erin hawksworth is out there now standing by the field. it's first of all, it has to be hot for the skins. they have to win tonight. erin: absolutely. this is a crucial game, jonathan. we are just about two hours away from kickoff. more people are starting to file in. including josh norman! this is a big game for him. we will talk about it next. just checking my free credit score at credit karma. what the? you're welcome. i just helped you dodge a bullet. but i was just checking my... shhhhh... don't you know that checking your credit score lowers it. just be cool. actually, checking your credit score with credit karma doesn't affect it at all. are you sure? positive. huh, so i guess i could just check my credit score then. check out credit karma today. credit karma. give yourself some credit. sorry about that. erin: i'm erin hawksworth live at fedex field. we are just two hours away from kickoff. a big game between the redskins and the panthers. perhaps the biggest game of the redskins season so far. joining me now to

erin hawksworth? erin: thank you, doug. the nationals missed out on a chance to improve the rotation. so did washington postseason hopes set sail? we have the latest from the erin: there was heated competition to acquire white sox ace chris sale today. it seems the nationals were closing in on the left-hander but the boston red sox emerge and have acquired sale from the white sox. in the end, chicago was willing to part with more prize prospects than hour ago. why he is disappointed he says that the nats are not done trying to improve the club. >> this is a process. a lot of work that goes in the trade talks and conversation. we put a lot of effort into it. we we have plans a, b, c in place and when that door shuts another opens. erin: it's army-navy week. president-elect trump will attend saturday's game in baltimore. this you don't normally see. heat lamps on the field to protect the turf of for saturday's slowdown. this is a game that the players on both side look forward to every year. >> you can feel the pazzen tri of

erin hawksworth has the latest from redskins park. erin: the biggest news from redskins park has to do with injuries. will compton has a p.c.l. strain and cravens as an elbow strain. all the players seem banged up at this point in the season so they could use the extra rest as they prepare if a playoff push. coach gruden: we understand we are right in the mix. we know that. but one slipup and you will be a game and a half back. up to us to take care of what we can take care of. carolina now. we will let the chips fall where they may. erin: gruden added the major goals are to prepare an they welcome cam newton and the carolina panthers to fedex field a week from today. we have it on abc7. so join us for countdown to kickoff at 7:30. at redskins park. erin hawksworth, abc7 news. robert: thank you. we have a cuteness alert. we stopped by the caps practice and look what we found? caps captain brought his son to work. he is a better ice skater than i will ever be. he is unstoppable now. i can't wait to see him when he is a big hockey player

robert: right now we go to erin hawksworth, who saw this up close. she is live at fedex. ll around bad, right? the playersrob, just walked off the field. vernon davis looked at me and went like that. a lot of long faces. one word sums it up -- disappointment. i'm here with john booty. john, what are your immediate thoughts? john: lack of energy. i thought we were going to come out fired up, a lot on the line. most of the game they were not making the plays they should have made. disappointment for sure. why did they look so flat, knowing what was at stake? john: sometimes teams come in looking to par, their record has shown it, and they made big plays. it's a mindset. erin: kirk cousins, i think he will want this back. this seemed like one of his worst games of the season. what did you think? startsometimes kirk slow, then gets fired up and things happen. one of those days, one of those nights. i heard coach gruden in the booth say the redskins don't do well on monday night. erin: they have lost 16 of the last 17. i know the narrative sounds ridiculous, but the players don

erin hawksworth got reaction to last night's loss. erin: welcome to misery monday. >> who are you calling in the office for the q&a the day after the worst loss of the season. erin: the phone lines were send it to triple-a. erin: redskins fans needed to vent. >> think it's ridiculous that joe barry seems to unable to dial up blitzes or mask deficiencies in the defense. >> they got hot. they had a nice stretch. that's over. erin: danny puts his perspective on it. >> some of the stuff apt the fan overreacting, i'm one of them. i'm over here. like it's about me. like i feel sor erin: but losing to arizona the way they did makes it hurt. >> it felt like we turned a corner, talking about the redskins and then the rug pulled from underneath us. a lot of fans are disappointing. erin: while the redskins have made progress, they are not quite there yet. >> when you need a stop, you can't get them. you are the worst in the league on third down. you are worst in league on third and long. the defensive line is probably not the best. we need upgra

erin hawksworth is in and out of the locker room and she was there last week. she is at fedex now. about the playoffs. the big one tonight. erin: this is an important game. thanks to the cowboys the redskins make this monday night football game more exciting. this is a chance to show the country they are the real deal. robert: so, let's talk about norman who is going up against his former team. how excited is he tonight? erin: you know josh norman had this game circled when he first came to the redskins, especially after the panthers parted ways with him. you know he has a chip on his shoulder. he handled it well. he didn't provide much bulletin board material but if you look last week you almost forgot he was in the game. nobody was throwing to him. he hopes and he thinks and he really wants cam newton to throw his way tonight. whether cam does it remains to be seen. robert: knowing cam i'm sure he will throw josh norman's way. we'll talk to you in the special. thank you. you can see the matchup on abc7. the pre-game coverage it's countdown to kickoff. expert analysis on the field

erin: i'm erin hawksworth with sports. baseball's hot stove league heats up. what the nats have cooking with the pirates. jonathan: a rookie is praised for catching a guy but it's no ordinary rookie. ryan: nope. nope. he has been on the job less than two weeks but already earning quite a name for himself at the stafford county sheriff office. >> he was able to pick up the suspect's track. >> eight days out of k9 school and the rookie hemped sniff out a suspect. a masked man tried walking in mr. b.'s grill at was locked. surveillance video shows the man outside. >> the clerk heads to the door. motions for him to take the mask off. >> i seen the mask so i call the police and take it from there. ryan: 21-year-old maceson talks on foot but they are hot on the trail. steel helped track down the suspect. he was found in the grass a .9-millimeter handgun stashed under a blank in a baby stroller. we are told the serial number was defaced and reported stolen out of spotsylvania. mason is facing a slew of charges and steel is settling in the role of fighting crime. >> h

we will tell you where it erin: i'm erin hawksworth. desean jackson weighs in on the rumors that he is headed to the eagles next season and the m.r.i. results are in. we have the latest on bradley beal's ankle injury later in sports. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ michelle: fans are still in shock a day after carrie fisher died. her mother debbie reynolds has a stroke and dies as well. flower is placed on the reynolds' star on the hall of fame. makeshift star made for fisher. when asked why the "star wars" star didn't alreadyhave a star, walk of fame producer says no one inquired about one or applied for one about her. on the fifth anniversary of her death nomination can be made for fisher to receive a star. jonathan: new york city is up to the task to protect the huge crowd in times square for new year's eve. final preparations are underway including today's confetti test. they have to tet it. 7,000 police officers will be deployed. the city will park dozen of from terror attack like we saw in berlin ten days ago. if you

erin: i'm erin hawksworth with sports. after they loss to the pacers last week the wizards will try to redeem themselves at home. plus, why tomorrow night is the biggest game of the season so far for the maryland women's michelle: remember this from june? this is the cleveland park metro station getting flooded during a storm. riders had to wade through ankle-deep water getting in and out of the station. metro is now doing something about it. we sent q mccray to the station to find out what the agency is doing to prevent flooding from happening again. q: rain water raging down the escalator to and the stairs at cleveland park metro station. the video speaks for itself. it was a wet mess. >> what i did was just walk to dupont circle, which is two miles from here. q: this was back in june. now a sure this roaring riverer doesn't flow again. d.c.'s department of of transportation is digging deep for answers. boring for soil samples. it wants to know just how much water the ground can handle in a heavy downpour. it's also chec

michelle: next at 4:00, if you are in th home q: georgetown has been making progress as erin hawksworthhows us the team player is doing more than shooting jumpers. erin: he has been a nightmare for the opposing defenses. >> i'm doing better than i thought i would be but there is more things to wk on with the rebounding, tightening up the defensive play on the defensive end. >> he is a 6'5" transfer from robert morris. he chose hoyas over florida and gonzaga. ultimately he wanted georgetown. >> the stage, the big-time organizations. and the academics is important to me and my family. erin: he heads the team in scoring and ranks second in the big east. what is just as impressive is what he does off the court. >> i got into preaching two years ago. i'm it's something my pastor brought up to me two years ago in the summer. i went with it. studying my word. i read the bible a lot. i read it every day. >> do you know we were getting a good player? yes. did i know he'd score as much? i hope so but you weren't sure. i love the kid. >> you're this week's team player. >> shoot out on the eastern

larry: check in now with erin hawksworth. alison: she has a proud papa moment from redskins park today. this sounds good. erin: it is. how about this for the proud dad moment. joey gruden son of head coach jay gruden plays basketball in dayton. he doesn't play in many games but tuesday night he scored his first career point for the flyers. wjla sports parker asked coach gruden how proud he is today. >> it was awesome. we were fired up. the only thing upset i didn't get to see it. but i have it on my phone. see the picture. >> that is the picture. >> his first point as a dayton flyer. it's on my screen saver. we are fired up. he missed the first one. his knees were shaking on the second one. but we're excited. >> to me as a dad to know he will always have at least one. >> right! he played a minute and >> i wonder if the manager took a video of him. >> how is life as a college scorer? >> same old. moy twitter blew up for a day. i got high h fives going to class. teachers said congrats. i'm big-time now. >> what do you think? >>

erin hawksworth has the team player leading the way. erin: this is a high caliber player. jabari law, he is the quarterback at i the team to the undefeated season. not only that he is headed to a prestigious school for college. for the past four year, he has been lighting up scoreboard. >> he has meant everything to us. he has allowed us to take the offense to a different level. erin: the senior quarterback plans to take his talents to west point. and play for army next year. >> a true blessing. telling me they were going to offer me, i just, i couldn't explain how i felt. not allowing schools gave me a chance because of my size. they gave me a shot and i'm thankful. erin: he dominates in the classroom as well. >> i want to major in engineering psychology or kinesiology. erin: he has no problem fighting for his country. >> i don't mind it. background. my grandfather and uncle and cousins. this is not for everybody. i feel like i'm part of the select few that can do that. i don't mind it. i would rather fight for our country and fight for people i love. erin: i love that. w

erin hawksworth introduces us now to this week's team player erin: mirna madanado a varsity cheerleader at the high school is the prime example of perseverance. >> i have been doing it since elementary school. it's something that i love to do. >> she won the m.v.p. at the dcsaa cheerleading competition last year, helping her team place first. >> what was that experience like for you? >> it was good. i didn't expect it. >> she is also a rock star in the classroom with a 4.10 g.m.a. all while helping take care of her 8-year-old nephew who has leukemia. >> you obviously love and care about him so much. it has to be hard. >> yeah. i know i have to be strong. not only for my family but a i had to be strong for them. >> she is an athlete that knows what being a substitute athlete is about. erin: how have you handled that? doing well at school and everything you are going through with your family? >> i would say time management. and determination is really important to me. with time management i am able to do everything i have to do at home. erin: keep up the great work. you are this week's te

erin hawksworth is at fedex field. n the position thanks to of all teams the cowboys. erin: can you believe it? redskins fans wanted to take a shower after having to root for the cowboys. this the biggest game for the redskins tonight so far this season. not just because it's the next game but they really do have to win each of the games if they want to make the playoffs this year. the redskins now control their own playoff destiny thanks to the cowboys. they now how important this is if they want to make the playoffs t >> every game is a playoff game. this is a big game for us. each week is the biggest game of the year because of the situation we are in, being in the hunt. we have to win out and win one game at a time. we have to win. erin: catch redskins-panthers on abc7. our coverage starts at 7:30. kickoff is at 8:30. in 15 minutes, head to facebook. abc7's facebook. i'm going to do a facebook live. we want to hear your questions or the feedback. do you think the redskins will win? do you think they will make the pl

erin hawksworth has the heartwarming story later in sports. >> well, she dropped off her diamond ringwelers to get it fixed and then she waited, and waited. no one called her. she called "7 on your side." what ja overall crime in the district are down but people are still concerned if ward seven. they are doing whatever they can to try to fought back. d.c. bureau chief sam ford live to explain how they are doing this. sam: we are in southeast. mayor bowser had another one of her walks through a neighborhood today. this is time in ward seven. a high crime road. and the mayor led the delegation of the city leaders and the leaders to see first hand about community we asked the residents what they would like to say to the mayor. >> if she lived here six months she wouldn't have to ask. she would know. >> she walks through the neighborhood -- >> i save live here for six months. >> they need to get the guns off the street. too much stuff happening. >> this is a chronically crime, you know, ridden area we have had in washington d.c. this reflects back on how bad it used to be and this is sig