Wow...selecting the guys for this spot on our team has been quite the walk down Memory Lane...if Memory Lane was a dark, dark alley in the middle of Gotham City. The good news is I think is that we have a line that is made up of players who at one point or another contributed to solid running games here in D.C.
The bad news is that looking back over the last decade (in general) has led me to confront some painfully obvious truths. I was talking with a fellow Redskins fan about picking players for this position, and when we looked at the list of offensive lineman who suited up for at least 16 games in the last decade, it was shocking. Here is the list with the amount of games played in parentheses:
Ethan Albright (144)
Chris Samuels (141)
Jon Jansen (110)
Randy Thomas (82)
Derrick Dockery (80)
Casey Rabach (79)
Stephon Heyer (37)
Cory Raymer (33)
Pete Kendall (32)
Ray Brown (31)
Lennie Friedman (31)
Larry Moore (25)
Jason Fabini (23)
Mike Pucillo (23)
Mark Fischer (16)
Andy Heck (16)
Jay Leeuwenburg (16)
Will Montgomery (16)
Dave Szcott (16)
The real kicker is that based on the games played in parentheses, only TWO of these players had winning records: Pete Kendall and Jason Fabini. And they were BARELY winning records...like .531 and .525 winning percentages respectively. I understand that you can't pin wins and losses on an individual lineman, and I also understand that I should be less shocked since I have been a season ticket holder for the last decade and I don't recall any Super Bowl parades. But come on...this hurts.
I asked my friend to help me land on a few guys to add to our All-Decade roster. His response, "Honestly, I'm at a loss - but I think the lesson from this little exercise is: people who complain about continuity on the Redskins really need to get a reality check. HUGE chunks of this team have been in place for, like, seven years."
Ouch.
This part of the All-Decade Team process was always staring me down...like an upcoming colonoscopy. You just hope the doctor will warm his hands up first while you try and find a happy place.
So far:
**Offense
QB: Brad Johnson, Jason Campbell, Mark Brunell
**Defense
CB: Champ Bailey, Darrell Green, Shawn Springs, Fred Smoot, DeAngelo Hall
**Special Teams
P: Hunter Smith
Note: We did not do a vote on the Punter. Sometimes when you know, you know. Hunter Smith is more than just a punter. He was our Offensive MVP for a while this season, and what other punter has so much swagger that a coach sends him out to execute a fake field goal AFTER the other team calls a time-out to prepare for it? Don't answer that. Having Hunter Smith on this roster makes me feel a lot better about the vote we are about to undertake.
Offensive Line
We have Chris Samuels, Jon Jansen, and Tre Johnson already in tow. Based on the discussion after our previous post, I am proud to announce that Randy Thomas, Casey Rabach and Derrick Dockery are in the fold as well. Based on the results of this vote, we will add either 2 or 3 more guys.
We have some fun positions coming up guys. Don't worry.