The Redskins Blog

Marine, SEALs Lead Team’s Exit Meeting

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Late last week, the Redskins “exit meeting” was scheduled for Monday morning at 10 a.m.  Players were told to meet in the main auditorium/team meeting room at Redskins Park, for the last time as the 2011 Washington Redskins.

But when players arrived, it wasn’t head coach Mike Shanahan that was running the meeting.  It was assistant head coach Bobby Turner, or either of the coordinators, general manager Bruce Allen or even owner Daniel M. Snyder.

Standing on the stage in front of the room, were two Navy Seals and a Marine, waiting to address the team about the importance of teamwork in the offseason.  Who better to discuss preparation than those whose lives depend on it? Read more »

Cooley Painting His Player Notebook

December is typically a busy time of year in the Cooley household.  Between football seven days a week, and family and holidays on the horizon, there isn’t much time to fill.

But this December, Cooley is on injured reserve with a hand and knee injury, and there’s only so much rehab and reflection to be done.  So in order to fill his unexpected free time, Cooley has turned back to collegiate training in art.

Cooley has a well-publicized appreciation for pottery, and devotes most of his “The Cooley Gallery” to his kiln creations.  But with a shattered finger and a need for expression, Cooley turned to painting as a platform, as he explained on his gallery blog:

“I couldn’t do pottery, and I wanted to do something for my gallery.  And so, my idea for paintings was taking my notebook from work and recreating my notes and sketches, and whatever else you would doodle in a notebook, as well as getting quotes from what people say, getting quotes from Kyle and Mike Shanahan, and putting in notes from what I thought about things.”

“They actually turned out pretty good.  I thought they turned out with quite a bit of style.  So, I’m really pleased and I’m really excited to put them up nice and show them off to everybody.”

Cooley had two of his paintings at Redskins Park yesterday, showing them off in the lobby as he waited for their new owner to arrive and pick them up.  Here’s a look: Read more »

Myers Puts Medical Supply Sales On Hold

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Earlier today, the Redskins announced that tight end Rob Myers had been signed to the active roster after spending the last five weeks on the practice squad.

There’s reason for intrigue in Myers, as this is his first regular season active roster opportunity in his three years in the league.  He shares an alma mater with Redskins tight end Chris Cooley (Utah State), and he has similar numbers in terms of height and weight (6-4, 239 vs. 6-3, 255).

This was his review coming out of the 2009 NFL Combine:

Positives: Good height, arm length and overall build for an H-back. Still growing, he could gain some mass to play with his hand down. Fast release off the line, and able to threaten the seam due to his height and straight-line speed. Lines up outside, in slot and as an H-back. Good hands; can adjust to high or low throws. Strong runner after the catch who is tough for defensive backs to bring down in the open field. Gives strong effort blocking, holds up adequately against college ends on the line and is able to lock onto smaller defenders in space.

Negatives: Durability is a major issue; missed parts of the 2006 and 2007 seasons and all of the 2008 season injuries. Played against a lower level of competition. Probably limited to an H-back spot unless he proves able to handle stronger NFL ends on the line. Inconsistent getting his hands on his target in space and sustaining blocks.

Time will tell whether he can succeed at the NFL level, but one this is for sure: playing football beats selling medical supplies. Read more »

Cooley Talks Good And Bad Social Media

There is no question that Twitter has changed the sports world that we know and love, from fans, to media, and especially to players.  Players can now be known, loved and scrutinized on a whole new level, and the private life of an athlete is quickly eroding.

These were just some of the topics of discussion at last night’s SB Nation presents “BWBDC Thursday Night Watch Party & Chalk Talk,” which featured Redskins tight end and social media darling Chris Cooley.

Chris–with the help of his brother Tanner–has been on the cutting edge of social media with his player blog (and his brother has branched out into SportsBuzz) and Twitter.  While he has admittedly grown more guarded in the last two years, he’s always recognized the benefits of social media:

“For me, I’ve used it to show people my real personality,” he said.  ”Coming into the league, I was out of Utah State, and I looked like Ricky Bobby on camera, with my hands.  I was so awkward, I was so uncomfortable in front of people–I was an introverted kid.”

He continued: “Being able to work with my brother, who ran my blog, and be able to do what I wanted to do, allowed me to show people my personality in a comfortable way,” he siad.  ”I can edit what I’m doing, I can put out whatever I’m doing, and I can show people whatever I want.” Read more »

Seattle In The Rear View Mirror

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The Redskins have finally awoken from their bye week slumber, grabbing their first win since Oct. 2, a span of 56 days.  To put it in perspective, here’s a few other ways of measuring how long it’s been for the team:

• They’ve made 26 changes to the active roster (and not all of them have involved Brandyn Thompson).
• They’ve traveled approximately 7,733 miles on road trips.
• They’ve had six other games, 22 team practices, and more than a dozen additional walk-throughs.
• They’ve celebrated two major corporate holidays (Halloween and Thanksgiving), and spent almost all of Mo-vember.

It’s been a long time coming, it was a hard-fought battle, and it’s a win that everyone can share in and enjoy until Wednesday.

The Redskins proved a lot of people wrong with yesterday’s win, including every NFL prognosticator except for Mark Schlereth, and we’re here to give Stink his due credit.  On a more global perspective, they also surpassed the deflated expectations of ESPN The Magazine and Phil Steele’s NFL Magazine, both of whom predicted a 3-13 inept finish for the Redskins.  They’ve spent a long time searching for that fourth win, but it’s always nice to prove the doubters wrong.

Yesterday also wrapped up a dominant season series against the NFC West, against which the Redskins finished 3-1, beating Arizona, St. Louis, and Seattle.  Sure, these three teams have 10 combined wins, but those are the games that the Redskins were expected to win, and they did so.  It would have been nice to pull out a win against San Francisco, but there’s no shame in losing to one of the best teams in the NFC, if not the whole NFL.

No shame in beating them either, but you take what you can get.

One unexpected byproduct of this rough patch has been witnessing the emergence of several young playmakers on offense and defense.  With the loss of Chris Cooley for the season, the Redskins were able to confirm what they thought they knew about tight end Fred Davis.  With the loss of Santana Moss, the Redskins were able to get a look at both Niles Paul and Leonard Hankerson, who showed tremendous development during their rookie campaigns.  With the loss of offensive guard Kory Lichtensteiger, the Redskins were able to look at seventh-rounder Maurice Hurt, who has been more than serviceable at guard.  With the loss of Tim Hightower, the Redskins were able to get a look at both Roy Helu and Evan Royster in the backfield.

Helu showed yesterday that he has the dual-threat ability to be an offensive catalyst, getting 30 touches for 162 yards and a long touchdown run.  The instant success that he and his fellow rookies have had is just a testament to the scouting and player development behind April’s draft.  Early, premature indicators suggest that the 2011 Redskins draft class could go down as one of the best.

In between buying holiday gifts this Cyber Monday, enjoy a few game stats from Victory Monday: Read more »

Second Quarter Situation Room

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Welcome to Washington, wide receiver David Anderson.  The newbie Washingtonian caught his first pass as a Redskin–a 14-yard reception to convert on third down–in only his fifth day in the Burgundy and Gold.

As he explained it on Wednesday, he knew the Kyle Shanahan scheme except for about “three words that were different.”  But he knows the three words that matter most to Redskins fans right now: “Catch. The. Ball.”

Nothing sensational, but one of the better things that happened for the Redskins in the second quarter.  The Redskins should also reserve a shoutout to the swirling wind in the north end zone, which was no kinder to the Dolphins than it was the Redskins.

So far, the score is: Redskins 6, Dolphins 10, Mother Nature 6.

Rookie receiver has blossomed from a training camp goat into a full-on midseason delight.  Yes, he still has his flaws and room for improvement, but he’s one of the few Redskins that’s been able to get open in recent weeks.  With no Chris Cooley, Santana Moss, or Niles Paul for the foreseeable future, Hankerson has his chance to shine.  Coming into the game, he had five career receptions for 57 yards.  In the first half, he already has three grabs for 38 yards.

In the first half, the Redskins are doing the things that they need to do to win: creating turnover opportunities, limiting penalties, and keeping a balanced offense:

• So far, the Redskins have run the ball 11 times and thrown 12 times.
• Both quarterbacks have been intercepted once, but Grossman’s was a product of miscommunication rather than a bad throw.
• Outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan added his fourth career sack and third forced fumble, one that was recovered by the Dolphins.
• The Redskins have only been penalized three times for 21 yards.

This is the gameplan that the team needs to replicate in the second half in order to break out of this slump.  The difference will be capitalizing on opportunity and being patient on offense.  A lot went wrong to lose four-straight games; one or two big plays can turn it all around this afternoon.

Lots of football left in the Sunshine State: Dolphins 10, Redskins 6.

Beck: Injuries No Excuse For Play

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Clearly, the blocking schemes need to be reassessed this week after the Redskins pass protection yielded nine sacks yesterday.  The Redskins have lost three of their best blockers in Kory Lichtensteiger, Tim Hightower and Chris Cooley, and the absence of left tackle Trent Williams was felt especially hard yesterday.

But Beck didn’t accept any ready-made excuses, and said that they team needs to adjust and get better.

“That’s just part of the NFL,” he said.  ”Because it’s a long season, injuries do happen.  The good teams find a way to win, regardless of who steps in.  That’s our plan: to be the good team.  That’s our plan, to just continually get better so we can insert whoever’s next up, and continue to play well.”

As the Redskins finally come home to take on the 49ers, Beck said his team was aware of the process that it would take to reverse the results of recent weeks.

“You never wanna lose a game, and you never wanna lose back-to-back games, and so forth,” he said.  ”So this will definitely be a week for us to get as much as we can out of the game tape, get the most we can out of practice, and take that next step forward.”

Watch his full post-game presser, below: Read more »

Monday Morning In Fast Forward

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Oddly enough, when the Redskins landed in Washington last night, it was about 15 degrees colder than it was in Ontario, hours earlier.  And the weather wasn’t the only thing that was frosty.

From the general reaction to the game last night, I wasn’t sure if the sun would rise in Washington today.  If there is something to hang your hat on from last night, just know that the score was based on the metric system.

The Bills really only scored 14 U.S. points.

Most people in Washington will spend the next three days harping on what happened over the last three weeks, but today seems like a good day to live in the present.   Read more »

Chris Cooley, In His Own Words

Despite his season-ending trip to injured reserve, tight end Chris Cooley maintained his humor yesterday, making light of his desire to be out on the field, helping his team: Read more »

The Chris Cooley Mustache Interview

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Our good friends over at the American Mustache Institute were recently at Redskins Park to conduct interviews with players sporting impressive upper-lip hair.

Yesterday, we learned of running back Tim Hightower’s hard-work-equals-facial-hair mustache, and today, we discover that Cooley is trying to capture the athletic and facial-hair prowess of runner Steve “Pre” Prefontaine.

Click through to the article on the AMI site, but definitely check out the video after the jump:

Read more »