WP: Gibbs, Staff Spend Day Making Tough Choices

[bubba9497]

Gibbs, Staff Spend Day Making Tough Choices

Redskins Say 14 Players to Be Released Today

By Jason La Canfora

Washington Post Staff Writer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42855-2004Aug28.html

Joe Gibbs and his coaching staff spent much of yesterday locked away in a meeting room, poring over the film from Friday's ugly 28-3 Washington Redskins loss to the Rams in St. Louis and debating which players should depart Redskins Park in the first round of roster cuts. The Redskins will release 14 players today, team officials said, and are expected to begin notifying those who will be leaving in the afternoon.

The group is likely to include surprises, as Gibbs is notorious for having an affinity for players with less-heralded pedigrees and keeping many low draft picks and undrafted free agents. The Redskins gave most of their second- and third-team players significant playing time in Friday's defeat and they were beaten all over the field, as the offense and quarterback Patrick Ramsey struggled and the defense collapsed in allowing 435 yards to the Rams. Gibbs declined to elaborate on the specifics of the defeat in his postgame news conference, looking at it from a total-team perspective, but the staff analyzed every play in detail yesterday and pinpointed many areas of concern.

Rookie Sean Taylor makes one of Redskins' few good plays Friday, picking off a pass intended for Torry Holt. Coach Joe Gibbs: "We killed ourselves." (John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)

"We saw some encouragement there with [special] teams," Gibbs said. "But on defense and offense we were together there. On neither side -- defensively or offensively -- did we play our game the way we had in the three games previously to that. We had mistakes. We had penalties. We killed ourselves. It just didn't look like the same performance by both our defense and offense. It was all of us together starting with me and going right down the list. It was disappointing and I thought there was a lot we could learn from it."

The Redskins suffered one significant injury -- left tackle Chris Samuels left the game in the first half because of a sprained ankle and did not return. He fell awkwardly on a running play and twisted his ankle, then running back Rock Cartwright fell on it. The team is calling the injury relatively minor and Samuels was on crutches after the game but getting around with a walking cast yesterday. He said it will be difficult to determine the extent of the injury, and any swelling, until the cast is off, but reiterated his stance of being ready by opening day, Sept. 12.

"I'm not too worried about it," Samuels said upon arriving at Redskins Park yesterday. "I think it will be fine."

Washington can ill-afford playing without another starting offensive lineman with stalwart right tackle Jon Jansen already out for the season because of an Achilles' injury. "You can't afford to lose a football player like that," assistant head coach-offense Joe Bugel said of Samuels.

The Redskins will return to practice Monday afternoon -- the players are off today -- and the training staff will be working closely with starting linebackers LaVar Arrington (knee) and Mike Barrow (knee), starting guard Randy Thomas (neck) and starting defensive end Phillip Daniels (abdominal strain) to see if they will be able to participate in Friday's preseason finale against Atlanta at FedEx Field. Gibbs did not receive an update from the training staff yesterday but said he hopes Arrington and Barrow can practice this week ("I think they're both close," Gibbs said), while the other players are considered day-to-day.

The team spent much of yesterday watching tape and learning from myriad mistakes against the Rams. Gibbs also decided to get the team on the field for a while, putting players through a 30-minute workout in the late afternoon after various team meetings were held. Washington was poor in virtually every aspect of play in that game, failing to move the ball by rushing (62 yards) or passing (143 yards), while the defense yielded 289 passing yards (143 to wide receiver Torry Holt alone) and 151 rushing yards (125 to rookie Steven Jackson).

After critiquing the tape, the coaches remained at the training facility well into the evening considering their first major set of roster moves. NFL teams have until Tuesday to cut down to 65 players, although various players are exempt from that number including players who participated in NFL Europe. The Redskins are carrying 90 players and will have to be down to 76 Tuesday because of various exemptions. Teams can carry 53 players at the start of the regular season not including eight players on the practice squad.

"It's not a pleasant thing," Gibbs said of the upcoming cuts, "and we'll decide on that [today]."

There is considerable competition for depth spots at running back, wide receiver and tight end/H-back, and the Redskins could begin to trim those positions today. Gibbs said he expects the team to "go hard" in its final exhibition game and has not determined how long quarterback Mark Brunell and the other starters will play Friday night.

[PCS]

Gads the tension mounts.

[bubba9497]

Originally posted by Park City Skins

Gads the tension mounts.

[spanishomelette]

"We saw some encouragement there with [special] teams," Gibbs said. "But on defense and offense we were together there. On neither side -- defensively or offensively -- did we play our game the way we had in the three games previously to that. We had mistakes. We had penalties. We killed ourselves. It just didn't look like the same performance by both our defense and offense. It was all of us together starting with me and going right down the list. It was disappointing and I thought there was a lot we could learn from it."

A lot to learn from indeed...He put them on the field today too.

Good.

And more and more waiting....

[Tarhog]

Only consolation with these cuts, far fewer here will cry 'the sky is falling'....were it Spurrier or some other coach, God help us!

Most will wisely give Gibbs and Williams the benefit of the doubt, even if there are a few 'shockers', and there won't be as many dire prediction threads as usual.

And the people will rejoice.

[bubba9497]

Originally posted by Tarhog

Only consolation with these cuts, far fewer here will cry 'the sky is falling'....were it Spurrier or some other coach, God help us!

Most will wisely give Gibbs and Williams the benefit of the doubt, even if there are a few 'shockers', and there won't be as many dire prediction threads as usual.

And the people will rejoice.

[scottb]

I worry about playing the starters too much in the Atlanta game. I hhope there are no injuries.

[Sarge]

The TURK looms large, casting an ominous shadow over Redskins Park:paranoid:

Only the Shadow knows

And Coach Gibbs:laugh:

[Atlanta Skins Fan]

As unpleasant as it is to fire someone, as a coach this cutdown round has to be a massive relief on some level.

It is fundamentally a distraction to have to give these 14 guys (about to be cut) a legitimate shot this late in preseason. I saw Cliff Russell on the field in the fourth quarter against the Rams -- give me a break. I know it's hard on a personal level, but strictly professionally Cliff Russell has no future on this team. There are more I could name, but I'll let Gibbs do that.

These guys are siphoning attention from the very important challenge of getting starters ready and making the really difficult final cuts.

If I'm Joe Gibbs, I shed real tears inside telling these guys it's the end. And the next day, I wake up feeling stronger.

I know: I've done it. Firing people can be a strange sequence of dread and guilt, followed by euphoria.

[Stone Cold]

I saw Cliff Russell on the field in the fourth quarter against the Rams -- give me a break. I know it's hard on a personal level, but strictly professionally Cliff Russell has no future on this team. There are more I could name, but I'll let Gibbs do that.

and the coach said "thou must go"...and the multitudes were happy

-gibbs 1:13

[KevinMac]

I've fired my share of people over the years, and never once have I ever enjoyed it, even though all of the ousters were well deserved and best for the team. I do agree that after the deed is done, you tend to feel like you received a shot in the arm. It strange.

A pro football team is different though, and I really feel for these guys. Between now and opening day, 960 kids (and some older vets) who are playing now will be out of the league, save a few on the practice squad. Those are men who have spent their entire lives building towards one dream--playing in the NFL. To be told that their life's ambition is over...it's got to be crushing. It's not like the world is full of football leagues, either. At least in basketball, you can always find a place to play; normally it's overseas. For football players, it's either the NFL or CFL.

I know they are lucky sonsofguns to even be in camp. That makes it all the tougher on them to be sent home.

[Atlanta Skins Fan]

Originally posted by KevinMac

A pro football team is different though, and I really feel for these guys. Between now and opening day, 960 kids (and some older vets) who are playing now will be out of the league, save a few on the practice squad. Those are men who have spent their entire lives building towards one dream--playing in the NFL. To be told that their life's ambition is over...it's got to be crushing

Scofield Kid: "I killed the hell out of him, didn't I? Jesus Christ, it don't seem real, how he ain't ever gonna breathe again, ever. How he's dead … all on account of pulling a trigger."

William Munny: "It’s a hell of a thing killing a man. Take everything he's got and all that he's going to have."

Scofield Kid: "I guess he had it coming."

Munny: "We all have it coming, kid."

- Unforgiven

[thinker]

When the article says there will be surprise cuts, I doubt there will be any that haven't been predicted widely here. There are four positions on the team that have enough depth to suggest that there would have to be a tough call for the last spot at that position:

RB

WR

TE/HB

LB

There's been ad nauseum discussion on rb and I don't think the St. Louis game clarified anything on that so there may be no cut this week.

At wr, it's hard to see how anyone has distinguished himself to push out the first five - Coles, Gardner, McCants, Thrash, and Jacobs. Scott won't beat out Jacobs. And I don't see us keeping 6 wr's.

At te/hb obviously Rasby and Cooley are staying. Maybe the team cuts one of Koz or Sellars or one of Baxter or Royal. I think it's those 4 guys fighting for 3 spots.

LB seems pretty set too with LaVar, Barrow, Washington, Pierce and Marshall. That leaves a ton of guys fighting for probably one or maybe two spots - Mitchell, Campbell, Lemons, Clemons, Smith. We've been focusing on rb and wr but this is the toughest spot to figure imo. Maybe if there is a guy they just don't want to let go here, we keep one fewer rb (then Betts, Rock, Simon, and McCullough are fighting for two spots - though I just don't see the staff cutting Betts at all).

The first cut usually is not going to include anybody who is really on the fence, so it's always going to be easier than the last cut.

I would guess that this first cut would mostly come from this group of 18:

Stephens - TE

Brewer - WR

Standeford - WR

Dillard - WR

Williams - WR

Scott - WR

Jimoh - CB

Hall - CB

Wilds - CB

Wilson - S

Ferrario - OG

Terrell - OG

Evans - DT

Killings - DT

Russell - WR

Cloman - WR

Heuer - DT

Clemons - DE

These are all guys that haven't shown much in any of the games or been commented on by the staff. I would guess that some guys who are definitely going to get cut but the team wants them on the practice squad won't get cut untill the end because that makes it less likely that somebody else will pick them up. I think the staff probably did not play their projected practice squad guys in preseason very much so nobody would take them.

[skin_fan_nc852004]

we will find out soon