NFL on FOX analyst Charles Davis, who has watched the Redskins play this season and will work Sunday’s finale, helps us out this week. He’ll be a guy you’ll want to pay attention to in the offseason as well. Davis also works as an analyst for the NFL Network, including on their Path to the Draft.
On the Eagles’ defensive improvement: “They were a team that probably needed OTAs and minicamps to assimilate and figure out what guys could and could not do and instead they had to do it on the fly. You’re asking guys like [cornerback] Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to play inside and he’s never done that before. People don’t understand how difficult it is for a cover guy, who’s used to being outside, to going inside. It changes your eyes, your angles, it changes your feel. It takes time. They probably simplified things. Juan Castillo is getting better play out of people. It starts with the back end of the secondary where Nate Allen has been benched at times and Kurt Coleman was benched at times, but both have come back and played better. Asante Samuels’ injury might have helped solidify things because now Rodgers-Cromartie goes outside and he’s playing better. So down the stretch things started to come together. [Defensive coordinator Juan Castillo] is more comfortable making the calls and is seeing things quicker. The speed of the game when you’re the playcaller and you haven’t been, it’s the difference between our interstate and the autobahn. [Now] you get the feeling Juan is more comfortable and the players are more comfortable and as a result they’re playing better….It took time to come together, but at the end of the year what are the Eagles doing better than anyone else? Sacking quarterbacks. They got 42 of them. It takes time to get all that coordination together. Remember all that criticism of the wide 9? Heard much of that lately? That tells me that everyone is fitting and understanding where they’re supposed to be. The gaps aren’t there as they were earlier in the season.”
On Eagles end Jason Babin: “He and [San Francisco’s] Justin Smith remind me of each other. They don’t take a single play off or a second off on a play. You hear coaches talk about all the time, ‘Give me six seconds of unabashed fury every single time.’ Those guys live it. You can damn a guy with the idea that his motor never stops. It’s high praise, but if you say that over and over, what are you saying? He’s not that good, but boy he hustles. But with him and Justin Smith the motor never stops but they’re really good too. They’re first-round picks. They make every play because they’re really good at what they do and their motor is high.”
On Eagles quarterback Michael Vick: “You continue to see growth and maturity in him. The guy has played with broken ribs. I don’t know how many people have even had bruised ribs. You’re not running out on the field with any enthusiasm if your ribs are bruised, let alone broken. It hurts to breathe, let alone go out and call plays and run around and take hits. Yet since Miami, which wasn’t his best game, he’s looked more and more like a quarterback. He continues to grow in that role without losing one of the great gifts he has, which is his legs.”
On Redskins running back Evan Royster: “I wasn’t sure what he was going to bring to the table. Would he be the guy that once he got in shape was a good player at Penn State? Or was he going to once again come in 10 to 15 pounds overweight, like what did you do all summer? That’s what happened to him his last year at Penn State. He got in the dog house for that. He wasn’t ready to roll. I always thought he was a move-the-chains runner. I was never super-impressed with his long speed, but I don’t think we’re that worried about that at running back anymore. It’s not a priority. We want them to take care of the ball and move the chains and catch the ball. Know what I saw? Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson. I saw a guy that you could plug in there with that system. And remember that’s not their best offensive line. I close my eyes and said, if this were Denver this is what we saw all those years. Take a back, any back with talent, and maybe it’s not the best-known back or the highest-rated, but those who know how to run zone plays, those who can be one-cut guys and decisive in their movements and get it upfield, when it’s time to go they can produce in this offense.”
On the Redskins’ offensive line: “You can’t say it’s dumb luck. They’re doing something right. At left tackle, Willie Smith will fight and battle you. He has a long way to go with technique. He’s been through some fire – look at the guys he’s had to play against. And he’s hung in there. He’s like a journeyman pro. You won’t sit there and be wowed and in fact you’ll probably look to replace him. But when his number is called he’s ready to go. The guy I was most impressed with is Chris Chester. He’s helped galvanize the line. He’s the type of guy who helps hold it together and makes sure their assignments are straight. Chris Chester was a tight end in college. This guy has seen it all, done it all. He probably knows every line check call and I bet he talks those kids through a lot of stuff, both in film study and on the field. I’m not saying they don’t follow their center, but I feel Chris Chester has also assumed that role. So you have dual guys in the interior part of the line. It’s helped the kids come along and give them confidence.”
On Redskins corner DeAngelo Hall: “DeAngelo is a terrific talent and occasionally he’ll do something where you say, what was that? But he’s a really good corner. That’s the funny part with him, his plays that aren’t the best outshine the good ones he makes. For him the magnifying glass comes out when he has the hiccup as opposed to when he makes those beautiful interceptions or when he comes up and makes a tackle. It’s not like he won’t tackle. He will. He had the play with Gronkowski and you’re like, ‘What are you doing?’ It’s a hiccup. But for him it becomes a magnifying glass. It’s a strange deal. If that were Champ Bailey it would have been a hiccup. But there’s something about DeAngelo that has gotten people’s minds flipping. I don’t know if it’s him with his personality. I can’t tell you what it is. Talent wise, I’d take DeAngelo.”
On Redskins corner Josh Wilson: “I love Josh. I loved him in Seattle. He’ll always be overlooked. He’s a guy people will always try to replace and then they look up and say, ‘He’s pretty good.’ He will repel a lot of challenges. You bring in some guy you signed in the offseason and put him in and after a while you gravitate back to Josh Wilson. He has a toughness about him that people don’t understand. There is something to that DNA about an athletic family. His father was Earl Campbell’s lead blocker. That toughness gene did not skip a generation. His stature demands that he has it.”
On the Redskins linebackers: “London is still giving them great play, but he is 36. So something has to come up. Brian Orakpo has to keep getting better, which I think he is. His sack numbers are down but people need to watch him play. He’s better at figuring out run-pass. Let’s face it, they just turned him loose [early in his career]. That was a smart move. He was a rookie, don’t overburden him. But to make the defense better you have to do things at the point of attack. I think he’s better in that regard. I really do.”
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