ASHBURN, Va. -- Casey Bramlet's MVP trophy is sitting in a
box in his apartment in Denver.
"I haven't been able to take it out," Bramlet said. "I got it
the day before I left to come back here. I'll find some place to
put it."
What's that? Casey who? MVP of what? Even Bramlet admits it's a
stumper.
"It's a Trivial Pursuit question," he said with a smile.
For those who missed it, Bramlet will go down as the last MVP of
the World Bowl, the championship game of the now-defunct NFL
Europa. He threw for 347 yards and four touchdowns to lead the
Hamburg Sea Devils to a 37-28 victory over the Frankfurt Galaxy
last month in the final game of the NFL's attempt to establish a
Europe-based league.
"It was great to be out there and be the leader of a team
again, and make it your team and have some success," Bramlet said.
"It's too bad the league folded."
The league was disbanded because the NFL is shifting its
overseas focus to feature its own regular-season games, starting
with the New York Giants vs. the Miami Dolphins in London in
October. The price is the end of an experiment that proved to be a
springboard for many NFL careers, including Brad Johnson and Kurt
Warner.
Bramlet hopes to follow in those quarterbacks' footsteps, but
he's learning that a bunch of wins with the Sea Devils doesn't
necessarily translate into a bunch of snaps at training camp with
the Washington Redskins.
Bramlet is one of five quarterbacks in camp, a long shot to make
the roster. Starter Jason Campbell and backup Mark Brunell head the
list, leaving veteran Todd Collins, sixth-round draft pick Jordan
Palmer and Bramlet vying for the No. 3 spot.
During Wednesday night's practice, Bramlet got to run a single
play during 11-on-11 drills. On Thursday, he ran four plays -- and
two were runs.
"That's the hard part of it," Bramlet said. "You have to know
that coming in. I know they're trying to get Jason ready for the
season. It's four more reps than I got last year when I was in
camp, so I try to use it to my advantage every time I can show them
what I can do."
Bramlet was a record-setter at Wyoming and was drafted in the
seventh round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2004. He made the team
as a rookie but never played, then was cut the following year at
the end of training camp and has been looking for NFL work since.
This year's stint in Hamburg was his second -- he also played for
the Sea Devils in 2005.
Bramlet was in Redskins camp last year, when it was a foregone
conclusion that Campbell, Brunell and Collins would make the team.
This year, Collins appeared expendable, and Palmer has been
erratic. Bramlet, meanwhile, was coming off a championship season --
even if it was some 4,000 miles away.
"Coming back now this year I feel more confident," Bramlet
said. "When I take my drop I can see the field a lot better. I see
the linebackers, I see the drops of the safeties, I know what
coverage they're in right before it happens. And I know how the
system works."
Assistant coach Al Saunders echoed Bramlet's words, saying the
quarterback has more confidence and a quicker delivery. Saunders
also called it "a travesty" that the NFL decided to shut down the
European venture.
But that doesn't mean there's room for Bramlet on the team.
Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said he has "some tough decisions to
make" in the coming days about the backup quarterbacks -- and it's
not hard to spot who is on the bubble.
"Every time you get cut, it's tough," Bramlet said. "But at
the same time you have to be strong mentally and know that you can
play, and maybe it just wasn't the right situation. Getting a
chance to play in Europe built that confidence back up for me that
I can play in this league. Hopefully I can just get in the right
spot."
Game notes
With a towel draped far over his forehead, RB Clinton
Portis spoke for the first time about his latest setback. He's
missed three days of practice due to swelling and soreness derived
from tendinitis in his right knee. "When I cut or stop on a dime,
it'll flare up a little bit and get tender, but it's nothing
major," Portis said. "If I had to play in the preseason, I could
play. We're just trying to avoid having to stay in therapy and
rehab all year."