The Washington Post - 14.11.2019

D4 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 , 2019

acknowledged the injury is “a

little bit prolonged” but gave no

timetable for when Thompson

will return.

Davis is still limited

Tight end Vernon Davis remains

in the concussion protocol and

was limited in Wednesday’s

practice.

Wide receiver Paul Richardson

Jr. and defensive lineman Tim

Settle did not practice with

hamstring injuries.

Cornerback Josh Norman

(ankle), safety Montae Nicholson

(ankle), safety Deshazor Everett

(ankle) and Peterson (toe) were

limited in Wednesday’s practice.

— Les Carpenter

situations.

“We’ve got a pretty good

rotational system for that,”

Callahan said. “We feel pretty

confident [Guice will] see quite a

bit of action this weekend.”

Peterson said he is “excited”

for Guice’s return. When asked

whether he anticipates a

problem like the one in the

season opener, he shook his head.

“Coach Gruden was here. He’s

no longer here, so different

scenario,” Peterson said.

It probably will be easier to

divide the playing time because

Thompson has been unable to

practice the past three weeks

with a foot injury. Callahan said

Wednesday that Thompson is

“week-to-week” and

handle most of the carries

Peterson would have gotten and

that it was more important to

have running backs Chris

Thompson and Wendell

Smallwood available for their

versatility. The decision not to

dress Peterson in the opener

backfired when some players

criticized the move and Guice

wound up injuring his knee,

forcing Gruden to turn to

Peterson the following week.

Such an issue won’t come up

this time, especially with interim

coach Bill Callahan building his

offense around Peterson since he

took over as coach. Callahan said

Wednesday he plans to use both

Peterson and Guice, suggesting

their usage will depend on game

Excerpted from
washingtonpost.com/redskins

Callahan plans to use

both Guice, Peterson

With Derrius Guice back after
missing eight weeks with a torn
meniscus in his knee, the
Washington Redskins again are
faced with a quandary that
helped derail the season in the
days before the first game.
What should they do with both
Guice and Adrian Peterson?
Former coach Jay Gruden
chose to sit Peterson, a future
Hall of Famer and the team’s top
offensive threat last season,
believing that Guice could

the old days and Clemson today,

they could compete with anyone

in the conference.

Rutgers has one win against

the Big Ten East’s big four — the

2014 victory over Michigan.

Since the Scarlet Knights beat

Maryland in 2017, they have lost

18 straight Big Ten games, almost

all by blowout margins.

Rutgers was in a difficult

situation when the Big East

began to fall apart as a football

conference. But it didn’t have to

run after the Big Ten’s money. It

could have joined the American

Athletic Conference — not the

Big Ten but a competitive league

— or could have played a

reasonable independent

schedule for a couple of years

until a better conference

opportunity came along.

Football’s not like basketball,

where an independent has no

chance to play in the postseason.

The minor bowls will take just

about anybody with a pulse.

The money would have been

less, but at least the players

wouldn’t have been humiliated

week after week.

Stern was joking when he

made his child abuse comment.

Sadly, what has happened is no

joke.

[email protected]

For more by John Feinstein, visit

washingtonpost.com/feinstein.

players felt Saturday being down

42-0 at the half in front of

100,000 people and a national

television audience? How will

the Rutgers players feel this

Saturday?

Maryland was doing just fine

in the ACC as a football program

— quite well until the incredibly

shortsighted firing of Ralph

Friedgen in 2010 — and surely

would have remained

competitive in basketball. In

10 seasons as Maryland’s coach,

Friedgen won at least nine games

on five occasions. Raise your

hand if you think that’s going to

happen once anytime soon.

As long as Maryland and

Rutgers are part of the Big Ten

East, they’re going to have to play

Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan

and Michigan State every year.

Since that first outlier season

when Penn State and Michigan

were down, the Terrapins have

one win against those four —

beating that 3-9 Michigan State

team. They came close against

Ohio State a year ago, but this

isn’t horseshoes. It’s football.

The ongoing excuse this fall at

Maryland has been injuries —

and there have been plenty of

them. Injuries, however, are part

of football and are more likely

when you are physically

overmatched. The Terrapins

didn’t have that problem in the

ACC. Except for Florida State in

prevent his death from

exertional heatstroke to the

Board of Trustees voting to retain

DJ Durkin as coach until

overwhelmingly negative public

response forced them to reverse

themselves and fire Durkin — if

there was a way to make a

terrible situation worse,

Maryland found it.

Rutgers is only on its third

coach — an interim at the

moment — but its on-field results

have been even more pathetic

than Maryland’s. I shudder to

think what the score will be

Saturday when Ohio State shows

up to play the Scarlet Knights in

Piscataway, N.J. The Buckeyes

could probably bring their JV

team and win by three

touchdowns.

Forget for a moment about the

question of whether college

players should be paid. In this

case, the players are the ones

paying for the money-grabbing

and the mistakes made by the

alleged adults.

It’s the players who are getting

beaten up physically, mentally

and emotionally. It’s the players

who have to walk the campus

each week after losing by

laughingstock scores. It’s the

players who wake up Saturday

mornings in the fall knowing

they have just about no chance of

winning that day.

How do you think Maryland’s

extra bucks in getting into the

New York and Washington

markets — the better to enhance

his Big Ten TV network.

Maryland was desperate for

money, having been forced to cut

seven nonrevenue sports

programs while digging out from

a budget hole. The Maryland

administration was forced, for all

intents and purposes, to sell its

football players to the wolves —

or, more accurately, the

Wolverines, Buckeyes, Nittany

Lions and Spartans — to dial for

Big Ten TV dollars.

Rutgers always has had

outsize ambitions for its football

program. Like Maryland in the

ACC, it was doing just fine in the

Big East, competing with the

other second-tier football schools

and going to second-tier bowls

on a regular basis. (Of course, the

1995 move from the Atlantic 10 to

the Big East was disastrous for

men’s basketball.)

Maryland has done just fine in

basketball in the Big Ten,

although the electricity that used

to pulse through the building

when Duke and North Carolina

came to town is long gone.

Football has been an

unmitigated disaster. Four head

coaches in the six seasons since

joining the Big Ten doesn’t begin

to tell the story. During the entire

Jordan McNair tragedy — from

the medical staff ’s failure to

outscored in their six conference

losses by a combined 296-73. One

of those six games was

competitive, the 34-28 loss at

home to Indiana.

Maryland has two games left,

against Nebraska and Michigan

State, both of whom have losing

records. Unlike Rutgers, they

might be able to salvage another

win before the season comes to a

merciful conclusion.

Rutgers’s five non-Maryland

victories — the Terrapins are 4-2

in their series with the Scarlet

Knights — came against a 5-7 pre-

Harbaugh Michigan team and a

4-8 Indiana in 2014, Indiana

again in 2015, and against Illinois

(in the midst of a winless Big Ten

season) and Purdue in 2017.

Maryland was 4-4 in its first

conference season, able to get

wins over that mediocre

Michigan team that Rutgers beat

and a Penn State team still in

recovery after the Sandusky

scandal. In the four-plus seasons

after that, the Terrapins have

10 conference wins, only one over

a team that finished the season

with a winning record (7-6

Minnesota last year).

Are we having fun yet?

Rutgers and Maryland joined

the conference beginning in 2014

for one reason: money. Big Ten

Commissioner Jim Delany, who

would sell his soul to anyone to

make an extra buck, saw many

Not long after the
announcements
in late 2012 that
Maryland and
Rutgers would
join the Big Ten, I
ran into NBA
Commissioner
David Stern, a
Rutgers graduate. I asked him
how he felt about his alma
mater’s move. He shook his head
and said: “Rutgers playing
football in the Big Ten? That’s
child abuse.”
It was meant to be hyperbole.
But was it?
Maryland and Rutgers are in
their sixth seasons playing
football in the Big Ten. The
numbers are horrific. Rutgers
has a 5-38 record in conference
games not played against
Maryland. This season, with
games left against Ohio State,
Michigan State and Penn State,
the Scarlet Knights are 0-6 in
conference games and have been
outscored 245-24. Their closest
game was a 38-10 loss to Illinois.
By comparison, Maryland is a
juggernaut — even coming off a
73-14 loss at Ohio State in which
the Buckeyes led 42-0 at halftime
and played everyone but the guy
who dotted the “I” in script Ohio
at halftime.
The Terrapins have one
conference win this season, 48-7
over Rutgers, and have been

Six years in, Maryland and Rutgers still don’t have much chance in the Big Ten

John

Feinstein

REDSKINS NOTES

foundation for next season.

Haskins was drafted to be the face

of the franchise, and he has begun

to carry himself differently as he

embraces the role. Running back

Adrian Peterson said Haskins is

“light-years” ahead of where he

was when he first joined the team.

It is a big transition, but Haskins

said it’s not unlike what he en-

dured as a first-year starting

quarterback at Ohio State.

“It was always having to get

older guys to respect me,” Haskins

said, “and being able to get older

guys to know that he’s young, but

he’s still going to lead us. That’s

just a process. That’s earning

trust. That’s spending extra time

in the film room, spending extra

time in the weight room, spend-

ing time before practice and after

practice so that they can see I’m

taking it serious and working on

my craft. That’s something that I

take very much pride in, and I’m

hoping that starts translating

with the guys in the locker room.”

[email protected]

can be more effective on third

down — it ranks 31st of 32 teams

— it would extend drives and

allow the offense to throw more.

The Redskins’ offense hasn’t

scored a touchdown in three

games, and Haskins will certainly

be tested by a Jets defense led by

coordinator Gregg Williams, who

used to coach in Washington and

is known as an aggressive play

caller. He figures to show Haskins

some looks he hasn’t seen before.

“He’s going through the steps

that a lot of young quarterbacks

go through,” Jets Coach Adam

Gase said. “You’ll see those times

where things look smooth, good

and comfortable. Then you’ll

have your moments when you’re

in that position of a coach where

you kind of know there’s a little

bit of a development stage you

have to go through. There’s mis-

takes that need to be made, and

you learn from them.”

The move to make Haskins the

starter represents a key turning

point as the Redskins build a

gained in the Buffalo game and in

the second half against the Min-

nesota Vikings in relief of an

injured Case Keenum was much

needed. It has allowed him, he

said, to speak more authoritative-

ly to veterans in the huddle and

approach the game with addi-

tional confidence.

“It’s just more intense [than

college],” Haskins said. “Laser fo-

cused, knowing that you’re the

franchise of the Washington Red-

skins now, everyone is watching

what you’re doing. How you han-

dle yourself, how you walk in the

building and how you walk into a

meeting, that’s all very important

for the guys who want you to lead

them.”

The Redskins are expected to

open up the playbook more as

Haskins gets more comfortable.

The offense has been run-heavy

since Callahan took over, but

Haskins will need enough passing

opportunities for the team to get

a thorough evaluation of him.

Callahan said that if Washington

handle the responsibilities of a
pro quarterback.
He showed growth during his
first start, however, two weeks
ago against the Buffalo Bills, im-
proving his handle on presnap
responsibilities and avoiding
turnovers while throwing for
144 yards on 15 for 22 passing.
And in some ways, growing pains
were expected for Haskins. Big
Ten Network analyst Gerry Di-
Nardo, the former coach at Indi-
ana, said before the season that
there would be a substantial
learning curve for Haskins, going
from just one season starting in
Ohio State’s offense to Gruden’s
West Coast-style scheme.
“He’s certainly physically and
mentally equipped to do it,” Di-
Nardo said during the offseason.
“... Again, it’s a one-year starter,
not in a huddle, not running the
West Coast offense. That’s a lot to
ask that guy.”
Haskins said the experience he

REDSKINS FROM D1

Haskins shows confidence in new role as a starter

ration of the current CBA would

be only a year off.

— Mark Maske


LIONS: Detroit quarterback

Matthew Stafford did not prac-

tice with teammates a few days

after hip and back injuries

stopped his streak of 139 consec-

utive starts counting the playoffs.

Stafford watched Wednesday

as quarterbacks Jeff Driskel and

David Blough took snaps.

Driskel started in place of

Stafford in a 20-13 loss to Chica-

go, giving Detroit its fifth loss in

six games.

The Lions (3-5-1) host the Dal-

las Cowboys (5-4) on Sunday.

Driskel was 27 for 46 for

269 yards with a touchdown and

an interception in his sixth ca-

reer start.


JETS: New York running

back Le’Veon Bell sat out prac-

tice with an illness but is expect-

ed to be okay in time for the game

at Washington on Sunday.

“I don’t think it’s something

serious,” Coach Adam Gase said

Wednesday.

When a reporter jokingly

asked whether Bell might have

mononucleosis — which side-

lined quarterback Sam Darnold

for a month — Gase shook his

head and half-smiled.

“I hope not,” he said. “Yeah,

way too soon.”

Bell is also listed on New York’s

first injury report of the week as

dealing with sore ribs and a knee

ailment.


SAINTS: A person familiar

with the situation said New Or-

leans starting left guard Andrus

Peat had surgery to repair a

broken arm and is expected to be

sidelined about six weeks.

The 2018 Pro Bowl selection

was injured during the first half

of Sunday’s loss to Atlanta.

Peat was New Orleans’s first-

round draft choice in 2015 and

has started 59 of 64 career

games.


DOLPHINS: Miami safety

Reshad Jones said he expects to

play this week after missing the

past four games with a cracked

rib.

Jones, the Dolphins’ highest-

paid player at $13 million, has

played in only three games this

season and was limited in prac-

tice Wednesday. Miami faces Buf-

falo on Sunday.

— Associated Press

FROM NEWS SERVICES

AND STAFF REPORTS

Negotiators for the NFL and

the NFL Players Association have

made meaningful progress to-

ward a new labor agreement that

is increasingly likely to include a

17-game regular season, accord-

ing to multiple people familiar

with the situation.

The positive momentum has

buoyed optimism for an agree-

ment to be in place by the end

of the upcoming NFL postsea-

son.

“I think there’s some real in-

tensity and opportunity over the

next few weeks,” one person

familiar with the state of the

negotiations said, adding that

the participants are “working

hard” to complete a deal.

Owners have shown a willing-

ness to make concessions to get

the players to put aside their

concerns about a 17-game season,

according to people on both sides

of the talks who spoke on the

condition of anonymity to dis-

cuss private negotiations.

It’s not clear what concessions

would be deemed acceptable by

the NFLPA to agree to a longer

regular season, which the union

previously has opposed on play-

er-safety grounds. But it appears

that at least some of those con-

cessions would be tied to the

sport’s economic system for com-

pensating players, perhaps

through modifications to the

rookie compensation system put

in place in the labor deal reached

in 2011.

That 10-year collective bar-

gaining agreement between the

league and union runs through

the 2020 season. The NFL and

NFLPA have been negotiating

throughout this year, attempting

to avoid another work stoppage

such as the lockout of the players

by the owners that preceded the

2011 agreement.

Representatives of the sides

have continued to meet during

the 2019 season, and it appears a

deal could be in place during the

playoffs in January or at the

Super Bowl in early February in

Miami. If there’s no agreement

by the Super Bowl, pressure

would increase on the sides to

strike a deal before the begin-

ning of the new league year in

March, at which point the expi-

NFL NOTES

Talks progress toward

17-game regular season

WILFREDO LEE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jets running back Le’Veon Bell is dealing with sore ribs and a knee

issue and missed practice Wednesday but expects to play Sunday.

RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST

The Redskins are expected to open up the playbook when rookie Dwayne Haskins gets more comfortable as the starting quarterback.