on desks and screaming into the cameras because the Redskins allowed Griffin to remain in a playoff game are the same mouth-breathers who took the Washington Nationals to task for shutting down Stephen Strasburg at the end of last season. You see, they don’t actually stand for anything. They just like to hear themselves talk and are more than happy to contradict their previously stated stance if it means 60 more seconds of airtime. In related news, I despise these people.

Interestingly enough, after reviewing game film, Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan and team doctors now believe that Griffin wasn’t injured on the play where he had to awkwardly reach down to try and collect the bad snap by center Will Montgomery.

Shanahan told the NFL Network Tuesday night that he believes Griffin was injured one play earlier when his franchise quarterback was brought down awkwardly by Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin.

07Jan

redskins-seahawks playlist

In blog, football, playlist by b murf / January 7, 2013 / 1 Comment

(photo by Brian Murphy)

1. “Come Alive” by Prospect Hill

Coming into their wild card match-up against the Seattle Seahawks, the Washington Redskins had a pretty clear and straight forward game plan.

On defense, they wanted to do their best to neutralize running back Marshawn Lynch — making Seattle one-dimensional and putting added pressure on a rookie quarterback playing on the road in his first-ever postseason game.

On offense, the Redskins wanted to keep the opposition guessing by getting running back Alfred Morris involved early and often and thus allowing quarterback Robert Griffin III the luxury of handing off to Morris, keeping the ball himself or utilizing play action to stretch the field.

And for 15 minutes, that plan was perfect. Morris, once again running with a purpose, picked up nine yards on each of his first two carries en route to gaining 49 yards on just eight carries in the first quarter.

At the same time, Griffin completed six of nine passes for 68 yards with two touchdowns in the first quarter and the Redskins jumped out to a huge 14-0 lead after the first frame.

Conversely, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson completed just two of three passes for 20 yards and Lynch carried the ball twice for five yards and this game seemed on the verge of becoming a blowout as the Redskins outgained Seattle 129-9.