The Washington Redskins did not practice today, holding a walk-through instead. We talked about this on KJR this morning, but the Skins have a very light week, their only real practice being held on Thursday. They fly Friday.

Deion Branch and Niko Koutouvides were the only players who did not practice today. Though Shaun Alexander was on the injured list as full participation, citing his wrist, Matt Hasselbeck was not placed on the report. He had the same amount of participation (full) on Wednesday as he did Tuesday.

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Mike Holmgren spoke about Shaun Alexander and his selflessness during his press conference:

I think he's had more success in the last three or four, three weeks. He's running with a little more confidence, I think. His wrist, they're doing some different things with his wrist as far what he's wearing. While I never realized
how important that was, it did change his style. And now I think he feels like he can be who he was. What it has done, he's doing fine. I really appreciate him and the fact that he doesn't play as much as he used to. Mo is playing quite a bit. Shaun, you've all seen it, you've all written about it in years past and you can go to other sports, and typically in this situation, that player, an MVP
player and all of a sudden there's some sort of problem, there's something that comes up that's not very healthy for your football team. Someone's mad, they're made at the coach, he's not calling the right...what's he doing. None of that has taken place, and that's a real credit to the young man, I think. Because he's used to playing a lot. He's used to being the man, and now his role has changed. And he's come to me on more than one occasion and said 'hey, I'm OK.
Don't worry about me.' Bless his heart. I really do understand as well as anyone what this could be doing to him, but I'm really pleased with how he's playing right now and I think we will need him to play like he was in 2005."

I spoke with Julian Peterson after practice because Peterson grew up in southeast DC, a big Redskins fan. He said he is a fan of them every other time they play, but obviously not this week. His family, however, said they want him to do well but are rooting for the Skins. Josh Wilson also grew up just outside DC, but he said he was a Detroit Lions fan because of Barry Sanders. He worked at FedEx Field as a teenager, selling concessions, and said his family too is rooting for Washington to win.

Ellis Wyms will be playing both defensive tackle and Defensive end with Baraka Atkins out, but said there is not much difference in the two positions, one just happens to be closer to the ball. He has done it some this year, and has done it a lot in previous years, so it is no big deal to him. He also said he spoke to Atkins, who is bummed about his ankle injury keeping him out. But Wyms reminded him he is a rookie with a long future, so stay positive and rehab properly.