The Redskins Blog

Veteran Fletcher Pleased After OTAs Begin

Redskins’ veteran linebacker London Fletcher has seen a few first days of organized team activities in his long career, but the perennial team captain said Monday the excitement heading into the 2012 campaign is unique.

He spoke to the media after Monday’s first day of OTAs.

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A Near-Death Experience Inspires Fletcher

via Sports Spectrum Magazine

Redskins linebacker London Fletcher is a leader to his teammates and a hero to his fans.  Whether it’s his fiery passion on the football field or his measured composure in the locker room, Fletcher has built a career on professionalism and playing the game the right way.

But all of that was nearly taken away before it began, on a fateful night back in 1994 on the streets of Cleveland’s East Side.  As Fletcher told Joshua Cooley of Sports Spectrum magazine, his 19-year-old self almost had that all snatched away when confrontation nearly led to bloodshed:

As Fletcher walked away, the other man hurried to his car, drove up beside Fletcher and called to him.  Fletcher looked over.  With an inferno dancing in his eyes, the man pulled out a sawed-off, double-barreled shotgun and pointed it straight at Fletcher. Read more »

Monday, February 1: A Pro Bowl Weekend

I used to be a relatively big fan of the Pro Bowl, possibly the only one in the world. It was the last gasp of football for the year, and thus something to be treasured no matter how mediocre it might be. And it usually wasn’t all that mediocre; the rule changes more or less guarantee a high-scoring game, and by the fourth quarter the players have realized that — financially, at least — they’d like to win, so the game turns competitive.

Last night, though, I just couldn’t get into it. I don’t know if it’s the move to before the Super Bowl (which removes the whole “last gasp of football” thing) or what, but after watching some of the early touchdowns, I pretty much tuned out.

(As it turns out, I was apparently alone in this feeling; excellent ESPN PR guy Bill Hofmeier reports via Twitter that ratings were up 39% last night. Go figure.) One person who definitely didn’t tune out, though? London Fletcher.

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Friday, January 29: Another Honor For London Fletcher

ESPN’s Matt Mosley released his All NFC East team yesterday afternoon, and …well, the Redskins didn’t fare all that well. When you’re 4-12, I suppose you shouldn’t expect to have a whole lot of players honored in these things, but seeing it in black and white is pretty stark.

The two guys who did get honored were Andre Carter and London Fletcher, which isn’t really a huge surprise — one of them is going to the Pro Bowl, and I was pushing hard to get both of them there. The most obvious snub is the Redskins’ other Pro Bowler, Brian Orakpo. Here’s Mosley’s reasoning on all three: Read more »

London Fletcher Day: Firing Up The Linebackers

I’ve written about London Fletcher’s pregame pep talks before, but this Redskins Broadcast Net video does a great job of allowing him to explain them in his own words, and away from the emotions of the moment. (The explanation starts at about 1:40. If you can make it through from there to the end and not want to run through a brick wall for Fletcher, your heart is made of wood.)

http://p.castfire.com/GVrsz/video/235337/redskins_2010-01-25-121045.flv

Some of the relevant excerpts, although it’s the kind of thing that really works better in the video:

• Linebackers set the tone: “The tone will be physical, it’s gonna be intense, it’s gonna be passionate, and it’s gonna be all out organized chaos.”

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London Fletcher Day: The Brandon Jacobs Hit

One of London Fletcher‘s shining moments this year came in the first game of the regular season. He posted 18 tackles in that game — EIGHTEEN tackles — eleven of them solo, but the big one would have to be this hit on running back Brandon Jacobs.

It hasn’t been replayed as much as the big hit from the previous year’s Giants/Redskins opener, but it’s definitely worth revisiting as part of our London Fletcher Day celebration.

A good still image of the hit, after the jump. Read more »

London Fletcher Day: Indestructible

From his Defensive Player of the Year honor given at this year’s Welcome Home Luncheon, here’s a London Fletcher 2008 highlight package set to Disturbed’s “Indestructible”. The lesson I learned from this song: putting combat noises at the beginning of your adrenalized rock song is just as annoying now as it was when Metallica did it back in 1988.

http://p.castfire.com/GVrsz/video/235329/redskins_2010-01-25-115844.flv Read more »

Monday, January 25: Oh, Why Not. It's London Fletcher Day

London Fletcher takes the Pro Bowl seriously. No one else on Earth seems to, but to Fletcher, it’s a big deal, one that led to his most memorable meeting with the press — the “Susan Lucci of the NFL” speech.

So, what the heck: I’m declaring today London Fletcher Day, in honor of his finally shedding his Susan Lucci-dom. There’s not much else going on at Redskins Park anyhow — most of the coaching staff is in place and has traveled to Alabama for the Senior Bowl practices, very few players are around, and it’s generally the first really quiet time in a so-far tumultuous offseason.

You might think, given how seriously Fletcher takes the Pro Bowl, that he’s been furiously working out, staying ready just in case things broke right — as they did — and he was elevated from alternate to player. You might think that, but you’d be wrong, according to what Fletcher told reporters during a conference call today. “I have worked out a couple of times,” he said, “just offseason, but it’s one of those kind of things like, ‘Man, am I wastin’ my time working out?’ It’s definitely gonna be a challenge for me to get in game shape in a week’s time, but I feel like I’ll be able to do it.”

(Something to keep in mind the next time you’re wondering why the Pro Bowl isn’t a better game: even the player who cares about it more than any other hasn’t kept in shape for it.)

But it’s not like he wasn’t thinking about it. Fletcher called yesterday’s Saints/Vikings game — the game that ultimately cemented his Pro Bowl spot — “most gut-wrenching game I have ever watched.”

He continued, “Watching the Saints vs. Vikings game was something that I could not get comfortable with. I just didn’t feel good all day watching the game. Once the score got tied, I turned the television off.

“So I was thinking I would just wait for somebody to call me one way or another. So I’m sitting there, kinda fiddling [around]. My stomach was bubbling.It was just crazy. I am talking to my wife about it and about 10 to 15 minutes pass, and I am like ‘nobody is calling what if this game went to overtime?’ I turned the game on and it’s in overtime. Right as overtime started that is when I saw the rest of the game. So I did watch the final drive for the Saints and when they kicked that field goal I did a little sprint around the house.”

As Brian Orakpo was already slated to play in the game, this means that two-thirds of the Redskins linebacking corps is going to be playing in the Pro Bowl. “It makes it even better to be playing not with just a teammate,” Fletcher said, “but to be playing with one of my fellow linebackers. So we’ll be out there and be able to enjoy the Pro Bowl festivities together and have him buy me dinner or something.”

(No wonder the team elected to keep former linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti on staff.)

And Fletcher doesn’t care that he’s going to be playing as an alternate, or that he got in because of the unusual scheduling this year. “Not at all,” Fletcher told the reporters. “At the end of the day when you write your article, you’re gonna call me a Pro Bowler, right? When y’all write y’all’s articles, you’re gonna say ‘Pro Bowl linebacker London Fletcher,’ you’re not gonna say anything else.”

Oh, and for everyone that’s been asking, Fletcher also had a couple of comments about the possibility of a 3-4 defense next year. The short version: he doesn’t think it’s that big a deal. In fact, he thinks the team was a lot closer to a 3-4 last year than people realize.

The longer version is after the jump.
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Sunday, January 24: A Good Day For London Fletcher

I imagine there are going to be a lot of people who are very angry with Brett Favre after that spectacular NFC Championship Game, all because he did one of the Brett Favre-iest things I’ve ever seen. (I mean, really, the chance of a completely boneheaded game-losing interception is your trade-off is for all the spectacular stuff he can do. He was picked off twice in the 2007 Redskins/Packers game pictured above — both by the late Sean Taylor — and that was in a game Favre WON.)

Not on that list of angry people, however, is Redskins linebacker London Fletcher, who will find himself finally (FINALLY!) playing in the Pro Bowl next week because Favre made absolutely sure that Saints MLB Jonathan Vilma will be ineligible due to Super Bowl prep.

“12 years and 1 Overtime later….FINALLY Pro Bowl bound. Well worth the wait! God is great!!!” Fletcher wrote on Twitter shortly after Garrett Hartley ended overtime by sending the Saints (and Fletcher) to Miami.

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Wednesday, December 30: Your London Fletcher Snubhub [UPDATED]

So congratulations again to Brian Orakpo for making the Pro Bowl. It’s a well-deserved honor, and hopefully only the first of a long career. But, seriously, this London Fletcher snub thing is getting ridiculous. Orakpo handled it with class and grace last night — both in conversation and again on a conference call with reporters — but he shouldn’t have had to do that at all.

The good news is that, finally, the national media agrees, and Fletcher’s snubbing isn’t just a dirty little secret anymore. Here, then, is a collection of reactions to the news that London Fletcher once again was left off the Pro Bowl roster.

Clark Judge, CBSsports.com:

London Fletcher was right. He is the Susan Lucci of the NFL. The Washington Redskins linebacker should have been chosen to his first Pro Bowl this season, and I thought he was a dead-bolt cinch. Then I forgot: It’s Fletcher. There’s a better chance of it snowing in Phoenix than Fletcher making the Pro Bowl, and don’t ask me why.

(Judge’s whole article is devoted entirely to Fletcher, and it’s well worth reading.)

Jim Trotter, SI.com:

Redskins middle linebacker London Fletcher: It’s time for fans, coaches and players to hang their heads in shame that Fletcher has never appeared in a Pro Bowl. He is as consistent as the sun rising in the East. Every year he leads his team in tackles and ranks among the league leaders in that category. His intensity is matched only by his leadership. You have to wonder if this pro’s pro will ever receive his just recognition.

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