The Redskins Blog

Sal Pal Holds Up ‘Beat Dallas’ T-Shirt

ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio held up this T-shirt on the 10 a.m. “SportsCenter” this morning. Understatement: it’s a popular shirt and saying around the D.C. area this week.

The Redskins and Cowboys do battle Sunday night for the NFC East crown. I think it’s safe to say the excitement level around here hasn’t reached these levels in quite a while.

Pierre Garçon To Do ESPN Tour Today

(Photo by Brian Murphy // ExtremeSkins.com)

His mere presence has been a spark to the Washington Redskins’ lineup each time he’s able to play.

Battling through a painful foot injury suffered early in the Week 1 victory over the New Orleans Saints, wide receiver Pierre Garçon has showed his Redskins’ coaches, teammates and fans exactly why he was such a coveted offseason acquisition. The Redskins (7-6) are 5-1 in the games he’s played, and in those games, he has caught 28 passes for 437 yards and four touchdowns.

Over the course of a full, 16-game season, that would be about 45 catches for 710 yards and seven touchdowns.

Garçon today will be touring the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., to talk about his season so far. I’m also guessing there will be a few questions about the Redskins’ rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III. But that’s just a hunch.

Here’s Garçon’s tentative ESPN schedule today, in case you want to tune in at any point:

Read more »

Behind The Scenes: RG3′s MNF Segment

It’s pretty obvious that the national spotlight — at least in the sports world — has been focused here the past few days on Washington, D.C.

Case in point: the ESPN Monday Night Football crew has been in town doing all sorts of projects with the Redskins for tonight’s game between the Redskins and the New York Giants at FedExField.

ESPN, of course, has wanted access to Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III for a variety of spots, including a segment for tonight’s game that will air right before the game. The Redskins Blog, of course, was there getting footage, as well.

(Griffin III also shot a spot for Monday Night Countdown with former NFL coach and current ESPN analyst Jon Gruden.)

There’s two points to this particular segment, according to the crew: one, Griffin III is an announcer calling his own plays from late in the fourth quarter of the Redskins’ first game against the Giants, including his mad dash and first-down conversion to Logan Paulsen and his eventual touchdown pass to Santana Moss to give his team the lead. Secondly, Griffin III talks about what was going through his own head during those plays, and how he’s looking forward for revenge tonight (which was all scripted by ESPN).

The crew said they were also going to film Giants quarterback Eli Manning doing something similar, so I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished product. It was a very interesting process, especially considering how many times Griffin III had to repeat such simple lines for the sake of a quality production.

Anyways, here’s the exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage of Griffin III filming the segment for ESPN’s Monday Night Football:

Read more »

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Griffin III, Gruden Chat

Check out this exclusive Redskins.com behind-the-scenes video of Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III filming a segment with ESPN analyst Jon Gruden for tonight’s episode of “Monday Night Countdown.”

Click here for more about the ESPN Monday Night Football tour bus’ trip to Redskins Park.

—————————-

Be sure to follow the Redskins everywhere you go:

- Facebook – www.facebook.com/redskins

- Twitter – www.twitter.com/redskins

- Google+ – www.google.com/+washingtonredskins

- Foursquare – www.foursquare.com/redskins

- Pinterest – www.pinterest.com/redskinsdotcom

- Instagram – http://instagram.com/redskins

- Redskins YouTube Channel

- Download the Official Redskins Mobile App

Griffin III, Gruden Meet Aboard MNF Bus

One of the cooler parts of hosting a Monday Night Football game is all the network TV hoopla that goes with it.

Case in point: today, at Redskins Park, the big, black ESPN Monday Night Football tour bus was parked right outside the front doors (see above).

This bus was awesome, and rivals the Redskins’ 80th Anniversary tour bus. It’s filled with leather seating, restrooms, flat-screen TVs — everything you’d expect and more, which includes Jon Gruden.

The Super Bowl-winning coach and current ESPN analyst was on board today and filmed a segment with Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Of course, it wasn’t the first time Griffin III and Gruden have met to discuss the quarterback position on-air. In April — before the NFL Draft — Griffin III was a guest on ESPN’s “Gruden’s QB Camp.”

We’ll bring you the exclusive, behind-the-scenes video from Griffin III and Gruden’s on- and off-camera exchanges on Monday, but for now, here’s just a couple shots from on board the bus. The Washington Redskins Cheerleaders also stopped by and posed for some pictures:

Read more »

ESPN: Sean Taylor, Five Years Later

ESPN today released a wonderful piece looking back at the life and death of Sean Taylor, which you can see above.

Included in the piece are Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder, as well as former teammates Santana Moss, Chris Cooley, Clinton Portis and more.

The memories of Taylor’s impact on the Redskins and the NFL are great, but seeing Moss choked up five years after Taylor’s tragic death is something that sets this specific piece apart.

Familiar Faces On All-NFC East Team

(Photo by Brian Murphy // ExtremeSkins.com)

The Redskins mainstays on ESPN.com NFC East blogger Dan Graziano’s weekly All-NFC East Team have, well, stayed.

The team has five representatives on this week’s list, just as it did last week.

Again, though, I’ll contend it should have at least six. More on that later — first, this week’s Redskins flavor on Graziano’s All-NFC East Team:

Read more »

Your Weekly All-NFC East Team Update

(AP photo)

The Washington Redskins last week were the only NFC East team not in action, so it makes sense that they lost a couple of members from ESPN.com NFC East Blogger Dan Graziano’s weekly All-NFC East Team.

This week, the Redskins have five representatives on the list, representing a season-low total for Washington (3-6), which plays host to the Philadelphia Eagles (3-6) Sunday afternoon at FedExField.

Here’s this week’s Redskins players on Graziano’s All-NFC East Team (which is based on an entire season’s body of work and is not a week-by-week evaluation), followed by some commentary:

Read more »

‘All-NFC East Midseason Team’ Released

(AP photo)

One week after a season-best eight Redskins appeared on ESPN.com NFC East Blogger Dan Graziano’s All-NFC East Team, the site has released its ‘All-NFC East Midseason Team.’

It’s essentially just the updated version of its weekly All-NFC East Team, considering Graziano selects his picks based on an entire season’s body of work — and not a week-by-week evaluation.

Anyway, we learned today on Graziano’s All-NFC East Midseason Team that six Redskins made the cut.

Here’s the Redskins representatives:

Read more »

‘Mediocrity’ Not Necessarily A Bad Thing

OK,  let’s set this straight right off the bat: ending a season with a .500 record is not something any team strives for.

But if you look at the NFL teams currently sitting at .500 — all 11 of them — there are some perennial powerhouses who have gotten off to 3-3 starts so far.

The Redskins are currently one of those 3-3 teams, and ESPN analyst and former NFL linebacker Tedy Bruschi thinks they’re one of the better ones.

Read more »