Scouting Report
2 - Washington Redskins Big Daddy and Big Dana should shore up the
defense, but Gus Frerotte needs to toss out last
year and prove he's still the man at
quarterback
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The talented Westbrook
has proved to be a real grabber—when he and his head
are actually in the
game.
(Doug Pensinger/ALLSPORT)
| The Redskins are
the only team in the NFC East coming off back-to-back
winning seasons. They're also one of only two division
clubs (Arizona is the other) not to have tasted the
playoffs in that span. They've been a
yes,
but team—yes we can win, but we can't go that extra step.
Now, in Norv Turner's fifth year as coach, the Skins are
excited about their prospects for making the playoffs.
Before we send them off to the Super Bowl, however, there
are a few other
yes,
but's to
consider.
Yes, Gus Frerotte was in the Pro Bowl two years ago, and
he's got the gun and the savvy to take the Redskins to the
next level. But he had an off year in '97—off in his
concentration, his decision making, all the things you'd
think would be on the rise
for a young
quarterback.
Yes, wideout Michael
Westbrook is a terrific talent, big, speedy, able to make
the circus catch on occasion, but he has yet to put
together a consistent year. He's been hurt in each of his
three seasons. He's had
lapses in concentration. There have been periods in which
you
wouldn't even know he was on the
field.
Yes, newly acquired former Bengals defensive tackle
Dan (Big Daddy)
Wilkinson, at 313 pounds with 4.85 speed and only
25 years old, is the kind of specimen you could build a
defense around, and, yes, paired with another import,
315-pound former 49ers All-Pro Dana Stubblefield, could
give the Skins their most formidable inside pair since Dave
Butz and Diron Talbert in the
'70s. But Big Daddy arrives with some heavy baggage, his
former Bengals coaches having mentioned privately, and
sometimes not so privately, that he lacked inner fire.
The
yes,
but's were put to
Turner one steamy day in training camp, and they obviously
came as no revelation to him. "I could give you three
or four more," he said. "Yes, Tré Johnson,
our left guard, can be one of the most dominating linemen
in the league, but he
has yet to put it together for a whole year, and he's had
three shoulder operations. Yes, Jamie Asher, our tight end,
caught 49 balls last year, but he hasn't been consistent.
Yes, we were counting on Terry Allen to carry our running
game, but he was
hurt—and he's 30 years old. Had
enough?
"There's one thing about all these
yes,
but's. They come down to consistency. If every player steps up
and plays at a consistent level, nothing's impossible. The
talent is certainly
here."
The players talk about last year, when they talk about it
at all, as if they'd gone 4-12 instead of 8-7-1. Most of
them sound as if they'd rehearsed the same script: The 1997
season is history. Let's move
on.
"People have accused me of not being hungry last year,
that for the first time I had no competition at the
position," Frerotte says. "Well, does Steve Young or Dan Marino
have competition? Your competition is yourself. Last year I
tried to be
mistake-free, and you can't play the game like that. This year I'll be
more wide-open, like the old
days."
There's nothing really wrong with
Turner's offense, which has always been known for
innovation. The new face is second-round draft choice
Stephen Alexander, a breathtakingly fast tight end from
Oklahoma, who will back up Asher and add more zip to the
attack. The big question is a defense that couldn't stop the
run last
year.
"We probably spent more time looking at film on
Wilkinson than we did on any player since I've been
here," general manager Charley Casserly says.
"Earl Leggett, our defensive line coach; Mike Nolan,
the coordinator; myself; and three pro scouts—we
watched tape after tape. No, he wasn't without faults, and yes,
we all felt he could make us
better."
| Schedule |
| Sept. | 6 | at N.Y. Giants |
| 14 | SAN FRANCISCO (Mon.) |
| 20 | at Seattle |
| 27 | DENVER |
| Oct. | 4 | DALLAS |
| 11 | at Philadelphia |
| 18 | at Minnesota |
| 25 | OPEN DATE |
| Nov. | 1 | N.Y. GIANTS |
| 8 | at Arizona |
| 15 | PHILADELPHIA |
| 22 | ARIZONA |
| 29 | at Oakland |
| Dec. | 6 | SAN DIEGO |
| 13 | at Carolina |
| 19 | TAMPA BAY (Sat.) |
| 27 | at Dallas |
|
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Wilkinson agrees. "Number 1, [at Cincinnati] I played
end in a 3-4, zone blitz defense where very few people knew
what they were doing," Big Daddy said on
July 27, just before his first full workout in pads with the
Skins. "I was slanting and stunting and taking hits
from guys just waiting for me. Now I'm back home in my
right position. Plus, I've never
had anyone as talented as Dana lining up next to me."
Then he went out that day and wreaked havoc, not only with his
power rush but also with
his—surprise—quickness.
"What did I see today?" Leggett said after the
show Wilkinson put on. "I saw a very quick first
move."
"It shocked me," Nolan said. "What I saw was
something I didn't see in all the tape I studied on him.
And I saw it four or five
times."
Nolan was smiling as he said it. If this 628-pound
Wilkinson-Stubblefield transfusion works out the way the
Redskins are hoping, a lot of people around Washington will
be smiling. That's the key. You can build from
there. —Paul Zimmerman
By the Numbers | Inside Slant | Lineup
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