Smoke Signals: 'Mourning at Redskins Park' edition

It was a somber day at Redskins Park yesterday as the entire team mourned the death of Holly Bugel, the 35-year-old daughter of Offensive Line Coach Joe Bugel, from a rare and virulent form of bone cancer.

“We try to do what it is that he’d want us to do, which is prepare and play,” said guard Pete Kendall, one of Bugel’s charges. “I don’t think there’s anything you can say to anybody to make the loss of a child any easier. They’ve known she’s been sick for some time, but my guess is that you can think you’re prepared mentally for something like this to happen, and then find out you’re totally not.

It’s been some tough recent months for the Redskins players, many of whom have still not gotten over the tragic murder of star safety Sean Taylor late last year.
Gene Upshaw died yesterday only days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Columnist Mike Wise talks about what NFLPA President Gene Upshaw meant to pro sports. In addition to being a Hall of Fame offensive lineman for some great Oakland Raider teams, Upshaw guided the player’s union through some tough times to the present day, when players get 60% of all NFL revenues and enjoy a limited free agency. Although I’d long considered Upshaw to be too close to NFL management, a book by Mark Maske, War Without Death, published last year, indicated that Upshaw was more confrontational than previously believed, and fought hard for the players.
Redskins owner Dan Snyder released this statement about Upshaw:

“With Gene’s passing, the NFL has lost an innovator, players have lost their advocate, and I have lost a friend. A Hall of Fame player, Gene was also a hall of fame businessman and negotiator. He always had the best interests of the NFL players at heart, and that played a large role in building our league to the prominence it enjoys today. My prayers and the prayers of the Washington Redskins organization go out to his family at this sad time.”

The Redskins go into their 4th preseason game this Saturday with a banged-up linebacking corps. SLB Marcus Washington sat out practice yesterday with a sore hip and WLB Rocky McIntosh, of course, is still recovering from a gruesome knee injury he suffered last season. McIntosh got in for about 10 plays last week and the Redskins are hoping he can play considerably more than that this weekend. Backup linebacker Matt Sinclair, who has been a tackling machine this preseason, will not play Saturday and has missed the entire week of practice with back spasms.
Head Coach Jim Zorn is wisely not counting on his rookie wideouts for much, if anything, in the first half of this season. Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, both 2nd round picks, came to came out of shape and have been plagued by a series of nagging injuries from which they have been slow to recover.

“Not much right now,” Zorn said of the rookies’ chances of making an immediate impact in the regular season. “Realistically, not much. I can’t say they’re not going to produce at some point this season. They have to really step up to be able to start even getting the right to be on the field with the other three or four receivers that we’re going to put out there.”

Safety LaRon Landry [hamstring], tackle Todd Wade [ankle] and tight end Jason Goode [turf toe] are out. It is unlikely Malcolm Kelly will play this weekend [ever?].
The Redskins play the Carolina Panthers this weekend and while it doesn’t really matter who wins the game, the Redskins have owned the Panthers since Carolina entered the league. Washington has a 6-1 record against the Panthers and even Norv Turner owned that team. [Yes, you read that right.] Rich Tandler takes us on a walk down memory lane.
The Washington Times writes that P Derrick Frost can keep his job with a strong performance Saturday night. I’m, uh, not so sure.

Brooks, the nation’s top punter as a senior at Georgia Tech in 2007, boomed three kicks over 50 yards last week and has averaged 44.2 yards gross and 33.7 net on 10 kicks.

Frost, who put his job in jeopardy by slumping in the second half of last season, has averaged 34.0 gross and 22.8 net on four punts.

While Frost overcame a similar challenge a few years ago with a big preseason performance to hold off Australian punter David Lonie, but Lonie wasn’t a draft pick. I think Frost is as good as gone.
The Times has another story about S Reed Doughty overcoming hearing loss to play in the NFL. If it seems like you’ve read that story before, you have. The Times is verrrry late with this one. Not sure why they bothered.
Finally, someone at ESPN thinks Jason Campbell will be a fantasy league sleeper this year. Good news, I guess.
Discuss this in Redskins Park with other DC sports fans!