Rookie jitters are long gone for Redskin

It was a harrowing moment for a rookie cornerback, waiting to find out if you had let the entire season slip by you in the form of an opposing wide receiver.

Carlos Rogers wasn't sure what to think as the head official huddled around the instant replay monitor in the closing minutes of the Washington Redskins' wildcard playoff game last Saturday.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Edell Shepherd had just beaten him deep with a double move and made what looked like the game-tying touchdown reception in the end zone.

"I was kind of nervous because the call could have gone either way once it went up for review," Rogers said. "There's so many new rules you don't know about. I was kind of shocked and kind of scared."

It turns out Rogers - a rookie from Auburn by way of Butler High School - did just enough to save his team from potential overtime. Shepherd lost control of the ball when Rogers knocked him to the ground in the end zone, and without that control the Bucs were thwarted.

When he got home, Rogers scoured replays of the critical moment over and over on NFL Network. He actually felt better about his role in it afterward.

"I kind of got my hand in there a little bit and I didn't know it," he said. "I'm just glad the play turned in our favor and we're here another week."

Today in Seattle, Rogers and the Redskins face the NFC's best team for a place in next week's conference championship game. The stakes are much higher than anything Rogers encountered at Auburn. The playoff system is something he only wishes his Tigers had a chance to experience in an undefeated 2004 season.

"In college you win seven games, you know you're going to be in a bowl game," Rogers said. "Up here there's only one and its hard to get in. Only eight teams left have a chance to be playing in Detroit (in Super Bowl XL). I'm fortunate to come in as a rookie and be a part of that - and out there starting."

Rogers is already beginning to live up to the expectations the Redskins had for him when they made him their top draft pick in June - the ninth player taken overall. Named the nation's top collegiate defensive back as a senior, he was expected to have an impact in a secondary that had lost front-line corners each of the previous two years - Champ Bailey and Fred Smoot.

Rogers made his first career start in Week 3 of the season against the same Seahawks team the Redskins meet today in the NFC divisional playoffs. He rated high marks from coach Joe Gibbs after Washington's 20-17 overtime win in which he played the entire game for injured cornerback Walt Harris, making seven tackles and forcing a fumble.

"We like everything about him," Gibbs told reporters in October of Rogers. "To me, he looks at home out there. He looks like he belongs. You have to be a gunslinger at corner; you can't be nervous and uptight - a nervous ninny - and he's real confident."

Rogers has been just that since draft day when he said he wanted to be better than legendary 'Skins corner Darrell Green. Unlike Green, however, Rogers wasn't going to get the chance to start all 16 games his rookie season.

"I knew from the get-go I wasn't going to start right away because my coaches don't want a rookie to be targeted," he said.

Rogers had solidified his place as a starter in December before a torn biceps muscle sidelined him for the final three games of the regular season. Once healthy, he returned to the starting lineup in last week's wildcard opener against the Bucs. In a game won with exemplary defense, Rogers was just glad the one time he got beaten didn't bite him.

"I'm just trying not to let them down," Rogers said.

With the Redskins making the playoffs for the first time since 1999 and only the second time in 13 years, the excitement around the nation's capital has been comparable to the atmosphere Rogers was used to in Auburn - though there isn't a Toomer's Corner to roll with toilet paper after big wins over the Cowboys.

"It's been a playoff fight for us the last six games," Rogers said.

Having played more games already this season than he ever had in his career - and gotten his first taste of playoff pressure - Rogers feels like a veteran.

"The rookie mentality left me pretty quickly," he said. "The guys treated me a little different than other rookies because I was contributing so much to the team."

That, he says, has been the best experience he could have imagined. And it only gets better from here.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.