It was the fourth quarter of the fourth preseason game at the old Foxboro Stadium in August of 2001. I had a cast on my broken left hand and a knee brace on my sprained right knee as I played the entire second half at left tackle for the Washington Redskins against the eventual Super Bowl champion Patriots.



I knew it quite possibly could be my last time ever playing football, so I was flying around trying to hit anything that moved in a blue jersey in order to make a favorable last impression.



It worked.



Multiple people within the organization told me after the fact that my ability to get the job done in that game despite those ailments combined with my relentless effort cemented my place as the ninth and final offensive lineman on the Redskins roster for that season.



Why does that matter now, 18 years later? Because there is a growing belief that the NFL may decrease the amount of preseason games in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)...