1. Tight end Chris Cooley participated in practice, though he was listed as having done limited work, and said he feels fine. Cooley suffered a mild concussion in Sunday’s loss to the Colts. But he said he felt symptom-free by Monday afternoon.
2. Really, there’s no question about who will play Sunday. Clinton Portis is obviously out, but all the other questionable guys – LB Rocky McIntosh and DL Albert Haynesworth — will play.
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3. Left tackle Trent Williams gets Julius Peppers on Sunday, but there’s little doubt the Bears will also put him on the left side. Heck, they do it all the time. But that’s also where the mismatch is with Jammal Brown. The only thing I wonder is that with Williams, Peppers likely would get more one-on-one matchups whereas against Brown, he’d probably face two blockers more often than not.
4. Williams on Peppers: “He’s a huge edge guy. He has long arms. You can have him a few [feet] away from the quarterback and he still swipes the ball out of his hands. That will be a huge challenge for me.”
5. For what it’s worth, Williams said Dwight Freeney is the best player he’s faced so far. “He has everything you need to be an effective pass rusher,” Williams said.
6. Pretty big praise by Redskins coach Mike Shanahan on Lorenzo Alexander, particularly his performance on special teams. “He’s the best special teams player I’ve been around. He can run, he’s a big guy, he’s got a great attitude. He wants to make every play and he doesn’t want to come out. If he’s not in the Pro Bowl on special teams, I don’t know who would be.”
7. Jim Haslett on Carlos Rogers’ hands: “He’s done a great job covering in the slot. He’s hard to throw over. He just has to concentrate more in the game. …It’s more of a mental thing than anything else because he can do it. He’s having a good year anyway, but turnovers are the main thing in this league.”
8. The Redskins have Rogers catch passes off the Jugs machine every day. This is not the first season he’s done that, so who knows if it will help. I will say, Rogers deals with it pretty well. He can chuckle about it – a few days later of course. Told him my son’s coach called him Carlos Rogers after my son dropped an interception in practice. Rogers laughed. The guy laughs at pretty much anything. It’s certainly not that he doesn’t care, but he’s also very comfortable knowing how well he’s playing and that guys aren’t getting open that much against him.
9. Mike Shanahan’s take on it: “I think you joke about it, kind of take the pressure off him.” Rogers made a catch in practice similar to the one he dropped in the game and everyone laughed.
10. By the way, Haslett said Rams safety O.J. Atogwe had bad hands for his first couple years in the NFL. There is a difference, though, because Rogers is in his sixth year and has only seven picks. As DeAngelo Hall said, “Some people can catch; some people can’t.”
11. So Hall and Haslett supposedly had a heated exchange? Most, if not all, players will tell you that happens quite a bit. One player said “four times a day.” Another said “all the time.” When you have a building full of competitive people in a tense atmosphere, voices get raised. Period.
12. My guess is that Hall is frustrated with his performance. He’s not playing well so now we hear that … it’s the scheme … or his back is bothering him more. Maybe he’s just not playing well. Certainly, Rogers is playing better. Rogers hasn’t come up with interceptions, but he’s also not getting beaten in crucial situations.
13. Ex-Redskin Edwin Williams is starting at right guard for Chicago. To which the Redskin d-linemen say: good. Williams always looked fairly solid in one-on-one situations because he’s strong and could anchor well. But it was in team drills that things changed. I can’t imagine that the Bears’ line has a good day.
14. Think I said this Wednesday, but it’s still something that stood out to me today. When asked about Jay Cutler, the first thing Mike Shanahan did was bring up the fact that he had only been sacked 11 times in 616 throws one season in Denver. Hmmm, wonder what he was really saying. Here’s my translation: “Mike Martz is killing that kid.”
15. Haslett on why Haynesworth didn’t play vs. the Colts: (For the record, I buy their reasoning. Just because Haynesworth “knows” the Colts because he’d played so much against them was somewhat meaningless. He needs to know the game plan and how he fits.) “You’re going out there with the unknown,” Haslett said, “how long can he go? Maybe he doesn’t know what we’re doing.”
16. Phil Daniels is going to see his son play Friday night in Illinois.
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