—Melissa Ruggieri shares with us in the POP! Culture blog that Bruce Springsteen will debut his new song at halftime of Sunday night’s NBC broadcast. Those of us in FedEx Field will be treated to a ceremony featuring the Redskins Hall of Fame inductees from this season.
—Look for a new edition of the ProCast with myself and Paul Woody, who delivered the zinger of the week after picking the Jets to beat the Patriots Thursday night. He added—“But it’s on NFL Network, so nobody will ever know if I’m wrong.“
—The NFL releases game notes each week to the media. Here’s what they found notable about Sunday night’s game…
COWBOYS: QB TONY ROMO has 9 TDs vs. 3 INTs & 97.6 passer rating in 4 starts vs. Was. Cowboys are 16-3 (.842) when Romo starts & has 100.0+ rating…When RB MARION BARBER has 11+ carries, Cowboys are 24-4 (.857). Has 35 TDs (29 rush, 6 rec.) in past 40…WR TERRELL OWENS has 6 TDs in past 3 meetings, incl. career-best 4 TDs in 11/18/07 meeting. Aims for 4th in row vs. Was. with 7+ receptions & 1+ TD. TE JASON WITTEN has 359 catches & 4,185 yards since 2004, most by TE in NFC. Leads NFC with 20 receptions on 3rd down (222 yards, 11.1 avg.). Had 7 catches for 90 yards & 1 TD in last meeting…
LB DE MARCUS WARE has 24.0 sacks in past 23. Has 1.0+ sack in 19 of past 24. Aims for 6th in row vs. Was. with sack. LB GREG ELLIS has 15.5 sacks in past 22. Rookie CB MIKE JENKINS had 1st career INT-TD in Week 9. DE MARCUS SPEARS had sack & FF in last meeting.
REDSKINS: QB JASON CAMPBELL leads NFL with 0.7 INT pct. (2 INTs, 273 att.). Had career-high 348 yards in 11/18/07 meeting. In last game vs. Dal., Campbell completed 20 of 31 (64.5 pct.) for 231 yards with 2 TDs vs. 0 INTs for 108.4 passer rating. When he has 100.0+ rating, team is 5-1 (.833)…RB CLINTON PORTIS has 995 rush yards & aims to become 3rd Redskin to lead league in rushing, joining HOFer CLIFF BATTLES (1937) & LARRY BROWN (1970). Aims for 3rd in row vs. Dal. with 100+ yards…WR SANTANA MOSS aims for 4th in row vs. Dal. with 8+ catches & 115+ yards. In past 3 meetings, Moss has 25 receptions for 381 yards (127.0 per game) & 2 TDs. TE CHRIS COOLEY had career-high 3 TDs vs. Dal. (12/18/05). Since 2004, has 28 TDs, most among NFC TEs…
LB-DE JASON TAYLOR leads active players with 118.0 sacks. CB DE ANGELO HALL makes Was. debut. Rookie S CHRIS HORTON had INT in last meeting.
That’s all for the notes. We’ll be back tomorrow morning in Ashburn.
Michael Phillips
November 11, 2008 11:55 AM
A scary bye-week situation for backup quarterback Todd Collins, who suffered a severe sinus infection while at home in Boston. His eardrum ruptured, and he had to go to the emergency room for a time.
Redskins coach Jim Zorn said that he was feeling better, but because of the nature of the injury was advised not to fly in an airplane. He will drive from Boston to DC and arrive in time to practice on Wednesday.
Michael Phillips
November 11, 2008 10:06 AM
An exciting relationship has developed between president George W Bush and Redskins coach Jim Zorn, two avid outdoorsmen.
During the bye week they did some biking around the nation’s capital at one of Bush’s favorite spots.
“We just rode bikes. Just went for a workout. Saturday and Sunday,“ Zorn said. “He rode me into the ground, so he’s still in tremendous shape. He’s a competitor, when he has a chance to play hard, he plays hard.“
He was then asked whether he’d hoop it up with president-elect Barack Obama, to which he joked that they’d have to play horse. It turns out the coach has been stealing some of Obama’s lines in staff meetings, calling for change. Then he ended the political discussion.
“That office is so different than what we’re doing,“ Zorn said. “We should not compare the two. We’re playing for different stakes here.“
Michael Phillips
November 11, 2008 8:38 AM
Part of this business is flexibility, and I couldn’t share with you everything I wanted to about DeAngelo Hall in this morning’s paper because, well, there was more important news. A Clinton Portis injury will overshadow just about everything, and it certainly will for the rest of the week. But a few final things on Taylor.
—He’s got a loud personality, and hasn’t always meshed with his teammates. He’s also 24 years old (and will turn 25 next week), so when he chalks his mistakes up to youth, well, he’s got a point. London Fletcher said the defense would welcome him.
“I think we’ve got a great locker room. Guys love coming to work and playing with each other. Everybody has their own individual personality, you’ve got to accept that—and at the same time he’ll have to fit into what we’re doing,“ Fletcher said. “He’s been thrust into the middle of the season. We’ve just got to reach out, embrace him and make him feel comfortable as much as possible.“
—He won’t start as punt returner, but he could see some special teams action this week—filling in for the duties that released player Leigh Torrence had. Torrence, by the way, was claimed off of waivers by the New Orleans Saints.
—Shawn Springs could move to safety, but both secondary coach Jerry Gray and Jim Zorn were noncommittal on the possibility. It’s a lot to ask of a guy who’s just now getting healthy and back into the swing of things. Let him play a game at full speed before discussing anything else.
Michael Phillips
November 10, 2008 4:10 PM
Whoa, here’s a Monday afternoon shock…Clinton Portis, who thought the bye week would help heal his knee sprain, is now downgraded to questionable for Sunday’s Redskins-Cowboys game. At this point it’s a 50-50 proposition—he sat out practice today.
If he didn’t play, the team would count on Shaun Alexander and Rock Cartwright, though they may have the injured Ladell Betts back—that’s uncertain as well at this point.
Without Portis, the team loses the best running back in the NFL by yardage, and a weapon they would have deployed early and often against the Dallas Cowboys. We’ve explored the overuse of Portis before (in an article that didn’t get posted to the web…sorry.), but this could become a major issue in the season’s final weeks.
We’ll be back tomorrow with more on this situation.
Darryl Slater
November 10, 2008 4:01 PM
No, not that kind of Wild Turkey
Michael Phillips
November 10, 2008 3:55 PM
Comments from Tech grad DeAngelo Hall’s introductory press conference:
—“I’m settling in pretty good. This is home, and it’s always nice to go back home.“
—“I was so eager to get out of Atlanta I really didn’t take my time. If I did, I probably would have been here from the jump. But I was so eager to make it happen and get out, I ended up going to a situation that probably wasn’t the best for me.“
—“It’s not so much that it didn’t work out (in Oakland). Al Davis told me that we’re not as good as I thought we’d be as a team, so we need to free up some room. He’s very honest, straightforward, to the point. I was the last to come in, so I was the first to go. He’s a stand-up guy and he’s very true to his players.“
—“This is the NFL. The business side of things never ceases to amaze anybody. I’ve seen people cut first-rounders.“
—“Every team in the league wanted me as far as coming in and playing. But for me it came down to what team do I have a future with. I don’t want to necessarily have to go through the free-agent thing again when the season is over. I just felt in my gut that this was the place for me.“
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