Last week on the Blog, we talked about what we do if a player gets hurt on Sunday and the process that we go through. It just so happened that this past week our kicker John Hall has a sore groin and thigh. He'll go on injured reserve.

The process that we talked about last week on the Blog has actually happened. Tuesday we worked out four kickers. We got together on the plane on the way home and we discussed who was available and the options that were out there.

We said that we would gather in the morning and look at everyone who was available. Get the three or four best guys, bring them in Monday night and then work them out on Tuesday.

On Monday morning, we got together with Louis Riddick, director of pro personnel, and Danny Smith, special teams coordinator, and we went over who the best guys were.

The first thought that always comes to mind? Players that you know. Nick Novak, who kicked for us last year came in, did a good job, was 7-of-9 when he replaced John Hall last year--then Arizona picked him up.

Todd Peterson kicked for Atlanta last year and had very good stats. Tyler Jones, who was in our training camp, has a strong leg and Jose Cortez also has a strong leg and has kicked in the league for San Francisco and Dallas.

They flew in Monday night. We worked them out at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. All the kickers were out there warmed up when Danny Smith and head coach Joe Gibbs came out. Coach came out because of the importance of the position--kicking field goals and kicking off.

During the work out, Danny was out their charting each one of them kicking field goals from all different distances--the middle, left, and right hashes. Nick Novak never missed a kick. He was the only one who was 100 percent.

After we did all of the field goals, we lined up and did kickoffs to the center, left and right. Jose Cortez did excellent. He put most of them in the end zone. He's got a very strong leg.

Nick Novak hit one to the goal line and one to the six-yard line. Peterson was better than anticipated on kickoffs. He showed pretty good leg so he did a pretty good job on kickoffs. After the work out, we all gathered together, discussed it and talked about it.

We signed Nick Novak because his kickoffs were much improved over last year and his field goals were the most consistent, plus just the fact that he won a game for us in overtime last year against Seattle was also a major factor.

All of that goes into play because everyone feels comfortable with him and the players know him.

Like we said last week, hopefully next week we are not going through another position trying to do the same thing. Hopefully, it stops with the kicker. That was the process that we talked about and it came into reality this week. This is exactly how it went down. Let's not have another Tuesday like this.

Redskins fans: Tune in to Redskins.com in upcoming weeks for more blogs from Vinny and other bloggers coming soon.

-- Wednesday, Oct. 4

I want to talk about what the recruitment process in Football Operations is like and what happens if a player gets injured during a game and we have to find a replacement.

If one of our players gets hurt Sunday at a game, the coaches, the head coach, and I will talk to the trainers and doctors after the game. On Monday, we'll sit down and decide if we are going to need a guard or a tackle or whatever the position is that gets hurt. I'll talk to Louis Riddick, director of pro personnel, first thing on Monday morning.

We have an emergency list that we look at that has player names, phone numbers, and agent names on it that we have at the game. The list is especially important if we're on the road and we want to get a hold of someone right away.

On Monday, Louis will get with his staff of pro scouts, Don Warren and Terry Ray, and they'll discuss who those guys are and will watch a little more film on them. Once they cut it down to a couple of guys, they will call the agent, set up a trip, and get them in here Monday night.

Alex Santos, our pro personnel assistant, will pick them up at the airport and set them up in a hotel. On Tuesday morning, we'll pick them up, send them to our team doctors for a physical, and bring them to Redskins Park to work them out.

The position coach will work out the two or three guys for that position. The people in attendance will be the position coach and all of the pro scouts, such as Terry, Donnie, myself and Alex.

We'll weigh them and measure them. They'll work out and go through individual drills. After the drills, we'll get together as a group with all the people out there to decide which player we want to sign.

Then we'll take that information and give it to Eric Schaffer, director of football operations. He will call the agent and get a minimum salary contract with the player. We'll put the guy in a hotel and then he'll be at meetings and practice on Wednesday.

This is an ongoing job continuing on from the preseason. The pro scouts are going to all the team's preseason games, evaluating guys that are on the bubble and that may get cut. When guys do get cut from those teams, we go through the tapes to rank and grade them to create an emergency board.

From there, I'll go to Louis. Louis does a great job of getting the right guys--quality guys--in here. They've done an outstanding job over the past couple of years bringing in talented guys.

The reason it's done on Tuesdays is because it's the players' day off and there are no distractions. Players don't see other players coming in and working out. Get them in and get them out. Usually the first day of practice is Wednesday, so you can get the player signed and he's here for meetings and ready for the game plan.

Mondays are for getting them in. Tuesdays are for working them out. On Wednesdays, they are part of the team. That's a weekly thing that happens at 32 places around the league. You see the tryout list. Ninety-five percent of tryouts are done on Tuesdays, unless a team loses a player at practice mid-week and they need a guy to bring in.

It will be a physical game with the Giants this week. Hopefully, we'll have a quiet Tuesday. We love quiet Tuesdays when we don't have to bring guys in. Hopefully, it's a winning game with no injuries and for the pro scouts Tuesday will just be a day to prepare for Tennessee.