Article-Redskins on pace for least amount of

[Stl Bills]

Gotta love the Carlos Rogers quote....real "team first thinking". Way to go Greggo.

 

Redskins on pace to set NFL record for fewest takeaways

 

By JOSEPH WHITE, AP Sports Writer

December 14, 2006

 

AP - Dec 14, 1:03 pm EST

 

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -- When Carlos Rogers dropped a potential interception on the first play of the game Sunday, he was doing his part to keep the 2006 Washington Redskins on pace for a dubious NFL record.

 

Unless they can pry the ball from opposing teams with much greater efficiency over the final three games, the Redskins will set the league record for fewest turnovers forced in a 16-game season. They're also on pace to obliterate franchise records for fewest sacks and interceptions.

 

"It's very frustrating," said Rogers, who has seen the ball go through his hands on a regular basis this season. "I could have easily been in the Pro Bowl with six, seven interceptions."

 

Instead, he has none. The defense as a whole has just 10 turnovers and 15 sacks, ranking last in the NFL in both categories. The Redskins have scored only 13 points off turnovers all year -- Philadelphia had 14 in the first half alone in the Eagles' 21-19 victory over Washington on Sunday.

 

"Any time you have a lack of takeaways and you give the ball away, you are going to struggle," coach Joe Gibbs said. "We went on a run last year, and we were getting a bunch of takeaways. That hasn't been the case this year. We have to find a way to make that happen."

 

 

The NFL record for fewest takeaways in a 16-game season is 15, set two years ago by both the Green Bay Packers and St. Louis Rams. That's easily within the grasp of a Redskins team that went 22 quarters without a turnover earlier this season.

 

If the Redskins go the rest of the season without forcing another turnover, they'll erase the supposedly untouchable all-time record of 11 set by the 1982 Baltimore Colts, who went 0-8-1 in the strike-shortened 1982 season.

 

The Redskins are currently tied with last year's Oakland Raiders for fewest interceptions in a 16-game season (five). The all-time record is three, set by the Houston Oilers in the 1982 strike season.

 

Safety Sean Taylor, supposedly an impact player, has only one interception, and his frequent blitzes have yielded no sacks. Defensive end Andre Carter, signed to a six-year, $30 million contract primarily to rush the quarterback, has only three sacks. The Redskins have forced 14 fumbles but recovered only five.

 

Assistant coach Gregg Williams and his players like to say that sacks and turnovers come in bunches, that those sorts of things even out over time. A fumble can bounce either way because of the shape of the ball, they say, so it's often a fluke which team recovers. They point out that sacks and interceptions go hand-in-hand, so if there will be plenty of both during the stretches when the defense is fully in sync.

 

"It usually evens out," Williams said. "We've had our opportunities the last several weeks. We've had balls legitimately in our hands that we haven't come up with. I can't tell you how much we stress that. The drills are centered around the ball. We're getting a lot of those techniques done, but we have to finish plays.

 

"Once you make a couple of them, it kind of flows."

 

But that argument gets old 13 games into the season. For that matter, Williams' defenses have been turnover-starved for most of the last six years.

 

During his three years as head coach in Buffalo, the Bills never forced more than 19 turnovers, and they were last in the league with 18 in 2003. His defense had 26 takeaways (22nd in the league) in his first year with the Redskins in 2004, a disappointment for a coach billed as having an aggressive scheme.

 

The only stretch when the floodgates opened came late last season, as the Redskins forced 17 turnovers during a five-game winning streak that put them into the playoffs.

 

"The ball bounced our way," Williams said. "That was a huge part of the run we made at the end of last year. We haven't changed anything we've done in our approach in any particular year. Sometimes you make them; sometimes you don't."

 

Notes

 

RT Jon Jansen has broken his right thumb once again. Jansen broke both thumbs last year and played much of the season wearing two casts, but he said this latest fracture is not as severe. He said he might not even need a cast when the Redskins play New Orleans on Sunday. Jansen's bigger problem is a torn calf muscle that has had him limping for several weeks. "Every week it just gets a little more sore," Jansen said. ... Jansen, C Casey Rabach (broken hand) and WR Santana Moss (illness) were the only players to miss practice Thursday. Jansen and Rabach are listed as questionable on the injury report; Moss is probable.