You, Too, Can Get Toasted in the Secondary (for only $24.95)

As has been said many times, if Jason Witten holds a block on that field goal, the focus of every true D.C. sports fan this week is on throwing rotten vegetables at Adam Archuleta, who seemed to have lost Witten by a step or 17 on the previous pass play. This after Howard Bryant had explicitly called out Archuleta in the paper Sunday morning:

More than half of the big pass plays the Redskins have surrendered have been to the same fertile patch between the hash marks downfield, between the safeties and cornerbacks....Offenses are using the Redskins' aggressiveness -- that of Archuleta especially -- against them by employing the play-action fakes, according to multiple league sources that study Washington's defensive tendencies.

Now, instead of a full-on rotten veggie campaign, the media are only mildly unloading on AA. The Wash Times says AA is sad:

"I thought I was in good shape, but I didn't make the play," Archuleta said softly. "Guys were busting their butts all game, and I let everybody down. [The blocked field goal] was a big relief, but in the back of your mind, you're thinking, 'Why couldn't I make the big play?' I'm going through a lot of stuff right now. There's a lot being thrown at me. What's going to matter is how I respond."

Howard Bryant, meantime, reports that AA will now be playing closer to the line of scrimmage. And, um, less frequently.

Of Archuleta's skill set, pass coverage -- especially in the Redskins' scheme where a safety is asked to cover deep patches of the field while still reacting to run coverage -- represents his weakest area.

Which is about as nice a way as you can say that.

(Under no circumstances click on these at work, but you can see AA and girlfriend in their 2005 xmas card here, and you can see his GF's myspace page here. Here's a safe-for-work photo of AA and his GF, upside down, in racing helmets, plus some more AA shots.)

The point of all this is, I'm quite curious to see AA's "Freak of Training" video, a guide to not being able to run fast enough to be an NFL safety. Here's a teaser, set to some awful music, that has been in my head for 24 hours, and here's a longer and more boring look at AA doing some low squat foot jumps. In the opening seconds, you can see some other white guy run right past AA in a pass route. You can also get the video on Netflix, something I realized only after I put down the $24.95. Sorry boss.

By Dan Steinberg |  November 7, 2006; 10:24 AM ET  | Category:  Redskins
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Posted by: Goat | November 7, 2006 10:57 AM

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