Brees Emerges a Weapon

1 BLACK E10 DAILY 12-17-06 MD BD E10 BLACK E10 Sunday, December 17, 2006 B x The Washington Post RedskinsGameday By Jason La Canfora 1 REDSKINS (4-9) AT SAINTS (9-4) 1 P.M. AT LOUISIANA SUPERDOME » TV: WTTG-5 » RADIO: WWXX (92.7 FM), WWXT (94.3 FM), WGRQ (95.9 FM), WSMD (98.3 FM), WFRE (99.9 FM), WXTR (730 AM), WNAV (1430 AM) » LINE: Saints by 9 ⁄2 REDSKINS ROSTER FIRST DOWN SECOND DOWN THIRD DOWN FOURTH DOWN SAINTS ROSTER No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Cold Brees Beware of Bush Betts Is Best Second-Half Woes No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. 3 John Carney PK 5-11 185 4 Derrick Frost P 6-4 208 Quarterbacks have a 100 passer Should rookie LB Rocky McIntosh The only way to ensure the Saints Washington took a step toward 6 Shaun Suisham PK 6-0 205 4 Billy Cundiff PK 6-1 201 rating against Washington this make his first NFL start, he could end offense is on the sideline is to run the respectability last week and pitched a 8 Mark Brunell QB 6-1 217 7 Steve Weatherford P 6-3 215 season, with rookies or journeyman up seeing a whole lot of another ball relentlessly. The Redskins have shutout in the second half while 11 Mike Espy WR 5-11 195 9 Drew Brees QB 6-0 209 15 Todd Collins QB 6-4 228 routinely posting season-best passing rookie on the flank on the weak side. done so for the better part of three scoring 10 points. It’s not much, but 10 Jamie Martin QB 6-2 205 17 Jason Campbell QB 6-4 228 stats against them. Now they face Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush is straight weeks, yet have only one win. this season it represents progress. 12 Marques Colston WR 6-4 231 21 Sean Taylor S 6-2 231 Drew Brees, who is starting to look like the Betts has 326 yards the The Redskins have 18 Terrance Copper WR 6-0 207 22 Carlos Rogers CB 5-11 199 having an MVP-type guy who crushed last two games, setting been outscored 19 Devery Henderson WR 5-11 200 23 Troy Vincent DB 6-1 200 season. If Washington defenses in college, and career rushing marks in 141-97 in the second 20 Jay Bellamy S 5-11 200 24 Shawn Springs CB 6-0 204 can’t pressure him, when he catches balls consecutive weeks and half this season, while 21 Jason Craft CB 5-10 187 25 Kenny Wright CB 6-1 207 Brees could be looking out of the backfield, topping 100 yards in the Saints have 168 22 Fred Thomas CB 5-9 185 29 Mike Rumph DB 6-2 205 at a big game. people tend to miss. three straight games. second-half points. 23 Omar Stoutmire S 5-11 205 31 Rock Cartwright RB 5-7 223 24 Bryan Scott S 6-1 219 32 Ade Jimoh CB 6-1 190 25 Reggie Bush RB 6-0 203 36 T.J. Duckett RB 6-0 254 26 Deuce McAllister RB 6-1 232 37 Reed Doughty S 6-1 210 27 Aaron Stecker RB 5-10 213 39 Vernon Fox DB 5-10 200 28 Dejuan Groce CB 5-10 192 40 Adam Archuleta S 6-0 223 29 Josh Bullocks S 6-1 207 45 Mike Sellers FB 6-3 260 30 Fred McAfee RB 5-10 197 46 Ladell Betts RB 5-10 222 34 Mike McKenzie CB 6-0 194 47 Chris Cooley TE 6-3 265 Brees Emerges a Weapon 37 Steve Gleason S 5-11 212 50 Khary Campbell LB 6-3 250 39 Curtis Deloatch CB 6-2 210 52 Roger McIntosh LB 6-2 231 44 Mike Karney FB 5-11 258 53 Marcus Washington LB 6-3 247 After Surgery, Quarterback Change 47 Kevin Houser LS 6-2 252 57 Warrick Holdman LB 6-1 235 Of Scenery 51 Terrence Melton LB 6-1 235 58 Jeff Posey LB 6-4 241 Flourishes With New Team 52 Jeff Faine C 6-3 291 60 Chris Samuels T 6-5 310 Drew Brees’ 53 Mark Simoneau LB 6-0 245 61 Casey Rabach C 6-4 301 improvement 54 Danny Clark LB 6-2 245 ast January, Drew Brees faced a most uncertain 55 Scott Fujita LB 6-5 250 62 Mike Pucillo OL 6-4 311 future. He was injured in the final game of the sea- this year in 64 Kedric Golston DT 6-4 292 56 Alfred Fincher LB 6-1 238 son, required shoulder surgery and faced at least New Orleans 58 Scott Shanle LB 6-2 245 66 Derrick Dockery G 6-6 345 four months of recovery time. His team, the San 69 Jim Molinaro T 6-6 309 after leaving 61 Montrae Holland G 6-2 322 LDiego Chargers, was shoving him aside and handing the 71 Ethan Albright LS 6-5 265 San Diego as 64 Zach Strief T 6-7 349 offense to first-round pick Philip Rivers, and the free 72 Taylor Whitley OL 6-4 305 a free agent: 66 Brian Young DT 6-2 298 73 Ryan Boschetti DT 6-4 300 agent waters might be murky given his medical condi- 67 Jamar Nesbit G 6-4 328 74 Todd Wade OL 6-8 319 tion. 70 Jammal Brown T 6-6 313 A year later, and Brees would not change a thing. He Completions 76 Jon Jansen T 6-6 306 Per Game 73 Jahri Evans G 6-4 318 77 Randy Thomas G 6-5 306 has helped lift New Orleans to the cusp of an improbable 76 Jonathan Goodwin OL 6-3 318 80 David Patten WR 5-10 190 division title, is leading the NFL in passer rating and 24.4 77 Rodney Leisle DT 6-3 315 20.1 82 Antwaan Randle El WR 5-10 192 coming off a flawless performance in a systematic dis- 78 Jon Stinchcomb T 6-5 315 83 James Thrash WR 6-0 200 mantling of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, throw- 79 Rob Petitti T 6-6 327 85 Brandon Lloyd WR 6-0 192 ing five touchdowns and no interceptions. Brees surely is 80 Mark Campbell TE 6-6 260 ’05 ’06 86 Brian Kozlowski TE 6-3 265 on the short list of most valuable player candidates and is 82 Marcellus Rivers TE 6-4 250 87 Todd Yoder TE 6-4 262 leading a diverse attack that is beating teams with 83 Billy Miller TE 6-3 252 89 Santana Moss WR 5-10 185 short, intermediate and long passes. 84 Michael Lewis WR 5-8 173 92 Demetric Evans DE 6-3 280 In quarterback terms, Brees is having the 86 John Owens TE 6-3 255 Attempts 93 Phillip Daniels DE 6-5 285 equivalent of a Triple Crown season. He is 87 Joe Horn WR 6-1 213 Per Game 94 Anthony Montgomery DT 6-5 312 completing 66.4 percent of his passes (sec- 89 Jamal Jones WR 5-11 205 95 Joe Salave’a DT 6-3 295 ond to David Carr — 69.4 percent). Brees 36.8 91 Will Smith DE 6-3 282 96 Cornelius Griffin DT 6-3 300 leads the NFL with 4,033 passing yards 31.2 94 Charles Grant DE 6-3 290 97 Renaldo Wynn DE 6-3 292 and 25 touchdowns. His plus-15 touch- 96 Antwan Lake DT 6-4 308 98 Lemar Marshall LB 6-2 227 down-to-interception ratio also is best in 97 Josh Cooper DE 6-3 265 99 Andre Carter DE 6-4 265 the NFL, to say nothing of his 101.2 rat- 98 Willie Whitehead DE 6-3 300 ing. ’05 ’06 PROJECTED STARTERS Pretty hard to nitpick on any of that. PROJECTED STARTERS Brees is outperforming Peyton Manning and OFFENSE OFFENSE Carson Palmer. How long before fans start heading to the WR 89 Santana Moss Superdome with a Brees-like birthmark scribbled on their WR 19 Devery Henderson LT 60 Chris Samuels Passing Yards LT 70 Jammal Brown cheeks? Per Game LG 66 Derrick Dockery The quarterback is making everyone around him look LG 67 Jamar Nesbit C 61 Casey Rabach good. Eight Saints have caught touchdown passes, and 310.2 C 52 Jeff Faine RG 77 Randy Thomas six players have grabbed at least two passes for scores. RG 73 Jahri Evans RT 74 Todd Wade Four Saints have 654 receiving yards or more — a total RT 78 Jon Stinchcomb TE 47 Chris Cooley TE 80 Mark Campbell no Redskin has reached — and rookie Marques Colston, 223.5 WR 82 Antwaan Randle El a seventh-round pick from Hofstra, has emerged as one of WR 18 Terrance Copper QB 17 Jason Campbell the most unlikely primary targets in the NFL, with 59 QB 9 Drew Brees FB 45 Mike Sellers catches for 917 yards and seven touchdowns. RB 26 Deuce McAllister RB 46 Ladell Betts Rookie Reggie Bush, in turn, has boosted Brees’s sta- FB 44 Mike Karney tistics as well, taking screen passes in the flat and rum- DEFENSE bling 50 yards for scores. New Orleans is by far the most DEFENSE LE 93 Phillip Daniels explosive team in the NFL — six Saints have receptions RE 91 Will Smith LT 96 Cornelius Griffin NT 77 Rodney Leisle of 48 yards or longer — and three New Orleans players ’05 ’06 RT 64 Kedric Golston have touchdown grabs of 72 yards or more.

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