Skinsnotes: Evans steps up, Kelly steps off…again

And now, a few midday updates on the Washington Redskins.
As I wrote this morning, don’t expect to see Jason Taylor playing football any time soon — if ever.

Taylor’s left leg remains in a boot and he was walking with a cane, ever so gingerly and looking nothing like a stud NFL defensive end. Taylor was moving toward his car, finished for the day at Redskins Park, it would seem, and had a team employee carrying some boxes for him.

I am not a doctor and I am not basing this next opinion on medicine or science. Going strictly by observation, anyone who watched Taylor lurch out of the building would find it hard to believe that this is a man who is going to be on a football field any time soon. It was a striking scene.

An elite athlete’s body often heals unbelievably quickly and Taylor has a history of, obviously, not missing games. He is a supreme athlete in superb condition. But, as he said Wednesday, It could be a few weeks before he plays again or maybe several months.

WR Malcolm Kelly — wait for it — won’t play this Sunday. I know you’re all shocked to learn that. Let’s face it: Malcolm Kelly isn’t a football player. Not yet. Not until he actually starts playing some real football can we fairly think of Malcolm Kelly as a football player. He’s a guy who limps around Redskins Park a lot. That’s it. That’s all he is right now. 
LT Stephon Heyer does play football and still hopes to play this weekend against the Cowboys. There is a good chance Heyer will practice tomorrow — the deadline Head Coach Jim Zorn set for Heyer to practice or he wouldn’t play on Sunday — and Zorn lists him as questionable for now.
Zorn says the Redskins will go with a committee at defensive end to replace Jason Taylor, though Demetric Evans will get the start. Expect to see plenty of Chris Wilson and, if he’s healthy, Erasmus James.
Speaking of Demetric Evans, the dean of the Redskins press corps, Paul Woody, has an interesting article about Evans in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

“You’ve got 53 guys on roster, and you can’t have 53 stars,” Evans said. “The core guys are guys like myself and Khary Campbell and Rock Cartwright and Kedric Golston, guys who go out and play their roles, knowing what they can and can’t do based on the system.

“People talk about the Dallas Cowboys being America’s team, but the blue-collar guys, they’re America’s players. That’s what America’s about. How many guys do you know who are billionaires or just rich? Everybody’s pretty much working every day, paycheck to paycheck.”

As Evans points out in the article, starting on the defensive line is nothing new to him. He did it at End in 2004 and at tackle in 2005. 

Evans, 6-4 and 275 pounds, had to do plenty of work to find his niche in the NFL. He entered the league as a college free agent with Dallas in 2001. He played for the Cowboys for two seasons, then a meniscus injury led to his release at the end of training camp in 2003.

No one signed him, and Evans was out of football for the season.

He felt the best way to get back in was to play in NFL Europe. He spent the spring of 2004 with the Cologne Centurions. The Redskins liked what they saw of Evans and signed him for the 2004 season.

Evans played 10 games in Europe. Then, after a short break, he reported to training camp with the Redskins.

And in DC he has stayed because Evans combines pretty good size with decent speed and power and a good work ethic. He’s the sort of player who should have caught on earlier. He’s not a star and never will be, but he’s a solid rotation guy on the defensive line who can step in and start if called on to do so. He won’t embarrass the Redskins on Sunday afternoon. In fact, he’ll improve the line against the run, though not in rushing the passer. 
Greg Blache has his work cut out for him trying to figure out a way to slow down the high-powered Dallas offense. I think it starts with stopping the run and it in his conversation with Jason LaCanfora, Blache seems to confirm that. Don’t expect to see a ton of blitzes this weekend, Blache hasn’t been doing that lately. The Redskins will try to prevent the deep ball and force the Cowboys to drive the length of the field. The Cowboys are going to get a lot of yards and score at least a fair number of points on Sunday. Their offense is too talented to be shut down by the Redskins or, most likely, anyone else.