Hi Folks,

Here's the lates from our friend Bob Harris of the www.tflreport.com on
Washington RB Stephen Davis.

Joe

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SKINS WILL ASK DAVIS TO PULL THE LOAD AGAINST CHICAGO...
Posted Friday December 21, 2001 @ 03:55 PT


Washington running back Stephen Davis has been remarkably durable this
season. He heads into his 14th game of the season and hasn't missed a game
so far, the first time in the past two seasons he has been able to do that.
However, Davis -- listed as questionable this week with a bruised knee -- is
clearly showing signs of wearing down after hauling the rock 275 times this
season.

Davis, who sat out Wednesday's workout all together, only took part in
portions of Thursday's practice. Nonetheless, head coach Marty
Schottenheimer told reporters he expects the tailback to practice fully
Friday before starting and playing as usual against the Bears this Sunday.

Of course, no one can be sure how his knee will hold up against one of the
more punishing defenses in the league.

That could be a problem because Ki-Jana Carter is still bothered by a sore
shoulder. Carter has had just six carries in the past three games. The team
will need to get more out of him this week because Davis is likely to need
more rest than usual. ...

Whatever the case might be, the Redskins desperately need Davis to carry the
load. So far this season the Redskins are 3-1 when he gains 100 yards. Given
the fact that quarterback Tony Banks has tailed off the last couple weeks,
Washington is geared towards running 40 times against Chicago.

"It's going to be physical," Davis said yesterday. "We've got to go do what
we do best: Control the clock [and] keep their offense off the field."

The Redskins have been doing what they do best especially well the past two
weeks with Davis, whose 1,116 yards rank third in the NFL, racking up 110
yards at Arizona on Dec. 9 and 111 yards against the Eagles last weekend.

Washington ranks a solid 10th in the NFL in rushing offense (115.8 yards),
and that figure would be even higher if the club hadn't struggled so badly
during an 0-5 start. The Redskins have averaged 135.9 rushing yards over the
past nine games; for the season, only one team averages more (Pittsburgh,
174.2).

The Bears, on the other hand, have held opponents to less than 100 yards on
the ground eight times this season, including Tampa Bay last weekend (61
yards on 18 carries). And Chicago has only allowed two running plays of 20
yards or more this season (Davis has six such runs this season).

"My thing is, we've got to go in there and see what's going to work," Davis
said. "We'll run some plays, see what works against them and just play
hard."

It's worth noting that two of Chicago's last four opponents have topped the
100-yard mark, including Green Bay two weeks ago. That day the Packers
rushed for 167 yards in a 17-7 victory.

The Redskins believe they could have similar success. They don't want to
belittle the Bears' ranking or reputation, but they're ready to test the
Bears primary strength

"Our identity is to run the ball," tight end Walter Rasby said. "We're a
running offense. We take pride in what we do best. It's not anything about
the Bears are coming to town, saying this or saying this. We do what we do.
They do what they do. It's going to be a good, physical football game up
front."


*************  Our View  *************

The only thing that I'd add to this would be the Bears have not played as
well on rush defense lately as they had earlier in the season.   They did
hold Tampa Bay down last week and they did limit Detroit to 67 yards rushing
in week 12.  But they also gave up 124 yards rushing to Minnesota and a
whopping 167 yards rushing to Green Bay two weeks ago.   They are very good
but in my opinion, they're not in the "shut down" category of rushing
defenses like Pittsburgh is this year or Baltimore was last year.   In fact,
over the last 4 weeks, they rank # 16 in the league.   I think they're
better than that but clearly some teams have recently had success against
them.

We'll know more after Friday's practice but wanted to shoot this to you now.
Also, don't understimate the impact of Ki-Jana Carter's injury.   Without a
solid alternative, Davis may be asked to do more than he would if Carter was
100%.

Joe

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