Lorenzo Alexander knew what he had lost. He also knew where he needed to be. So when his helmet popped off Saturday night, and the ballcarrier headed the other way, Alexander didn’t hesitate. He took off to his left, after the runner.
And when he got there, he dove headfirst at Tennessee quarterback Tim Rattay. Alas, so, too, did Redskins safety Reed Doughty — and his helmet struck the left side of Alexander’s face.
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And here’s his reward: a scar that snakes along his cheek, four stitches in his chin and two on his lip, and the nickname, ‘Scarface’, not to mention a replay on YouTube. But the defensive tackle also might have another reward awaiting him at the end of camp: a roster spot.
“I like that passion,” Redskins assistant head coach/defense Gregg Williams said. “He knew he had to get that quarterback down. … He’s been playing very well.”
“What he did was a hustle play,” said end Andre Carter, who hosted Alexander in college on his visit to Cal. “This is a business; you do what you have to do to make the team.”
Alexander, a Cal graduate, is having a good camp and the coaches liked him before his play late in the fourth quarter of the 14-6 win over the Titans. But this play has earned him recognition.
“A lot of people have been checking in to make sure I was OK,” he said, “and congratulating me saying, ‘You look hungry out there; you did a great thing.’ I heard TV was replaying it in slow motion, so I was getting a lot of heat from my family. … I’d probably do it again.”
Alexander said he knew his helmet was off, but he did not see Doughty diving at Rattay. He was woozy for about five minutes and headed for the locker room before the game ended.
“I was more in shock because I saw all that blood coming off my face,” he said. “The first thing I checked for was my teeth and all of them were there, so I was real happy about that.”
He’d be even happier to make the roster. The 6-foot-1, 300-pounder, who worked with the offensive line this spring for a spell, has spent the past two years on a practice squad — in 2005 with Carolina and most of last year with Washington.
“I probably gave them a good impression,” he said. “They know I’ll play hard and do anything it takes to win.”
