Updates of the news and new media news and blogging variety all carry the same ominous update:

After getting hammered all night by Terrell Suggs and the Baltimore Ravens defense, Washington Redskins Pro Bowl left tackle Chris Samuels tore his right tricep muscle at the start of the fourth quarter of last night's loss, he will have surgery as soon as possible and he is done for the season.

Let's try and make heads or tails of what we're doing to replace Samuels:

Soooooooooo Chris Samuels was the anchor on left side at the seasons greetings. Jon Jansen was the presumptive starter on the right side but quickly lost that job to Stephon Heyer, who equifast lost it right back to Jansen. With Samuels out the smart money says Stephon Heyer gets another shot at this starting offensive line thing the only difference is he has to switch to the other side which surely won't present any problem to a young still somewhat untested undrafted rookie with the confidence of a... young somewhat untested dundrafted rookie who was demoted months ago. Heyer would be replacing former Chris Samuels stand-in Justin Geisinger who, per Curly R:

When Chris went out backup center Justin Geisinger came in to play left tackle, he was immediately victimized by Ravens defensive end Terrell Suggs...

But then Geisinger got an injured knee, so he's out. Reader(s) may be forgiven for thinking "I didn't even know we had a backup center." We don't have a lot of things, actually. Jon Jansen suffered a "grade II sprain of the MCL in his left knee" and, much like our offensive line, he doesn't have any backups available to play left knee when his starter goes down. What the deuce is a grade II sprain, anyways, is there a doctor in the house that can explain the difference between a grade I sprain and a grade II sprain? More hit points and mana, I presume? (NERD ALERT.)

Because our backup right tackle is now our starting left tackle and because our starting left tackle is now on injured reserve and because our starting right tackle (formerly starting tackle turned backup tackle turned starting tackle again it is a wonderful tale of redemption and love and hope that will air on Oxygen this coming spring) had to put his own left knee on injured reserve, hopefully temporarily, big boy Jason Fabini will likely get a chance to prove that he's really just now ready to peak in his 12th NFL season. I'm talking about our starting right tackle, here. Jason Fabini.

The backdrop for this is a Redskins team who, per the Official Site, is really just "Trying to Recapture Momentum" which I thought was delightful and optimistic but not those two things at the same time. Recapture momentum? I don't even know what that means anymore after 2 straight losses and a 1-4 record in our last 5. I've got a plan, though, that's sure to catch that elusive momentum and there's absolutely zero percent chance of failure you just have to trust me on this one I stayed at a Holiday Inn:

Did it work?

It is important to note that this is not what panic looks like yet but it is definitely on the radar.

How is everyone else doing? I am well and I hope you are too.

You don't typically expect, in a story titled "DE Taylor will have second surgery" predicting medical procedure next week, to read:

Taylor did not practice but still hopes to play Sunday against the Detroit Lions. He is listed as questionable on the injury report.

At least that's the word from Dr. Taylor:

"There has been talk about it, but to be honest, I don't even know what the gameplan is right now," Taylor said. "I'm going to the hospital now to find out what we're going to do. The only thing I'm really focusing on right now is hopefully playing the game on Sunday and try to help this team beat the Lions. The rest of it doesn't really matter right now. I've been hurt for a month and it hasn't changed. There's been a slight change and that's part of the reason why we're doing all this talking. I really don't know any details."

Coach Zorn said the problem was something like, uh, playing football isn't conducive to healing stabby-like wounds.

“He’s trying to play football on it, but that may not be allowing it to heal fast enough,” Zorn said.

Who'd have thought? To get an idea of how that plays out on the field, apparently Taylor has bloody sock syndrome and is bleeding out all over the football field week by week:

"Yeah, that was hot, did you see his sock?" Casey Rabach asked me. "It was all red. Kind of like Curt Schilling, but amplified. It was cool."

"We had quite a bit of blood come out," Taylor said. "It's still bleeding. It's been a month and it's still bleeding, but there's nothing I can do about it."

The "cool" oozing red goo is simply necessary and we're full of it, so Jason Taylor is absolutely right. You can't take any magic pill to cure "Blood." But one thing he can do about it would be... rest a bit, don't expose a leaky valve to the wear and tear necessarily resultant in violent sports. That would be the easy way out, and the question to readers: Does Jason Taylor need to walk this one off for a week or two or should he instead force it and play, with the added potential of this thing dragging on for, per him, a month now and leading to new surgery next week? I love his attitude about it, it is obvious mutant/hybrid Jason Taylor wants to play something fierce, so I hate even suggesting that maybe the medical staff needs to get in his face about healing up.

But we need him. Our pass rush is currently about as bad as anyone in the league besides Kansas City. Football Outsiders pegs us with a 4.8% adjusted sack rate. That puts us well below the 6.6% league average and higher than just Jacksonville, Cincy, and the aforementioned Chiefs. As skinsider pointed out, Taylor draws double teams that free up Andre Carter to go do harm and pain to the opposing quarterback. We don't have enough starter-quality defensive ends. If Taylor isn't on the field, Carter gets the double team and Demetric Evans or whomever on the  far side isn't capable of defeating a single blocker with any sort of consistency. Chris Wilson, Rob Jackson, Demetric Evans and Erasmus James have combined for one sack. Someone please step up.

I won't fence sit, I want him to play. While a part of me almost thinks -- and this is crazy considering what happened two weeks ago -- if ever there was a game to miss, it's tomorrow, I appreciate too much the attitude exhibited by a player's willingness to fight through the pain. That's the kind of thing that makes me love football, and I'm certain that it impresses teammates. Leaving human gore on the field is leadership, man. Get out there and hurt them Jason.

I may not feel the same way three weeks down the road if/when we're still talking about this damn calf injury.

This is actually a two safety loss for the season. Via Redskins 360:

Finally, some news coming out of the Park although none of it is coming from the front office. Reserve safety Justin Hamilton said he's been released and in the process, revealed that safety Reed Doughty has been placed on injured reserve with a back injury.

Elsewhere in the article Hamilton characterizes his protracted survival on the roster as "shock"ing and Reed Doughty confirms that he is proceeding to IR. The article also observes that we're down to a 51 man roster, which leaves room for two mas. One of whom will probably be Shaun Alexander (ED NOTE: Not probably, definitely, he's signed), the other will be some additional free agent safety we pick up, I would bet.

Reed Doughty is a stud. The cidevant starter and sixth round draft in 2006 came into the unenviable position of having to replace one of the best safeties in the league who also happened to be one of the most beloved players on the team. Sean Taylor wears big, big shoes and Reed Doughty was, by most accounts, in over his head. Yet he performed solidly in the role he was auditioned for as we moved LaRon Landry over to ease the transition towards a functioning secondary sans Taylor. Reed was reliable and played a huge role in our late season 2007 rush to the playoffs. This season he didn't look quite so good, especially in contrast to The Predator Chris Horton, who has been surprisingly good thus far. I think we all knew Horton was well on his way to supplanting Doughty permanently as the starter.

Still, Reed Doughty is a member of this team and a contributing one and I look forward to his return. We have been prosperous with both these players and I think all would agree that we get great gas mileage out of these 6th and 7th round draft picks. Everyone loves an overachiever. That whole "back injury" thing scares me -- bad place for booboos no doubt -- but we'll wait to hear more from the training staff on when we can expect Doughty back.

It's now on Kareem Moore, who was actually drafted in front of Horton, to step up and prove his mettle with this defense. And while he will be joined by some as-yet named player to assist in finalizing our secondary, this is his opportunity to make waves with fans and the coaching staff. Earn some snaps, rook.

Very interesting story via Redskins Insider. As reader(s) are no doubt aware, our own Byron Westbrook (practice squad cornerback) is the brother of Eagles super star running back slash whatever they ask him to do Brian Westbrook:

Redskins cornerback Byron Westbrook said he would be very surprised if his brother Brian played for the Eagles this weekend. Byron Westbrook said he speaks to his brother, whose presence completely changes the effectiveness and productivity of the Philly offense, nearly every day.

"I don't think he'll play," Byron Westbrook said. "The ankle injury is more serious than what the Eagles put out. You know how Andy Reid is about injuries and giving out information. Just watching him on the sidelines after he turned his ankle [against Pittsburgh two weeks ago], it didn't look good.

I have equal doubts about the following two propositions: 1) Andy Reid does not mind that the brother of one of his players is potentially giving away information he has carefully moderated for, ostensibly, the reasonable team-oriented purpose of preventing your next opponent from maximizing their game-prep due to guess work over the roster they will eventually face, 2) Andy Reid can dictate to Brian Westbrook that he not talk with his brother.

The situation presents an interesting dilemna. Teams, through their coaches, have an interest and a limited power to regulate the communications made by the players. The power to do so does not extend infinitely, though, and if ever there was a line to be drawn it would be the point at which a team tries to tell brothers to stop being brothers.

This isn't cynicism, just commentary, but doesn't this non-trivially increase the value of having Byron Westbrook on the practice squad? I think he's there because he earned a spot on the team, but isn't he all the better to have around if he can provide inside information on one of the most valuable players of a division rival? Practice squad players cost the team pennies (so to speak), so the financial value attached to them is relatively tiny. Doesn't this make Byron Westbrook one of the most valuable practice squadders we have?

Imagine what discussions this spawns between the brothers? Is Brian going to call up Byron and tell him to shut up? Do you always do what your brother tells you?

Whatever interest the betting public may have in Brian Westbrook's presence on the field this Sunday, it hasn't affected their decisions: Line has now moved from -5 to -5.5 or -6, depending who you ask. Philly gets better as Westbrook's certainty to play decreases? That's odd.

Of course, maybe Byron just hasn't kept up with current events:

Byron said he last spoke to Brian on Sunday... Good news for Eagles fans is that had Byron spoken with Brian today, he'd know that Westbrook returned to practice, albeit in a limited capacity.

Who knows?

Pet TORB:

[Jason Taylor's] situation escalated into high drama for no immediately apparent reason. Taylor made an impromptu appearance at Redskins Park today, and mentioned that doctors had insisted on doing the procedure on his leg promptly. This, apparently, led people to finally read up on compartmental syndrome — which I mentioned on Monday that “the internet makes sound characteristically terrifying” — and found out that it could have caused amputation or even death if untreated. So Coach Zorn got to explain all about the anatomy of the calf again, which satisfied no one (but was entertaining), and then Bubba Tyer was asked to come out and speak to the media for the first time in ages to explain exactly what had happened. (Very short version: everything was under control, and other players, including a “prominent linebacker,” have suffered this before and returned quickly.)

So it's one of those injuries that results in either death, amputation, or prominence. As much as chicks dig scars, I'm thinking return to prominence is clutch.

No word at the Official Jason Taylor Website on injury updates or how the recently acquired defensive end is feeling, though my guess is he's feeling CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN! Taylor is peddling a new male-only product that "has it wrapped up." Draw your own conclusions. (Or go watch the commercial here.)

Redskins Insider discusses former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Jim Zorn adjusting to learning to hate hate hate Dallas. Best way to develop that seething, irrational, and endearing loathing for the Cowboys? Bubba Tyer:

(My recommendation: Sit next to Bubba Tyer on the flight out there, ask him how much he hates the Cowboys, then listen to him churn for the next three hours. That ought to do it. Nobody hates the Cowboys like Bubba.)

Tyer has been with the team for something like 40 years now. I say something like, because I have to try and piece together his history with the team from old articles because, unbelievably, Tyer isn't listed anywhere on the Official Site that I can find. No joke, search there reveals:

No results for bubba tyer

This is one of the most enduring characters in Redskins franchise history, Ring of Fame inductee, and he can't even get a little blurb on the site? He already retired once, so there's no excusing this on the basis that he's still employed by the team. I mean...

“With George Allen and Jack Pardee, we'd have 15 two-a-days in a row. With all them two-a-days in a row, you don't have a chance to recover from soft tissue injuries.”

That's just science.

The year the former Marine joined the Redskins was 1971 (1971!) -- which happens to be the year our oldest player, Ethan Albright, was born.

He rules.

The Washington Times and the Washington Post are like divorced parents who I don't know who to talk to when I want something for fear of distressing the other. I have no sources except those readily available to reader(s), among two of my favorites being Redskins Insider (Post) and Redskins 360 (Times). The two entities frequently report on the same things so I'm always weary of giving both the face time they deserve. I assume there's some kind of professional contentiousness betwixt the two, but know newspapers, I love you both equally.

Redskins Insider:

Jason La Canfora reports that Chris Cooley is not taking part in practice; we'll see what Jim Zorn says about that later today. ...

Redskins 360 on the culprit:

Tight end Chris Cooley missed the first practice of his five-year career after injuring a quad this morning.

Article also notes a knee injury to Jason Taylor, though I know nothing of that for now.

Cool Chris has missed not a game since joining the team in 2004 and just seven starts his rookie season. Since the tail end of 2004 he's been as permanent and consistent an installment on our offense as anyone remaining on the roster. The reality is though, that while he might be immune to "dipshittedness" he isn't immune to injury. No one. Besides London Fletcher.

One of many good things about Fred Davis is, although we're better with Cooley than without, I think we'll manage fine for a few games should Cooley need some rest.

He should not have picked Dallas.

Anyways, my favorite player is a bit banged up and I hope someone keeps the website posted with updates on his statuts in the FanPosts, as I'll be driving much of today and incognito tomorrow, returning sometime Friday. The crazies have control of the asylum until then.

Sitting around has never exhausted me and indeed that's more the remedy to exhaustion where I'm from. But at least per Redskins Insider, Malcolm Kelly has taken that unconventional approach to weariness:

After sitting out the preseason because of hamstring and knee problems, rookie wide receiver Malcolm Kelly returned to practice yesterday, even though he spent most of it on the sideline observing and getting tips from wide receivers coach Stan Hixon...

"I was really just tired of sitting around," Kelly said. "I know what I still have to do. I still have to refresh with the plays and make sure I go out there and get the small things right."

Amid lingering doubts about the efficacy of this offense, news of Kelly's return can only be spun positively. We weren't exactly, er, lighting it up last Thursday and at least one Hogs Haven commenter (I can't find the comment, though) noted that perhaps we'd be better off with a tall posession receiver running around. This was probably influenced due to the contrast between our own limp offense and that of the Giants, including Plaxico Burress who seemingly caught whatever was thrown his way despite having a defender painted on him some of the time.

At his listed 6'4 219 pounds Malcolm Kelly is both the tallest and heaviest wide receiver on the team, thus making him the best bet to our glut at large guy who can catch things with receiver painted on them to move chains. It is becoming increasingly apparent to me that large guy who can etc. is a very valuable member of any and every offense.

Anyone else find his comment a bit strange, though? I'm reluctant to write anything extensively on it as I usually misread this type of thing, in fact I have a history of doing so, but what do you mean you were tired of just sitting around? Were you just sitting around? Why did you remedy this sitting down now as opposed to before? Is your motivation for recovery the drive to get on the field or the drive to avoid sitting around? Most importantly, what do you have against sitting around, anyways? Some of my best friends sit around.

Kelly's availability for this weekend's game looks better already and, as the article notes, he'll be there "should all go well," Ostensibly this will mean that not much sitting around was done.

Shawn Springs also returned to practice at 90 percent:

Coach Jim Zorn said. "He was probably 90 percent out there. He had a nice interception today. He looked like he was moving very good on his leg."

I don't know what utility teams have in stating subjective injury evaluations in easily identifiable terms such as percentages. Many fans will assign their own arbitrary level of "% readiness" that necessarily qualifies a player to start. I've spoken with many fans who would expect, say, their #1 corner to play at 90%. If the team is serious that he's "90%" (really, who knows what that means) then they're setting themselves up for the ire of many fans should Springs not, you know, actually show up. I'm against this policy, but kudos to Zorn for qualifying it with "probably." It's information without saying anything. Quick study, that Jim.

Thrilled they're both approaching recovery; Carlos Rogers looked overmatched in much of Thursdays' game and I don't need to tell you the offense wasn't worth watching. Whether Springs or Kelly fix either problem won't be decided on the internet, but I'm hopeful.

The good news, hat tip Big Blue View, is that Mathias Kiwanuka will live:

I was already in the tunnel under the stadium when I heard he was injured on the last play of the Giants 16-7 win tonight, and I saw him walking gingerly toward the X-Ray room after the game with the trainers at his side. But he walked without a limp, both to that room and to the locker room.

And when he returned, he said he was “OK.”

In case you don't know, in the waining seconds of Thursday's fight, Chris Samuels was called for offensive holding on Mathias Kiwanuka. Kiwanuka appeared to hurt his ankle or leg on the play though, fortunately, he appears to be ok.

X-rays must've been negative. You never like to see a player get injured, especially at the very end of an already-over game. I don't like the Giants, but I don't will injury on even my rival teams or players. This is a game. When people get injured, it affects their livelihood. And while I applaud the violence of this game most of the time, I don't really want people to experience devastating and extended physical pain of the kind that comes from broken bones. Wind knocked out of you, walk it off? Cool. Shattered ribs? Not cool.

So no harm no foul, right? Wrong, so sayeth Kiwanuka (hat tip: AOL Fanhouse):

"Honestly, I thought it was a dirty play," Kiwanuka said. "There's no question about it, he was definitely beat. Instead of recovering or giving up or whatever options you have ... I don't think there's any place for that in the NFL."

More from Kiwanuka:

"As an NFL player, there's going to be times when you're going to get beat," Kiwanuka said. "For a guy to turn around and ... basically he tackled me, after I beat him around the edge. It's uncalled for."

Samuels former teammate Antonio Pierce had a slightly different take:

"It shouldn't have happened, but it happened," LB Antonio Pierce said of the play. "Our guy is okay, he's healthy. That's all that matters right now. ... It's smart on (Samuels') behalf. No doubt. If David Diehl or Kareem (McKenzie) was in that position, I'd expect them to do the same thing. They could go about it a different way, maybe. I wouldn't want them to try to almost injure a guy and have him out for a couple of weeks. From that standpoint, that's disappointing, but I would expect our guys to protect Eli."

That's how Justin Tuck feels as well, emphasis added:

"I understand his reasons for doing it, I don't necessarily agree with it," Tuck added. "You're putting a player's health in the balance there, that's always going to be questionable. But I know Chris. He's not a guy like that (who would) try to take out another guy. It was just a bad judgment play."

I don't think we're going to get Redskins fans or players and Giants fans or players to agree one what it is that happened, exactly, as partisans for either team will see it however they want to see it. As I was drunk by the time this happened (what else do you do in a 9 point loss?) I don't remember seeing much of the actual play, but I do distinctly remember seeing Samuels standing near Kiwanuka immediately after, motioning towards the Giants sideline, and looking generally contrite over the incident. It kind of reminded me of Lawrence Taylor over Joe Theisman. At the time I wrote that it was unfortunate but that the manner Samuels acted afterwards certainly didn't appear to be that of a guy intentionally trying to injure another player.

I'm reluctant to bring up a similar incident in fear of establishing a damning pattern, but I think it speaks to Samuels as a player and provides an opportunity to quote others defending his character. You might recall that in December of last year, Samuels broke the leg of Antonio Garay:

Last Thursday, Redskins offensive tackle Chris Samuels hit Bears defensive tackle Antonio Garay with an illegal chop block, breaking Garay's leg and ending his season...

The officials missed it and Samuels wasn't flagged on the play, but he was later fined $12,500.

How is this supposed to speak highly for Samuels? It was what he did afterwards that mattered, emphasis added:

Redskins offensive tackle Chris Samuels recently called Bears coach Lovie Smith to apologize for delivering an illegal chop block that ended defensive tackle Antonio Garay’s season...

“It’s not like he had to [call to apologize],” Smith said. “I know what type of football player he is. He’s not a dirty player or anything like that. But it says a lot about a guy who’s sorry for something that was unfortunate.”..

“It’s not something he tried to do on purpose,” Smith said. “Things like that happen in the game of football sometime.”

Similarly, Samuels apparently spoke with Tom Coughlin after the game, emphasis added again:

Added coach Tom Coughlin, "I spoke to (Samuels) after and he said, 'That wasn't intentional.'"

Chris Samuels has started 125 games to date in the National Football League
which is plenty of time for peers to compellingly level charges of persistent dirty play if indeed he is that kind of player. As far as I can tell, Samuels does not have a reputation as a dirty player. He's very well liked by teammates and when print is written about him, it's almost always in a positive light. I don't know Chris Samuels, but I've never had any reason to suspect he's a dirty player. And I am perfectly happy, unlike Kiwanuka, drawing the line between dirty plays and merely unfortunate ones at: Intent. A dirty play, in my mind, is one where a player either intends to injure or intends an act so reckless that injurious results are more likely than not to follow. I wish I had video of the incident in question, though am comfortable claiming from my (admittedly inebriated) recollection from the game, the play was far from so reckless that injury was a necessary result. And taking Samuels at his word, and the history, I very seriously doubt that Samuels intended to harm anyone on that play.

I trust that Samuels is not a dirty player. I am pleased Mathias Kiwanuka is uninjured. I don't fault Kiwanuka for being upset over the incident -- he's the one who damn near suffered a livelihood affecting injury, afterall -- but I respectfully disagree with his assertion that my offensive lineman is a dirty player.