Kickers to try out for Redskins as Billy Cundiff struggles

The Washington Redskins will try out kickers Tuesday in the wake of Billy Cundiff’s recent inaccurate field-goal attempts, coach Mike Shanahan said. 

Olindo Mare and Josh Brown, a pair of longtime NFL veterans, and Kai Forbath are expected to audition, according to a CBS Sports report that could not independently be confirmed.

“Everything is based on how they kick, or if we feel very good about somebody that’s out there that we think would give us a better chance to win,” Shanahan said.

Cundiff missed a 31-yard field goal in each of the past two games.

He is 7 for 12 on field-goal attempts this season; his 58.3 percent accuracy rate ranks 31st in the NFL.

Cundiff’s missed 62- and 57-yard attempts skew the percentage a bit, but his 31-yard miss near the end of the first half against Atlanta on Sunday sapped Washington’s momentum. Instead of the Redskins taking a 10-0 lead, Atlanta drove the field and tied the score 7-7 going into halftime.

“It definitely changed their mindset,” special teams captain Lorenzo Alexander said. “The defense takes it as a stop: Great, no points on the board. That’s a win for them. It’s just a change of momentum.

“I’m confident that we’ll get that straightened out here because we have to. If we want to win games, we’ve got to score every time that we have an opportunity to because we’re not good enough yet to overcome missed field goals, blocked punts or having turnovers.”

Shanahan said he is pleased with the snap and hold elements of the field goal operation. Long snapper Justin Snow replaced Nick Sundberg after Sundberg broke his left arm in the season opener.

Doughty responds to criticism for allowing touchdown catch

Safety Reed Doughty accepted blame for Julio Jones’ 18-yard touchdown catch in the second half of the Redskins’ 24-17 loss to Atlanta.

Cornerback Josh Wilson after the game expressed frustration with a teammate’s failure to fulfill his responsibility on the play.

He did not mention Doughty by name. Wilson tightly covered Jones on the play, but the throw was just out of his reach.

“It’s a red zone — kind-of cover-2,” Doughty said Monday. “I tried to show disguise, and I didn’t get wide enough. I thought Josh made a good attempt at the play, and I was hoping he didn’t get in bounds. But you can’t let a disguise ruin the coverage. I’ve got to get over there quicker.”

Wilson was upset he didn’t receive the help he expected in the Redskins’ cover-2 defense.

“It’s easy as long as everybody is doing their responsibility,” Wilson said. “It’s tough when they’re not. You’ve got double moves, you’ve got everything else out there. A guy is supposed to be where he’s supposed to be.”

Asked specifically about Wilson’s comments, Doughty accepted responsibility but said he wished the situation would have been handled privately.

“They know it’s my thing,” Doughty said. “If anybody asked me about that after the game, I would have told them. I sat in the locker room and was open to questions, and I left. I’d like to take care of that within our room. We know whose fault it is, and I’ll take the blame for that, and we’ll go out there and try to be better.”

Meriweather’s setback to cost him four more weeks

Safety Brandon Meriweather is expected to miss four more weeks because of the setback he suffered to his sprained left knee in the collision with receiver Aldrick Robinson before the Tampa Bay game Sept. 30.

Meriweather has a second-degree medial collateral ligament sprain and a third-degree (torn) posterior cruciate ligament, Shanahan said.

Right tackle Jammal Brown (left hip), who is eligible to come off the physically unable to perform list next week, might be moved to the active roster after the Redskins’ bye week Nov. 11, Shanahan said.

Brown’s recovery from surgery has progressed to the point where he is performing conditioning and football drills.