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It’s been just over two weeks since the last time I talked to Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers about his frustrating penchant for having potential interceptions bounce off, go through, or otherwise avoid sticking to his hands. But where that last one was a quick one-on-one conversation in a victorious postgame locker room, today’s came during media’s access to open locker room at Redskins Park on the Wednesday after either of two dropped Rogers INTs might’ve made the difference in a close loss.
So before I get to the quotes — and there are a lot of them — let’s conduct a quick thought experiment. Think about your job. Whatever it is, think of all the ways you’re good at it. Then think about your most glaring flaw at work. Really ruminate on it. Focus for a minute and consider just how frustratingly not-good at that thing you are, and how you might even have received a raise or a promotion if you could just do this one thing at a higher level. Consider this until you’re furious with yourself. That’s step one.
Here’s step two: get, say, twenty people. Make sure at least three of them have video cameras, and the rest have audio recorders. Have them surround you while you’re at your desk on a relatively light workday, and then let them ask you repeatedly about this one thing you’re not good at. Over and over again. From different angles. Ideally, have one of them miss the start of the interview, come in late, and re-ask several of the questions that you’ve already answered.
Step three is tricky, but if you have the means, have all of those twenty people publish articles (or air videos on local network affiliates) analyzing your struggles with this one task.
Step four is the toughest of all, though: conduct steps one through three with dignity, courtesy, and professionalism, and — if possible — a smile on your face.
Then you’ll be in the right mindset to read these quotes from Rogers today. It’s rare that I walk away from a media session thinking, ‘Man, I’m really impressed with how that guy handled all that,’ but it was my reaction to Rogers today.
And, with all of that said, here’s what Carlos Rogers says goes through his head after a dropped interception:
“Nothing. Actually nothing,” Rogers said. “I mean, I’ll sit and think about, ‘Man. I should’ve had that pick. Should’ve had about four or five. Probably leading the league in interceptions, or at the top.’ But the thing is, I’m not gonna get myself down because somebody outside of here or whoever talks about Carlos droppin’ picks or doin’ this.
“My main thing: I’d rather cover my man — cover the top receiver, lock him down, not let him catch the ball — and I drop a pick, rather than have a receiver scoring touchdowns on me, keepin’ the chains moving, throwing the ball in my direction, I can’t defend him, but, oh, I got a pick that game. That’s not gonna sit well with me.
“So droppin’ balls … you know, I’m glad I’m still in the position where I’m not having receivers just throwing at me, catching the ball all on me. I’m breaking ‘em up. I’m dropping ‘em, yeah, but when I catch ‘em … I mean, it’s gonna turn around. It’s gonna be something big. But I don’t sit there and get myself down on that. Just gonna continue to work, continue to catch. When I catch ‘em, I catch ‘em. When I don’t? I’m not just gonna sit here and go in my bed and just pout about it.”
On if there’s anything physical he can change to help himself:
“Just catch it. That’s all I can do. I mean, Sunday, I caught that one. Took two or three steps and then when I tucked it, my elbow just hit. So I thought it was a catch and the ground can’t cause a fumble, but, you know, they called it incomplete, it was incomplete. But I don’t know what else I can do.
“I’m just gonna continue to work, man. If I catch them, I catch ‘em. If I don’t … y’know, I’m gonna be mad. I’m still upset. It’s not that I’m just blowin’ it off. But I’m not gonna get myself down where I just get myself out of the element of my game and worry about, ‘Okay, lemme make sure I catch this interception’ but I keep giving up first downs. I don’t like guys catching the ball on me period.”
On if he ever wonders why this happens:
“There’s thoughts that go through my head, like, ‘Man, why I can’t do this?’ or ‘why that?’ but my job is to stop their top receiver from catching the ball. Period. I think if I can stop whoever on the team is the top receiver from catching the ball, then we’ll have a better chance of winning.”
On if it was frustrating to find himself rooting for replay to show that he did not intercept — and therefore fumble — his first near-pick during the Colts game:
“I was talking to Coach about that. I was like, ‘Could you challenge that I did catch the ball, maintained possession and took three steps, and when I tucked it my elbow hit and the ground can’t cause a fumble?’ There was kinda a line between ‘did I fumble it and they get the ball around the fifty?’ and ‘We need to get off the field’, so I was just, like, ‘Man, I hope it’s incomplete. I hope it’s incomplete.’
“But then … I caught one! I want an interception. But more for the team, I was just saying, ‘Man, it’s gotta be incomplete.'”
On if his struggles are becoming almost surreal:
“I don’t know, man. It’s just … I don’t even know. Maybe if I was to catch all the interceptions … I don’t know, maybe it would be trouble. Me getting an opportunity at eight or nine picks a year? Maybe it shouldn’t be that way. I hope so, though. I mean, I coulda had, what, four or five this year? And we’ve played six games. So … I’d be on pace for some history. I dunno, man, I’m just gonna continue to work like I said, and hopefully I’ll catch ‘em.”
On if the second near-pick during the Colts game (covering Dallas Clark) was a tougher catch:
“Actually, he had his hands in between mine. Once I seen the ball I just tried to cradle, but he had his hands in between mine, so I couldn’t even get that one.”
On what he said to Kareem Moore after Moore dropped a potential interception:
“I was like, ‘Man, come on. Just get it.’ You can’t get on a guy, keep fussing at a guy about dropping interceptions. They’re plays that we need. It was much worse if the offense wasn’t moving the ball. Like in years before, when I’d drop one, because we had a sorry offense, [it was], ‘Oh, Carlos needs to pick it up, he needs to do this.’ No. Move the ball on offense and you can score some points, then it wouldn’t be so bad. I guess that’s why we play defense, right?”
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