news.google.com
Friday, August 22, 2008
Redskins' Doughty tackles hearing loss
Ever since kindergarten, Reed Doughty has sat in the front of the
class and tried to pay close attention.
Former Wa****ngton Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams
noticed his pupil paid too much attention when he spoke in meetings
during Doughty's rookie season. Williams saw Doughty trying to read
his lips and asked him to take a hearing test.
Doughty has battled his hearing deficiency since childhood, but it
hasn't stopped him from becoming a starting NFL safety.
"I have hearing loss - I am not deaf," Doughty said. "I play on
defense, so I don't have to go off the snap count. You have to
communicate with other guys, but there are so many other ways with
body language, with hand signals and just knowing what you're going to
do before the play instead of just reacting all the time.
"I've done it for so long - and guys know they have to signal because
I'm not going to hear them. In general, it can be really hard to talk
to other guys on the field anyway."
His father has severe hearing impairment and his grandmother is deaf,
so Doughty's family recognized his hearing troubles early. Until
recently, Doughty got by without hearing aids. He can't wear them on a
football field anyway, so he has found ways around it.
But he also resorted to watching television with closed captioning
because his wife told him how loud the volume was.
"I finally just said, 'You know what - I am going to get hearing
aids,'" Doughty said. "It has really helped in meetings and at home."
Doughty, 25, cir***vented his problem on the field by learning the
defensive signals. In the past, he watched the defensive coordinator
on the sideline to learn the team's formation instead of listening to
teammates relay the message in the huddle.
But this year defenses don't have to signal in the strategy because
the NFL has permitted the use of an audio device for one defensive
player. Now Doughty must pay closer attention in the huddle.
"London [Fletcher] kind of knows if I can see him, I can hear him,"
Doughty said. "You've got those big guys in the huddle. I just make
sure I get in a space where I can see him and make sure I get it."
Doughty's partner, free safety LaRon Landry, has missed most of
training camp with a left hamstring injury. It has denied them the
op****tunity to work together during practice, but they have some game
experience together. Doughty joined the starting defensive backfield
last season after Sean Taylor's death and Landry slid from strong
safety to free. This offseason, the Redskins added free agent free
safety Stuart Schweigert, but he became one of camp's first casualties
when he failed to mesh well in the team's defensive scheme.
"Toward the end of the year last year, they were playing as well as
any safety tandem in the league," safeties coach Steve Jackson said.
"The fortunate part is in the meeting room they are use to
communicating with each other, so it's not like they don't see each
other or talk to each other or communicate. ... One guy likes to talk
and the other guy likes to listen. Fortunately, the one guy who likes
to listen [Landry] is the one with the best hearing."
Landry and Doughty make an odd pair. Landry, the sixth overall pick in
the 2007 draft out of LSU, entered the league with a $41 million
contract and a starting gig from Day 1. Doughty, whom the Redskins
selected in the sixth round in 2006 from Division I-AA Northern
Colorado, has molded himself into a starter with hard work and a high
football IQ.
Still, Landry looked to Doughty last year for help when it came to the
playbook or football-sense questions, and Doughty knows Landry can
compensate for any athletic limitations he has.
Doughty's story makes him an underdog. His ability to overcome it all
makes him a feel-good story.
"Personally, I feel like I should be here, but growing up I don't
think I ever thought I could be," Doughty said. "I didn't even think
about it. I was just trying to get into college and play there. I
don't even think it was until my senior year that I even thought I had
a shot. ... I am a realistic person, maybe even too realistic."
|
