Showing posts with label Redskins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Redskins. Show all posts

Friday, February 17, 2012

The Redskins practice bubble exists


I posted images of the Redskins practice bubble when it was a pile of dirt, and also when it was a slab of concrete, so it’s only fair for me to note that the practice bubble is now a practice bubble. A bit more than two months late, but still, a bubble it is. Plus, Redskins.com’s Brian Tinsman wrote that the facility “now dominates the skyline in Loudoun County,” which is more than the old outdoor fields could ever say.

“Very excited bout the new indoor facility goin up @ Redskins park!” kicker Graham Gano tweeted. “No more practicing @ Lifetime or in aircraft hangers!”

!

“Very cool, the Redskins will practice indoors in this facility next year,” Larry Michael said on Redskins.com TV. “It will have a regulation 100-yard field inside, it’ll be 96-feet tall on the inside, field turf the surface inside....Now, the inside of the bubble needs some work obviously, for the field to be laid in. But just to see it there, the first indoor facility ever for the Redskins, and it is a beauty.”

(Images taken from the Skins blog, Redskins.com TV and from Chris Russell’s Twitter feed. The last image is before it was all the way completed, but it’s hauntingly appealing. As practice bubble photos go.)





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Friday, February 10, 2012

Brian Mitchell on the Redskins, coaching, hating and anger


If you’re new to these parts, you might not remember some of the quotes produced by Brian Mitchell’s initial forays into the world of sports media. They weren’t subtle.

 “We have some guys just happy to be getting a paycheck," Mitchell said on his Monday night WTEM show, late in the disappointing 1996 season. “We have as much talent as the Super Bowl team of '91. We have guys who don't unleash all their talent. They don't want to give extra effort.” 

The Redskins were 8-6 then, still in the playoff picture, but Mitchell wasn’t about to mince words. His rant eventually elicited a comment from then-head coach Norv Turner.

“From my standpoint, if a guy has something he wants to talk about, I'd rather he do it with me,” Turner said a few days later. “But Brian has a radio show. And when you’ve got two hours on the radio, you've got to say something.”

 This is how a certain segment of D.C. sports fans has viewed Mitchell in recent years: a firebrand, willing to spout off just to attract attention, the guy who says the Redskins were outcoached and Kyle Shanahan looks “like a nerd” when he tries to rally his troops. And this, Mitchell would have you know, is the furthest thing from the truth.

 “The problem is, I say things that people are afraid to say,” Mitchell told me, during a recent phone conversation. “People on the team or around town say all kind of things, and then when the camera gets on them, they want to be politically correct. I think that’s the problem with this damn country now. I was raised to say what I believe, to say what I mean. And it may hurt your feelings, but over time, you’re going to respect me. You won’t respect me if I don’t say what I feel. I’d much rather be respected than liked.”

 This will be Mitchell’s guiding philosophy when he debuts his new Comcast SportsNet show, SportsTalk Live, Monday at 10:30. The show – which replaces the dearly departed Washington Post Live – will be co-hosted by Mitchell and Ivan Carter, and it will cover a mix of local and national topics.

Mitchell, who has done radio shows on ESPN 980 and 106.7 The Fan and TV work for CSN and WUSA-9, said he brings the same attitude toward every local team. But he knows that fans will focus on his comments about the Redskins.

“Because for some reason, people believe since I played for the Redskins, I’m not supposed to criticize them,” he said. “I was criticized by former players when I played, I was criticized by the media when I played, but it didn’t make a difference. I already knew, you can’t beat the media. You can’t beat a pen, you can’t beat a camera, and you damn sure can’t beat a microphone.

 “Instead of saying something to me, how about you go work on your trade and try to improve what you’re doing? And then I will give you the love that you want. But if you’re not taking care of your job, you’re not doing what you supposed to be doing, why should I praise you? I made the career I did because I worked my ass off. I’m not gonna sit up here and praise guys with more talent than I ever had just for being in the NFL; I’m not gonna do it.”

If you’re curious, Mitchell never set out to have a media career. He studied business and chemical engineering in college — “I guess [people] think I’m the guy that majored in underwater basket-weaving,” he joked, when I expressed surprise — and figured he’d go into business after he was done with football.

(Coaching?

“I love talking to people and educating people about sports, but coaching is not about the art of what you’re supposed to be doing; coaching is the art of making people think you’re bigger than what you are,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t like meetings when I played; you think I’m gonna like them now?”)

He said his media career began when he saw a John Clayton report he disagreed with, and wanted an outlet to respond. And even as a player, he would be harshly critical, both inside the locker room and on the airwaves.

“If we played terrible and people talked about how good we played, I hated those people,”he said. “If you’re constantly telling me I’m doing good when I’m doing bad, how the hell am I gonna improve? If people praise you and you’re losing all the time, why the hell should you get better?

Still, Mitchell insisted he’s not as angry as he sometimes seems. Come see him eat dinner with his wife and four children, or interact with fans, or make fun of Ivan Carter in the green room.

 “I’m always smiling,” he said, “but if I’m talking about something I don’t like, I’m not gonna joke about it.”

 As for the people who think Mitchell gets in trouble for not having a filter, well, that makes him smile, too.

“I think they’re crazy,” he said. “If I said everything I want to say, I wouldn’t be doing radio or TV.” 


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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Raheem Morris wastes no time moving on to Redskins after firing from Buccaneers

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Last championship turns 20

Raheem Morris wastes no time moving on to Redskins after firing from Buccaneers

Elsa/Getty Images - “He gets along well with people. He gets along well with players,” Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan said of Raheem Morris, above.

Smaller TextLarger TextText SizePrintE-mailReprints By Mike Jones,

MOBILE, Ala. — Any successful defensive back will tell you that having a short memory ranks high on the list of requirements for playing the position.

Give up a big play — no matter how costly — and a cornerback or safety must flush it from his mind, move onto the next snap and try again. Dwelling on one letdown will lead only to more failures.

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Mel Kiper thinks Redskins could miss out on top QB at No. 6

The NFL draft is still roughly three months away, but with the East-West Shrine game taking place this week, and the Senior Bowl next week, and the NFL combine a month from now, the buzz has gotten underway.

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. released his first mock draft on Wednesday, and today hosted a conference call and offered his opinion on the early projections.

The Redskins currently hold the sixth overall pick, but Kiper believes that the team will have a tough time getting a much-needed franchise quarterback at that pick. Stanford’s Andrew Luck is a shoo-in for the first pick, and Kiper believes Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III will go anywhere from second to fourth.

Unless the Redskins are able to trade up to get Griffin before Cleveland (the next QB-needy team after Indianapolis), Kiper predicts that Mike Shanahan & Co. would draft for need and take LSU’s Morris Claiborne.

The 6-foot, 185-pound Claiborne last season recorded six interceptions and 51 tackles for LSU and could help bolster a Redskins secondary that recorded only 10 interceptions and is in need of a strong nickelback.

“There’s no other quarterback after [Griffin] to even consider in the early to mid first round, or even the late first as well. I don’t see a quarterback figuring in there,” Kiper said. “Claiborne, to me, it’s a need area. It’s a kid that has a high grade. [Oklahoma State receiver Justin] Blackmon I think will be gone by then. ... I’d put Claiborne there because other guys I was considering [for Washington], I feel will be off the board.”

But what about quarterback?

After Luck and Griffin, the pedigree appears to drop off significantly, but Washington still could wind up with a quarterback. The Redskins have a high second-round pick, and Kiper doesn’t believe any of the other quarterbacks in the draft are first-round worthy.

“The guys you’re looking at would be Brock Osweiler from Arizona State, who I think would be a little high for, same thing with Nick Foles from Arizona, or Ryan Tannehill from Texas A&M. So those will be your next three quarterbacks with no specific order right now, because we’re still very early in the process.”

Kiper points out there are questions about each of those passers, and they could be more developmental players than franchise saviors.

Tannehill was set to display his talents in the Senior Bowl, but now will miss the game with a broken foot. He could have helped his stock with a strong performance during Senior Bowl week, Kiper believes. Also hurting Tannehill is the fact that he has struggled in big games.

The knock against Osweiler is his questionable decision-making (too many games with multiple interceptions), and Foles struggles with accuracy at times as well.

Brandon Weeden from Oklahoma State is an interesting prospect, but he will be a 29-year-old rookie, and he too has accuracy issues. So Kiper projects him to go in the third round.


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