All posts in football

11Dec

young players are making a difference for redskins

In blog, football by b murf / December 11, 2012 / No Comments

A little over one month ago, the Washington Redskins were done.

A disappointing loss at home to a 1-6 Carolina Panthers team all but assured another forgettable season for the burgundy and gold.

After dropping a game to a last-place team riding a five-game losing streak, head coach Mike Shanahan sure sounded as if he was admitting the competitive portion of the 2012 season was in the books.

“You lose a game like that, now you’re playing to see who obviously is going to be on your football team for years to come,” he said. “I’ll get a chance to evaluate players and see where we’re at.”

The Redskins headed into the bye week with a defense that excelled at nothing, an offense that had suddenly gone cold and a special teams unit that did little to tilt games in Washington’s favor. At the midpoint of his five-year deal, Shanahan’s record running the Redskins was a pitiful 14-27 and sports fans — both locally and nationally — began to openly wonder if the coach’s best days were behind him.

Add in the lack of cap room and draft picks and there was very little to like about what appeared to be on the horizons for the Washington Redskins.

And then something crazy happened — the team used the bye week to get healthy and to refocus their energy on avoiding mistakes and simply doing a better job of executing. It sounds simple, but that’s one of the main reasons the Redskins are now considered one of the hottest teams in football.

“We have a bunch of young players on offense,” said left tackle Trent Williams. “Any time your offense is based around so many young players, it takes time to mesh. Everyone’s getting more game experience, and game experience is the key to improving as a player and as a team. Everybody’s starting to be where they’re supposed to be and we’re starting to shoot ourselves in the foot less, if that makes sense.”

10Dec

redskins-ravens playlist

In blog, football, playlist by b murf / December 10, 2012 / 1 Comment

(photo by Brian Murphy)

1. “The Memory Remains” by Metallica

The Washington Redskins defeated the Baltimore Ravens in a thrilling come-from-behind victory. Their 31-28 overtime win came courtesy of the backup quarterback, who was thrust into action with the game on the line in the fourth quarter after the face of the franchise — quarterback Robert Griffin III — was knocked out of the game with a knee injury.

Even after the offense scored an improbable 11-yard touchdown with 29 seconds remaining in regulation, they still needed a two-point conversion just to force the game into overtime. And once again, the backup delivered.

Fast forward to overtime and the Ravens get the ball first, with the chance to feast on a decidedly mediocre Redskins defense that had already allowed four touchdowns on the day. But Baltimore’s offense stalled after just three plays and was forced to punt the ball away.

What happens next is almost too good to be true — a rookie cornerback (who most ‘Skins fans couldn’t identify if he was standing in front of them) returned the punt 64 yards and the game was essentially over.

Here’s the craziest thing about this amazing storybook ending — it almost didn’t happen.

If not for an instant replay review by the officials, the Redskins never would have had the opportunity to put together the clutch 13-play, 84-yard fourth quarter drive. That’s because tight end Niles Paul, who struggles to catch passes with any level of consistency while on offense but is typically pretty solid on special teams, fumbled the ball on a kick return with less than five minutes remaining.

Paul definitely coughed up the ball and the Ravens definitely recovered it. But Ravens receiver David Reed was ruled out of bounds before he had complete control of the football, and the Redskins retained possession.

“I didn’t know what the call was going to be. I was hoping that it was out of bounds,” Paul said. “I felt like it could have went either way. Luckily it went ours.”

Had the officials stuck with the original call, Baltimore’s offense would have had the ball on the 15-yard line with an eight-point lead and less than five minutes to play. Even if they only settled for a field goal, that would have likely been enough to seal the victory.

But because the bounces continue to go Washington’s way during the second half of the season, Paul was bailed out and the Redskins still had a chance to make magic happen.

09Dec

photos from the sidelines: week 14

In blog, football, photos by b murf / December 9, 2012 / No Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

At some point, we’re all going to have to stop and admit that there just might be something special about the 2012 Washington Redskins.

Of course, that didn’t appear to be the case as this team limped into the bye week with a 3-6 record thanks in large part to a three-game losing streak.

Now though, the Redskins appear fully capable of beating anyone and everyone — even when they’re not playing their best football.

The Baltimore Ravens are a perennial playoff team that, year in and year out, rank among the league’s elite thanks to a well-rounded squad that tends to excel in all three phases of the game.

The Washington Redskins, for far too long, have been a fragile snowflake of a franchise that is seemingly incapable of handling any adversity whatsoever. And yet, for one day at least, none of that mattered as the Redskins found a way to win on a day when their franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III wasn’t at his best.

Not only did RGIII struggle in the face of a solid Baltimore pass rush, but he was then forced out of action after spraining his right knee. In years past, this would have been more than enough to doom Washington.

But Griffin’s teammates stepped up in a large way on Sunday and now the Redskins are riding high on a four-game winning streak and have a wining record in December for the first time in far too long.

With that in mind, please feel free to peruse my favorite photos I was able to capture from the sidelines this week. The players put together a monumental effort to defeat a talented Ravens squad, so it’s the least you can do.

06Dec

joshua morgan channels tragedy into giving back

In blog, feature, football by b murf / December 6, 2012 / No Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

[Editor’s note: This season, the Washington Redskins have asked me to occasionally write feature stories for the team’s official website, Redskins.com. This article is my latest contribution, so please check it out.]

The mind of a child is a beautiful thing. An oversized cardboard box or a couple cushions from a sofa provide ample opportunity for a week’s worth of entertainment. In most cases, if someone asks you what you want to be when you grow up and you don’t know, you’ve got all the time in the world to figure it out.

Unfortunately though, that isn’t the case for everyone.

Take, for example, Washington Redskins receiver Joshua Morgan, who was forced to grow up much faster than he probably should have had to because of the tough Southeast D.C., neighborhood his family lived in.

If it was up to Morgan, he would have spent every waking moment of his childhood playing basketball, going to school and hanging out with friends.

“Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun as a child and I was a straight A student, but growing up where I did in D.C. was just a rough situation,” he said. “I was forced to experience things like death sooner than you would have liked. Like having to go to my friend’s funeral when I was 12 or the fact that I lost three or four of my friends to gun violence before I even got to ninth grade. That stuff makes you grow up fast.”

How was Morgan able to avoid the same pitfalls and mistakes that too many of his neighborhood friends could not?

“Sports and my grandmother,” Morgan said. “My grandmother was the type of person who was always involved and always in my ear. We were in church every day of the week and she kept me out of trouble. Honestly, I had a lot of people who saw something in me even before I did and they worked hard to keep me out of that element. I had so many people looking out for me and I tried to learn from other people’s mistakes.

“I had such a strong inner circle around me — starting with my grandmother, who was my main prayer warrior — and everyone had a hand in helping me out,” he continued. “Even the ones who were out there hustling on the corners in my neighborhood would tell me, ‘Man, you’re going to be the one to make it out of here. We’re going to keep you out of this and we’re going to keep you out of that. You don’t need to be out here doing none of this. Stay on that basketball court and you’re gonna get out of here. Just watch.’ I was blessed to have so many people in my circle.”

Anyone who saw him play back in the day had to admit that Morgan was talented on the basketball court. He was a slasher who thrived with the ball in his hands, in the mold of Miami shooting guard Dwyane Wade, and the 27-year-old readily admits he was convinced he’d be the next Michael Jordan — until he stopped growing at 6-foot-1.

“I could take a game over whenever I needed to,” Morgan said. “To this day, there are still people who believe I was always a better basketball player than a football player. I mean, everybody’s got their own opinion, but obviously I made the right decision by sticking with football.”

While Morgan’s first love was clearly hoops, it turned out he was pretty good on the gridiron as well. By the time he got to H.D. Woodson High School, he had learned to channel his explosiveness and passion from basketball into football.

“Once I saw what guys like Jerry Rice and Randy Moss were able to do at the wide receiver position, I knew that’s what I wanted to be,” he said.

Morgan was a diehard Redskins fan growing up — Art Monk, Doug Williams and John Riggins were his favorite players from the glory days — but he wasn’t able to go to games very often.

“We barely had enough money for groceries or to keep the water or heat on in the house, so I didn’t get to go to a lot of games. But I got to hear a lot of them on the radio and I tried to sneak in to a couple of them when I could,” Morgan said with a laugh.

Because Redskins game were such a rarity, football was more of a hobby or a way to hang out with friends than a possible career choice for Morgan. In fact, it wasn’t until his freshman year at Virginia Tech, when he had a breakout game in the 2005 Sugar Bowl against Auburn, that Morgan began to believe he truly had a shot at playing in the NFL.

Click here for the full article.

05Dec

bruce boudreau on robert griffin III and alex ovechkin

In blog, football, hockey by b murf / December 5, 2012 / 1 Comment

(photo by Brian Murphy)

Even before the Washington Redskins put together this current three-game winning streak, their games have become something of a trendy destination for celebrities big and small.

On a weekly basis it seems, people ranging from ‘Skins fans like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Wale to casual observers like Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty and Paul Teutul, Jr. from Orange County Choppers randomly appear either on the sidelines or in a luxury box. That, of course, has to do with franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III — the hottest name in sports today.

Heading into Washington’s Monday Night Football match-up with the New York Giants at FedEx Field, I caught wind of a rumor that NBA stars like Kevin Durant, Amare Stoudemire and Deron Williams were going to be in attendance. With that in mind, I headed down to the field a little earlier than usual in hopes of spotting these three oversized gentlemen.

While they never showed up on sidelines pregame, I did run into a friendly face — former Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau. Although he’s moved on to Anaheim, Boudreau still holds a special place in the hearts of plenty of local fans for everything his Capitals were able to accomplish during his brief time in D.C.

With that in mind, I tracked down the man affectionately known as Gabby to see how he’s doing these days. Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

04Dec

redskins-giants playlist

In blog, football, playlist by b murf / December 4, 2012 / 2 Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

1. “Changing” by Alabama Shakes

After finishing up his post-game press conference duties, Washington Redskins franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III paused for a moment as he walked back into the locker room.

The rookie was still wearing his grass-stained uniform after a tough and physical NFC East battle against the New York Giants, but before he could shower and head home there was one thing left to do.

Griffin paused, surveyed the room and said to no one in particular, “All smiles. We must have won.”

Of course, the last time the Redskins bested the Giants on Monday Night Football, Ronald Reagan was still the president. So in all likelihood, Griffin is simply too young to realize the significance of Washington’s 17-16 victory over New York.

It would be foolish to start spitting out hyperbole about one Week 13 victory being franchise altering or anything like that, but the truth is, these Washington Redskins are attempting to re-write the narrative.

For years, the Redskins have been known as a mentally weak team who fell apart at the first sign of adversity.

They lost more “must-win” games than anyone could ever hope to keep track of. They suffered more letdown games to supposed inferior opponents than should be legally allowed. In short, they’ve lost a ton of games over the last few decades and given the local fanbase very little to feel good about.

By all accounts, it was more of the same this season as Washington continued to find ways to give away wins to mediocre (or worse) teams like the St. Louis Rams and Carolina Panthers.

But a simple three-game winning streak has changed the perception of this team. Not only have the Redskins won three consecutive games for the first time since ’08, but in doing so against their biggest rivals — Philadelphia, Dallas and New York — they’ve shown that maybe it isn’t so smart to rush to judgment on this year’s squad.

If nothing else, they’ve found a way to make football fun once again in our nation’s capital.

04Dec

photos from the sidelines: week 13

In blog, football, photos by b murf / December 4, 2012 / No Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

We’re headed towards uncharted territory, boys and girls.

After essentially ending the competitive portion of their schedule with a humbling loss to a pitiful Carolina Panthers team, the Washington Redskins were once again a doormat of a franchise, thanks to their 3-6 record.

And then something crazy happened — the Redskins took the bye week and magically, one week later, all was right in the universe.

Suddenly, the Redskins are playing meaningful football in December for the first time since 2007 and have rightly earned the title of “team no one wants to play.” That’s what happens when you stop dropping catchable passes and eliminate turnovers on offense while simultaneously teaching your defense it’s okay to make a play from time to time.

Now, with four games left to play, the Redskins sit just one game back of the Seattle Seahawks for the sixth and final playoff spot in the NFC. There’s plenty of football left to be played between now and the end of the regular season, but ‘Skins fans have plenty of reason to feel good about things these days.

With that in mind, please feel free to peruse my favorite photos I was able to capture from the sidelines this week. It’s not every day the Redskins win three straight games against NFC East rivals, so enjoy the ride while it lasts.