Post Email: Noble Gains Confidence

[MTK]

Nose tackle Brandon Noble was a happy man as he walked to his car at Redskins Park Tuesday afternoon, two days after starting his first NFL game in more than a year. Noble isn't fully recovered from a severe knee injury, but the sixth-year veteran was forced into the starting lineup during Sunday's 13-10 victory over the Chicago Bears. Noble filled in for Joe Salave'a, who was out with a calf injury, and produced one tackle and tipped a pass. The Bears mustered only 160 yards and a field goal -- an interception on a tipped pass by Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell returned for a touchdown.

"It felt good," Noble said Tuesday. "It was good to be back out there for that many snaps. I think that it helped my confidence because I got a lot of work. I felt as good as you can feel after a football game.

"I'm being my own worst critic: There's obviously things that I need to do better. I think that I'm still trying to slow the game down after missing so much time. Before I got hurt, I could see everything, and everything happened very slow. And it was very easy to react, where as right now I'm still trying to slow it down, things are happening fast. The more I play, the better I'll get."

Noble wasn't even willing to take credit for his pass deflection.

"I think that pass was six inches off the ground," said the 6-foot-2, 300-pounder, chuckling.

The Redskins are in the midst of a bye week, and don't play again until Halloween against the Green Bay Packers. Noble expects Salave'a to be back in the starting lineup against the Packers. Noble suffered a severe knee injury during the 2003 preseason, and made a remarkable comeback to be just healthy enough to contribute off the bench this season.

"I didn't have a choice," Noble said of going in the starting line up last Sunday. "Each week it [the knee] gets stronger. I've been out there on the practice field and I'm getting a lot of work out there so my leg is getting stronger."

-- Nunyo Demasio