This Happened

That Was Quick: Eagles 34, Redskins 10

See you in September.  Or at the draft in April, when things might get kind of fun.

Some questions to ponder:

1.  Our best player is 36 year old middle linebacker London Fletcher.  Is he coming back?

2.  Is Rex going to start with us next year?

3.  Can we sign Matt Flynn and then draft a WR or OT?

4.  Will RGIII slide to us at #6?

5.  Is LaRon Landry (aka I don't care that you just got a first down) worth a contract extension?  Dude is built for magazine covers, not necessarily 16 games of NFL football.

6.  Will Cheech and Chong be able to straighten up?

7.  Do we have the luxury of upgrading the secondary, which really kind of sucks?

Jeez, Rebuilding is Hard: Vikings 33, Redskins 26

I thought we were winning this game and were going to win this one.  The offense was acting like a team that is going to win--another rookie running back (Evan Royster) running for over 100 and Rex throwing touchdown passes in the red zone--good symptoms for a win.

But the defense was just terrible.

Oh well, it was cool to just hang out with the RClub.  Anyway, 5-10.  One more to go.

Only one NFC East team can make the playoffs, and that team will be relatively lousy.  That is what it takes to have a successful Redskins season these days.

Shanahan admitted in his press conference that he is surprised how hard it is to get this team turned around.  That's funny because us fans are kind of surprised generally by how bad the Shanahan era has under-delivered. 

He said he was surprised by our 10 year problem with quality depth (what the hell are these guys seeing when they look up and down a roster list) and thought there were some players on the roster that they would be able to keep around a little longer than they did.  Like who?  Casey Rabach? 

Pass me that Broom, Antrel Rolle: Redskins 23, Giants 10

After the Redskins beat NY in week 1, cornerback Antrel Rolle said that the two teams played 100 times, the Giants would win 95 times. 

 “If they’re going to win 95 out of 100, they’ve got to get started. They’d better get started winning some games real fast,’’ Barry Cofield said. 

Oh, snap.  Yeah, it feels good to finally SWEEP the Giants for the first time since 1999.  Rex Grossman got his interceptions out of the way early, Kyle Shanahan committed to the running game to make play action work, and the secondary picked Eli off thrice.  The Giants dropped a lot of passes, but that's their fault.

1 out of 4 is Bad: Patriots 34, Redskins 27

Some observations:

In the 12 years that Snyder has owned the team, the Redskins have made the playoffs 3 times.  1 out of 4.

Don't just do something.  Stand there!  The Redskins are 16-36 since Hall joined the team in November 2008. He's a good player--not great--but he's kind of a bum as a teammate, and he hates tackling.

Fed Ex Flop.  Why must we have the only stadium that necessarily has a fan of the other team when one of our guys scores and tries to jump in the stands?  And if people love New England so much, they are so so so free to get on a bus and go back there!

Tom Brady is, for lack of a better term, is a diva-bitch.  One of the greatest ever, sure, but he would be just as comfortable in a Broadway green room screaming about the wrong colored M&Ms as he is in the NFL.  Touch me, and I'll sue!  Touch me, and I'll sue!

Friendly Fire: Jets 34, Redskins 19

Early December.  Its kind of a weird time of the year.  Its not really fall anymore, and things are just starting to get all Christmas-y.   

It reminds of a Sean Lennon album I bought 5 years ago called Friendly Fire.  It’s a beautifully bitter-bittersweet album about a terrible breakup he endured.  His girlfriend cheated on him with his best childhood friend, who then bought it in a motorcycle accident before they could confront each other.   

I like listening to it every early December because that’s around the time the Redskins completely snuff out their own season through incompetence, foolishness, arrogance, and sloppyness.  There are so many great lines from that album that make me think about either my relationship with the Redskins or just the Redskins generally:

• Dead meat, you just messed with the wrong team

• In the end you’re gonna learn, you’ll get what you deserve

• You had to bring me down, we had some fun before we hit the ground

• You’re always such a spectacle, you said you would but you never will change

• Today can we pretend its not too late?

• Stay away, I’m not myself, no one can help me now…

You know, I don’t care that they lost to the Jets.  They just gave it all away so cavalierly.  They took the lead midway through the 4^th quarter.  And then Graham Gano pops up his kickoff, the upback returns the ball to midfield, and that was that.  A few players later, Sanchez through his longest past of the day for sluggo touchdown.  3 or 4 players later, Rex holds the ball too long, gets sacked, and the Jets takeover.  All of a sudden, we go from winning in the 4^th quarter to losing by two scores.  

And now, Sleepy Davis and Trent Williams are going to be suspended for smoking weed.  But they didn’t just smoke weed.  They smoked weed after being caught multiple times in drug tests and were warned that they couldn’t do it anymore or they would get in trouble.  But then, they smoked some more weed!  Selfish and stupid.

On the other hand, getting high kind of is a viable option playing on a team like this regardless of the consequences.

You Play to Win the Game. Helu!? Redskins 23, Seahawks 17

Trailing 17-7, Roy Helu took a pitch to the left, high jumped over a guy, landed, and then busted through another dude, and ran down the sideline into the end zone.  Several minutes later, on 3rd and 19, Rex Grossman stepped up in the pocket and chucked it deep to Anthony Armstrong who overcame a pass interference penalty to haul in the winning touchdown.

The win brought us to 4-7.  It felt good to win.  Winning is good.  Winning is the point.  It literally makes me feel a little better about everything to win.  A 2 month-plus losing streak is not good for the soul.  Ending it is good.

And so we hurt our draft status for the time being.  Some fans are devastated by this aspect of the victory.  Seriously?

You want your team to lose 12 games in a row so you can earn the opportunity to draft a 21 year old speculation?  You want to lose so you can get JaMarcus Russel, Ryan Leaf, Jimmy Clausen, Tim Couch, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, Andre Ware, David Klingler, or Heath Shuler?  Look 'em all up.  A high draft pick is a wonderful thing until you realize how speculative the whole thing is after the fact.

You can also be a good team, try hard, win, and get Aaron Rodgers late in the 1st round, Tom Brady in the 6th round, or Drew Brees in the 2nd round.

So, as nice as Matt Barkley might look in Redskins jersey, no, I'm not going to root for the Jets this Sunday.  I'm a Redskins fan.