I think we set a record or something
Your eyes do not deceive you, that image above is both Carlos Rogers and Brandon Lloyd with a ball in their hands and it happened in the same regular season game.
Carlos Rogers
Last season Carlos Rogers was castigated for his hands of stone as he struggled to grow into a number one cornerback with Shawn Springs limited by the separated abdomen injury (ouch!). By some counts Carlos missed ten or twelve opportunities for an interception and when he finally pulled on down in week 14 against the Saints after the Redskins had already been eliminated from the playoffs the region erupted in the collective shortarm clap you give a small child the first time he pees on his own.
Carlos finished 2006 with one interception in 15 games started (he broke his thumb in game six against the Titans and missed game seven against the Colts with a broken thumb) and the one he pulled in and ran back 61 yards for a touchdown last Sunday was his fourth in 34 games as a Redskin. As noted last in the offseason Dre Bly, then a Redskins acquisition target, had three INTs in 2006, the same number Shawn Springs, Carlos, Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph had collectively. We will forget for a moment that the Lions were desperate and so it was not rocket science for Carlos to prowl the sidelines as Jon Kitna went looking for the out routes that chunk yardage and stop the clock.
Keep it up Carlos, let's see some more.
Brandon Lloyd
In the Lions game (op. cit.) Jason Campbell beat on Antwaan Randle El like an old mule, seven receptions for 100 yards in the first half. It should have surprised no one that with a field temperature of 89 degrees and apparently no other viable options at receiver that Antwaan hurt himself, forcing the team to plan B for the second half.
With 2:15 left in the third quarter Jason Campbell threw a quick screen to Brandon and he caught it for nine yards, pushing for extra at the end of the play. It was Brandon's only catch in the game, his only catch so far this season and his first reception in six games dating back to game 14 (op. cit.) last season against the Saints. Brandon was in game 15 against the Rams but was not thrown to and was inactive with bronchitis in game 16 against the Giants, 'bronchitis' being Joe Gibbs' term of art for sit down you punkass bitch. Brandon's totals now as a Redskin are 24 catches for 374 yards and no touchdowns.
Brandon started 2006 as the starting number two receiver, the X receiver running the stretch routes but his inability to connect with Mark Brunell and later Jason Campbell combined with his childish behavior landed him in the doghouse and he seems content to stay there.
Is he a bad route runner? Was the 2006 Redskins QB, either through inability or inexperience unable to get him the ball downfield? Tough to pin blame for certain but one episode seems to crystallize Brandon's worldview.
As documented in Jason La Canfora's Problems at the Core, part of the Washington Post's Lost Season series on the misery that was 2006, Al Saunders found Brandon at halftime of game 14 against the Saints and tried to give him a pick me up for missing what surely would have been a 50 yard completion if not a touchdown:
But he could not locate the ball and it dropped to the turf.According to a member of the organization who witnessed the exchange, Saunders approached Lloyd at halftime.
"Tough one out there. Those lights are tough," Saunders said.
Lloyd looked at him coldly.
"You're joking, right?" he said.
"No," said Saunders. "It looked like you lost it in the lights."
"What? That ball was 10 yards underthrown," Lloyd said. "Go talk to the quarterback."
To many members of the organization, it was another example of Lloyd's lack of maturity disrupting Saunders's offense.
Brandon's account cannot be true. As I wrote in the B-Lloyd Blues section of the Saints gamewrap (op. cit.) about that play:
...the highlight of the game was Brandon Lloyd streaking down the left sideline in the second quarter, a full three steps ahead of Fred Thomas, wide open...and then losing the ball over his head, it falling harmlessly to the turf one yard to his left and behind. It would have been a sure 50 yard gain, if not a TD.
And Brandon could have gone at any time and seen it replayed in the video room.
Brandon Lloyd will eventually hit the ground and be out of Washington, still a rich young man and off to another team. But while he is here he can make himself useful and catch some balls.
Image detail from Carlos Rogers by Peter Lockley / Washington Times and Brandon Lloyd by Joseph Silverman / Washington Times, both from here.
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