KLMNO
SPORTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 , 2019. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D
BY LES CARPENTERThe Washington Redskins on
Friday named rookie Dwayne
Haskins their starting quarter-
back for Sunday’s game at Buffalo,
giving the first-round draft pick
his first opportunity to start.
Interim coach Bill Callahan,
who announced the move after
practice, had hoped not to start
Haskins because he wanted to
give him more time to develop.
But starting quarterback Case
Keenum remains in the NFL’s
concussion protocol, still recover-
ing from an injury he suffered
Oct. 24 in a loss at Minnesota, and
is ineligible to play.
Colt McCoy will back up
Haskins. Callahan has said he
wants to keep McCoy as an emer-
gency reserve and not use him as a
starter.
Haskins has struggled in his
first NFL season, completing 12 of
22 passes for 140 yards with no
touchdowns and four intercep-
tions in parts of two games. His
quarterback rating is 34.5 on a
SEE REDSKINS ON D6Haskins
to make
first start
vs. Bills
BY EMILY GIAMBALVOThe opportunities for the
Maryland Terrapins to leave
Coach Michael Locksley’s first
season with tangible markers of
success have dwindled. The
Terps have won only one game
since mid-September, and reach-
ing bowl eligibility would re-
quire a remarkable November
surge. The team’s only confer-
ence victory came against Rut-
gers. The Terps (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten)
have sunk into a three-game
losing streak entering Saturday’s
game against No. 14 Michigan.
The chance to match, let alone
improve upon, last year’s 5-7
record appears improbable.
Penn State demolished Mary-
land in embarrassing fashion;
teams such as Michigan and
No. 3 Ohio State could do the
same this month. The Terps
couldn’t keep pace with Purdue
and Minnesota. When it had the
chance to go ahead late in close
games against Temple and Indi-
ana, Maryland faltered.
That’s where Maryland stands
as the season moves into its final
month, but from Locksley’s per-
spective, this is Year 1 in the
far-reaching vision for what he
wants this program to become.
“We won’t be result-oriented,”
Locksley said. “Nobody said thatthis was going to be easy. And
taking the next step as a program
to me, when we think about it, I
mean, from where we were this
time last year to now, the fact
that we have expectations, thefact that we’re in this thing, are
3-5 at this point in our season
and we still have some opportu-
nities.”
This time a year ago, the board
of regents met multiple times,
discussing the professional fate
of coach DJ Durkin in the wake
of troubling allegations regard-
ing the culture within the pro-
gram after the death of offensive
lineman Jordan McNair from
SEE MARYLAND ON D4Locksley sees a foundation, not a failure, in his first season
BY DAVID NAKAMURA
AND JESSE DOUGHERTYThe Washington Nationals ac-
cepted an invitation to visit Pres-
ident Trump at the White House
on Monday for the traditional
champions celebration, less than
a week after winning their first
World Series.
But one prominent team mem-
ber, reliever Sean Doolittle, al-
ready has said he does not plan to
attend, the latest example of the
highly politicized nature of such
ceremonial events during
Trump’s presidency.
The quick turnaround for the
celebration is unusual, but most
of the players are in town for a
parade Saturday in downtown
Washington, and White House
officials said the timing works
well for the team and the presi-
dent. The ceremony will take
place at 1:15 p.m. on the South
Lawn, a White House official
said. The White House made theformal announcement on
Twitter.
The Nationals defeated the
Houston Astros, 6-2, in Game 7
on Wednesday night to clinch the
title 14 years after the franchise
arrived from Montreal. It
marked the first World Series
title for Washington since 1924,
when the Senators were champi-
ons.
After the Nationals clinched
the championship, Trump tweet-
ed to the team: “Congratulations
to the Washington Nationals on a
great season and an incredible
World Series. Game 7 was amaz-
ing!”
Doolittle and his wife, Eireann
Dolan, have been involved in
political and social issues, in-
cluding working with Syrian ref-
ugees and military veterans and
supporting gay rights. The
Trump administration has
slashed the number of refugees
allowed into the United States
SEE NATIONALS ON D3Trump to fete Nationals,
sans Doolittle, Monday
KEVIN B. BLACKISTONE
The Nationals’ championship serves as a reminder of
everything D.C. was missing after the Senators left. D2
BASEBALL
Nationals’ Juan Soto entered the postseason as a star
on the rise. He exited October as a household name. D3PRO FOOTBALL
Joe Flacco’s trying first season with the Broncos
ends with the quarterback going on injured reserve. D6BY CANDACE BUCKNERWhen Bradley Beal, the Wash-
ington Wizards’ all-time leader in
three-pointers, hoisted a dozen
long-distance attempts during a
wild shootout against the Hous-
ton Rockets on Wednesday night,
it didn’t seem all that strange. But
it was unusual that the team’s
leading three-point shooter at the
time, 6-foot-11 center Moritz Wag-
ner, attempted just one.
Get used to Beal having some
big-bodied company beyond the
arc this season: The Wizards’ tall-
est players are also some of their
best three-point shooters.
Wagner, who has shown he can
do more than just the dirty work
as the backup center, missed his
lone three-point attempt in the
159-158 loss to the Rockets, drop-
ping his season accuracy to
50 percent (5 for 10) through four
games. Davis Bertans, a 6-10
flamethrower who made 6 of
SEE WIZARDS ON D6The Wizards’
reserve bigs
are willing to
take it outside
COLLEGE FOOTBALL SATURDAY
GAMES TO WATCH
Nationally
8 Georgia vs. 6 Florida
3:30 p.m., CBS
15 SMU at 24 Memphis
7:30 p.m., ABCLocally
14 Michigan at Maryland
Noon, ABC
Virginia Tech at 16 Notre Dame
2:30 p.m., NBC
Virginia at North Carolina
7:30 p.m., ACC NetworkBY SAMANTHA PELLThe Washington Capitals came back
from their 10-day, five-game road trip
confident in their ability to win in a variety
of ways. Tested during a grueling October
that included nine of 14 games away from
home, the Capitals exceeded expectations
on the trip, going 4-0-1 to collect nine of a
possible 10 points.
On Friday, the Capitals’ 6-1 win over the
Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena was
another example of how they find ways to
earn two points. The Capitals (10-2-3)
were dominant in the first 11 minutes,
opening a 4-0 lead behind Jakub Vrana’s
two goals, Brendan Leipsic’s first as aCapital and Chandler Stephenson’s sec-
ond of the season.
It was the kind of start the Capitals had
hoped for, with the team remaining in
sync after its longest road trip of the
season.
“I think our work ethic has been very
high in all areas this year, and they want toget better,” Coach Todd Reirden said.
“They want to try to figure out how to have
success as a group, and individually they
want to improve. I’m fortunate to have
this team.”
Before the Capitals improved to 7-0-1 in
their past eight games, forward Tom Wil-
son said Friday that the trip was a chance
for the players to bond and that led to
positive results. They were hoping those
good feelings would continue at home,
where the Capitals had won just two of
their first five games (2-1-2).
With a flurry of high-quality goals, the
Capitals got off to the kind of impressive
start they were seeking. Vrana got behind
SEE CAPITALS ON D10Happy homecoming
NICK WASS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
T.J. Oshie gets the puck past Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark in the third period Friday to complete the Capitals’ scoring. Washington is 7-0-1 in its past eight games.CAPITALS 6,
SABRES 1Back from a 10-day road trip,
Caps keep rolling with routFlames at Capitals | Tomorrow, 7 p.m., NBC Sports WashingtonTimberwolves at Wizards
Today, 8 p.m., NBCSWRedskins at Bills
Tomorrow, 1 p.m., FoxJOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Maryland won its first two games under Michael Locksley but has
gone 1-5 since. “Nobody said that this was going to be easy,” he said.