The Washington Redskins beat the New York Giants this past Sunday, 28-14, in a pretty convincing manner (on what was also the emotional 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks). The Redskins offense stuck to their rushing attack even while not always wildly successful and quarterback Rex Grossman spread the ball around in the air, completing 21 of 34 passing attempts. The Washington defense sacked Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning four times, shut out the Giants in the second half, caused Manning to fumble the ball (which linebacker London Fletcher recovered) and rookie defensive end/linebacker Ryan Kerrigan made a huge play by tipping a pass, catching the tipped ball and running it in for a touchdown.
It was a good day for Redskins fans.
I commented to linebacker Lorenzo Alexander Monday in the locker room that the defense, even after facing a lot of adversity in the first half of the game, sure played with a vengeance in the second half. I asked him what, if any, adjustments defensive coordinator Jim Haslett might have made in the locker room during half-time to facilitate this amazing play. Alexander told me that none were made at all.
“There were no game-plan adjustments,” he offered. “We [had given] them one touchdown with a big-play, mental errors and bad tackling. You take those away and who knows? They might have [ended up with] seven points at the most. We just started executing better and had an attitude. I think it was a mind-set.
“We’ve got guys that we brought in from different teams,” the linebacker elaborated. “Young guys that don’t know the history of the Redskins, the way we’ve been playing – at least for the last six-or-so years – and who are not accustomed to losing. So they’re not expecting, ‘OK… well, same old Redskins. Here goes the same old thing.’ Instead of that, there’s more confidence. ‘OK, we’re about to battle through this and win this game – some way, somehow.’
“We weren’t going to wait for something to happen,” Alexander finished. “We were going to make something happen.”
Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and Haslett have brought a new system and a new culture into Redskins Park. But probably more than anything – at least according to the players I’ve spoken to about it – the attitude, or change in attitude, of which Alexander speaks, comes because there just are not enough guys left on the team from past years to sustain a losing mentality. There is a fresh perspective coming from the new guys – guys who have won recently and who therefore expect it from this team.
Without going too much into numbers and statistics, just take a look:
Purdue University did not have a winning record in the 2010 season but Ryan Kerrigan did. Without going into too many of the statistics let’s just say that, even with his college team’s losing record, the Purdue football team co-captain tied for a Big Ten record with 14 fumbles forced and 33.5 sacks. He received the team’s Most Valuable Player Award for defense and was named first team All-America by the American Football Coaches Association, The Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Football Writers Association of America, the Associated Press and The Sporting News.
That’s a lot to achieve and that isn’t even everything Kerrigan accomplished.
Washington’s rookie nose tackle Chris Neild’s West Virginia Mountaineers had a good season in 2010, winning nine out of 13 games (5-2 in the Big East). They shared the conference title with Connecticut and Pittsburgh and were invited to the Champ Sports Bowl. Neild himself was named all-Big East Preseason First Team by Phil Steele’s, Athlon Sports, Yahoo! Sports and Sporting News.
There are three rookies on the team now that were drafted from Nebraska: running back Roy Helu, Jr., wide out/returner Niles Paul and defensive back DeJon Gomes.
In 2010, the Cornhuskers won 10 of 12 regular season games, were 6-2 in the Big 12 conference and were Big 12 North Division Co-champions (with Missouri) and were invited to the Holiday Bowl for the second consecutive season.
Helu had an impact on the Cornhuskers successes during his tenure there with 3,404 career rushing yards. In the game against Missouri as a senior, he set a single game rushing record of 307 yards, three touchdowns (the shortest being 53 yards) and he was the first Nebraska player to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons since former Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders; Green Bay Packers running back Calvin Jones, who accomplished the feat in 1992 and 1993. These are just a few of Helu’s stats.
In his senior year, Niles Paul caught 39 passes for a team-high 516 yards, including one touchdown. Ranking among the Big 12 leaders in punt and kickoff returns, he had the longest kickoff return by a Cornhusker in more than a half-century, going 100 yards for a touchdown against Oklahoma State. Again, this is only a portion of Paul’s many accomplishments.
Gomes, according to the Nebraska website was “arguably Nebraska’s most versatile defender in 2010” and was described as a “ball-hawk” who played a defensive back-linebacker hybrid role (this could certainly explain some of his appeal to Shanahan and Haslett). During his senior year he had a sack and four tackles for loss, along with seven pass breakups as well as three intercepted passes and a fumble recovery, forcing two others. Again, there are awards, etc. that I have not mentioned.
Rookie wide out Leonard Hankerson hails from “The U.” Anyone who knows anything about professional football knows the reputation that the University of Miami has for producing good football players.
In 2010, Hankerson’s alma mater (also receiver Santana Moss’ and linebacker Rocky McIntosh’s) won only seven of 13 games but they did win most of the important ones, coming away with a 5-3 record within their conference. Hankerson ranked 12th in the nation in total receiving yards in his senior year and made 13 touchdowns (setting a Miami record and breaking Hall of Fame wide out Michael Irvin’s mark of 11 set in 1986) and his average yards-per-game was almost 90 yards.
Last year, Hankerson received a 2010 SI.com All American ALL-American Honorable Mention and was 2010 All-ACC First Team. He won the 2010 Jack Harding Award, was the Miami Team MVP, team captain and received the 2010 College Football Performance Awards Elite Wide Receiver Trophy.
None of this information is by any means complete but it is still impressive. I mention it here to illustrate that a notable portion the current – albeit younger – Washington Redskins roster is used to winning, used to achieving and seems to not consider losing an option.
I remember at the end of the 4-12 2009 season, hearing first-round draft pick linebacker Brian Orakpo – who incidentally won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy while at the University of Texas – say how hard that season had been, in part, because he was not used to losing. He came from a successful football program with the Longhorns (their record was 12-1 in 2008, Orakpo’s senior year) and he was very frustrated after every Redskins loss. After 12 losses, he was beyond bothered.
Even last year, after Shanahan’s arrival, as the team was looking like they would end up with another losing record after falling in a sloppily played game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-16, Orakpo was obviously frustrated. After being blatantly held (recall Shanahan’s comment, “He wasn’t held… he was mugged”) while the Bucs scored a two point conversion to go ahead in the score, it was very obvious that the linebacker was tired of the failure.
“Man, we’ve lost in every fashion you can think of throughout the whole year,” the Pro Bowler said at the time. “It’s something that’s really tough to swallow.”
The interesting thing about that Tampa Bay loss was that, as sloppy as it was, at least two of the better performances were made by players new to the team that year. This would validate the idea that if you have guys used to winning on the team, adversity will not change the way they play, no matter what they encounter during the game.
In that Buccaneers game, running back Ryan Torain gained 172 yards and then-quarterback Donovan McNabb put together some nice drives, one of which was 75 yards wherein he completed 8 of 12 passes and ended with a touchdown pass to wide out Santana Moss. The problem came at the end of the drive with a botched extra point. This became the losing margin for the Redskins because of Tampa Bay’s two-point conversion. Orakpo hit Bucs QB Josh Freeman three times in that contest.
Remember, Torain and McNabb were in their first year with the Redskins and Orakpo had only been there one year. That’s not enough time to learn how to lose, not enough time to make losing a habit.
Of the starters on the current Redskins roster, only 14 were on the team when Shanahan was named coach. The majority of this team does not have losing as an option in their psyche. If the team is having problems, the point is to do something about it – turn the tide and win the game.
On Sunday, the Giants had the ball for seven series in the second half. In most of those series, the Redskins’ defense made huge plays to end the series. They weren’t just series in which the Giants didn’t convert on third down… these were big plays.
It went like this:
1st series – Ryan Kerrigan tips quarterback Eli Manning’s pass, the pops pretty high up, Kerrigan locates it, catches it and runs it in for a touchdown.
2nd series – The Giants get the ball and run their first play. Chris Neild then sacks Eli Manning on second-down-and-nine for a loss of six yards so that New York has a third-and-long (15 yards). Manning throws a short pass to Ahmad Bradshaw who is stopped by Rocky McIntosh and O.J. Atogwe before making any yards after the catch. Bradshaw only gets 10 yards and they punt
3rd series – the Giants do convert on second-down-and-two-yards once but are stopped at the Washington 37 when they try to convert a fourth-and-one at the Washington 31 yard-line. Big Redskins stop led by London Fletcher and Josh Wilson.
4th series – I love this series because when the Giants get the ball, it is after Redskins QB Rex Grossman has been sacked twice in a row, first for a loss of seven yards and then for a loss of 16 yards. That could have really deflated the team. But the defense comes right in and makes a play. Eli Manning fumbles the ball on his first possession of the drive after being sacked by Neild and Fletcher so that it’s second-and-18. They punt after two unsuccessful attempts to move the ball.
5th series – Getting a Grossman fumble recovery at their 41-yard-line, the Giants move the ball to the Washington 20-yard line and try for a field goal. It is blocked by Orakpo and picked up by Fletcher who runs it out to the Washington 30-yard-line. Washington scores on the ensuing drive.
6th series – Giants convert on second down, get a delay-of-game penalty and on the next play (which is now second-and-15) Manning is sacked by Steven Bowen for a seven-yard loss so that it’s third-down-and-22-yards. They punt after Manning’s pass to Mario Manningham is incomplete.
7th (and last) series – with 01:06 to go, the Giants start the drive and get a first down on a Manning pass to receiver Domenik Hixon for 14 yards. The Giants quarterback throws another complete pass for eight yards but on first-and-10 at their 39-yard-line, he is sacked by defensive lineman Adam Carriker and that’s the end of the game.
After the game when asked about the new attitude of this team, London Fletcher probably spoke for a lot of the 14 guys still on the roster that were on those 2009 and 2010 losing teams.
“This was the feeling I felt back in training camp,” the Pro Bowler said addressing the media. “We cleaned out a lot of negativity that’s been around this place – this building, this team – for a number of years.”
There is definitely a new feeling in that locker room. It’s different. It’s energetic, optimistic, it’s focused. There is no ‘losing’ mentality left… in the building or anywhere else.
Like Alexander said yesterday about some of the adversity that the team faced during the Giants Sunday. It would have sent them into a tail spin and, “We would have lost that game.”
Not this year.
Meet your 2011 Washington Redskins.
Hail.