Quotables: Washington steadfast in ‘Redskins’ defense, Matt Schaub impresses Raiders
Dan Snyder’s organization announced it would be appealing the recent trademark ruling, and Raiders coach Dennis Allen indicated that rookie QB Derek Carr has veteran competition.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
- Bob Glauber, New York’s Newsday columnist
It would appear that Geno Smith is increasingly the favorite to win the New York Jets starting quarterback job over Michael Vick. If he indeed receives that much time with the starters in training camp, it would take either a meltdown or an injury to peel him off the top of the depth chart.
As Jets blog Gang Green Nation explains, Smith has been the much more consistent option under center throughout OTAs and minicamps.
Smith has been, on the whole, much more accurate, decisive, and generally speaking, better, than he was at any point last season. We’ve heard from several teammates that he’s taking over the team as its leader.
"I think he's been outstanding ... I don't think we've seen the best of what we're going to see out of Matt Schaub."
- Dennis Allen, Raiders coach
Smith isn't the only quarterback drawing praise from his coach. Oakland Raiders head man Dennis Allen heaped praise on Matt Schaub while speaking with Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com, throwing doubt on the theory that rookie Derek Carr will overtake him as the starter.
Schaub arrived in Oakland after a horrendous 2013 with the Houston Texans, where he lost his longtime starting gig amidst a bout of turnovers and the team's precipitous decline. There has been speculation that it was just a matter of time before Carr, a second round pick in May, would take over under center. Given Schaub's impressive performance in minicamp, that may not be the case.
Being that this is a public comment from a coach, this should all be taken with a grain of salt. Just last week Allen was pouring praise on Carr.
“I still feel a little something, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing that is going to bother me while I’m playing.”
- Jason Pierre-Paul, Giants DE
New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul deemed himself 100 percent healthy earlier this offseason, but backtracked a bit while talking to The Star-Ledger this week. He admitted he still hasn't completely recovered from a year that saw him undergo back surgery and extensive shoulder rehab.
That said, he expressed confidence to return to the level that made him one of the breakout players of the 2011 season, when he piled up 16.5 sacks and an All-Pro nod. He managed just two sacks in 2013, missing five games.
“I got something to prove this year, and I’m going to shut a whole bunch of people up,” he said. “I want to shut them up, you know what I’m saying? It’s not even going to be new to me.”
“We’ve seen this story before. And just like last time, today’s ruling will have no effect at all on the team’s ownership of and right to use the Redskins name and logo.”
- Bob Raskopf, trademark attorney for the Washington Redskins
After the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled it had canceled the Washington Redskins' legal protection for the controversial moniker, the ever-defiant franchise announced plans to appeal the decision. Specifically, team attorney Bob Raskopf referenced an identical ruling from the same body 15 years ago that was successfully appealed.
That 1999 ruling was reversed by a federal court, something Washington will be hoping for again this time around. One big difference between now and then, however, is the significantly increased public scrutiny over the Redskins name.
As SB Nation’s Asher Kohn points out, don’t expect this appeal to be finalized any time soon.
It was originally filed in August 2006, and courts tend to deliberate on things where billions of dollars are on the line and lawyers are fighting in those dollars’ names. It will likely be a year or more before the federal court decides to take the case, and if they do -- and again, it is almost certain that they will -- there will be another multi-year period before they come to a decision.
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