OTAs and summer camps are over. Roster cuts have been made and the men who are the 2010 Washington Redskins practiced yesterday. Coaches will be game planning for Dallas today and the players have the day off. Tomorrow they will begin practicing those plays that will show the Dallas Cowboys just who America’s Team is. The 2010 offseason is in the bank and it’s officially the beginning of “2010 KICKOFF” Week or, as long-time die hard Redskins fans say – “Dallas Week”.
But the excitement comes on the heels of a difficult Saturday where players saw teammates cut. The players showed mixed emotions about the recent roster changes. Although there seemed to be a collective sigh of relief because it’s finally time to get down to playing football, I found that ‘cut day’ is harder for the players who remain on the team than I – and maybe many others – realized.
It is amazing how much physical space 22 large men’s bodies take up. With 15 of 22 men that we’re used to seeing out on the practice fields gone (eight are on the practice squad, seven from the 75-man team), yesterday those fields looked deceptively empty. So did the locker room after practice.
“It’s that feeling where when guys are at training camp and you see the room is packed,” offensive lineman Derrick Dockery explained after practice. “Then after that final cut day it’s like, ‘man… where did everybody go?’ There were guys you got to bond with or had a relationship with and it’s sad to see them go. But at the same time, if you’re still here, you breathe a sigh of relief. In this league you can’t take anything for granted. I’m grateful that I’m here. Every day I go out and don’t take a day for granted because you don’t know if it’s going to be your last.”
Some of the players that are not on the 53-man roster are still Washington Redskins however. Head coach Mike Shanahan made of point of saying that the Washington Redskins are actually made up of 61 men, not 53. He maintains that any of those guys could become active roster players in the event of an injury or a demotion or a surprise release.
“I don’t look at it as a 53 [man roster],” Shanahan told reporters after practice. “I look at it as 61 because everybody’s got to be ready to play each week. So even if you’re on the practice squad, you’re on the 61 and you still have a chance to be up for that game. I feel very good about the 61 players we do have. The difference between the 53 and the 61 is very, very close. It’ll be interesting to see throughout the year who stays in the 53, who moves up, who moves down. We’ll constantly be looking for the best people to be as competitive as we can at all the positions out there on the waiver wire. We’re constantly going to be trying to upgrade our football team and that will be our philosophy.”
Shanahan did admit that it’s hard to make those final cuts.
“It’s pretty hard every year because there are so many quality people there and they’re so close,” he said. “Yea… [it was a] typical year… pretty tough.”
Many of the players find that day difficult and looking toward the future may help take their mind off it, breathe a sigh of relief that it’s over and get down to the business of playing the Dallas Cowboys.
“It’s good to get past all that,” tight end Fred Davis said.” You can see where the players are and you know the people that you’re going to be with the rest of the year. You hate that part anyway, of the game. You’ve got guys you were around for three, four, five weeks and now they’re not here anymore. But that’s part of the NFL. You just have to keep rolling.”
“Early on there’s a good feel for whose going to make the team, who’s really competing,” Chris Cooley said about the roster cuts. “There may be three or four surprises every year and that’s it. You’re not blown away by anything. There are always one or two surprises and there are guys that you pull for but it is what it is.”
Playing the Dallas Cowboys on national TV on Sunday night in the season opener is no small deal, either in this town or in the NFL. It’s amazing that the NFL chose this game as the Sunday night start to the season. The league officials must have had a lot of faith in the new regime after last year to schedule the Washington Redskins against a team as good as the Cowboys this early in 2010. Or perhaps that’s the point… it’s so early that no team has been labeled yet.
“Any time you play a team within the division it’s always a big game,” the head coach said. “You’ve got the great rivalries within a division. Obviously I know how big a game this is. It’s something that you’re looking forward to on Sunday night.”
Receiver Anthony Armstrong was on the Redskins’ practice squad last year and he recalls what “Dallas Week” was like in 2009. He talked of the intensity of practices and skirmishes between teammates. He is eager to beat the Cowboys.
“Knowing what it really means to everybody [in Washington], it’s huge,” Armstrong said yesterday. “It’s good to be on this side. I remember being back in Dallas and really, any game in this conference is big. But when you see the intensity of everybody in this community, it’s great. There’s going to be some good things this year.”
“There’s no higher level to play than a night game against the Dallas Cowboys,” Cooley said. “The atmosphere will be unreal. I can’t wait to get back, personally, and play at a real high level and help this team win. We’re looking for a great week of practice. We’re really putting the pressure on ourselves; coaches are putting pressure on the players to really prepare at a high level.”
Derrick Dockery was drafted by the Redskins in the third round (81st overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft. After spending the 2007 and 2008 seasons with the Buffalo Bills, Washington resigned him. He knows all about “Dallas Week” and the importance of this game.
“With this division, you never know who’s going to be on top.” Dockery explained. “The year I left, we were up there in the division. But things can change. The next year Philly came back and won it. Things can go up and down. You know this is going to be a physical, competitive game. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first place team vs. the last place team… every game you know you got to come in and play hard or you will get beaten. That’s what I love about the NFC East. Blue collar towns, people that love to work and work hard – we personify that as teams in the NFC East. Guys who play hard, have fun, bring our hardhats and play physical football.
“Dallas week is fun… the year we beat Dallas twice you’d listen to the radio stations and there would be songs… it was crazy. It was fun. The town really rocks. This year we’re working hard to duplicate that feeling by going out there and playing hard and beating Dallas.”
Barring some unforeseen event during the upcoming week, quarterback Donovan McNabb will be playing this Sunday night. His coach said it and some of his teammates said it.
Coach Shanahan did not mince word. “He’s ready to go.”
Fred Davis said that McNabb, “would go out there with a broken rib,” (which McNabb has done before).
And Chris Cooley showed typical candor: “I talked to Donovan and we joked a little bit about whether or not he’ll play and he said, ‘why would anyone think I’m not going to play the cowboys on a Sunday night game?’ Um… he’s ready to play.”
And so it begins. Hail.