Quinton Ganther On Brian Dawkins
When I talked to new Redskins running back Quinton Ganther late last week, one of the questions that I asked him was who he compared his running style to. "You watch, then you can tell me," he told me at the time. It was an uninteresting enough exchange that even I left it out of the post.
After watching him during his limited action in Sunday's game against the Broncos, I feel safe comparing Ganther's running style to a compact lead ball rolling downhill. Probably his most notable play -- the one embedded above, courtesy of Redskins Broadcast Net -- was the eighteen yard catch-and-run that ended with him taking on one of the NFL's great safeties in Brian Dawkins ... and pretty much getting the better of the collision.
Because I hadn't seen the finish of the play clearly from the press box but had heard it about it via Twitter, Iasked Ganther in the postgame locker room if he had actually run over Brian Dawkins. "Something like that," he said, chuckling.
"Man, Brian Dawkins is a guy that I grew up watching," he continued. "I love the way he plays the game, and I love the intensity he brings. He's always around the box and he always has his nose around the football. So I knew what to expect: it was either let him hit me, or I hit him. And I don't like to just be on the receiving end of hits, so I'm gonna deliver the punch."
So, with a bit of in-game action under his belt, I revisited the question of how Ganther describes his running style. "The thing that they don't know about me," he said, "I'm a little shifty in practice, but I'm a hard-nosed player. Football is a physical game, and in order to beat me, you're gonna have to make sure you're more physical than I am. And there's not a lot of people that's gonna bring that to the table."
Ganther also dismissed the question of if he was pleased with his performance, and dismissed it in exactly the way you like to hear. "I did what they asked me to do," he said. "They put me out there, I'm gonna do what they ask me to do. That's the type of person I am. You ask me to do something, that's what I'm gonna do. No matter what my role is, just tell me to get the job done and I'm gonna do it."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-17-2009 @ 2:55PM
willholland75 said...
why has there been no word on the play when dawkins elbowed a redskin in the back of the neck. has he been fined?
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11-18-2009 @ 10:22AM
Austen said...
I just need to put this out there, we need to get CJ Spiller. I know we need to update the O-line, and we should the rest of the draft, but if CJ is still there in the 1st round, how can you pass up one of the fastest players in college football (he dominates in track) who can run, receive, AND return kickoffs and punts all day. That addresses 3 issues we have w/ 1 player, I'm just sayin.... He's breaking records left and right, and something people don't even realize is that he has done this all while being the backup to James Davis for 3 years, and even this year he hasn't been fully healthy w/ Turf Toe and yet he has dominated in every.single.game. He doesn't even have to touch the ball to have an effect. On average, Clemson starts on there 46 yard line after kick offs, mostly because teams just kick it out of bounds.
-Joins Reggie Bush as only players in college football history with 2500 yards rushing, 1500 yards in kickoff returns, 1000 in receiving and 5000 in punt returns
-Has tied the national record for career kickoff returns for touchdowns with six
-Has 19 career touchdowns of 50 yards or more, more than Tim Brown, Rocket Ismail or Reggie Bush.
-Many more
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