Woody:Skins' tackle cooks

[TK]

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Skins' tackle cooks

The man with the pan, Winey gives offense blocker with seasoning

BY PAUL WOODY

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Thursday, December 4, 2003

ASHBURN So far in his career as a Washington Redskin, Brandon Winey has had a more difficult time finding his favorite seasoning salt than he has playing left tackle.

"I was in the grocery store the other day, looking for Tony Chacheres seasoning salt, and I couldn't find it," Winey said. "This seasoning, you can put it on anything, fish, meat, chicken, in your salad."

The versatility of that Tony Chacheres product matches the versatility Winey has brought to the Redskins. Before arriving in Washington on Aug. 2, a week after training camp had begun, Winey never had played left tackle.

Last Sunday against New Orleans, he started there in place of Chris Samuels, who is out with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee. Winey, 6-7 and 315 pounds, played well and was a significant contributor in a blocking effort that kept Redskins quarterback Tim Hasselbeck from getting sacked.

Winey will start again Sunday when the Redskins (4-8) play the New York Giants (4-8) in Giants Stadium.

"I'd been a right tackle," Winey said. "And I played a little guard. My first two years of college, I was a tight end. But I kept working out and getting stronger and started eating and got bigger, and I kept moving inward."

A much bigger adjustment for Winey has been at the dinner table. Winey is from Lake Charles, La., and rarely does a player from Louisiana come into the NFL without a heightened appreciation for the culinary arts. Winey enjoys his Cajun-style food, and it annoys him that he can't find it in Northern Virginia.

"People have Louisiana food on the menu, they say, but it's not the same," Winey said. "I have respect for everybody who wants to imitate our cooking, but it's not the same."

Winey, 25, deserves a bit of respect for what he has gone through to find work with the Redskins. He was a standout tight end in high school and chose LSU because he saw an offense that threw frequently to the tight end. Eventually, he moved to right tackle. He played the spot well enough to be drafted in the sixth round by Miami in 2001.

Then Winey's NFL odyssey began. Miami cut him and signed him to its practice squad. Denver signed him off Miami's practice squad Dec. 11 but put him on the inactive list for the final three games that season.

"I thought I had a home in Denver," said Winey, who was cut by the Broncos at the end of the 2002 training camp. "That's how that goes."

The Seattle Seahawks signed Winey, though, and things were looking up. Then, Winey began having muscle spasms in his back. He never played a down for the Seahawks and reached an injury settlement with them halfway through the season.

He returned home to Lake Charles, continued to work out and hoped for another chance. If that didn't come, he planned to return to LSU and finish the three hours he needs to earn a degree in business management.

"I still knew I had some football left in me, I just didn't know if anybody else knew that," Winey said.

And, he has some cooking skills in him as well.

"Smothered chicken, with rice and gravy," he said when asked his specialty. "People don't believe you can make the gravy, but when you brown the meat, with the bell peppers and onions in there, that's your gravy.

"You get a little Kitchen Bouquet, you know what Kitchen Bouquet is, don't you?"

Kitchen Bouquet is a browning and seasoning sauce.

"You mix the Kitchen Bouquet in with your water, that makes the gravy brown, and that nice, dark gravy is what it's all about.

"I can burn the skillet a little bit."

Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or pwoody@timesdispatch.com

[PCS]

From tightend to Tackle appears like he can clean that skillet too.

[bubba9497]

Kitchen Bouquet:thumbsup:

[KDawg]

this guy is class.

I was originally not too keen on him, however he has definately proven me wrong, which I always like to be when I don't feel someone is going to work out...

He's a pretty solid tackle... and seems like he's a good cook too.