Redskins Drop The Middle Men, Cut 10 players posted by Todd F. Dixon

     In my last post I stated that I was hopeful we were going to release some players.  All but two of the players I listed were released today, and a few more I didn't even think about were released as well.  Only two other teams released players thus far, and those teams (The Jets and The Bengals) released only one player each (laveranues coles and Thomas Jones). 

     The Redskins don't like to do things calmy, under the radar, or undramatically.  The Redskins are the "American Idol" of professional football, we are a soap opera, and it's exciting to watch how the team puts itself together.  Let's take a look at the players we released.

Ladell Betts - RB - Iowa

2nd round pick by the Redskins (#56 overall) in the 2002 draft.  Betts spent his career backing up Clinton Portis, and compiled 3,176 yards and 13 TDs in 7 seasons with the skins.  Betts was a very solid backup, and stepped in with great success when Portis got injured.  Betts suffered a horrible injury last year, ending his season.   Betts is the only Redskins Running back in team history to rush for consecutive 150+ yard games.  My memory of Betts was in a game against the Ravens in the preseason where his jersey read "Bettis."

Antwaan Randle El - WR/PR- Indiana

2nd round pick by the Steelers (#63 overall) in the 2002 draft.  Signed to a 7-year 31 million dollar deal as a free agent in 2006.  El was supposed to bolster the Redskins receiving core and help with the return game, but struggled in both positions.  El as a person is a great guy, very important to whatever community he is in, but is just past his prime and it was time we parted ways.  My memory of El was when we faked an end-around to him and he passed to Santana Moss on a 48 yard touchdown in week 17, 2006.

Upcoming NFL Draft posted by Todd F. Dixon

Ok, I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but I've been asked about the draft, and I decided to break the silence and post an entry. 

 I haven't posted in awhile because of my disgust of where the franchise was going, and how angry me and the rest of the fans have been with the organization.  The hiring of Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan, and firing of Vin Dieseldorf have provided some hope though.  The fact that The Danny might be taking a step back from involvement has made us all a little less angry. 

So, with that said lets talk about the next step for the Redskins, the draft. Free agency is obviously gonna be rough this year without a new CBA agreement reached.  Which basically means all the unrestricted free-agents will now be restricted free-agents.  Here is what I think we should do with free-agency and the draft.

 Jason Campbell:  Keep him.  JC was a top 15 QB with the worst OL in football and almost the worst RB core in football (they ranked 28th in rushing).  I know Shamahan will draft "his" guy at QB, and he will need some time to learn, so JC can be the stopgap.

Carlos Rogers, Antwaan randle-el, Rock Cartwright, Randy Thomas, Clinton Portis, Ladell Betts, Todd Collins, and Fred Smoot need to go.  Rogers is a bust, El is a bust, Thomas needs to retire, Rock is worthless, CP is past his prime, Betts never has a prime, Collins should retire, and Smoot is a nickelback at best.  It's time to give the young guys a shot, and not pay so much for overrated talent.

The Five Best Super Bowl Winners Since 1985 posted by Colin Linneweber

The New Orleans Saints will play the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV Sunday at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The Colts (16-2) are currently favored by nearly six points to defeat the underdog Saints (15-3) this weekend.

No matter what the ultimate outcome is, fans can expect to witness a thrilling game between the offensively explosive Saints and Colts.

In tribute to this weekend’s championship matchup, I have decided to rank the five best Super Bowl winners of the past quarter-century.

1)      The 1989-1990 San Francisco 49ers- The dominant 49ers (17-2) absolutely destroyed the overmatched Denver Broncos (13-6) by a score of 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV to repeat as champions at the Superdome in New Orleans.

To this very day, the 49ers lopsided margin of victory over the Broncos remains the biggest blowout in Super Bowl history.

Legendary Niners quarterback Joe Montana was justifiably named the game’s MVP after he completed 22 of 29 passes for 297 yards and five touchdown passes.

San Francisco’s underrated defense stifled John Elway’s aerial assault and they managed to limit Denver to a paltry 167 yards on offense.

Joe Montana is a four-time Super Bowl champion and he has been the focal point of many tremendous squads.

Still, the 1989-1990 49ers unit was the greatest one that Montana ever played on.

2)      The 1985-1986 Chicago Bears- The Bears (18-1) humiliated the New England Patriots (14-6) 46-10 in Super Bowl XX at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Exercising the Demons posted by Amari Harris

The Cowboys have a huge match-up this week against the #2 seed Minnesota Vikings.  But, I don’t think that will keep any Cowboys fan from relishing in what has transpired over the last month.  Over these last 4 weeks the Cowboys have exercised all of their “demons” and now simply have to go into the Metrodome and take on the 12-4 Minnesota Vikings led by Brett Favre to advance to the NFC championsip.  Piece of cake, right?  Well before we stuff ourselves, let’s digest the last month of the season and see what the Cowboys were able to stomach (pun intended). 

Demon #1:  DECEMBER

It all started in New Orleans when the Cowboys took on the undefeated New Orleans Saints.  They were coming off back to back losses to the Chargers and Giants and the December monster continued to loom.  Most experts predicted that the Cowboys would not only lose Saturday night in New Orleans , but that they could possibly free fall out of the playoffs with more late-season losses.  The Cowboys went on to man handle the Saints for the majority of the game and DeMarcus Ware added a signature performance  to his growing legacy. 

After handing New Orleans its first  loss of the season, the Cowboys took on a semi-surging Washington Redskins team that wanted to show what they had to new GM Bruce Allen.  Result:  17-0 shut-out, courtesy of Wade Phillips and his suddenly vaunted defense.  The Cowboys had punched their ticket to the playoffs but I have to admit that there were

The Cav Report: A New Era posted by Amari Harris

After the Cowboys beat up on the Washington Redskins a couple of weeks ago I had a chance to catch up with one of my old teammates, John Phillips, who currently plays tight end for the Cowboys.  We only spoke briefly but we did manage to discuss UVA’s recent hiring of Mike London as the new head coach.  I instantly realized that I had yet to publish my opinion on this hire and it is certainly a topic that deserves some discussion.

I’d like to say that I predicted that 2009 would be Al Groh’s last season as Virginia’s head football coach, but I think the writing was on the wall after the loss to William & Mary.  Groh is a good coach, so I think he’ll land on his feet real soon (hopefully in the NFL).  Now, UVA has to find a way back to its former glory.  The first step in the process was hiring a new head coach and I think the AD Craig Littlepage got it right with the hiring of London. 

As the Cavaliers defensive coordinator for 2006 & 2007, London had Virginia playing some of their best defense in over a quarter century.  Virginia finished in the top 20 in the nation in rushing yards, points allowed and sacks and managed to win 9 games that season despite their struggles on offense.  As a defensive line specialist, London turned Jeffrey Fitzgerald into a freshman All-American and Chris Long into the best defensive lineman in the country and second overall pick in the NFL draft.  He also led a shut-out performance against the Miami Hurricanes as the Cavaliers officially closed down the Orange Bowl with a 41-0 thumping of the ‘Canes in 2007.

Back in the tournament! posted by Amari Harris

With a shutout win against the lowly Washington Redskins the Dallas Cowboys split their December games (2-2).  While it is not a complete turn around from their previous struggles, they showed some mettle down the stretch and have officially punched their ticket into the tournament.  There are still many dominoes that need to fall into place to determine final playoff seeding, but at least the ‘Boys got a shot. 

While the defense dominated last night and the offense made enough plays to keep the game out of reach, there is still plenty to be anxious about.

Wade Phillips can breathe a small sigh of relief as his job is safe for the time being, but I’m not sure the same can be said about offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.  While the distribution and efficiency of the passing game is a reason for excitement, the continued failure to capitalize on critical conversion and scoring opportunities may cost this team in the playoffs. 

On five separate occasions, the offense was stuffed on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1 situations.  And it wasn’t even close.  Although some of the blame can be placed on Marion Barber (who was dancing around in the backfield like a ballerina), Garrett does not seem to have enough variation in the calls.  Everyone knows who’s getting the ball on 3rd/4th and short when Barber is in the game.  Even Emmitt Smith wasn't impressed with the play calling.  I’m not necessarily saying Deion Anderson is the answer on short yardage either, but in the playoffs the Cowboys will have to mix it up.  Maybe a fake to Barber (at fullback) with the pitch out to Felix Jones?  I’m not a professional coach or anything, but that seems to work around the league.  What about actually handing the ball to Felix Jones in the wildcat (That reverse to Austin was just ugly)?  A little misdirection never hurt anybody…except the defense. 

Joe's Opening Drive: Week 15 posted by Joe Anello

After another dramatic Colts win, the still-undefeated Saints try their luck against the Cowboys on Saturday night while the second seed in the AFC is on the line on Sunday. Let's start the Opening Drive of week 15 in the NFL!

(8-5) Dallas Cowboys at (13-0) New Orleans Saints 

Dallas' DeMarcus Ware is going to play less than a week after suffering a neck strain, but that may not be enough for the free-falling Cowboys. Going into New Orleans and escaping with a victory will require near-flawless play and a lot of luck. Even without tight end Jeremy Shockey, Drew Brees has an abundance of weapons at his disposal. If the Saints move to 14-0, it will could signal the end of Dallas' playoff hopes and the end of Wade Philips' tenure as head coach.

***UPDATE: Dallas freaking did it. I'll be sure to cover this stunner in the Final Drive.

(8-5) New England Patriots at (5-8) Buffalo Bills 

Don't look now, but the rest of the AFC East is catching up to the Patriots. If Bill Belichick's squad loses another road game (which they've done consistently this season) and Miami or the Jets win, the Pats will fall out of the division lead and risk a playoff berth entirely. In a up-and-down season in Buffalo, this could be a signature win to carry them over into next year.

(9-4) Cincinnati Bengals at (10-3) San Diego Chargers

In the most significant game of the weekend, San Diego and Cincinnati are essentially playing for the number two seed in the AFC and an additional home game in the playoffs. San Diego has been lighting teams up in December while the Bengals were just lambasted by Minnesota. After the tragic loss of Chris Henry, I can't believe the Bengals are going to have enough in the tank to head out west and win.

Big Daddy Believes In Miracles posted by Les Leonard

     How many Saints’ fans wrote off the Saints when Washington lined up their game-clinching 23-yard field goal? This year’ s “ Finish” mentality has produced the franchise’s best season start ever, not to mention the team’s most unbelievable victory in 43 years Sunday. Previous season mottos never produced the results that the ’ 09 slogan has. Big Daddy wonders if the Saints brought in Tiger Woods to demonstrate how awesome happy endings feel? Tiger always benefits from coming hard at the end both on and off the course. If it works for Saints fans for the next 13 years, the Superdome staff will have lots of new banners to hang. Seriously, Big Daddy wants Saints fans to understand the significance of a team that wins games they should lose. Haven’ t we suffered the downside of that equation for far too long? Hell yeah! But now its our time! In this edition of the Section 645 Saints Beat, Big Daddy questions the BCS, reports from the Kingpin, recaps the Redskins game, examines the NFL’ s playoff picture, and releases his World Famous Pregame Information.

     As 2009 winds down , the fraudulent BCS has screwed three more schools (TCU, Cincinnati, and Boise State) out of having the opportunity to compete for the national championship. Saying BCS sponsors pay college presidents handsomely to maintain “ the status quo” — although true, is exactly what they want the masses to believe. Refusing to change this terrible system, touting we can’ t disrupt college football’ s great tradition, sucks more than Congressional Democrats holding up health care reform due to they’re ridiculous anti-abortion stance. How can all sports, regardless of what level, seed teams to playoff for the trophy except Division 1-A NCAA football? Big Daddy thinks the NFL owners are the guys stopping progress. The NFL has no desire to see their popularity diminished like that of the NBA every time March Madness rolls around. Lets face it, this week’s match-ups of Buffalo at Kansas City, Detroit at Baltimore, Jets at Tampa, St. Louis at Tennessee, and Washington at Oakland is a perfect example to show how boring late season pro football can be. Viagra couldn’ t get football fans up for these garbage games.

Going Forward: Can the Dallas Cowboys conquer their December Woes/Foes? posted by Amari Harris

To this point of the season the Cowboys have taken care of business, for the most part.  The Cowboys could very easily be 9-1 had they just maintained their composure against the likes of the New York Giants and Denver Broncos.  But instead of dwelling on what could have been, the ‘Boys did a good job of moving on as they went on to win 6 of their next 7 games and claim 1st place in the NFC east.  Unfortunately, none of that matters now.  The Cowboys are 8-3 with the Philadelphia Eagles in a close trail at 7-4, and the Giants still kicking at 6-5.  And being that the final five games of this season are in the dreaded month of December, the phrase “anything can happen” is an understatement. 

In the last 3 seasons the Cowboys have gone 5-8 in the month of December.  Their December woes are well documented so I don’t have to go too far into detail to paint the picture.  They have been battered and bruised in this month and they always seem to lose the big game.   Tony Romo has taken a large share of the blame for these losses as he has QB rating of 71.9 in the month of December while posting a 93.0 QB rating during the other months of the season.  So any Cowboys fan knows that December is looming and this will be the biggest test yet for this team.

The Cowboys final 5 games is a brutal stretch that includes 3 road games and 2 home games against the red hot San Diego Chargers and revenge minded Philadelphia Eagles in the final game of the season ( sound familiar).  They have 3 tough division games along with 2 tougher non-division games against the aforementioned Chargers and the best team in the leaguer right now, the New Orleans Saints.  The last time the

And with the 5th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft the Washington Redskins select.... posted by Pablo Rotondaro

Well, the Redskins found another way to lose a game yesterday, there were some good things, more bad ones and a few headscratchers.The only good thing about losing as many games as they have this year is that they still have their top draft picks next year (for now) and it's looking more and more like a top 5 pick...can't wait until April!

There were many positive things in the game yesterday, the most encouraging sign of the game yesterday was that the defense was able to hold the Cowboys to only 7 points playing without Albert Haynesworth and without creating much of a pass rush in the meantime. They played tighter coverage than usual and LaRon Landry looked like the top draft pick that they thought he would be as he was flying all over the field and put the fear of god in Roy Williams who looked scared out of his mind when he went across the middle. Witten was a non-factor and Romo, other than the last drive of the game, couldn't hit anyone.They did give up a ton of yards on the ground but that was to be expected without Haynesworth in the middle, something that should signal to those who don't see how valuable he is that without him the defensive line isn't even close to being as good everyone wanted to think they are, he is the anchor against the run and the pass rush, and is a central player in the defense. That being said, they played well enough to win and deserved the shutout.

The offense was up to its usual pathetic performance as they failed to sustain any drives and could only muster up 4 field goal tries, hardly an impressive outing from the group although Jason Campbell likes to pat himself on the back for "stepping up" as he said in post-game interviews, that alone tells me that this guy does not get it but we'll get to that later. The special teams was not very good as they missed 2 field goals, the second of which was a 50-yarder but definitely makeable.The first one was only 39 yards but, after the debacle by the refs, it wasn't as easy as it should have been. Cartwright was great, he has always been a core player and a symbol of what this team needs more of, guys that give it their all and don't worry so much about their entitlement to things like a starting position. It seems like some guys just have a spot eventhough they don't earn it (Randle-El as a returner....WTF???) and other just don't play their best. The offensive line held together pretty well, Jones was once again solid as he shut out DeMarcus Ware, not exactly an easy feat and kept the Cowboys with their constant blitzes and pass rush off of Campbell for the most part.

Redskins bring in veteran NT for 2 years, $7M

Free-agent nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu has signed with theWashington Redskins. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NFL

Redskins sign NT Kemoeatu for 2 years (AP)

Free-agent nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu signed a two-year, $6.975 million contract with the Washington Redskins on Wednesday. The 6-foot-5, 345-pound Kemoeatu spent last season on injured reserve with the Carolina Panthers after tearing his Achilles' tendon in training camp. His agent, Ken Vierra, said in a telephone interview that the tendon is "structurally sound" and Kemoeatu is able... [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Irish, Maryland to meet in 2011 in DC (AP)

Notre Dame and Maryland will meet next year at the Washington Redskins stadium. The schools on Monday announced the game will take place Nov. 12, 2011. Notre Dame will serve as the home team because it already had an agreement with the Redskins for that date. The two schools have met once before, when the Fighting Irish beat the Terrapins 22-0 in the 2002 Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Irish-Maryland to meet in 2011 in DC (AP)

Notre Dame and Maryland will meet next year at the Washington Redskins stadium. The schools on Monday announced the game will take place Nov. 12, 2011. Notre Dame will serve as the home team because it already had an agreement with the Redskins for that date. The two schools have met once before, when the Fighting Irish beat the Terrapins 22-0 in the 2002 Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Randle El, Smoot among 10 Redskins cut (AP)

The Washington Redskins unleashed a 30-something purge Thursday night, making the team significantly younger by cutting 10 players and clearing salary cap space for another aggressive run at free agency. In the first major moves under the new brain trust of coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen, the Redskins said goodbye to seven players 30 or older: receiver Antwaan Randle El,... [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports