In an effort to fill this eerily quiet offseason, the folks over at Hogs Haven have been doing polls on the all-time greatest Redskins players at various positions. Most of these have gone as you’d expect, and haven’t really inspired me to weigh in either way. But today, the question is about the safety position, and I’m finding the answer a little bit … surprising.

Maybe “surprising” isn’t the right word, because I completely understand WHY the late Sean Taylor is leading this poll. I don’t have any details on Hogs Haven’s demographic reach, but I’m guessing their readership includes a lot more folks from the age bracket that remembers Sean Taylor than the bracket that remembers Kenny Houston.

It’s also true that Taylor’s abilities can’t be argued. He was an atheltic marvel, capable of insane, game-changing plays. Had he lived, he might very well have been the obvious, no-brainer answer to this question.

And it isn’t just fans who believe that Taylor is the best ever. When I somewhat skeptically posted about the poll on Twitter, former Redskins safety and current National Football Post writer Matt Bowen weighed in. My question: Sean Taylor is winning this poll in a runaway. Should he be?

Bowen’s blunt answer: Yes.

He elaborated a bit after a follow-up question:

Sean Taylor was great–and would have been the best we have seen in a long time. Cover, hit + make plays RT @redskinsblog Over K. Houston?—
Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) June 09, 2011

I can’t argue with anything there, and Bowen obviously has a MUCH more informed perspective on this … but I think, when you’re voting for the best of all time, that “would have been” is a crucial note.

Because we’ll never know what Taylor “would have been,” and it’s not realistic to judge his “would have been” against what Ken Houston was.

And what Ken Houston actually was was … well, it was an awful lot like what we all believe Taylor would have been. Check out this excerpt from the summary on Houston’s Hall Of Fame page:

He won all-league acclaim with the Oilers in 1969 and 1971, and then was either All-Pro or All-NFC with the Redskins every year from 1973 to 1979.

He was selected for either the AFL All-Star game or the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl 12 straight seasons from 1968 through 1979. With a long, fluid stride, he had excellent speed and quickness. His 6-3, 197-pound frame made him an ideal pass defender. Yet his lean, muscular body helped him to become a punishing tackler.

Once he got his hands on the ball, he was a talented runner. Even before he finished his tenure with the Oilers, Houston had assured himself of a spot in the NFL record book by returning nine interceptions for touchdowns. He also tied two other records with four TDs on steals in one season and two interception touchdowns in a single game. Altogether, he stole 49 passes and returned them 898 yards. He also recovered 21 fumbles and scored 12 touchdowns, nine on interceptions and one each on a punt return, a fumble return, and a blocked field goal return.

Sounds like Taylor, frankly. And whenever we talk about those might-have-beens with Taylor, what I think we’re all hoping and believing is that he would’ve finished with a bunch of All-Pros, a dozen Pro Bowl appearances, and a berth in the Hall of Fame. Houston actually DID that.

I want to be very clear: this is in no way a knock on Taylor’s abilities. He performed terrifically in the time he had, but that time was tragically cut short. But arguing that Taylor was the greatest Redskins safety ever despite not being to reach his full potential is a lot like trying to argue that the late Len Bias was an NBA great. He might’ve been — probably would’ve been, in fact — but we were all sadly deprived of the ability to find out for sure.

Kenny Houston was fortunate enough to play a long, full NFL career, and he made the most of it. I suspect that if people were more familiar with Houston’s career — or if the readership at Hogs Haven skewed a bit older — the voting would at least be a little bit closer.

And saying that shouldn’t be seen to diminish Taylor’s legacy at all. In the end, I’ll go back to Bowen’s tweets to give him the final word on this, after a discussion with me, @Rich_Tandler of CSNWashington and @Fatpickled of Hogs Haven:

@Rich_Tandler @redskinsblog @fatpickled At end of the day, both K Houston and ST were great football players in the Redskins' uniform.—
Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) June 09, 2011

That point, I don’t think anyone would argue with.

Up top is an excerpt on Ken Houston from the Redskins Broadcast Network’s 2009 documentary.

It’s not very often that a fifth-round draft choice comes with as much intrigue as Niles Paul. We learned that he is the nephew of former-NFL running back Ahman Green. We learned he’s a budding male model (train-tracks and all). And perhaps most importantly we learned that he’s a talented, self-motivated football player.

But sometimes that drive and motivation is based on deeper emotional scars that fuel the fire. The Washington Examiner’s John Keim wrote an excellent piece on how the memory of his late mother, Marjorie Paul, continues to motivate Niles:

Nine years later Marjorie Paul’s son, a fifth-round pick by the Redskins in April, pushes himself hard, in part by the memory of his mom.

“He’s always been driven,” said Ted Gilmore, his receivers coach at Nebraska who now holds the same position at USC. “From a competition standpoint, he was way beyond his years as a freshman. He wasn’t intimidated by the older guys. He is a tough SOB. He won’t back down from a fight.

“I don’t care how many vets [the Redskins] have at receiver, Niles Paul is not going to take a back seat to anybody.”

After a traumatic time when so many people would understandably lose focus, Paul learned how to push himself harder:

“Just a real tough time,” said Paul, who has a tattoo of his mom on his right arm. “I used my anger in a positive way where my brothers used it in a negative way. You’ll see I have a fearlessness about me. I take joy in hitting somebody. I use my mom as the driving factor in my life. It was a bad situation that molded me into this angry person. I play angry.”

“I don’t think that’s something you just get over,” he said. “I think about my mom every day. It was a tough time and I doubt I’ll ever forget it. It was a learning experience. Now I strive to make her proud.”

On the field, Paul will obviously never lack the motivation to succeed. He’s talented, he’s motivated and he’s definitely not someone to count out of the competition at receiver.

Off the playing field, however, Paul has a good sense of humor and can really tell a story. He’s going to be fun to follow if he runs into situations like he did with Nebraska linebacker Will Compton:

I guess Paul better become more skeptical if he’s going to make it through the NFL rookie hazing.

From the DC Sports Bog’s images of the week, via @mastro72

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.)

Like this submission from Rosey King, an entire house painted in Redskins colors:

Or those old friends of this blog, via Tim Thompson, Uncle Skins and Bet-skins Ross:

Or the Knestricks, a couple who incorporated Redskins attire into their wedding:

Or, perhaps most unsually, this Redskins permanent dental crown:

There’s plenty of other stuff as well — including an entire fourth grade class — so just “like” the Redskins on Facebook and go ahead and vote here.

• A chance to hear from some rookies, via NBCWashington’s Capital Games blog:

http://media.nbcwashington.com/designvideo/embeddedPlayer.swf

• Ten observations on the day, from the reliably observant John Keim of the Washington Examiner.

• Some more observations, from the also-reliable Rich Campbell of the Washington Times.

• A solid overview video package, from Kelli Johnson of Comcast SportsNet

http://www.csnwashington.com/common/thePlatform/web/swf/flvPlayer.swf

• A compare-and-contrast on how the two QBs are dealing with the rookies, from Dan Steinberg at the DC Sports Bog

• Ryan Kerrigan discussing his hearing impairment, again from Capital Games

• And a frankly terrifying video of Chris Cooley and Fred Davis wrestling after practice, ALSO from Capital Games via Sports Buzz:

http://media.nbcwashington.com/designvideo/embeddedPlayer.swf

I swear, that one’s even worse than the time the two had a tricycle race on ice.

by Brian Tinsman
Redskins.com

Football analyst Elliot Harrison of the NFL Network’s Red Zone Channel recently began compiling his top-20 games of the 2010 NFL season. At No. 18 he remembers a game that many Redskins fans would like to forget: a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Texans in Week 2.

Harrison justifies this game’s inclusion, saying:

This interconference meeting was an offensive explosion of the highest order. And any time you have a game in which one guy can take over, or a tandem — like Schaub and Johnson — it adds to the experience. Especially with a guy like Johnson, who is one of the most dominant players in the NFL.

Despite the fact neither would be a playoff team, all of the deep balls and the crowd going crazy for four hours made this an easy inclusion into our top 20.

Regardless of the outcome for Washington, Harrison is dead-on in picking this game, which bore some historical significance for the NFL. Here are some observations that put the game in context:

• Both teams came into the game with a (1-0) record and high expectations on the year. The Redskins were flying high after a Week 1 win over Dallas, and the team was clicking under new head coach Mike Shanahan and quarterback Donovan McNabb. Week 2 offered a matchup against the other team from Texas, an outside favorite to win the AFC South.
• McNabb and Schaub combined for a whopping 66-for-90, for 923 yards and four touchdowns and one interception. This was the second highest combined passing yards for a single game in NFL history, falling four yards short of the all time best (Marino and O’Brien in 1986).
• Despite lofty expectations, both teams finished the season with a 6-10 record. This game had the feel of a late-season matchup, with both teams clicking on offense. This game received attention at the time because of it was exciting, but it also featured anticipated contenders. It’s good that it happened in Week 2, rather than as a throw-away game in December.

The best part of this game is that it served as a snapshot in time of the beginning of the Redskins 2010 season. Here are some interesting stats:

• The starting offense featured the likes of Joey Galloway, Clinton Portis, and Derrick Dockery. The average age of the starting offense was 30.72 years old. In Week 17, the starting offense averaged 27.09 years old.
• Joey Galloway was the second-leading receiver on the team with 88 yards. He finished one yard behind Moss for the team lead, but is better remembered for the critical drop in the endzone that would have put the game away. Galloway would survive the game, but would make only one more start before being released in November.
• Graham Gano missed his first two field goals of the season. The first was blocked in the 4th quarter, the second was wide-right on a 52-yard attempt in overtime. The overtime miss set up the game winning drive by Houston.

The Redskins gave up a 17-point lead, but had little to be ashamed of in this game. The Redskins executed on both sides of the ball as McNabb spread the ball around on offense and the defense held Arian Foster to 69 yards on the ground. Sure, Andre Johnson racked up big yards, but he tends to do that a lot. Despite a negative outcome, the game produced good things and forced changes that moved the team forward. Check out the recap video below:

When Fred Davis was drafted in the second round of the 2008 drafts, one of the things you heard over and over about the USC tight end was that he was “athletic.”

“With his athletic ability and emergence as a receiver, it was not surprising that he was recognized as the best tight end in college football,” NFL.com gushed.

“Fred Davis is extremely athletic,” wrote WarRoomReport.com.

NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock used the word “athletic” twice in one quote in a USA Today piece on Davis: “He’s an athletic mismatch for a linebacker and can get down the field and challenge safeties. He’s extremely athletic with the ball in his hands after the catch.”

Apparently “pitching a baseball” isn’t one of the skills that qualifies someone as being athletic. Davis threw out the opening pitch at a Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens game, and WTOL-11 sports reporter Jordan Strack can barely contain his amusement in the recap.

“His first pitch? Not pretty,” Strack says. “Threw it past Robbie Weinhardt.” Here’s what the aftermath of that looked like:

In fact, the only person in the package harsher on Davis’ pitching abilities is Davis himself. “I usually catch the ball,” Davis says. “I’m not used to throwing it like that. I give credit to those guys that get on that mound, ’cause that … I embarrassed myself today. I think I did better than three years ago, though. I think I did a lot better.”

“Nice job, Fred,” Strack says from the studio, chuckling as he prepares to go to his next story.

As Davis himself noted, though, the Redskins will be expecting him to catch the ball, not throw it, so the ramifications of this aren’t TOO substantial. Check out the entire video after the jump.

Via WTOL-11 in Toledo.

Before I re-post Hankerson’s picture, let me make it very clear that no uniform numbers have yet been issued; as far as I know, Mike Furrey is still on the roster and is still the person who would officially be wearing 85. [UPDATE: Furrey is apparently no longer on the roster; according to his website, he's the head coach at Kentucky Christian University. Still, no numbers have been issued to draft picks that I know of, so that point remains accurate.] THIS IS NOT OFFICIAL IN ANY WAY. That said, it still looks pretty freakin’ cool.

Based on the background signage, it looks like this shot comes from a photo shoot for a Topps football card — presumably something to do with the one from the company’s high-end “Inception” line that Hankerson tweeted on Wednesday. Here, look:

Here’s the description of the Inception line, from sports card industry mag Beckett:

As the 2011 video card war rages on, Topps is talking about its new football line – 2011 Topps Inception – dreamed up for a rare early season high-end release. Due out in early July, the premiering premium product will be rookie heavy, mostly defined by top draft picks and supplemented by established stars.

The description goes on to say that the rookies will appear in “airbrushed uniforms,” which doesn’t do much to explain the clearly non-airbrushed picture at the very top of this post, but the most interesting thing to me is the “defined by top draft picks”. It’s not every day that a third-rounder gets called a “top draft pick,” and it serves only to reinforce the high expectations that Hankerson is going to be facing in his rookie year.

by Brian Tinsman
Redskins.com

In a crowded draft class–let’s call them the “Draft Day Dozen”–it’s easy to forget some of the late-round picks. Realistically speaking, most of those guys won’t make the team, some will end up on the practice squad, and others will be looking for a new job next fall.

But if there’s a guy to really pull for in the late rounds, it’s seventh-round pick Markus White, outside linebacker from Florida State.
Since the seventh grade, White has suffered from seizures, an affliction that scared away most NFL teams in the Draft.

“The last seizure he had was in 2008, so hopefully that’s under control,” said head coach Mike Shanahan after the Draft. “Our doctors felt very good about it, or else we would not have gone in that direction.”

Although he still takes daily medication and monitors the situation, White is unafraid of another episode.

“It’s kind of my motivation, I think, that life is going to knock you down,” he said in the conference call with the media on April 30. “I feel like I have a God-given gift to play football and I’m going to keep doing it. That’s definitely not going to stop me and that’s not my concern.”

That’s a very admirable outlook, and something that has shaped the type of player he is on the field and person he is off. His reputation is of a gritty, high-motor, self-motivated guy that isn’t afraid to earn his keep.

But White makes it clear that he doesn’t do it alone. After the Draft, White posted on his twitter account (@Em_Whyte) photos of the lasting tribute to his biggest fans:

1 of my daily strengths !! Love ma momma http://twitpic.com/4whsv6—
MarKus White (@Em_Whyte) May 12, 2011

Cant for get my #1 supporter!! Love ya Popz http://twitpic.com/4whta0—
MarKus White (@Em_Whyte) May 12, 2011

In a world where self-absorbed athletes get an awful lot of the press, it’s nice to focus on one that remembers who got him to that where he’s at.