Ex-Redskins Make Waves on Airwaves

Sam Huff, left, and Sonny Jurgensen, right, are among the prominent ex-Redskins covering the team. (By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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So at the end of one sunny Sunday afternoon in October, Pete Kendall stood in front of his locker stall at FedEx Field, game pants still on, thigh pads still in, a hush all around. Kendall awaited the inevitable assault, and it came hard and heavy.

"Time sort of stands still," Kendall said, and thus he began the process of explaining -- again and again -- how a 6-foot-5, 292-pound NFL lineman could see a ball batted into the air, catch it, then decide to run forward. Kendall made those choices earlier that afternoon, only to fumble the ball, allowing a St. Louis defender to scoop it up and sprint the other way for a touchdown. The play turned around what became a 19-17 loss to the Rams. In Kendall's estimation, "It cost us the ballgame."

Kendall entered the NFL in 1996, and has played in four distinctly different markets -- Seattle, Phoenix, New York and Washington. At each stop, he and his teammates have been subject to scrutiny from former players. He said he has "always thought it was a difficult position for any former player to be in.

"The one thing you know with certainty as a player is nobody else knows exactly what's going on in those meeting rooms," Kendall said. "But sometimes, people in the media are encouraged to take a stand and draw a line in the sand, even if they don't have all the facts.

"In fact, almost all the times when they talk about X's and O's, even the most knowledgeable guys are still basing their analysis on certain assumptions that may or may not be true. So it could be frustrating, particularly if you're the guy getting wrongfully blamed or accused."

On the Tuesday before the St. Louis game, as Kendall picked up his kids from school, ESPN 980 -- and the voice of Redskins running back Clinton Portis -- pumped through the speakers of his car. Portis, who has a weekly appearance on "The John Thompson Show," began to argue vehemently with Mitchell, who had been critical of Portis the previous week. "We got some haters," Portis said, "and there's one on this show."

The conversation deteriorated from there.

"You think that I'm gonna back down?" Portis asked Mitchell. "I ain't gonna back down."

"If you ever want to go to that area, that'll be the wrong thing you do," Mitchell responded. "Believe that."

The confrontation became something of a national story, media outlets picking up on the exchange between the star running back of the current Redskins and the respected, record-setting return man from years gone by. Portis was forced to answer questions about the fracas from the two dozen media members who assemble each day at Redskins Park. He apologized to Thompson for bringing the matter to his show.

Mitchell, though, believes part of the reason for the conflict came because he used to play. As veteran tackle Jon Jansen said, "I definitely think there's a line, and that line gets moved when you're not playing anymore."

"I think players seem to take offense to it because they feel, 'Man, you're a former player,' " Mitchell said. "The whole thing about it is, now I'm a guy that works in the media. Now I have to do my job. Sometimes you're going to say things that [tick] them off. I don't try to say stuff in a way that's going to [tick] them off, but they know, for the most part, people are going to believe what I say. They're going to say: 'He played in the NFL. He knows what he's talking about.' That can bother them."