ASHBURN, Va. - Special teams for the Washington Redskins have been anything but that lately, but coach Steve Spurrier expressed his confidence in the embattled unit that was woeful on Sunday.
The Redskins' 26-10 win over the Houston Texans made it easy to overlook two missed field goals, two 10-yard punts and three punt returns that gained a total of 3 yards, but Spurrier said the team did not plan any significant changes.
Cornerback Champ Bailey will return to the punt return duties he had handled for six games before losing the job to defensive back Bruce Branch last week after fumbling punts in consecutive games against the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.
But with Branch on the injured reserve list after severely spraining his right ankle in the third quarter of Sunday's game, Bailey gets the nod again from Spurrier, who initially wasn't pleased with Bailey's tendency to let the ball drop in front of him.
"We found out yesterday that if it's a short one, Bruce let it hit also," said Spurrier, who gave the players yesterday off. "So if it's a short knuckleball, we're not going to touch it. Just let it hit and get out of the way. But Champ can catch the ball. It's been two short knuckleballs that sort of handcuffed him."
Spurrier also said the team would not replace rookie punter Craig Jarrett, who bunted two 10-yard punts off the side of his right foot against Houston and had a punt blocked for a touchdown.
Spurrier deflected any blame for the blocked punt from Jarrett, contending that one of his blockers had slid over to stymie a rusher and allowed linebacker Jimmy McClain to slap the punt back into the end zone.
"But hopefully, we can get Craig to just catch the ball and make sure he hits it with his foot in the middle of the ball," Spurrier said of Jarrett, who averaged 30 yards on six punts Sunday. "If we can do that and punt it out 30 yards, we'll be happy."
Jose Cortez will finish out the season as the team's kicker, Spurrier said.
Spurrier opened his weekly news conference by poking fun at recent complaints about his less-than-complete injury updates.
"It's been called to my attention that I need to give you guys a better injury report than what I've been doing," Spurrier said . "So I'm going to give you a good one today. Stephen Davis has a G.H. [glenohumeral] sublux anterior acute strain of the right shoulder."
In other words, Davis' dislocated shoulder is still healing, and the two-time Pro Bowl running back is doubtful for Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Quarterback Danny Wuerffel (right shoulder rotator cuff strain) is out, and defensive back Andre Lott (chest contusion) will not practice today and is questionable.
Besides Branch, the team placed defensive end LaDairis Jackson (ruptured left patella tendon) and right guard Brenden Stai (left knee patella tendinitis) on injured reserve, effectively ending their seasons.
Running back Robert Gillespie was activated from the practice squad, and wide receiver Richmond Flowers will be activated today.
A day after retired Redskins cornerback Deion Sanders publicly disclosed his contact with the Oakland Raiders about returning to play in the NFL, the team waived Sanders from its reserve/retired list.
Sanders, a studio analyst for CBS' NFL pre-game show, acknowledged Sunday that Oakland officials had contacted him about his interest in playing in the NFL again.
The Washington Times reported in yesterday's editions that Washington officials were looking into asking the league to levy sanctions against the Raiders for tampering with Sanders, who was legally a Redskins player.
Team officials declined to comment about yesterday's release.
Sanders can be claimed off waivers by any of the 31 teams, but he would not be able to play because he would be picked up as a retired player. If he clears waivers, Sanders would then become a free agent and be eligible to play.