ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -As if they needed any more problems on offense, the Washington Redskins have been having a hard time figuring out who should replace starting right guard Randy Thomas, done for the season after arm surgery.
Here’s the troubling thing: The Redskins (1-1) do not have a single backup offensive lineman on the 53-man roster who played a down in the NFL last season.
Coach Jim Zorn said after practice Thursday that Chad Rinehart and Will Montgomery are still both in the mix to start at Detroit (0-2) Sunday. Rinehart never has been on the field for a regular-season game; Montgomery did not play in 2008 but filled in after Thomas left in the first half of last weekend’s 9-7 victory over St. Louis.
have whatever I can get. But I will tell you this: I like the guys we’ve got. They know our offense. And they’re both fairly even.”
Zorn planned to watch film of Thursday’s practice and huddle with offensive coordinator Sherman Smith and offensive line coach Joe Bugel in hopes of picking Rinehart or Montgomery before Friday, so one could get the bulk of work that day.
“We’re not going to agonize, and I don’t think when I pick the guy it means I’m done with the other guy,” Zorn said.
His offense has scored a grand total of one touchdown through eight quarters – and even that was mostly cosmetic, coming with 1 1/2 minutes left while trailing the Giants by 13 points in a Week 1 loss.
The Redskins settled for three field goals against the Rams, with four drives inside the 10 producing zero TDs, leading to all sorts of questions about play-calling and execution.
There were problems along the line, including a failed fourth-and-1 run late. In the third quarter, pass protection broke down on a play the Redskins figure would have otherwise resulted in a touchdown pass to an open Santana Moss.
The Rams are the only NFL team that has scored fewer points than the Redskins.
Without Thomas, who had surgery on his torn right triceps Thursday, Washington loses a player who has made 143 NFL starts.
nd at least do half as good a job as he did,” left tackle Chris Samuels said.
Rinehart, a third-round draft pick out of Northern Iowa in 2008, was inactive for the first 13 games last season, then was on the active roster but didn’t get in for a snap in the last three games. Montgomery is a third-year player out of Virginia Tech who hadn’t played in the NFL since 2007 until Sunday.
“It’s not like I forgot how to play football,” Montgomery said. “It’s what I do every day.”
The other reserves on the line: Edwin Williams is an undrafted rookie out of Maryland; D’Anthony Batiste has played in a grand total of four games in the league, all in the 2007 season with Atlanta; Mike Williams is a tackle who was a No. 4 overall draft pick back in 2002 but last played in an NFL game in the 2005 season. Mike Williams missed practice Thursday because of what Zorn said was a combination of dehydration and a stomach problem.
As for Rinehart and Montgomery, Bugel said: “There’s not a whole lot of difference. … You can flip a coin, and I don’t think you can go wrong with either one.”
Bugel said he expected both to play Sunday; Zorn, though, said one would do the job.
“Either one of those kids, we won’t lose a beat,” Bugel said. “Believe me.”
left triceps in 2007 and played in only three games that season.
The team also parted ways with two veterans in the offseason: Pete Kendall, who started at left guard last year, was not re-signed; Jon Jansen, a right tackle, was released.
The one significant addition with recent experience: starting left guard Derrick Dockery.
Center Casey Rabach praised Montgomery’s play against St. Louis.
“I didn’t even notice he was in there for a few plays. I really didn’t. I came back to the huddle after the second or third play, and he was in there,” Rabach said. “I said, ‘When did you come in here?’ And he was like, ‘I’ve been in here for three plays.’ And I said, ‘All right. Well, good job.”’
NOTES: QB Jason Campbell (foot), RB Clinton Portis (ankles) and DT Anthony Montgomery (knee) were limited in practice Thursday. … The Redskins signed LB Alvin Bowen to the practice squad and released rookie LB Darrel Young. Bowen spent the 2008 season on injured reserve after being drafted in the fourth round by Buffalo. He was on the Bills’ practice squad for the first two weeks this season before being waived Tuesday. Young was an undrafted free agent out of Villanova. … The team’s training complex was treated a second time with a spray that controls the growth of bacteria and mold. The original treatment was in 2006, part of efforts to prevent the spread of MRSA, a form of staph infection resistant to many antibiotics.
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