Patriots 27, Redskins 24. But Campbell Plays Well!

Well, I was impressed. Jason Campbell led the Skins on a really nice touchdown drive capped off by a Marcus Mason. He hit Santana Moss on out route that the New England cornerback just missed swatting away. He looked poised and comfortable, like he was a beat faster understanding what was developing in front of him and where he was going to go with the ball.

On the second touchdown drive, on third and goal, he recoganized that all the players were coverd so he ran to his left, out of the pocket, did a pump fake to get the only defender in his way to jump, and then he ran the ball in himself. "Athletic instinct!" I yelled.

Colt Brennan threw a really bad interception returned for a touchdown, but he may have redeemed himself when he found my new favorite receiver, Marko Mitchell, down the left side after Mitchell did a nice stutter step for a touchdown.

The offensive line played pretty well. Like we always like to say, if you have time to throw the ball, you can . . . throw the ball.

Haynesworth and the defense really didn't do all that much against Brady, except for knocking him hard to the ground and hurting his shoulder.

This morning, Joey officially changed her mane to Joanna Rachelle Seiden. Very exciting. And she may have found a name for her fantasy football team: Patty Pan SQUASH!

Redskins 17 Steelers 13

Joey and I went outlet shopping today. I finally got some khakis that fit right and some new Adidas sneakers. She got some new Lucky jeans. Its pouring rain tonight(7:32) and will probably rain throughout. We picked up some food from Fresh Med down the block.

Hopefully, the Skins offense can score a goddamn touchdown tonight against the defending champion Steelers, whom I hate.

First drive--3 and out on 3 passes. Crap. But wait, a fake punt. Renewed drive with a couple nice short passes by Campbell, and some nice runs by Portis. But they chickened out and 4 down from the 2, and went for the field goal. 3-0.

Campbell threw a couple of incomplete passes because of busted screen plays. He missed on two long passes. The first one, Kelly had a step but it was under thrown. He overthew Santana Moss on an easy pass. On third and long, however, he hit Chris Cooley for a first down--his only completion of the game.

The first team defense came out with a lot of intensity, but DeAngelo Hall made a stupid personal foul and the drive continued.

But then, it was over for the first teamers. So much for building any rhythm or conifdence. I wanted to see Campbell get 4 or 5 possessions and maybe even lead a td drive. Instead, he goes 1-7 and his evening is over. Its not like he doesn't have a lot to work on.

Chase Daniel looked pretty good. His fade td pass to Marko Mitchell was perfect. At 6 foot 5, Marko just has something that Santana Moss doesn't. Daniel also threw the winning td pass to Sleepy Davis.

Regarding the fact that Campbell got yanked so early without finding any success, Steve said that this only bothers us fans and that the goal should be to get him into the regular season healthy, and let the defense win games for us like the Ravens. It would be nice to win games like that, but if that is how it goes down, Campbell is not going to be on the Redskins next season.

And another thing, those great khaki pants I got from Banana Republic? It turns out that two of them suck, and the third pair, which fits pretty good, doesn't really work with my belt. So, you know. Crap.

The Idiots?

Today in "Redskins Insider" in the Post, Malcolm Kelly complained that he and Devin Thomas were lumped together for media criticism. Thomas couldn't figure out the playbook and run routes, and Kelly couldn't get his knee healthy. Kelly maybe has a point that he really shouldn't be called an idiot, just a gimpy wimp. At the end of the write up, it said that Thomas said maybe they should have a nickname, but Kelly said, "I didn't say that." The idiots works for me.

Ravens 23 Redskins 0

Not a good sign.

Campbell made a couple of nice throws for first downs. Orakpo looked fast and powerful, drawing a couple of holding penalties. DeAngelo Hall made a nice deflection on the goal line on third down. The idiot receivers made a couple of catches.

But Sleepy Davis fumbled the ball twice and they couldn't sustain long drives, a la last year. If I could sum up the evening in a word, I'd use bleecchh, or perhaps ick or feh.

Am I crazy, or does it seem like the Redskins always start drives at their 15, get to midfield after 10 plays, run out of gas, and then punt?

There's got to be some statistic out there about the average number of plays a TD scoring drive takes in the NFL. Whatever that number is, its probably double for the Redskins. That's why the Defense has to become a pressure Defense this year and not just good with regard to total yardage. Without short fields, this team is not going to score that much.

Hard Knocks Debut

HBO's Hard Knocks debuted last night. This season is about the Cincinnati Bengals, and I can already tell that it will be a major improvement over last year's ass-kissing fest featuring the Dallas Cowboys. It showed Reggie Kelly, a quietly confident leader of the Tight Ends, rupturing his achilles tendon, and the lousy bedside manner of the Bengals trainer informing him that he needed surgery, and that his season was over. It also showed the Bengals' turk knocking on the dorm door of the leading fullback, DJ Runnels, at 6 in the morning and telling him to wake up, hand in his play book, and get on a plane out of here. Really nice. They couldn't let him sleep in a little?

Joey loved this show too, and suggested that the NFL really needs to promote the soap opera aspect to female fans.

Preseason

So far (knock on wood), the Redskins have not experienced the "out for the season" curse that happens to someone every year. Last year, we got it when Philip Daniels hurt himself on his first movement of training camp. This sent in motion a disastrous chain of events that involved trading a 2nd round pick to the Dolphins to get Jason Taylor to play defensive end for about a half hour. He did have a very solid game against Philadelphia in December, but it was way too little, far too late.

Tomorrow, the Skins play their first preseason game against Baltimore. Portis and Haynesworth aren't supposed to play much, but the Idiot Receivers--Idiot Devin Thomas and Idiot Malcolm Kelly--are expected to play. I really hope one of these guys can perform, and they find a way to shed the nicknames I have bestowed upon them, but I am skeptical. I'd just like to see Campbell get four or five first downs and not get hit. That would constitute success.

I'll probably watch the game at home with Joey. Steve is in New York finishing up some litigation training, but he said he'd try to find a bar to watch the game.

A couple of weeks ago, I got my hands on a fitted, burgundy wool, curly "R" Redskins cap that my dad received as a gift almost ten years ago. It had been placed on the top shelf of the closet near his living room bathroom and barely warn. I decided to take possession of it, and break it in like I used to with all my hats back in the nineties.

Take some nail scissors, slowly cut out the inner lining behind the front two panels, wear it in the shower, jam the brim into a coffee mug. This is not a guaranteed science, but I think I can make this hat conform to my glorious head.