Playing for the first time since November 15, 2010, Washington Redskins Strong Safety LaRon Landry made an enormous presence in his team's 18-16 loss to the archrival Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night. He had been out with injuries to his achilles and then hamstring according to http://www.redskins.com/.
It was evident that Landry, a former All American at both LSU and Hahnville High School in Boutte, LA, was ready to get back to his hard hitting ways. He tackled Dallas Cowboys running back Felix Jones on the very first play of the game, tomahawked the ball out of the arms of wide receiver Kevin Ogletree causing a fumble, blew up Cowboys wide receiver Laurent Robinson on a pass forcing an incompletion and pressured Tony Romo to get rid of the ball early on a safety blitz leading to an underthrown pass that was intercepted by Kevin Barnes.
Ogletree's fumble was recovered by cornerback Josh Wilson at the Cowboys ten yard line and led to a Redskins field goal. However, the offense's inability to get a touchdown was typical of their ineptness, and the reason they were unable to get a victory, despite a strong defensive performance against a Dallas Cowboys offense that was only slightly better.
Landry, who has had some of his best career performances against his nearby hometown New Orleans Saints, is now under the tutelage of former Saints Coach Jim Haslett. Haslett, as you probably know is now the Redskins defensive coordinator; and just like when he was coaching the Saints, the Redskins are much stronger defensively. However, this time, Haslett can't be held responsible for the offense's inefficiencies, which the Aaron Brooks' led Saints offense certainly was under his reign.
During the 2009 Saints Super Bowl run, they were barely able to get out of Washington with a victory. An 18 yard field field goal by Garrett Hartley in overtime clipped the underachieving Redskins 33-30, to extend the Saints winning streak to twelve games. In that contest, Landry had 12 solo tackles and three pass defenses (stats via Wikipedia).
The previous year the Saints also visited Washington, but came away unsucccessful. It was during the second week of the season, and took place on a blistering hot September afternoon with temperatures in the high 90's. Making the elements even more challenging were the black jerseys the Saints wore, as the Redskins naturally opted for their home team whites. I was still living in DC and attended the game, along with a good number of other who dat fans.
Midway through the fourth quarter with the Saints in the lead and facing third and long, Drew Brees threw a pass over the middle to Reggie Bush, who had picked up a few extra yards before Landry solo tackled him in the open field. Landry's stop prevented the Saints from picking up the first down giving the momentum back to the Redskins, who made a very rare touchdown winning drive when quarterback Jason Campbell threw a scoring bomb with under a minute left to Santana Moss.
The last lead of the game for the Saints came on a Bush touchdown punt return early in the fourth quarter. With only about ten yards of open field remaining between him and the end zone, Bush turned back and waved at the last defender chasing him. It reminded me very much of the NFC Championship Game against Chicago when he did the same thing on the screen play that he had gotten loose on, and I knew it would come back to bite us. Just a few minutes later, Bush had once again found the open space he is so dangerous in, but at that moment Southern California born speed could not match the toughness born of the Gulf Coast and the SEC, causing the momentum to shift and the tables to turn
- Win
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