Transcripts For WRC 20091027

i would like to be bright, sharp and witty. >> where could you begin? >> i have no idea. >> maybe like hellie, you could take a vacation tomorrow. hellie is leaving me going to the bahamas. i think that's the best thing to do at this point. >> hellie, like the redskins, is going to become reenergized. all the players are gone tonight. they are have a halloween party here. of course the big news today out here is the injury to chris cooley. >> yeah. he thought and they thought he was going to be out the entire year. they got a bit of good news. he actually thweatted it to let the world know. >> it could be he is out only for up to four weeks, which obviously would be very favorable in the eyes of the team. he will have surgery tomorrow. it happened, the injury, on the first play in the second quarter. jason campbell fumbled the ball. cooley had run the rout. all of a sudden he ended up pulling up in pain. he broke his right ankle. teammates say chris cooley being such the player that he is, he had to be carted off the field. >> tough. we know we are going to miss cooley and miss what his production have given us week in and week out. we just know we still have a test at hand. and we can overcome the things we try to overcome and just keep moving forward. he'll be with us regardless if he is out there or not. >> it's gng to put pressure on everybody else to step up and fill his shoes. offensively, we've been struggling. now you lose one of your best guys, it's going to be tough for us. >> that's one of chris cooley's closest friends on the team. you've got to think teams that are going to face the redskins have to be salivating the a the fact he may not be on the field and how that opens up their game plan. >> it always opens the door for fred davis. >> very true. >> he is effective, not nearly as good as cooley in pass protection. >> it was interesting jason last night said fred came up to him and said, put me in there. a lot of guys think i might not do it, but i can handle it. >> he said give me a chance. not like keyshawn johnson, but throw me the ball. another big issue is play calling. it wasn't the communication debacle i think a lot of people expected. then going down to play calling. they are trying to get down on the field with jim zorn. it wasn't that bad, but did not yield better results. 17 points, just two third down conversions in the game for the redskins. zorn on the sideline not calling plays the first time as head coach, but he did call some of the plays during the two-minute drill in each half. sherm lewis called the passing play and deferred to sherm smith calling the running plays. it was a three-headed monster that worked all right according to vinny cerrato. >> we didn't win, but i thought sherm provided a spark. i think the offense, you know, did some good things. i think he did a good job with the amount of time he had. i thought did he an excellent job. >> i'm most comfortable calling plays myself, no question. i can't deny that. i can't fill you with fluff there. this seemed to work. it had some success. we'll try to build on the successes we had. there was a lot of successful plays. we'll just continue to build on that. we'll refine that as we go along. we have a couple of weeks now -- we've got to take a break here. >> that was jim zorn in definite need of a break. i think everybody mentally exhausted. redskins' executive vice president spoke to the media today for the first time in quite a while. he did a conference call for the writers when they decided to go with the play calling change. thene question he was asked that i thought was poignant was, do you feel like this team that you hand-delivered to jim zorn had enough talent to make the playoffs? he gave one word, yes. >> really? >> not that they would make the playoffs now, but at the beginning of the season he believed this team had enough talent. >> at the beginning of season, he never thought they would suffer these injuries to the offensive lean. because of that, it has been so difficult for jason campbell to establish any rhythm. jason campbell obviously has been under the microscope. last night was not a terrific game, obviously. you've got to think of the production of the offensive line to back him up and protect im. jason campbell last night was sacked six times. part of the reason jim zorn said the key they have to improve on is pass protection. he went 29 of 43 for 284 yards, two touchdowns. it was so hard for receivers to get anything started. devin thomas had one touchdown in the game. he said they could have been much more productive, but it's hard when jason is not standing upright. >> it's tough. we run the routs. we make the break expecting the ball and you look and see your quarterback on the ground. i think our guys should pick him up. we have to be more disciplined up front. >> this sucks. what can you do? you've got to smile from being angry sometimes. i tend to do that the most. i'm big on opportunities. that's how i've been all my life. when opportunity is there, i want to take advantage of it. i want to conquer it. you see it time and time again in our games. the opportunity is there, but something just messes up the opportunity. until we stop doing that, until we can handle those situations, we'll be a better team if we can't, we'll never be able to get to where we try to do. >> it's not a time to start feeling bad or sad. watch all seven games we play and see where we can improve at and things we can do better at a whole. it's not like one position here or there as a whole and try to regroup. >> jason campbell fought through it last night. jim zorn was talking about how he has to muscle through. that's all you can do. how in practice he always prepares jason saying, pretend you are going to get hit seven times. that way it can only get better. they don't touch him in practice. gametime so different. >> he needs a bye more than anybody on the team. he's getting punchy and tired of answering the same old questions over and over. and he has that banged-up ankle. he looked like a clydesdale bac there. he couldn't move. >> that's right. that is a testament of him playing through that banged-up ankle. wizards begin their season tonight at dallas. they play the dallas mavericks and back home we have the capitols hosting the fliers. >> maybe it will be a great wint were all these new winning teams. >> that will do it from out here at redskins park. >> thanks. they need a break and so do their fans. we all need a break. >> amen. coming up on the broadcast, we'll tell you about a woman who scared off a would-be burglar by pretending to be a dog. >>. >> and bob will be back with a final check on our weather forecast. some advice for people hoping to buy a house or car. the deadline for tax breaks is quickly approaching. carmen wong ulrich has our report. >> the stimulus bill gave us some hefty tax breaks that are expected to expire soon. the home buyers' tax credit which is $8,000 is going to end on december 1st. you must close on your home by that date. to qualify for this credit, you need to have not been a home owner in the past three years, and you need to stay in your home for at least three years. ownership requirements also apply to your spouse if you are buying a home together, and if purchasing a primary residence only, not a second home for investment home. the new car sales tax deduction ll end on december 31st. if you are in the market for a new set of wheels, know you can duct what you pay in sales and excise taxes as long as your purchase is under $49,500. don't let these perks lead you to buy what you are not able to afford. plan ahead and well for the big expenses much a new home, new car and hold off until next year if the costs don't fit into your budget this year. if you don't have ample emergency fnds first or have other high-interest debt. whater you miss out on tax breaks, you will save to be financially ready to take on these big loans in the long term. the senate will likely vote this week on whether to extend the $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers. tonight on "nbc nightly news" could there be big changes in store for your monthly credit card bill? tonight on news4 at 11:00, we are learning more about the three local dea agents killed in afghanistan yesterday. sarah palin is cashing in on her new book. we learn how much she banked already with the release of the book still weeks away. we'll take you to the wildly popular dupont high heel race, set to go whether raining or not at 11:00. some people put up big "beware of dog" signs to scare off burglars. some buy recordings you play of a big dog barking. a woman in athens, georgia, for whom none of that was enough. about 11:00 last say the night this woman was in her house when she heard some guy up on her porch. she saw her door knob turn the woman started acting like a dog and scared the dude away.