The Redskins Blog

Redskins’ Mother’s Day Wishes Aplenty

Several Redskins players on Sunday took the opportunity to give a public Mother’s Day shoutout to the special women in their lives.

Here’s just a sample of the messages tweeted by the players on Sunday:

Read more »

Video: Armstrong Works On Golf Game

Anthony Armstrong was having a good time on the golf course Monday afternoon.

With the opportunity to help contribute to a great cause, the third-year Redskins receiver also found himself in the middle of a lively group at Monday’s seventh annual Leukemia Golf Classic at the Trump National Golf Club.

Armstrong also shared his strategy when approaching any shot — and it’s apparently not as difficult as it’s made out to be.

Read more »

Seventh Annual Leukemia Golf Classic Underway

A collection of Redskins players, coaches and team officials are hitting the links today for a good cause.

The seventh annual Leukemia Golf Classic – hosted for a second straight year by Redskins linebacker Brian Orakpo – is set to tee off today at 11 a.m. at the Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Va.

The event – started in 2006 by then-Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell – serves as a fundraiser for the National Capital Area Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and has raised closed to $885,000 since its inception.

Redskins wide receiver Anthony Armstrong showed up for the event dawning a bright gold polo – per the course rules, I’m sure.

Armstrong  said he’s gunning for first place.

“I’m going to be playing like the old Tiger (Woods),” he said with a laugh.

Wednesday Early Birds

There is no gold medal for being first in the door on Day 2, but they at least deserve an “‘Atta boy!”  Linebacker Chris Wilson, offensive tackle Clint Oldenburg and wide receiver Anthony Armstrong were first through the doors this morning.

Left tackle Trent Williams, rookie outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, and brand new free safety O.J. Atogwe were all in the building before 9 a.m.

Today is scheduled to be a relatively calm day at Redskins Park (calm before the storm).  Players don’t have to report to facilities today, but many are coming in to get in their workouts and meetings in.  For the rookies, this is a chance for first impressions and settling in.  For everybody, the chance to make up lost time meeting with the coaching staff could prove to be critical when training camp breaks.

Anthony Armstrong Caddies For A Wax Tiger Woods

Anthony Armstrong, never a dull guy, is finding new ways to amuse himself during the protracted NFL labor issues this offseason. Hot on the heels of the news that he’s coaching youth soccer, Armstrong seems to have taken up another hobby: going to the wax museum and posing with the statues. At least, that’s the conclusion I’m drawing from his current Twitter avatar:

Yep, that’s Real Anthony Armstrong reading the green for Wax Tiger Woods. Not sure what more there is to add to that.

(I had completely overlooked this, so hat tip to the Sports Junkies for talking about it this morning, even if they did call it “bad schtick”. Personally, I think it’s pleasantly entertaining schtick.) Read more »

Anthony Armstrong is Coaching a Different Kind of Football

Redskins.com intern Brian Tinsman heard wide receiver Anthony Armstrong chatting on ESPN Radio about his new job, and checks in with this update. I’m mainly excited that he was able to create the “Ninjas” tag, which is something I’ve always thought this blog needed.

by Brian Tinsman
Redskins.com

As this unusual offseason continues, players are finding increasingly creative ways to stay busy.

• Cincinnati Bengal Chad Ochocinco found out the (very) hard way, that he’s not a bull-rider. Or a soccer player.
• Baltimore Raven Tom Zbikowski found out that he is a good boxer.
• New England Patriot Tom Brady tried out his best Derek Zoolander impression.

And then there’s Anthony Armstrong — or should I say Coach Anthony Armstrong — who recently caught up with John Kincade of ESPN Radio to discuss his somewhat unusual offseason gig. Read more »

Where Mike Shanahan Finds Wide Receivers

Comcast SportsNet’s Rich Tandler has written a couple of pieces lately (or maybe it’s one article and a director’s commentary on that article) detailing just how bad Mike Shanahan is at drafting wide receivers. Here’s a solid summary, from Tandler’s RealRedskins.com piece:

Simply put, Shanahan’s record when it comes to drafting receivers has been less than stellar. In 15 drafts (14 with Denver and one with the Redskins) he has selected 16 of them. Only one, 2006 fourth-round pick Brandon Marshall, has proven to be a pick productive enough to justify the draft position. And even Marshall, who had three straight 100-catch seasons and four straight 1000-yard seasons, carries the baggage of being a high-maintenance player.

Only one successful selection at wide receiver in sixteen attempts? This all sounds terribly damning. I mean, if things were that dire, if Mike Shanahan is that bad at selecting wide receivers … who was catching the ball during his entire Denver tenure? Jake Plummer and Jay Cutler both had 4,000 yard seasons with Shanahan. John Elway and Brian Griese both had multiple 3,000 yard seasons with the coach. So it stands to reason that there must have been SOMEONE to catch the ball.

The number one receiver during Shanahan’s time with the Broncos was Rod Smith. In twelve seasons, he caught 849 passes for 11,389 yards and 68 touchdowns. Number two on the list is Ed McCaffrey, who — in nine seasons — added another 462 catches for 6,200 yards and 46 touchdowns. Number three isn’t a wide receiver at all: it’s tight end Shannon Sharpe, who — in seven seasons (with a two-year break to go win a Super Bowl in Baltimore) — racked up 425 catches for 5,373 yards and 38 touchdowns.

(Ashley Lelie, whom Tandler deems a “good pick” who “played fairly well in four seasons” comes in fourth, the first of Shanahan’s drafted wide receivers on the list, with 168 catches for 3,007 yards and 12 touchdowns. Tandler’s main knock on Lelie is that the Broncos only got four years out of him before trading him away, and, Tandler says, “you would like to get more than four seasons out of the 19th overall pick in the draft.” The picks received in trade combined with his numbers over four years are enough to edge Lelie into “good pick” territory for Tandler. I don’t need quite so much convincing, because the question here concerns Shanahan’s ability to identify receiving talent, and it certainly seems like Lelie fit his scheme well enough. His first three years are actually comparable to Roddy White’s first three seasons — and Shanahan also knew when to cut bait on the guy and ship him out of town.)

But it’s those first three guys that concern us. If Shanahan’s so terrible at drafting wide receivers, how’d those three guys come to town? Read more »

Chad Ochocinco Throws His Hat Into The Armstrong/Banks Speed Thing

It’s hard to remember now, but there was a point during this season when it seemed like everyone in the media was trying to determine whether Brandon Banks was faster than Anthony Armstrong or not. The two gave a few interviews apiece on the subject before being goaded into a radio debate, while the head coach and other players on the team weighed in with their opinions.

It was a twenty-minute distraction between soap operas, and the closest it came to resolution was the promise of an offseason race between the two. Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco probably didn’t even know about that whole incident when he tweeted this at Armstrong:

.bbpBox22078603629953024 {background:url(http://a2.twimg.com/profile_background_images/174347114/updated_MC_twitter_lgo.jpg) #000000;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

That was from January 3rd, the day after the season finale against the Giants, and Armstrong says it came pretty much out of nowhere — Ochocinco likely saw a highlight of Armstrong’s 64-yard touchdown from the game and went into full Ochocinco mode.

Armstrong’s response looped back to his hypothetical offseason race with Banks and with that the whole thing seemed to disappear.

.bbpBox22079605301051390 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/158659217/Twitter_background_aa_v1.jpg) #050505;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

Today, it all resurfaced again. The folks at the DMV-based Tailgate podcast were hustling to get Ochocinco booked as a guest on their show and tried using Armstrong and the race challenge as their local hook.

.bbpBox27396788784734210 {background:url(http://a0.twimg.com/profile_background_images/163573591/twitter.png) #C0DEED;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

And that’s where things got kind of interesting. Read more »

Anthony Armstrong Gives The Director's Commentary On His Dougie

In the course of digging through 2010 Redskins photos for yesterday’s post about the wide receivers, I discovered that one of our intrepid photographers at the Green Bay game had captured Anthony Armstrong‘s entire celebratory Dougie in a multi-image sequence.

This is the sort of offseason blogging gold that you dream of but rarely stumble across, and I initally planned just to run the sequence without any comment at all. To be frank, I exhausted my entire knowledge of the Dougie in my initial post about Armstrong’s celebration and wouldn’t have had any more insight to offer anyhow.

But a little later in the day, someone walked by my desk who absolutely had some commentary and was willing to share it: Armstrong himself. So here, then, is A Pictorial Of Anthony Armstrong’s Dougie, Annotated By One Anthony A. Armstrong And Also Including At Least One Amusing Digression About The Intense Football League.

To kick it off, though, the touchdown catch that was being celebrated. (Click any of the images in the post for larger versions.)

And now, the Dougie:

Read more »

On Being An NFL Wide Receiver, And Other Links

Anthony Armstrong wasn’t the flashiest success story on the 2010 Redskins roster — that would have to be Brandon Banks, who gets attention for being both blazingly fast and exceedingly small — but he might’ve been the most impressive. Armstrong finished the season with 44 catches for 871 yards — that’s nearly 20 yards a catch, third in the NFL in that category for players with more than 40 catches — and three touchdowns. I don’t think anyone expected that kind of production from an undrafted practice squad guy, but Armstrong worked hard, watched extra film, and was rewarded with increased playing time — and, by extension, that impressive stat line.

Former Redskins receiver Devin Thomas’ story in Washington was almost exactly the opposite of Armstrong’s. After being selected in the second round of the 2008 draft, Thomas was expected to provide size and speed at the wide receiver position. Over the course of two seasons, he showed flashes of spectacular ability, but could never seem to make it all come together. Four games into the 2010 season, Thomas was cut.

Talking about the decision to release the young wide receiver, head coach Mike Shanahan said that he offered Thomas some advice to help his NFL future. “You’re a big kid, you’re strong, you’ve got a lot of speed,” Shanahan told Thomas. “You want to get to the next level, you’ve got to get in a heck of an offseason program and be the best you can be. If you want to be good, you’re gonna be good. But you’ve got to make a total commitment. In this league it’s not based on talent, it’s based on people working extremely hard.”

Fan response to Shanahan’s decision was mixed, to say the least. People questioned whether Thomas was released because of his offseason modeling and acting endeavors, or because Banks tweeted a picture allegedly showing Thomas asleep in a meeting. And one question that I kept hearing from people upset by the decision was, essentially, What was he not working extremely hard on? The subtext — and I freely admit that I’m reading in to other people’s thoughts here — seemed to be Hey, just run straight and catch ball, or run ten yards and turn around, or whatever. How tough is that?

Former NFL wide receiver Nate Jackson wrote a piece for Slate yesterday that I think does terrific job of answering that subtextual question. (There’s a little bit of foul language in the link, but it’s a piece that’s really worth reading.)

Here, according to Jackson, are the things that an NFL wide receiver might be required to keep in mind during A SINGLE PLAY:

If he plays man coverage with inside leverage, jab hard with your inside foot to threaten his technique, dip your shoulder, and release into your route. Man coverage, outside leverage: Jab step at him and bring your hands with you, deliver a blow and try to get on top of him so you can push your route vertical before breaking it off. Push up to your proper depth, and sink your hips at your break point. Keep your nose over your toes and don’t drop your arms, keep them pumping. Get out of that break at a sharp angle, don’t fade up the field. Come straight across at a 90 degree angle, otherwise the cornerback will come underneath and pick off our quarterback. But pay attention at the line of scrimmage-if we get a Cover 2 with a zone-dog, you sit in that zone, but you have to break it down a few yards short to account for the blitz. We may not have enough men to block that look, so get your head around. If they don’t bring the zone-dog blitz and they’re still in Cover 2, push your normal depth but understand the triangle between the corner, the safety, and that linebacker, and sit down in that throwing lane for your quarterback. Oh, and the snap count is on two.

That’s a lot of stuff to keep in mind, and there are plenty of variations on it that a receiver would have to keep in mind for other plays. Jackson goes on to explain exactly how closely the coaches pay attention to every step of it (very closely) and how well failure at any portion is received (poorly).

I don’t know for sure, but it seems likely that those sort of details are the kinds of things Mike Shanahan meant when he referred to “a total commitment” — the sort of details that Anthony Armstrong was able to master, and that Devin Thomas (for all his remarkable athleticism) never quite got, at least at this stop in his career. (It seems doubly likely given that Jackson spent five years playing in Denver under — you guessed it — Mike Shanahan. That five years represents the bulk of Jackson’s career, and has to have formed much of his impression of NFL coaching.)

This approach, Jackson argues, sucks all of the fun out of the game for the player (which seems likely) and is, further, a reason that many college players fail to make a successful transition to the NFL. It’s a good piece and worth a read for fans of the NFL in general, but I found especially illuminating in light of those two disparate stories about two wide receivers who started 2010 with the Redskins — and where they each finished up.

Here’s a few other links that are worth your time…. Read more »