If DeAngelo Hall could travel back in time and impart some wisdom on his 21-year-old self, it would likely be to appreciate what he was about to experience.
Hall, then a wide-eyed rookie in 2004, was a starting cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons as they finished 11-5 and advanced to the NFC Championship before losing to the Philadelphia Eagles. At that moment, Hall did not quite grasp the gravity of the moment — how special it was to be on the cusp of reaching the Super Bowl, especially in his first season.
He took for granted the fact that he would not return to the playoffs until a long eight years later with the Washington Redskins in 2012.
For just the third time in his 12-year career, Hall is headed to the postseason. The Redskins clinched the NFC East title on Saturday with a win against the Eagles, and Hall’s message to the rookies and younger players is sharp, but simple: Take advantage of the opportunity, because it is not certain when another will come.
With the help of defensive end Jason Hatcher, a 10-year veteran who will be making his fourth trip to the playoffs after previously helping the Dallas Cowboys to the postseason three times, that message has been delivered.
“Hatch said something that was I think eye opening to a lot of these young guys,” Hall said on Tuesday. “He thanked the young guys in the locker room after the [Eagles] game for just fighting and clawing and laying it on the line like they have been all year and doing everything we’ve asked them to do. He said a lot of us old guys don’t have too many opportunities left.
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“I can remember my rookie year, we had a first-round bye and then we went on to St. Louis. They weren’t defending Super Bowl champs, but they were a damn good team. We beat the heck out of that team and then we go up to Philly and we lose, and I’m not really understanding that I was a game away from the Super Bowl, not understanding that, ’Hell, I was almost there.’ You think about it 11 years later and you’re like, ’Gosh, what would I have done a little different in those situations?’ Maybe it would have been nothing that affected the game.
“I just think my mentality would have been totally different if I really understood that I was a game away from the Super Bowl as a rookie and had the chance to get there. That’s kind of what we just are trying to harp to these young guys. You never know when your next opportunity is going to come, so please, take advantage of it. They’ve been fighting and they’ve been clawing and they’ve been giving us everything they have. We greatly appreciate it, and some of us old guys are out there trying to do the same thing as well.”
This year’s trip to the playoffs carries even more weight for Hall, considering his future was uncertain after rupturing his left Achilles’ tendon twice in a four-week span last year. Hall, who was unable to walk for four months after the pair of surgeries, deliberated retirement. However, he felt he owed it to himself to at least try to play a 12th season.
“You deliberate it because I didn’t want to come back and try to play and look like crap,” Hall said. “I’m my harshest critic, so to hear anybody else bashing me — it wouldn’t have even gotten to that point. If I would have got in training camp and felt like, ’I can’t do this,’ I would have probably called it a day then. Everything kind of progressed the right way.”
It hasn’t been a perfect season for Hall — or at least how he imagined it would go. After spraining his right big toe in Week 3 against the New York Giants, he missed five games before returning in Week 10 against the New Orleans Saints. At that time, the Redskins felt comfortable with the play of cornerbacks Bashaud Breeland, Chris Culliver, Will Blackmon and Kyshoen Jarrett, but wanted Hall on the field once he was healthy enough to be effective.
That led to Hall switching to safety, a change that has challenged the veteran to improve his skill set, whether it’s refining the angles he takes when trying to make a tackle or delivering more physical hits than he had to at cornerback.
“I’m enjoying it from every aspect,” Hall said. “I’m enjoying being able to come up, make tackles, being able to line guys up, being able to really understand where my corners are doing and what they’re thinking — you know where they need that help at from their safeties.”
Hall sustained a calf injury late in last Saturday’s win against the Eagles. He initially feared he tore the muscle, but that concern has since subsided. He said he has been rehabilitating it and is able to do light jogging, though he is uncertain if he will playing in the regular-season finale against the Cowboys on Sunday.
That said, Hall is certain he will do everything he can to be ready for the Redskins’ first-round playoff game, because as he learned 11 years ago, these opportunities don’t always come too often.
“Any time you can get a chance to play in the playoffs, this is my 12th year and this is only my third trip,” Hall said. “It’s definitely a blessing to just get invited to the show.”
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
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