rskinsfan10
09-14-2007, 12:01 AM
The man loves football. The man loves Redskins football. It simply oozes out of his pores. I'm sitting back watching my oldest son practice football with his Kettering-Largo-Mitchellville 75lb teammates when my Blackberry rings. Usually when I'm watching my boy practice, I'll ignore my phone when it rings. I'm so wrapped up into what he is (or isn't) doing on the field that I try to keep the distractions to a minimum. This ring was different though. It commanded "Don't Ignore Me!!" I slide the phone out of it's holster and the caller ID prominently displayed "Doc Walker". Well, I gotta take this call. "Yo Kenny, what's up? Let's do this man." With that begins the 3rd year of the hailRedskins/Doc Walker collaboration......
K-For starters, give me your overall assessment of the game against the Dolphins.
DW-I thought that overall, Sunday was far more positive then negative. I'd say 80-20 positive to negative. You had Chris Samuels return from 3 weeks of no contact, along with Pete Kendell who has only been in camp for 2 weeks. You lose Jansen in the 1st Qt, but Stephon Heyer the former Terrapin steps up. Miami comes out and takes away your primary go to guy in Chris Cooley, yet the passing game excels because of the efforts of Randle El. I'll take Santana Moss 9 times out of 10. He had a couple misses and there were some overthrows, but we were still in the attack mode with the passing game. This offense with Jason Campbell has the ability to score in one play. Now Brunell was successful against Dallas. He had some big throws, but this kid can do it on any down. When your offensive line has those things going against it, playing against the Dolphins which is a top 5 defense in 2006 with the addition of Joey Porter, it was recipe for disaster. Yet, when they needed it most during that scoring drive in the 4th Qt, they were actually the best. When you throw in close to 200yds rushing, that's checkmate.
K-You mentioned Jansen going down. What do you think will be the long term effects of that injury? Has he played is last down as a Redskin? A photographer from the Post took a picture right as the injury was occurring. It was nasty.
DW-Well they never look pretty when they are dislocated. Randy Thomas had a similar injury, and he bounced back. Jansen's resilience will bring him back. What he has to be cautious of, as do all veterans, is how well does Todd Wade play in his absence and are the cap numbers to his disadvantage. Then it becomes a business decision. I don't think that you can ever have enough competent people on your offensive line, so that is the unknown. You gotta find out if Wade can pick up where he left off from the New Orleans game from a year ago, which I thought was the best game of the season for Washington because they were able to go out and literally gut a team that was in the final four with their ground attack. This teams' strength is it's running game with Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts.
K-You mentioned Wade and seeing if he can pick up where he left off. Do you agree with the decision to start him over the rookie Heyer?
DW-Oh absolutely. Absolutely. I predicted it during the post game show. You have to use Heyer, who has proven that he can play both tackle positions for depth. Wade is not a left tackle. He couldn't play left guard, he sure as heck isn't going to be able to play left tackle. Stephon showed you that he can play left tackle and right tackle, so he becomes the ultimate swing guy. Plus, he's a rookie and Todd Wade has started a lot of games in this league. Add that he played well last year, so you put him in and hope that he picks up where he left off. Heyer just becomes so versatile and valuable for you.
K-You mention Jason Campbell and the threat of the deep passing game. One of those attempts led to an INT involving Brandon Lloyd seemingly giving up on his route. He followed that up with a lackluster effort in going after the Dolphin defender after the INT occurred. How much longer do the Redskins put up with Lloyd and his antics?
DW-Well, when you put $10mil in the hands of an athlete, it's frustrating, especially for the fans in this town. It's frustrating when you've seen the likes of Charley Taylor, Roy Jefferson, James Arthur Monk, Gary Clark, Ricky Sanders. They've seen Santana Moss. They've seen guys that just go out and play hard. I think that this town will accept you no matter what your talent level is if you play hard. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on Brandon Lloyd because I think he has enough pride to recover. He has to recover on Monday night. Now, he is on a short leash because they brought Caldwell in, who has started a lot of games in this league. Brandon Lloyd is exactly what this team needs because he is a deep[pause] well allegedly he is a deep ball threat specialist. So, he blew an opportunity to make a play or to avoid an INT. That ball was on the forty. That was in a potential scoring position. I'll tell you what he is going through. He is going through the fact that he is not starting. He's down on himself, which happens with all athletes. He's got to fight through it, and if he does I think that he can serve himself well in this town. If not, then you know, he'll be cast aside. You saw the treatment that Archuleta got last year and he got $10mil as well. They've shown that they will put you on the bench no matter what you make if it come to a point where they have given up on you.
K-For starters, give me your overall assessment of the game against the Dolphins.
DW-I thought that overall, Sunday was far more positive then negative. I'd say 80-20 positive to negative. You had Chris Samuels return from 3 weeks of no contact, along with Pete Kendell who has only been in camp for 2 weeks. You lose Jansen in the 1st Qt, but Stephon Heyer the former Terrapin steps up. Miami comes out and takes away your primary go to guy in Chris Cooley, yet the passing game excels because of the efforts of Randle El. I'll take Santana Moss 9 times out of 10. He had a couple misses and there were some overthrows, but we were still in the attack mode with the passing game. This offense with Jason Campbell has the ability to score in one play. Now Brunell was successful against Dallas. He had some big throws, but this kid can do it on any down. When your offensive line has those things going against it, playing against the Dolphins which is a top 5 defense in 2006 with the addition of Joey Porter, it was recipe for disaster. Yet, when they needed it most during that scoring drive in the 4th Qt, they were actually the best. When you throw in close to 200yds rushing, that's checkmate.
K-You mentioned Jansen going down. What do you think will be the long term effects of that injury? Has he played is last down as a Redskin? A photographer from the Post took a picture right as the injury was occurring. It was nasty.
DW-Well they never look pretty when they are dislocated. Randy Thomas had a similar injury, and he bounced back. Jansen's resilience will bring him back. What he has to be cautious of, as do all veterans, is how well does Todd Wade play in his absence and are the cap numbers to his disadvantage. Then it becomes a business decision. I don't think that you can ever have enough competent people on your offensive line, so that is the unknown. You gotta find out if Wade can pick up where he left off from the New Orleans game from a year ago, which I thought was the best game of the season for Washington because they were able to go out and literally gut a team that was in the final four with their ground attack. This teams' strength is it's running game with Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts.
K-You mentioned Wade and seeing if he can pick up where he left off. Do you agree with the decision to start him over the rookie Heyer?
DW-Oh absolutely. Absolutely. I predicted it during the post game show. You have to use Heyer, who has proven that he can play both tackle positions for depth. Wade is not a left tackle. He couldn't play left guard, he sure as heck isn't going to be able to play left tackle. Stephon showed you that he can play left tackle and right tackle, so he becomes the ultimate swing guy. Plus, he's a rookie and Todd Wade has started a lot of games in this league. Add that he played well last year, so you put him in and hope that he picks up where he left off. Heyer just becomes so versatile and valuable for you.
K-You mention Jason Campbell and the threat of the deep passing game. One of those attempts led to an INT involving Brandon Lloyd seemingly giving up on his route. He followed that up with a lackluster effort in going after the Dolphin defender after the INT occurred. How much longer do the Redskins put up with Lloyd and his antics?
DW-Well, when you put $10mil in the hands of an athlete, it's frustrating, especially for the fans in this town. It's frustrating when you've seen the likes of Charley Taylor, Roy Jefferson, James Arthur Monk, Gary Clark, Ricky Sanders. They've seen Santana Moss. They've seen guys that just go out and play hard. I think that this town will accept you no matter what your talent level is if you play hard. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on Brandon Lloyd because I think he has enough pride to recover. He has to recover on Monday night. Now, he is on a short leash because they brought Caldwell in, who has started a lot of games in this league. Brandon Lloyd is exactly what this team needs because he is a deep[pause] well allegedly he is a deep ball threat specialist. So, he blew an opportunity to make a play or to avoid an INT. That ball was on the forty. That was in a potential scoring position. I'll tell you what he is going through. He is going through the fact that he is not starting. He's down on himself, which happens with all athletes. He's got to fight through it, and if he does I think that he can serve himself well in this town. If not, then you know, he'll be cast aside. You saw the treatment that Archuleta got last year and he got $10mil as well. They've shown that they will put you on the bench no matter what you make if it come to a point where they have given up on you.