| Page 2 of 2 < |
Patchwork Line Must Hold Fast
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"We haven't been playing winless teams every week or teams that were in the bottom third in the league. We've been playing teams in the top third in the league," left guard Pete Kendall said. "Some of them haven't been close as far as the final score, but physically, the games have been competitively matched.
"They just haven't turned our way for one reason or another. Am I stunned to lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Ravens and the [New York] Giants? That's an awfully strong word to say. But it is disappointing that we've only found a way to win one of the last five? Obviously, it is."
Last in the NFC East, Washington trails Tampa Bay (9-4), Dallas (8-5), Atlanta (8-5) and Philadelphia for one of the conference's two wild-card berths. Obviously, the Redskins would rather not make their final playoff push with a patchwork offensive line and only unproven rookies in reserve, but that is their situation.
"You know this is something that you're probably going to have to deal with at some point during the year," center Casey Rabach said. "Would it be great if you could make it through the year with everybody being healthy? Sure, but that doesn't happen too often. That's why you count on everybody on your team, and when you bring young guys in, they're here for a reason."
Despite their age and injury concerns along the offensive line, the Redskins used their top three draft picks on wide receivers Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly and pass-catching tight end Fred Davis, who have 18 receptions between them. With their first pick in the third round (No. 96 overall), the Redskins took Rinehart from Northern Iowa. He started at tackle in 37 of 40 games in his collegiate career and has worked at both tackle and guard with the Redskins.
After a rough experience in preseason games, Rinehart said he lost "my confidence a little. Just kind of lost some confidence getting beat. I wasn't very confident in my sets. I wasn't playing the way I should have been playing."
Coach Jim Zorn and Bugel hope that is behind Rinehart. "I think he has gained his confidence in knowing what our calls are and things like that," Zorn said. "But until you get into the fight, you just don't know. He's going to have to get into the fight for us to know and for him to know."
