SonnySideUp

TH reminds me of Babe Laufenberg, another WFT QB who was a scrapper and always fun to watch. After he finished his stint (s) in Washington, he went on to play for the Saints and even started for the Chargers for a while. For those who don't remember him (with some excerpts below): https://fansided.com/2014/07/30/babe-laufenberg-washington-redskins-preseason-legend/ >>...He is without question, the most popular player in Redskins history, never to have taken a regular season snap. Branden Hugh “Babe” Laufenberg was already something of a never-say-die legend when he arrived in the Nation’s Capital as the defending Super Bowl champion’s sixth-round draft pick out of Indiana in 1983. When he graduated from a Los Angeles area high school in 1977, Bill Walsh landed Laufenberg at Stanford, telling him he was the best high school quarterback in the state of California. But after a redshirt year, Laufenberg fell behind a true freshman on the depth chart... ...Laufenberg left, making a brief stop at Missouri, before landing at Pierce Junior College in LA. The odds said that’s where Laufenberg would likely take his place in a long line of high school hotshots who couldn’t cut it at the next level. That’s not what happened. He played well enough to draw the attention of coach who’s now known for the line, “Not so fast my friend.” Lee Corso, who now makes his living putting on the mascot heads of the teams he picks to win the game of the day on ESPN’s very popular “College Football Gameday Show”, signed Laufenberg to play at Indiana. And he played well enough to wind up in Washington, where they weren’t exactly hurting at quarterback. Joe Theismann had just led the Redskins to their first Super Bowl championship and would be named NFC offensive player of the year the following season. But Theismann had reached his mid-30’s by then and the idea of trying to develop a young quarterback behind him with similar moxie seemed like a good idea. Making the team, though, was no sure thing. Behind Theismann, the Redskins had Bob Holly, who’d been drafted the year before. Coach Joe Gibbs usually didn’t keep three quarterbacks. But in the third preseason game, a Super Bowl rematch against Miami, Laufenberg got some second-half playing time and delivered. He was 9 of 17 for 86 yards and the Redskins to their only score in a 38-7 loss. That cemented his spot on the team, though he never saw the field in the regular season or playoffs with Theismann taking almost every snap. A year later, the Redskins drafted another quarterback, Jay Schroeder from UCLA, and again it looked like Laufenberg might be the odd man out. But once again in the third exhibition game, he got his time to shine once again, and delivered. Down two scores when he came in against New England in the 4th quarter, Laufenberg went 10 of 17 for 184 yards, leading the Skins to a thrilling 31-27 victory. Said Gibbs after the game, “I thought Babe really competed at the end and showed he’s a fighter.” Once again, Laufenberg survived the final cuts, but once again didn’t take a single regular season snap. One year later, 1985, Laufenberg again needed a spectacular performance to stick. And again in the third preseason game, again against New England at home, he delivered. Down 13 points in the 4th quarter, Laufenberg went 12 of 21 for 200 yards, including two touchdown passes – one for 75 yards to Gary Clark and the 25 yard game-winner to Clint Didier with four seconds left for a 37-36 win. Said the Babe after the game, “I certainly think I helped my cause.” Said Gibbs, “It may have made the decision difficult.” Difficult though the decision may have been, alas Laufenberg was cut. His Redskin story may have ended there, but in reality it was just starting to get good. After failing to catch on with another team, he planned a mid-November vacation to Cabo San Lucas and happened to be there when the Redskins played a Monday night game against the New York Giants. Wanting to watch his old team play and not having a television in his hotel room, he headed to the only bar in town that had one – The Giggling Marlin. Known for their upside down tequila shots, Laufenberg was enjoying one, when he glanced up at the TV (upside down of course) and saw that Theismann had gone down with a broken leg. He thought to himself, “Gee I wonder if the Redskins might want to get a hold of me.” Never mind it was the pre-cellphone era, there was only one telephone in Cabo at the time and it sat in the Post Office. That’s where he headed the next morning and was told by Redskins General Manager Bobby Beathard on the phone, “Yes. Get here as quickly as you can.” Laufenberg finished out the year watching Schroeder take every snap. Theismann’s career was ended by the injury and with the USFL folding, Doug Williams arrived in 1986 to be Schroeder’s backup. Still there would be time for one more magical August night for the Babe. Getting action this time in the second preseason game, the Redskins trailed Pittsburgh 24-10 when Laufenberg stepped into the huddle in the 4th quarter. And just like the last three Augusts, fireworks followed. Laufenberg threw for 182 yards to send the game into overtime and led drive that set up Mark Moseley’s 51-yard game winning field goal. Though it was now four-straight years of heroics, most knew his release was inevitable. A local television station launched a “Save the Babe” campaign, but it was all for naught. Babe Laufenberg was cut by the Redskins for the final time. Over? Who said anything about over?,,,<<

If he manages to go on to be a real presence in the NFL can you imagine how many times we are going to see that shot of him going over the pylon in the Tampa game? The sports media loves his kind of story.

Sheesh Pittsburgh. He's now your #2 QB? Did you do ANY research on this guy before you took him? Looks like he's not going to take you to the Superbowl! Dwayne Haskins’ Steelers coaches rip ‘ridiculous’ and ‘lazy’ pregame warmups | New York Post - Bing video Stop if you've heard this before: Dwayne Haskins is lazy | Fox News

It's really too bad the group including Joe Gibbs didn't manage to end up with the team. For anyone interested in the history of the whole wretched mess: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/05/24/how-daniel-snyder-bought-redskins-years-ago/ >>‘Bethesda man to make bid for Redskins’: How Daniel Snyder became an NFL owner<<

Keep the heat on folks. There's always hope. Dan says he'll never sell the team but he also said he would never change it's name! The video at this link is worth watching as well. They seem to think that the heat on this thing has gone up in the last 24 hours. They seem to think that the fact that Congress has gotten involved is big trouble for the NFL and WFT. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/10/30/should-the-nfl-rid-itself-of-daniel-snyder/ >>Should the NFL rid itself of Daniel Snyder? Posted by Mike Florio on October 30, 2021, 2:31 PM EDT Getty Images The NFL continues to take body blows over the chronic misconduct of the Washington Football Team on Daniel Snyder’s watch and the league’s bizarre handling of the investigation. It’s fair to wonder whether the league will realize that the easiest solution to its current problems is to simply rid itself of Snyder, once and for all. When the conclusions regarding the WFT investigation first emerged, with zero facts that supported them disclosed, it became obvious that the NFL was protecting not Snyder but the rest of the owners. If those facts were to come out (and they still could), it will be as untenable for Snyder to continue as the owner of the Washington Football Team as it was for Jon Gruden to continue as the coach of the Raiders. And then a roadmap will be available for any current or former employees of other teams who may want to make accusations that become formal allegations that become a critical mass of contentions that spark an independent inquiry and then that owner may end up being forced to sell, too, if the facts come to light. The best protection against that outcome would have been to simply push Snyder out of the club. Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post, in a biting, insightful, and generally brilliant column, shows that the NFL is getting what it deserves for not giving Snyder what he has long deserved. With Congress on the case, it may be too late for the NFL to quietly throw Snyder overboard — even if it could. (He’d surely fight, tooth and nail, any effort to oust him.) While publication of certain facts relating to the investigation could be enough to create sufficient public outcry to force a sale, the precedent that could bring down other owners would be established and irreversible. Plenty of owners are likely wishing they’d gotten rid of Snyder, or had never let him join Club Oligarch in the first place. As explained by Albert Breer of SI.com, Tanya Snyder (who is running the team during her husband’s “voluntary” indefinite exile) spoke to the other owners this week, and one person who heard her comments called them “tone deaf.” Two other owners, per Breer, agreed with that assessment. And while Tanya Snyder insisted that neither she nor Dan Snyder leaked the emails, Jenkins points out that Snyder’s international crusade to inflict judicial vengeance for a false story that linked Snyder to Jeffrey Epstein placed some of those emails into the public record. Although a separate and subsequent leak seemed to trigger the downfall of Gruden, it arguably would have become much easier to justify leaking emails that already are hiding in plain sight. Per Breer, Tanya Snyder also claimed that Daniel Snyder doesn’t have an email account. While that, if true, would suggest that the trove of 650,000 secret Bruce Allen emails includes no messages to or from Snyder, it’s irrelevant to whether Snyder or someone working on his behalf leaked either the Gruden emails or the Bruce Allen-Jeff Pash messages, or both.<<

Florio has gotten this one right when he says the current NFL e-mail/WFT investigation is is a legitimate matter for Congressional concern. The NFL is deeply imbedded now into the country's businesses and way of life. The NFL might be quite happy to see Dan go if it means getting the heat off the rest of its owners. I hope I am not crossing the line into political content when I say this but I for one, as a fan am echoing Florio's sentiment in a letter to my Congressional rep. Hopefully the rest of the NFL owners will finally realize that they are all better off if they cut Dan loose from the team and just let him watch the games from his yacht's IMAX theater somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. This is excerpted from the complete article which I recommend reading. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/10/21/in-wft-letter-to-roger-goodell-congress-points-to-nfls-prominent-platform-and-national-implications-of-its-actions/ >>Many will say, as many often do, that Congress has better things to do than to poke around the private investigation conducted by one of the private companies belonging to a private sports league. The NFL, however, isn’t some mom-and-pop operation with limited influence on a small circle of people. The NFL has become a dominant force in American life, with the ability to gather larger live audiences than any other sports or entertainment product. That’s why Congress is exercising its prerogative, indeed its obligation, to explore the top-secret (except when trying to bring down Raiders coach Jon Gruden) investigation of the Washington Football Team. As explained in Thursday’s letter from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform to Commissioner Roger Goodell, “The NFL has one of the most prominent platforms in America, and its decisions can have national implications.” The NFL also enjoys a broadcast antitrust exemption, granted decades ago by Congress. This allows the league to sell to the networks the rights to all games in a 32-team bundle, instead of letting (for example) NBC buy the rights only to the home games of the Dallas Cowboys — and relegating less attractive teams to far less lucrative deals. With that Congressional dispensation as to the laws preventing 32 separate companies to behave as one, the NFL would be a far less competitive (and thus far less compelling) product. Although the Washington Football Team is indeed a private company, it and other teams receive significant public benefits and funding. The teams also rely on intense interest, loyalty, and financial support of the general populace. Thus, the goings-on in the WFT workplace become a matter of clear and obvious public concern..... ......If Congress can compel the NFL to cooperate, the information that comes to light could force dramatic changes to the landscape of the Washington Football Team. It also could impact those responsible for trying to brush the matter under the rug—with consequences possibly reaching as high on the organizational chart as the person to whom Thursday’s letter was sent.<<

More PR headaches for not just the WFT but for Gruden and the entire NFL. Still more bad press hanging out there over the e-mails thing than I'm sure they would care to have right now. The SNL cold open last night skewered Goodell, Gruden and the WFT among others. It's ironic that the e-mails came out of the WFT investigation but the only major hit so far has been to Gruden who is not even part of the WFT. The only big hit so far to Washington has been Larry Michaels and probably Bruce Allen tangentially. Another irony about all of this which I'm sure that the NFL wishes weren't the case is that the big holiday movie which is being advertised everywhere is "Chucky's Back"!

That's just nuts.

Heinicke was everything we could have hoped and asked for but NOW will they please FINALLY cut Hopkins?? Sure, he kicked the game WINNING FG but that was only after a Giant penalty gave him a second chance and shorter distance after he had kicked what was otherwise the game LOSING FG! They've got a good looking kicker on the PS. Time to bring him on and see what he can do.

Exactly. He took the team down the field from the 24 yard line to a touchdown in two plays. Even though that included a great run by Mckissick, Brady himself couldn't have done it better.

I've been concerned about what the team would do about LT ever since Trent left. With all of the additions and upgrades at WR, TE, etc, I never was impressed with Leno as a LT choice. Why talk about getting a great QB if your LT sucks, and that was proven today. He gave up a big one which put Fitz out for the game (and possibly longer). If he screws up again, he could put Heinicke in the same place, perish the thought. Is he REALLY the best they could find at that position? I was shocked at how badly our so heavily hyped and so apparently strong D. Like the booth announcers said, LAC was moving the ball up and down the field against us at will. And.....have they seen enough NOW to cut Hopkins? https://www.si.com/nfl/washingtonfootball/news/could-charles-leno-disappointment-for-washington-football-news-nfl >>..Bleacher Report selected one player on each team that could be a disappointment in 2021 and Leno was named for Washington. Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report highlights a below-average season in 2020 when discussing why Leno might be disappointing. According to PFF, he was responsible for six penalties and allowed five sacks....<<

The need for the #2 WR has been so great, the hype surrounding Dyami Brown so great and expectations set so high for him that it's going to be difficult for him to live up to those expectations. Now that Samuel is out for a while longer, those expectations of Brown will be even greater. He has a good chance of being the next superstar on this team if he can live up to those expectations. It could be tough on him if he doesn't though.

Ron thinks there's a good chance that Samuel will be ready for the Chargers game. https://www.si.com/nfl/washingtonfootball/news/new-curtis-samuel-finally-debut-washington-football-team-practice-news-chargers >>..."We're feeling really confident and he's had some really good days out there on the side," coach Ron Rivera said at the end of the week, added that his optimism regarding Samuel being available for NFL Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers is "very high...."<<

Fitz leads the WFT to the NFC championship game.

Fitz very impressed with Dyami Brown and Dax Milne https://www.si.com/nfl/washingtonfootball/news/ryan-fitzpatrick-washington-football-rookies-dyami-brown-dax-milne-news >>....Specifically, their veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is very pleased thus far with what each man brings to the squad. "Both are very smart," Fitzpatrick told media when asked about his new pass-catchers. "Receiver, believe it or not is a very difficult position to play when you're young ..." ...."Obviously,'' Fitz said, "they're talented. They're both here in the NFL, but not a whole lot of mental mistakes for either of them. For Dyami in particular, just such a quiet confidence about him. And you could just tell that he's a playmaker...."<<

Man, I think back to a year and a half ago or so when there was a lot of discussion about whether the WFT should draft Tua at #2 or Chase. For a team needing a franchise QB as badly as we do, there was a lot of serious discussion about why we should be getting Tua with that pick. I’m just *really* glad that choice went the way it did. Could you imagine if today we were stuck with another so-called franchise QB who hasn’t looked that impressive so far and who may be shaping up to be a bust? Even worse, in addition to that we could have been sitting here this year watching Chase playing for some other team instead and making hits like that one against *our* QB? Thanks be to the football gods that the WFT made the choice it did.

I've been sooooo stoked about this game and now it's finally here! I can't wait to see how the new guys look on the field and NO injuries please.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/08/08/ron-rivera-washington-will-play-ryan-fitzpatrick-and-other-starters-in-preseason/ hinglemccringleberry says: August 8, 2021 at 3:01 pm As a Miami fan I am going to tell all you Skins fans, you are going to LOVE the energy and leadership that crazy legs Fitz brings to your team. He is a class act and an incredible teammate.

Get ready. We are about to find out that this whole mess has been BA's fault and not Dan's. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/07/03/bruce-allen-indirectly-benefits-from-lack-of-wft-transparency/ >>There’s no reason to believe that the league tiptoed around Allen as a favor to him. Instead, the thinking is that the deference shown to Snyder incidentally encompassed Allen, allowing him to not be directly tied to any of the general conclusions because the league decided to conceal any specific findings or accusations. Thus, to the extent that a full and complete report potentially would have contained sentences beginning with “Bruce Allen said” or “Bruce Allen did” or “Bruce Allen knew,” the fact that no written report was created kept Allen from facing the music for anything he may have done, actually or allegedly. That won’t save him completely, especially if/when litigation is filed by any current or former employees for whom the statute of limitations has not yet run. Given his former employer’s propensity to litigate, chances are that Snyder and the WFT will make third-party claims or cross-claims directly against Allen, blaming as much of the misbehavior as possible on Allen, and pushing as much responsibility away from Snyder. Make no mistake about it, even at a time when many believe that the league went way too easy on Snyder, he likely won’t (in my opinion) pass on the chance to point a finger at someone else. The most obvious target is Bruce Allen.<<

I suspect Ron thinks the same thing and that's exactly why he apparently decided he had greater needs than drafting a QB this year.

Dyami Brown is really high on him too. https://www.si.com/nfl/washingtonfootball/news/dyami-brown-connection-qb-fitzpatrick-washington >>Fans of the Washington Football Team still might not be all-in on Ryan Fitzpatrick as the next quarterback. After all, who expects a 38-year-old not named "Tom Brady'' to change a franchise? But Fitzpatrick role is not as demanding as all of that. All he has to do is get the ball to the right target, limit the turnovers and watch what happens next. After 16 years in the NFL, that doesn't seem too hard, right? And what if a rookie comes along to help with the "right target'' part? Unlike the previous four quarterbacks who started last season, Fitzpatrick will have an upgraded arsenal at the wide receiver spots. One name that's slowly begin to turn heads in camp is rookie target Dyami Brown. According to the former Tar Heel, it's actually Fitzpatrick that could be making his job easy to transition from the college game to the pros. “Oh man, that’s a guy right there. That’s a guy. I like him a lot. You know, he’s out there, he’s composed. He likes to throw deep," Brown said on 106.7 The Fan's BMitch & Finlay. "I’ve just seen him throw deep a few times, he has a great arm...." .....It seems clear Fitzpatrick's leadership skills have truly helped the new faces blend early. It's only been a few practices, but there's nothing but positive praise for the old-timer from a young core guy. "Just him as a person, he’s very well-spoken and I’ll speak highly of him," Brown said....<<

NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year 2 years in a row? Would be nice if it happened. https://www.si.com/nfl/washingtonfootball/news/case-washington-jamin-davis-as-nfl-rookie-year >>.....Rivera swung big in April at the No. 19 pick with the selection of Jamin Davis. The athletic Kentucky linebacker can play sideline to sideline and be effective at near every level of the field. The expectations are high for Davis to step in, learn the playbook and contribute in both the base 4-3 and subpackages as well. How talented can Davis be in his rookie year? CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso has the WFT star as the front-runner for the Defensive Rookie of the Year.... .....This isn't to say that Davis won't have any hiccups transitioning from the college game to the NFL. Every rookie will struggle and needs time to adjust to NFL speed. For Davis, having a cheat code like WFT's defensive line will help plenty in recording tackles. That ultimately gives Washington a chance to land back-to-back DROYs in the short time under Rivera's regime. <<

Aaron Rodgers is 38 also. Would he be worth the price the WFT would have to pay to just have him play another 1-2 years?

So is Ron sneaking another QB with good potential but low cost in the back door the way he did with Heinicke? Is he seeing something in these QB's that other teams are missing? I know, people are going to say that XFL season was only 5 games and that's not long enough for him to really show anything. Most people (including me) were on Ron for not going after one of the top 5 QB's in this years draft. I heard him say somewhere later on that there had only been 1 QB in this years draft that they really liked though and he was gone well before Washington could have moved up to get him. Most speculation that I've heard was that it was Tre Lance. It seems to me that Ron is savvy enough and sly enough to just lie back while everyone else is going QB crazy in this year's draft and just quietly build the other need positions on the team. If his guy fell far enough for him to take a shot fine and if not, fine too. He was comfortable enough with Fitz, Allen, and Heinicke to run with just them this year if need be. He did alright, too. I've haven't seen anyone give the WFT anything lower than a B+ in this year's draft and mostly they have gotten A's. Also, if I were Ron, if I don't get someone in the draft this year, I would also be figuring that well, Aaron Rodgers is out there. VERY low odds probably, but still, he is out out there. Then there is Watson. Again, very, very low odds and I probably wouldn't want him from a character standpoint but he is still out there. And there is always the possibility that even if I don't want him, if he is traded he might free up a QB somewhere else that I might indeed want. And Lamar Jackson is still unsigned and Russell Wilson might become available as well. Again, very very low odds but then again, something might just break our way. So again if I'm Ron, i'm comfortable not spending much draft capital on a QB this year and just let the other teams continue their QB feeding frenzy. On top of all of that, now he's also got his eye on *another* guy like Heinicke, who is cheap and may have good upside potential as well. It looks as if Ta'amu has the potential to be a starter someday. Again, if I were Ron, I'd figure I would have a year to find out one way or another. And if neither of them pan out, I STILL am going to be in good enough shape with draft picks next year that I can go after a strong QB candidate in that draft. This is all just me hypothesizing though so who knows! It looks as if we've got a new face in the mix though. https://www.hogshaven.com/2021/5/15/22437692/could-jordan-taamu-end-up-as-washingtons-qb4

Wow. This is some theory. I doubt it would ever happen but it sure is interesting to think about, especially now that Baltimore got all those draft picks for Orlando Brown. https://nypost.com/2021/04/24/ravens-could-dump-lamar-jackson-in-radical-move-nfl-expert/