Kicker Shaun Suisham has earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his performance in last Sunday's 23-20 win over the New York Jets.
Suisham set a career high by connecting on all five of his field goal attempts against the Jets, including a 46-yard game-winner in overtime to lift the Redskins.
His five kicks of 46, 40, 22, 40 and 46 yards tied a team record for field goals in a game, held by three other players.
The feat has been accomplished seven other times in team history. Most recently, it was done by Chip Lohmiller on Oct. 25, 1992 in a 15-13 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Suisham's overtime game-winner last Sunday was his second of the year. He had a 39-yard game-winning, overtime field goal against the Miami Dolphins in the Redskins' 16-13 win in Week 1.
In addition, Susiham converted an onsides kick against the Jets that was recovered by Rock Cartwright and led to a field goal right before halftime.
So far this season, Suisham has connected on 12-of-15 field goals with a long of 48 yards.
-- RANDLE EL WAITS HIS CHANCE
Antwaan Randle El is ranked 20th in the NFL in punt return average. His 6.8-yard return average is well behind the league-leading 19.6-yard average of Chicago's Devin Hester.
Randle El said that, given situations in games this season, the punt return unit has had a greater emphasis on going for blocks.
"I really haven't had a lot of opportunities," he said. "We've been going after a lot of punts for blocks and not setting up returns. And I've had a bunch of fair catches.
"We'll get some opportunities. It's important in these last eight games. You want to have some big production out of punt returns, and special teams in general. Anything that can give your team a lift is big in the second half of the season."
Last year, Randle El posted an 8.8-yard return average for the Redskins. He had an 87-yard return for a touchdown against Indianapolis.
-- FAMILY MATTERS
As the Redskins gear up for the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday, Joe Gibbs was asked his thoughts on balancing the rigors of being an NFL head coach with family life.
The question came up in relation to Eagles head coach Andy Reid and the well-publicized family issues he has dealt with in recent months.
Said Gibbs: "One of the hardest things about the job--it's one of the greatest jobs in the world and we all know that--it's all consuming. There's not a day off. You're constantly here. As football coaches, we take every single minute of every day and cram as much as we can into it. You add this and add that, and the next thing you know there's nothing left.
"One of the toughest things is, 'Did I let somebody down there?' For me, one thing I always second-guess is all the time I missed with [sons] J.D. and Coy. There were pluses--they got to go to training camp with me. But I missed a lot. I got to see J.D. play [football] maybe 5-6 times in college.
"I know someday later on, I won't say I should have worked more. I'm going to say, I should have been there more."
