From: swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Steve Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro,dc.redskins
Subject: Washington Redskins News - 9/10/92
Date: 10 Sep 92 13:39:22 GMT
Reply-To: swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Steve Williams)
Followup-To: rec.sport.football.pro
Organization: Carderock Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center


Yesterday the Redskins worked overtime, spending approximately five hours
in various film and meeting rooms, then pushing through a tough two-hour
practice.  In the meetings the Redskins talked about breakdowns on special
teams and being unable to stop the run and a dozen other problems.

On the first play of a new season, in the noise and confusion of Texas 
Stadium, Earnest Byner and McKenzie failed to hear an audible call by 
QB Mark Rypien, which resulted in a blown assignment that allowed Cowboys
linebacker Vinson Smith to blow into the backfield untouched for a 11-yard
sack.

QB Rypien was sacked once more again and knocked down about a dozen times.

There were so much trouble communicating signal calls at the line of 
scrimmage that several times tackles and guards weren't running the same
plays.

There was so much trouble hearing Rypien's snap count that linemen ended
up reacting to the movement of defensive linemen, which means "they pushed 
us before we could push them," said Redskins guard Mark Schlereth.  "The
advantage an offensive player has is that he knows where he's going.  When
you don't have that advantage, you end up stymied."

Worst of all, even when there wasn't a breakdown in communication, the 
Redskins were at times physically overmatched by the energized Cowboys.

"Things happen for a reason," Schlereth said.  "We could have gone all
season without knowing this could happen to us.  We could get to an
important playoff game and it could happen again.  If that's the case,
it's good we got the lesson right off the bat."

It's an indication of how good and how confident the Redskins are that they
were so up-front about their problems.  In admitting they'd had problems,
they were also saying something about themselves, probably that they know 
they're good and don't expect to have many more bad days as long as this 
current group is together.

"That's one great thing about this," OT Jim Lachey said.  "There's always a 
next week to go out and prove yourself.  That's where we have to turn our
focus, to the Falcons.  Their tradition has been to be a blitzing team."
The Redskins expect more blitzing this Sunday.

The Redskins were bedeviled by offensive line problems for much of the
summer, and they have less depth there than at any time in recent years.
Against Dallas when Cowboys the Redskins had the same five starters 
who opened Super Bowl XXVI, but the Redskins line never got into sync.
"If you can't hear what the quarterback is saying, if just one person can't
hear what the quarterback is saying, and you've got a team coming off the 
ball like the Cowboys did, you can't get things blocked," Schlereth said.

Gibbs said yesterday he wouldn't abandon the no-huddle offense, but that
with trips to three domed stadiums coming up, he'll be looking for a more
noise-proof way to pass the signals from lineman to lineman.

"That's something we haven't experienced before," Schlereth said.  "Chalk
that up to a learning experience.  We did quick counts, but we were still
having trouble hearing the snap count."

He said early in the game "we were just kind of overwhelmed.  It was like,
'What's he calling.'"

Other News:
----------
As expected, the Washington Redskins dropped slumping long snapper John 
Brandes from the roster yesterday and signed 13-year veteran Guy Bingham, 
who was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles at end of training camp.  Brandes was
placed on four-week injured reserve because of a knee injury suffered three
weeks ago, and while there's no question his injury is legitimate, there's
also no question the move is a demotion.

"John has been nicked," Coach Joe Gibbs said.  "He had a bad outing this 
week, and our problems weren't all his fault.  We just felt it was time to
make a change."

Brandes continued a slump, which began at the end of last season, with a pair
of bad snaps during Monday's 23-10 loss in Dallas.  One of the bad snaps was
part of the breakdown that allowed Isaac Holt to block a Kelly Goodburn punt
for a safety on the first possession.

Rookie Elliot will continue to handle the snapping for field goals and extra
points.

Goodburn kicked in 61 NFL games without a block, but now has had four of them
blocked the last eight regular-season games.  The Atlanta Falcons got two -
both by linebacker Darion Conner - in Game 10 last season, and the 
Philadelphia Eagles' cornerback Otis Smith got another one in Game 16.


Source: The Washington Post, September 10, 1992


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 Steve Williams                           swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil
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