It could be argued that this entire Redskins season has felt cold, dreary, and rainy; today the weather during the practice matched. So it was probably a good thing that, in honor of Veterans Day, the Redskins hosted 25 servicemen and -women from the Southeast Veterans Service Center in Washington, DC. The veterans were allowed to watch practice, given lunch, and then had a chance to meet players and coaches and get some autographs.

And after that, it was one of those mutual admiration societies, with the vets thrilled to meet the players, and the players honored to meet the veterans.

During his daily media chat session, head coach Jim Zorn was asked his opinion on Greg Blache's impassioned defense of Daniel Snyder. You might have thought -- given all the reports that swirled around Sherm Lewis taking over play-calling duties -- that this might've been a tense moment, but that wasn't how it played out at all.

Zorn didn't hesitate before agreeing with Blache and offering up his own defense of the owner -- and taking responsibility for a big chunk of the problem.

"Dan Snyder is a guy that absolutely cares about other people. He does not have that kind of [dark heart] attitude," Zorn said.

Defensive coordinator Greg Blache hasn't been talking to the media lately, not because of a boycott but for personal reasons that were approved by the league. Today, that changed.

I figured I had written everything I was going to write about John Riggins' screed from last night in my last post. But Blache wasn't satisfied with quietly mumbling his frustration with Riggins. He asked the Redskins PR staff to gather the media, and unleashed the following comments.

"Hey, guys. I just wanted to come in here today real quick. This morning when I came in I turned my computer on, and I was looking at ProFootballTalk and I saw a comment that John Riggins had made about Mr. Snyder, and it really bothered me the more I sat there at my desk. Because there's been a lot of criticism of him over the last few weeks, and this is a man I've known for six years -- since I've been here.

"And in the six years I've never seen John Riggins here. I've met him once at the Beach Blitz down in Virginia Beach; never seen him down in the building. So to hear such a vicious criticism of somebody I consider not just my employer but a good friend ... bothered me.

"As much as I hadn't been talking to the media, I felt like this was something I needed to do. Somebody needed to stand up and set this record straight, because this person ... the comment that was made was "dark heart"? That's totally, totally untrue. And the problem is the fans don't get to know Mr. Snyder like we do, and so they get an impression of things that are written and things people say."

But wait, there's more:

It's been a frustrating Technical Difficulties Wednesday. I'm hoping things are back to normal-ish now. We'll see.



One thing that's gotten a little lost in the coverage of yesterday's charitable event -- including my own -- is that it wasn't actually about the owner talking to the media. It was about the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation unveiling their partnership with Price George's County Public Schools, which covers not only the maintenance of the fields, but also the continuation of many other charitable programs: Coaches in the Classroom, Redskins Read, 4th & Life, Harvest Feast and more.

It was a big deal for the Charitable Foundation -- and that, in fact, was the focus of owner Daniel Snyder's FIRST (and somewhat less-reported) comments yesterday.

Actually, his first comments are drowned out by the crowd and the wind, and his second comments are about giving the players a round of applause for being there on their day off. But after that he continued with the charitable stuff. Even there, though, you can spot hints of his frustration with the Redskins leaking through.

"The twelve fields that we're doing are very, very important to us, because it's giving back to the community. That's what it's all about. We recognize the importance of Prince George's County, where our stadium, FedExField is -- and we hope to do a little better next game there," he said.

• Jason Cole at Yahoo! Sports has a fascinating profile of DT Albert Haynesworth. From an on-the-field standpoint, the most interesting thing is just how good a lot of people believe Haynesworth can be:
  

"There aren't many times when you have a player like that hit free agency, a guy who can change the balance of power," one long-time agent said. "You've had Reggie White and Deion Sanders [with San Francisco and Dallas], just a couple of guys with that kind of talent [who were able] to switch teams. They helped their teams win Super Bowls. That's huge and it helps the case for the players.

"Most of the time, the players who hit free agency aren't truly premier guys. It just doesn't happen. That's why a lot of people look back at free agents and say, 'Oh, that guy was a bust.' He wasn't really a bust, he just wasn't worth all the excitement that was created. It's a real perception thing."

The predraft press conference was held this afternoon at Redskins Park, with Executive Vice President Football Operations Vinny Cerrato, owner Daniel M. Snyder, and head coach Jim Zorn sitting in the front of the newly-remodeled auditorium, taking questions from the local media.

Nothing that was said screamed "stop the presses, breaking news," which seem to me as it should be. All of the back-and-forth subterfuge of the draft would be pretty pointless if the decision-makers just came out and patiently explained to the newspaper reporters exactly what they were planning to do three days in advance.

But there were some interesting clarifications as to how the Redskins draft procedure works, what the draft philosophy is, and some further elaboration on the Redskins Grades and the Redskins Board that Scott Campbell was talking about yesterday.


Cerrato: "Welcome to the draft media event here. I guess as we go into the draft, I guess I start out saying that we talked to every team, up down, all around.

"So, there is a possibility we will do three things on Saturday: trade up, trade back or stay the same. I hope that helps.

"Otherwise, when you look at the Draft, as Mel Kiper told me, there are good players in every round. You just have to find them. I think it's a decent draft, probably not as deep as it was last year, but there is quality there. I think there is good defensive line. There are good receivers. There is talent in the o line. I think there is depth throughout the draft."

On if he feels more teams are willing to move up or back this year:

Cerrato: "You don't know until Saturday. Because you know what, right now everybody is willing to go up, back, wherever. So you don't know until Saturday. On Saturday, there are deal makers and there are pretenders. There are people just searching to see if somebody will give you an unbelievable deal."

On if only having five picks will encourage them to trade back: