December 2009 Archives

All the big conference teams schedule "cupcake" games against mostly local and some regional smaller conference teams to start the season. Maryland is no different there. The problem is the William & Mary Tribe were scheduled. The Tribe beat the Terps 83-77 in a game that the Terps were never really in.

The game can be summed up in two easy parts. Poor shot selection and bad defense. During the first half, many shots were taken outside and not in the paint. Even shocking was what seemed to be unrealistic 3 point shots. This Terps team has more 3 point shooters than past teams, but many of the outside shots were taken when Eric Hayes, Maryland's specialist, was on the bench. Overall the team took shots that didn't go down, didn't draw a foul, and the Terps had no one under the basket to grab the rebound. On defense, it seemed that the Tribe had six men on the floor as one man was always open. They appeared to be the ACC team in the house, taking the ball into the paint for points.

While this an upset, as pretty much all CAA over ACC games should be labeled, we should look closer at William & Mary. The Tribe had already beaten Wake Forest earlier in the season, which may have given them the edge since they had already seen an ACC team at work. This is a bad loss now that may be lessened later in the season if it is proven William & Mary can be a contender.

The Terps need to bounce back. Only over a week before the ACC season begins. Not much time to re-group.

The Washington Capitals announced a trade that should provide more help along the forward lines, as well as additional salary cap relief. Captain Chris Clark (forward - LW/RW) and Milan Jurcina (D) were sent to Columbus in exchange for forward Jason Chimera. The trade yields $2.2M in net salary cap relief.

Washington had been carrying eight to nine defensemen throughout the season. In all likelihood a move was likely at some point before or during the season. Once Nylander became on loan to Grand Rapids, his salary although paid by Washington didn't count against the salary cap paving the way for Karl Alzner and his salary cap figure to play in Washington and not the minor league affiliate in Hershey.

Chimera's size, quickness, and toughness should fill the partial void left by Brashear as well as add another dimension as a rugged worker in the corners enabling others to score. This move made so early before the March 4th trade deadline also provides the team a fair amount of time to evaulate the impact of the trade and what other future moves may be necessary. It's a good trade that improves the team in an area of need while dealing from a position of depth on the roster.

Clark's injuries the past few season's coupled with his decrease in scoring, a -4 at even strength, and the return of Fehr & Fleischmann from injuries allowed the Caps to move the team captain for a younger quicker player that has 3 years left on his contract providing the team more flexibility to reshaping the roster.

Clark wore the captain role well, but even Michael Strahan has said on Fox NFL Pre-game show that when a player is injured (in the NFL) for a prolonged period of time he's really removed from the team and has very little locker room presence. The team now must search for a new leader to don the "C" on their jersey. Although some may look to Knubble, Ovie, and Laich as the front runners don't count out the physical presence and respect of Erskine.

On most teams the captain is a player that touches the ball/puck the most and can determine the outcome of the game and in hockey this role usually falls on a center or defensemen, but few teams have a player like Ovechkin. The question now becomes whether Ovie is ready for the challenge and his teammates are ready for him to assume such a role.

The scoring drought on the stat sheet during this past stretch to end the year may benefit Laich in the long term. Brooks Laich may not have the hardest slap shot or wrist shot on the team or even be listed in the top five on the team, but his hard work and determination may yet improve his role as a secondary scorer.

As Laich and team personnel look at the causes leading to a lack of point production, the most common answer they'll find is the most simple of all. Laich scores when he's in front of the net. He may not be as proficient as Dino Ciccirelli, but most of Laich's best work is the result of hard work and chip ins and rebounds in front of the net. Even when he isn't credited with a point, his efforts in the crease as a screen yield opportunities for his teammates. Aside from empty net goals, most of the best highlights and goals for Laich aren't from the point or on break aways, but right in front of the net which happens to be an area of need for a team that already has such gifted talent skating in and shooting from the point such as Ovechkin, Semin, and Green.

It often takes young players time to develop and heed the advice from the coaching staff to go to the net. It's a painful process to go to the net when more likely than not a stick will be crashing into your legs from an opposing goaltender or a shot to the kidneys from a defenseman attempting to provide his goaltender a clear view from potential shots on net. Tomas Fleischmann added more weight giving him the new found confidence to endure the physical assault by going to the net more often and the results have been obvious and reflected in the scoring column.

Years ago the Capitals were faced with a decision between two players on the team and which would be the player to stay on the team. Both players were told to go to the net. Dmitri Khristich didn't heed the advice and was traded while Peter Bondra did go to the net more earning more playing time and helped make him the current leader in most offensive categories for the Capitals.

As Laich looks to regain his scoring touch, he need only look further then the opposition's net minder and make camping out there a full time job. The reward from his efforts won't only benefit himself but the entire team with his quiet selfless and unnoticed work down low.

It's late and well overdue, but one of the initial questions that came to mind when hearing of Tiger Wood's car accident was of a movie (It's A Wonderful Life). As the police slowly moved through protocols to close a celebrity case the facts at the time were simple. Tiger left his home in the middle of the night. He didn't get far and hit his neighbor's tree and mailbox. No one was really injured in the accident outside of Tiger and there were no reports of his neighbor's irritation over hitting his property. The only real question left unanswered as the police closed the case was whether Tiger hit the oldest tree in Pottersville and did his neighbor's great great great grandfather plant the tree? Little did anyone know that Tiger's accident would begin to unravel the inner workings of Tiger's secret and private life, as well as spawn talk around the office about what the affair count was up to now.

George Michael, the longtime former Sports Anchor for WRC4, passed away this morning as first reported by DCRTV via Twitter. He was 70 and died of cancer. Pictured here at a panel discussion, courtesy of FLICKR user The SABR Office.

Michael and the late Glenn Brenner were the face of DC sports reports since the 1980's. Michael started and hosted the George Michael Sports Machine, a Sunday late night wrap up show that was the alternative to those of us who did not have cable and access to ESPN's SportsCenter. You can't help but wonder what he might have done for ESPN. Some criticized him for being too close to the teams he covered. True, that he was always at Redskins Park the day after games interviewing coaches, owners, and players. And he helped the Washington Wizards as he promoted the contest for the name change from the Bullets.

Beyond the major sports, he was also a champion of the secondary or side sports. NASCAR, hotrod racing, bull riding, even wrestling were always covered on the Sports Machine. Even his nightly sports reports featured these sports. There were dog races in the halls of the NBC studios in Washington every year, thanks to George Michael. Last year at this time, we discussed his final departure from WRC4. At the time, it seemed the end of an era in sports reporting in the DC area. Today marks the complete end. Thanks for the memories.

So there was that. In Monday Night Football, the Redskins got crushed by the NY Giants 45-12. There's nothing positive to report for the team. Defense played awful from the beginning and the offense reverted back to the squad we knew from earlier this season.

In a bizarre twist right before halftime, the Redskins opted to go for a fake punt twice. Yes, similar to earlier in the season, they set formation to run a fake. The Giants called a timeout. When play resumed, it was still the fake on. This time however, Hunter Smith threw an interception. So for those of you scoring at home, Smith has the following stats, 1/2, 35 yard, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 Rushing TD this season. I calculate the passer rating as 75. I think Brady Quinn might be jealous.

Aside from the trick plays, the regular plays were simply awful. Nothing to write home about. The defense looked like they were playing prevent the entire game, essentially providing a 5 yard cushion for every Giants receiver. The offense sputtered and only had the ball for 1:26 by the end of the first quarter. Pathetic.

The Redskins were poised to spoil the playoff chances, or at least diminish the playoff seedings of their last 3 opponents. We've helped the Giants move closer. Next week is Dallas, who upset the Saints over the weekend and stopped their regular December fall down. It's time for the Redskins to step and play. Bruce Allen is watching, and it may well determine whether some of these players are back next season.

I'm going on record as saying this might be the happiest day in my life as a Redskins fan since the return of Joe Gibbs. ESPN 980 first reported this morning that Vinny Cerrato has resigned from the Redskins. This was followed by the announcement that Bruce Allen was hired as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the team. On the Cerrato front, I have noted my disapproval of him many a time. In fact, despite my dislike for Marty Schottenheimer, the one absolute great thing he did was fire Vinny. While we can not blame all the Redskins woes on him, he was part of the mastermind team that put together the disasterous resulting football organization. His "playoff caliber team" that this group of Redskins were declared is much short of that goal. Short at least 3 offensive linemen and at least one cornerback. The 2008 draft class was both his best and worst. Drafting Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, and Fred Davis all in the second round (BTW after trading in to get all in the second round) made little sense. No argument a good number one receiver was needed to take the place of Santana Moss, but an extra one and a receiving tight end to backup Chris Cooley? Vinny was proven somewhat right only that Cooley would miss nearly half of this season and Thomas has turned in a couple of good to stellar games. But no excuse to ignore the rest of the teams needs for places that were not the worst.

Bruce Allen is the former GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Fans may also know that he is a son of former legendary coach of the Redskins George Allen and brother of former Governor of Virginia and Senator George Allen. Finally after a decade of near total control by Dan Snyder, the team appears to have a professional front office manager to handle team operations. Whether he will be the missing piece to right the Redskins ship will need to wait. However, I think all Redskins fans think it would be hard to do a worse job than Cerrato did.

The rebuilding of the Redskins has started and it begins with Shaun Suisham. Multiple sources including ESPN 980 and ESPN's Adam Schefter repot that Suisham has been released. To take his place, kicker Graham Gano has been signed. Gano most recently played for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the UFL and was a contender for the kicker position in the Ravens pre-season until he was released just before the regular season started. Based on his bio, I find it funny as he reminds me of Nigel Gruff from the 2000 movie "The Replacements" as both are from "across the pond". However, Gano is genuine as he played for Florida State in college.

Suisham had a longer than expected stint with the Redskins, at least in the eyes of everyone except Washington's front office. I wished that he were cut immediately after the game on Sunday, but somehow he lasted until Tuesday. Really, there is always someone else out there. Consistently inconsistent, one might argue this was his best season until we faced the Cowboys a couple of weeks ago and the team began losing games because of his missed kicks. He was also never a great kickoff man, always landing the ball well short of the endzone. There was one season the Redskins had a second kicker on the squad just for kickoffs. That might have been former Maryland Terrapin Nick Novak, who was at Redskins Park this week trying to win Suisham's job that eventually went to Gano.

Goodbye Suisham. There are few Redskins I wish ill on. I won't dwell on it, but I do wish he ends up with the Cowboys, the Giants or the Eagles so he can screw up their team. So also ends the poll we put up yesterday. Inexplicably, there were a few responses of keeping Suisham. Maybe they were doing it in jest. There was an argument that at least we know what Suisham is capable of. Which is total BS, because a professional kicker should not miss 23 yard chip shots. He's missed a bunch of "easy" kicks in the past. At least even is Gano is bad, we will find out soon and maybe Snyder and Cerrato have a short trigger now.

This is of course, the question on everyone's mind. Over the past seasons, Suisham has had his up days and his down days. It seems the Redskins have not had a stable kicker since Chip Lohmiller? Suisham is doubly painful as his field goals are iffy and does not have the strength to send kickoffs into the endzone. My fill of Suisham ended at least 2 seasons ago and I still can not believe he is on the team. I understand there is the thought that there is no one better available, which I disagree, but sometimes cutting a player proves a point. So we have this poll. It will end at 4 PM next Sunday, right before the next Redskins game, or when Suisham gets cut, whichever comes first.

Interception stripped and returned for touchdown, punt bounce off the back, fumble in your own territory in overtime, and missed chip shot field goal. All these events are rare occurances for one team in the NFL in one season, yet all happened in one game with the Redskins. Again, the Redskins lose, this time to the New Orleans Saints, 33-30 in overtime. This was the hardest game to take as a loss because had any of those 4 things not occur, the Redskins basically had a victory.

Toward the end of the first half, Kareem Moore intercepts Drew Brees, only to get stripped of the ball by Robert Meachem who runs it in for a touchdown to tie it a halftime. A shanked punt by the Saints bounces off Barnes and into the arms of the Saints. Most egregious though were the missed field goal by Suisham and fumble by Sellers. The missed field goals occurred when the Redskins could have been up 33-23 with less than 2 minutes left in the game. Surely a 2 score lead with a minute plus holds 99% of the time. Yet Suisham again shows how much value he is to this team. There is no excuse for Mike Sellers. You have to hold on to the ball, especially in overtime. He simply let it go.

I heard this morning that this should be a "moral victory". Well this moral victory eliminated the little remaining shot the Redskins had at the playoffs (not that we were counting on that anyways). And it doesn't feel so good, when there were so many opportunites to win. Inexplicably, all facets of the team played well together for over 60 minutes. Offense worked well, defense is the great defense, and special teams were adequate. But 4 plays cost the game. Rarer even is that 3 of those mistakes could have been made and the game was still likely the Redskins to win.

The University of Maryland Terrapins has decided to keep Head Coach Ralph Friedgen around. This seems to be best for the team on a number of fronts. For continuity, as we discussed months ago, the Terps have already named Offensive Coordinator James Franklin as the successor. This season's bad record can be blamed on the bad offense, so the change would either cost the University double in dead contract costs or leave the team with pretty much the same scheme. The second is the cost. In this bad economy, asking members of the Terrapin Club (which of full disclosure, I am a member of), to pay for Fridge's contract when he's not working for the team seems in bad judgement.

We know this is has not been a season to remember, unless you want to point it out as the worst season ever for Maryland football. But Friedgen has been the only reliable coach the team has had in quite a bit of time. One bad season should not sink him. Of course, Maryland has not been stellar in his tenure, but it will take much longer than the few years he's been coach to build the team to a national powerhouse.