SB Nation Blog: Skin Patrol

There really is nothing happening

Skin Patrol — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:03:57 -0000

I promised I would return yesterday yet, here I am world, and there's nothing happening with Your Washington Redskins. It was a busy, crazy week for me. Rather than apologizing for not being around to post all the super-nuts-cool things that were happening, I'll do you a favor by not boring you with details on why my week wasbusy and/or crazy.

If you can call this news:

Actually everything Chris Cooley does is badass, so I will call this news. Hey everyone, Captain Chaose got hats, family, friends. My fav is the yellow striped one because it reminds me of the sweet Johnny Chimpo Afghanistanimation from Super Troopers. In other news, I'm almost completely blind.

Chris Samuels loves ballet school haaaaaaaaaaaah! (But seriously, that's good people on him. We support giving back to communities and applaud Samuels for doing so.)

Hat tipped to Football Outsiders for pointing me to Pete Prisco's Top 50 Players. The following Redskins made the list:

He also has a "Just Missed" section. The following Redskins made that list:

I'll address that later this week, as I think there are a few Redskins deserving of mention on at least one of those lists.

This offseason thing? It lasts forever.

Offensive and Defensive Line notes

Skin Patrol — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:26:18 -0000

Eric Karabell (hat tip to Extreme Skins) of ESPN has the Fantasy scoop (or does he?) on... the offensive line?

On the line: Keeping tackles Chris Samuels and Jon Jansen healthy is critical, especially with Campbell being a bit fumble-prone. Jansen missed the entire season because of a dislocated ankle, while right guard Randy Thomas has not been durable. It's an old, brittle line learning a new system it might be able to thrive in, although that shouldn't hold back Portis. The defensive line welcomes former Viking Erasmus James, but he's not guaranteed to start. Andre Carter can be an impact guy in deep IDP leagues, but for the most part, fantasy owners need not worry about this defensive line.

Despite the fact that the article hails from ESPN's 2008 Fantasy Football Draft Kit, the author obviously went off the fantasy sports reservation, because I've never played a fantasy football league where the offensive line garnered points. Maybe he's focused on the indirect effects a struggling line has on your RB and QB and everyone else. Who knows?

There is no news, so we'll talk about the defensive line, I suppose. Issue is which or whether either of James or Chris Wilson will make the team. I have absolutely no read on how this non-battle has played out so far, as there's sufficient print supporting both of them to give me pause. For instance, you can read about Erasmus James at ESPN or Wilson at TSN:

PERSONNEL ANALYSIS: Two backups could play prominent roles for the defense this season. Chris Wilson is a lightweight in terms of bulk, but the DE comes off the ball with a great deal of explosion. He's quick enough to get around most offensive tackles, and fast enough to get to the QB before the pass is thrown. Defensive coordinator Greg Blache plans to play to the individual strengths of his players, and that could mean Wilson gets more snaps in passing situations. ...

I think I've said it before, but if the team wants to keep both Wilson and James it could mean the end for Demetric Evans. We've got a lot of Defensive Ends, including recently signed draft pick Rob Jackson, undrafted FA Dorian Smith. Not everyone can make the team.

They weren't kidding about Wilson being on the small side, either. The team lists him at 240 lbs, which makes him the smallest by over 10 pounds. Then again, Carter was the 2nd smallest on the line last year but by far the most productive. From the looks of it, lean and mean is the strategy for rushing the bad guy's passer.

Situational defenders are great so long as the starters remain healthy.

There really is nothing going on right now, these are the offseason doldrums. Enjoy.

Will Leitch is too good not to talk about

Skin Patrol — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:20:39 -0000

Monday Morning Punter of KSK sends Deadspin's Will Leitch off appropriately, pointing out:

I'm glad to be here at the latest Blogfrica Circle Jerk. Seriously, if we spent any more time discussing ourselves, we'd get a cease-and-desist from Mark Cuban.

And yet, Will Leitch is an important enough fixture in what it is we do that I can't resist talking about him even after reading that QED moment from MMP. I'd ask reader(s) to forgive me, but I don't have any.

I love Deadspin, read it daily, have for years. Will has presented good sports stories with glibly glibness that was simply the glibbest work about, and it spoke to me. I imagine it spoke to a lot of my ilk who: a) loved sports, b) felt that seriousness reporting over an inherently childish topic (my bat is bigger than your bat) was worth discouraging, c) agreed that sports entertainment is best done democratically and d) still laughed at dick and fart jokes.

Will Leitch is leaving Deadspin for apparently greener pastures (I question the possibility of that) at New York Magazine, huzzah. He couldn't resist because:

It wins National Magazine Awards.

Alright.

And although Will promises to continue writing at Deadspin, it will never be the same without his ward oversight. Leitch was never a sports fan who happened to be a good writer, he was always an amazingly talented one who happened to write about sports. I would say his move to the New York Magazine (or wherever) was anticipated, because he was simply too talented to be wasting his time on some blog -- gross. But that can't be true, because he turned Deadspin into every bit as much a prestigious writing institution, at least among a non-trivially sized demographic that happens to include me, as any rag he'd later join.

Now for the part that Punter predicted, where we can't help but talk about ourselves. Everyone who reads this site knows what Deadspin is and exactly seven people who read Deadspin know what this site is, so know how ridiculous I feel congratulating Leitch, as if he knew or cared or needed the likes of me to say cheers and tits. But the two praises I'll sing for Deadspin are:

1. Connection with his site is largely the metric by which the rest of us scrubs measure our success. A good day of blogging is one where Leitch says your name. Good blogs have their names said.

2. I can't recall him ever linking here.

If you can judge character well, you'll never fail.

Whatever and wherever he writes, I'll keep reading. Best of luck to Will Leitch.

All is not well in paradise

Skin Patrol — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:40:27 -0000

First, apologies for my recent absence. Real life has interfered with a vengence and before I can cast it away I'll continue to be sporadically present. I anticipate return to normalcy sometime Monday.

Meantime, here's a quick update on Phillip Daniels on Shawn Springs, hat tipped to The Bog. The Times tells it:

Shawn Springs was the only player absent from the second session of the Washington Redskins' "voluntary" organized team activities yesterday at Redskin Park yesterday, and Phillip Daniels wasn't too happy about it.

"If there's no reason [for his absence] and I'm here, then be here, be a leader," said Daniels, who has been Springs' teammate for eight seasons with the Redskins and the Seattle Seahawks. "[Shawn]'s his own man. I'm a leader. I lead by example. I lead by being here. I'm not a rah-rah guy. He's not here to help us right now. ... He gotta deal with the way people perceive him. I can only say to him, 'Get here. Be involved with this.'"

I consider that pretty heavy criticism. I'm perhaps mistaken, but previously when a player was absent his teammates would overwhelmingly downplay the incident in support, saying things along the lines of, it isn't mandatory, he's keeping himself in shape, so on and so forth.

Jim Zorn can't get in touch with Shawn because, unbelievably, his voice mail is full. Even text messaging has failed, and this is the 21st century. In any event, Daniels expressed a softer side later in the article:

"I don't know if something's wrong," Daniels said. "I know he's going through a lot with his family, too. So I don't want to knock him too much until [I] get the full story, but I would love for him to be here."

Shawn Springs has been in the NFL a long time, and I've no doubt that once he gets on a field he'll know what to do and will perform just fine. However, no amount of experience can mend the perception his teammates have of him, and whatever it is "chemistry" means on defense, you don't develop it by practicing hundreds of miles away from the rest of the team.

The Bog has an exchange between Doc Walker and Vinny Cerrato, with the latter pointing out:

Vinny Cerrato: "Yeah, you know what, because I know he's in town and he works out with the boxing guy, and he was out in Arizona. I mean, it's no different than he did last year. I mean, Doc, you know why it doesn't really, it was the same thing he did last year. And you know what, and if I'm Shawn, I would do the same thing I did the year before. He had a great year, he didn't miss any time, was healthy the whole year. So, I mean, I expected him to go back to Arizona and do all those things, and he never talked to anybody last year either....You know, he's a mature guy. When he shows up, he's going to be in as good a shape as anybody on the football team."

Involuntary team events aren't miles away, so whether Shawn's voice mail is full or not, he's going to have to show up in the not-so-distant future.

AOL Fanhouse, Redskins' Phillip Daniels Calls Out Shawn Springs For Not Being At OTA

Cerrato wants Erasmus James to lose weight

Skin Patrol — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:51:56 -0000

Full quote via Star Tribune, emphasis added (except for names):

Vinny Cerrato -- the executive vice president of football operations for the Washington Redskins, and a former Gophers recruiting coordinator who grew up in Albert Lea -- is in the Twin Cities for a family vacation. He said his team is confident that Erasmus James, the oft-injured defensive end traded from the Vikings to Washington, will be ready to play in the final two preseason games this fall. "He spent the last week down with Dr. James Andrews rehabbing his knee, and he had spent the previous few weeks with our rehabilitation guys, then he'll be back for the next three weeks rehabbing," said Cerrato, who believes the former first-round pick out of Wisconsin will play this year after not doing much in his three seasons with the Vikings. "What he wants to do is, in college he weighed like 258-260 [pounds], then when he went to the Vikings they wanted him big, so he was like 275. So, we wanted him back to where he was in college."

That's big news for James, who faces an uphill battle just to make the roster. He won't supplant Andre Carter or Phillip Daniels and so will need to steal a spot from either Chris Wilson or Demetric Evans or, alternatively, hope that the team keeps 5 DEs.

I think everyone here hopes, as Cerrato says, that he looks and plays more like he did in College than so far in the NFL. He was the 2004 Big Ten defensive player of the year (and, obviously, Big Ten defensive linemen of the year) and a first team All American. In the NFL? Nothing much.

Regarding the weight, if he's playing for Wilson's spot or a 5th DE spot, I am all about it. Anything he can do to speed up his pass rush is good, since that's all we've asked Wilson to do so far. And as a backup, backup DE, I'd love him as a situational pass rusher. But I don't know if I need him lighter and leaner if he's supplanting Demetric Evans. Evans is a complete DE (even if an uninspiring one) and is serviceable against the run. I doubt Daniels will start 16 games next year, so we'll need a run stopper on that line at some point next year.

Malcolm Kelly has press conference pending from... Liberia?

Skin Patrol — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:30:10 -0000

How did that happen? Well, says the Official Site:

As the young wide receiver out of Oklahoma continues to mature, he is seeking out more life-changing experiences.

From July 3-10, Kelly is traveling to the African nation of Liberia on behalf of the global charity Mercy Ships.

Mercy Ships operates hospital ships, staffed by crews of professional medical and non-medical volunteers, to serve the poor in developing nations...

Kelly is scheduled to meet with Liberian officials and hold an international press conference before leaving Liberia.

How will this offense line up?

Skin Patrol — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:36:16 -0000

This post cannot promise to answer that question as it's really a who knows, but Redskins 360 did the math on at least one recent snapshot in time relevant to the above inquiry. He explains:

A question posed on a recent Redskins message board wondered what Seattle ran offensively against the Redskins in the teams' January playoff game, won by the Seahawks 35-14. This is obviously asked to start predicting what kind of formations Jim Zorn will use as the Redskins' coach.

He did the actual math, provided below, but let's quickly point out that a) Jim Zorn wasn't calling the plays in that game and b) I am sure his overall offensive philosophy is subject to change given varying circumstances, including his own and opponent's personnel, down and distance, scoreboard, etc. Redskins 360 counts:

54 total snaps of which the breakdown is as follows:

14 WR and 1RB set (~26%)

10 3WR and 2RB sets (~18%)

17 3WR and 1 RB sets (~31%)

8 2WR and 2 RB sets (~15%)

4 1WR and 2RB sets (~7%)

1 5WR set (~2%)

As I stated above, this is a tiny snapshot -- one game -- of a different team's offensive sets, with different players, under a particular set of circumstances. As Ryan O'Halloran points out, the presence of at least one great TE in Cooley plus another high potential guy in Fred Davis would alter the above substantially, since 3WR and 2RB sets, for instance, wouldn't provide any space for a TE (unless Cooley or Davis is lined up wide). Only the 1WR 2RB set provides for dual TEs, and the article notes that Seattle fell on that only after they managed a solid lead.

But I don't want to wait for a solid lead to see my potent two TE, Cooley and Davis and Moss and Portis and Sellers set, I want to run it noooooooooooow.

Here's the problem for the other poor bastard... Davis and Cooley and Sellers and Portis together makes for a fearsome running group that cannot be ignored. Cooley and Davis in that set, though, along with Moss, also makes for a fearsome passing group that cannot be ignored (pretty good pass protection, too, ignoring whatever nonsense [hat tip to Fanhouse] Mike Lombardi is talking about Clinton Portis in pass protection -- name me a RB that's better). And so that guy gets to make a business decision about who and how he's going to deal with a multi-threat formation.

Then again... With both Kelly and Thomas on the team now, I kind of like a 4 WR set, which would've been hazardous when it was just Moss and ARE and then James Thrash + whoever? Brandon Lloyd?

Do I know that Kelly and Thomas are necessarily better than Thrash and Lloyd? Not really. I know they're taller at least. And when it comes to WR combos, I'll take the unknown duo with potential over the known meh group. (Note: I like James Thrash.)

And while we're on the subject of our newest Redskin WRs, and Mike Lombardi, he makes an inadvertent point about the future of another Redskin:

Zorn will try change the "Redskin Joe Gibbs" offense into his version of the west coast offense. That will be a slight challenge and there will be some adjustment time for the players as well as the coaches. Some of the assets he has on offense, like Santana Moss and Clinton Portis are not best highlighted in the west coast offense. Moss is an explosive player, who is best running over routes and deep comebacks, not slants and snags. When the Jets ran the west coast with Paul Hackett, Moss was the change of pace wide receiver he was used for specific routes as Laveranues Coles was the number one wide receiver.

I don't want to give too much credence to all this; I think Santana Moss is at least capable of exceeding in whatever system he plays under, since he can be and has been a special kind of player. There is no offensive system that is not,at least on occasion, better off with a guy who can outrun the entire opponent's secondary with unrivaled adjustment-to-the-ball-while-it-is-in-the-air. I think Moss is fine, will have a place in this offense.

What about Antwaan Randle El, though? He's very nearly the same build as Santana Moss, is a great YAC guy with good speed. Whatever criticisms can be leveled towards Moss relating to his place in a WC system apply equally to ARE. I hate to say this because ARE is a special kind of player in his own right, but, isn't he just a Moss-lite? They aren't indistinguishable, but share a skill set and Moss is simply the more productive WR over the course of their careers. I wouldn't want Moss returning punts necessarily, or throwing WR passes, but if I had to choose just one starting WR I'd take Santana over Antwaan. Am I wrong about that?

And if it's the case that Moss (and by comparison ARE) have skill sets and size disadvantages that don't lend themselves to the West Coast offense, is it possible that Randle El may not finish the year at the #2 WR?

That's the new poll question, enjoy.

Psssst: I voted for 3rd WR behind either Kelly or Thomas but not both.

Jerry Gray goes to Lubbock

Skin Patrol — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:05:31 -0000

While all seven reader(s) are aware of my passion for Redskins, the truth is that I have two mistresses. I attended and graduated from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and proudly present myself as a Red Raider to anyone and everyone who will listen. The question of who I love more, Redskins or Red Raiders, is as unanswerable as trying to determine whether God could make a rock too heavy even for him. There is no answer. If you asked me to choose between my Redskins and my Texas Tech, I'd simply flee.

Unfortunately, my two passions rarely meet. There aren't a lot (any?) Texas Tech Red Raiders currently on the Redskins. These are not sports entities with much in common historically. Because of regional disputes, the fine folks (salt of the earth) of Lubbock, Texas hate the Redskins, because here in Texas you root for the Cowboys or the Texans. Even when these programs do meet, no one seems to remember: I've yet to encounter a Texas Tech fan who has, on a first pass, successfully identified the Texas Tech running back who set the Super Bowl record for most rushing yards in a game. It was (an only recently free) feller by the name of Timmy Smith, of Your Washington Redskins and my Texas Tech Red Raiders. He had 204 in SB XXII and probably would've been the MVP if not for a historic performance by Doug Williams. Prison no longer contains him as of March of this year.

Seth from Double T Nation, our resident Tech writer of a blog I frequent almost as much as I do this space, emailed me to say that "This may only interest you" on a story about our own cornerbacks coach Jerry Gray. He's probably correct, and it probably doesn't much interest any of you, either, but Jerry Gray is apparently from Lubbock. And although he attended the University of Texas (BOOOOOOO) his being from the LBK is close enough a connection to post about. And it says:

Now that the Washington Redskins are on a small break before training camp, former Estacado great Jerry Gray is back home in Lubbock, doing some good.

And I know the Estacado because I've visited the Llano Estacado winery in beautiful West Texas.

Link goes to a video that reminds Jerry Gray is a Longhorn (BOOOOOO) but his better half, bless her soul, is from Texas Tech like all the rest of us good folks. And -- you guys know I love this stuff -- Jerry Gray is providing a scholarship for five Texas Tech students via a golf tournament. Find out more at the Jerry Gray Foundation.

Thanks once more to Double T Nation for the hat tip, and here's a gratuitous Texas Tech video because I watch these things daily. Enjoy the greatest offense in College Football:

Michael Crabtree.

Interactive hair cuttery or "it's been too long since I posted about Chris Cooley"

Skin Patrol — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:05:48 -0000

It's been too long since I posted about Chris Cooley. With that in mind, please enjoy either this Todd Yoder blog entry at the CC website over good/bad/UGLY pranks:

The latest in this line of pranks was the placement of someone’s car keys in an empty Gatorade bottle; the bottle was then filled with urine and frozen. Defrosting piss can be a daunting task just to recover your keys. Not to mention the psychological damage that it has incurred with the thought that every time you start your car you are touching keys that have been immersed in another man's piss.

That's some hate(rade). In any event, I've now googled frozen urine and came up with these interesting facts: 1) Your piss freezes at -5 C , 2) frozen piss is also a useful means of beating drug tests.

Or you could enjoy Cooley with Dale, Jr. at the track probably to be posted somewhere else on this site later. I'm not even a NASCAR fan, but I've now made two consecutive posts referencing the sport.

No, the real point of this post is to discourage young man below from cutting off his hair:

This is democracy. Some people selfishly decide that, hey, I'm going to go cut my hair without consulting thousands of strangers via the internet. Chris Cooley says balderdash to all that because he believes in you America anyone with an internet connection, and trusts you to make crucial grooming decisions on behalf of others. Notice the hair above? He asks:

Should he Cut the Cooley Fro off?

This space says no, and no is winning as of this writing 602 (includes me) for keeping the shag and 165 for cutting.

I've got nothing else today.

Demetric Evans wants to save you MOOOOOOONEY!!!!

Skin Patrol — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:58:45 -0000

This post was too timely not to write, given that I recently found myself in the market for a new vehicle and owed some positive blog-space to Demetric Evans for questioning his future with the team as recently as yesterday. I didn't get to say all I wanted in yesterday's post, but let me quickly express appreciation for what Evans has done in Washington. He has been a consistent and reliable backup on a defense that has been very, very strong in three of the four years he's been with the team. His part in all that should not be ignored, which is why Redskins 360 (probably correctly) predicted him as a lock to make the team.

It turns out Demetric Evans is an intern at a car dealership :

Evans took an internship at Infinity of Tysons Corner in order to learn everything about the automobile business. He has always been one to make the most of every opportunity...

Evans said he's not really a car guy but he has spent time studying the industry during NFL-sponsored programs at the Harvard and Northwestern business schools.

The suggested long-term plan is for Evans to eventually own a dealership. I don't know how quickly one can make the leap from intern to owner, but I presume it's much quicker for those few individuals blessed with million dollar incomes over the past few years and a name relatively popular amongst the locals.

This isn't actually "news." DC Sports Bogger and highly approvable Washington Post reporter Dan Steinberg already had her (the story, that is):

Anyhow, Evans has never had a "real job," although he's already interned for a TV station in Texas and taken seminars for NFL players at the Harvard Business School and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. He's also got an offseason reading list; this year's entries included "Enough" by Juan Williams. His wife has questioned his motives--"she thinks I'm up there trying to get a dealer car," he joked--and almost none of his teammates know about his new job. I suggested his time might be better spent at the beach, but Evans demurred.

Having lost my own auto, I wouldn't begrudge Evans one bit were he just there trying to get a great deal on a brand new Infiniti. As for the reading... pretty heavy stuff, from the looks of it. Certainly heavier than anything I'd hoped to blog about this morning after settling on an article about our backup defensive end interning at a car dealership. I had planned on ending with a campy car dealership commercial -- there's no other kind -- via youtube, but this is as good a chance to post my current favorite commercial as ever:

It's cars, right? When it comes to Skin Patrol, the story ends with Skin Patrol putting Skin Patrol into the wall. (Tragically, true story.)

For all you NASCAR fans, make sure to spend some time at our very own Restrictor Plate This. I think RPT is just a little bit too down on Kyle Busch, but besides that it's a phenomenal racing blog, if you're into that kind of thing.

Also, soliciting advice from reader(s) on what I should purchase as far as a new vehicle is concerned. My spending limit is some amount less than "quality" but more than "may cause exploding" if only by a nose. Have at it.