"Oh, my man, I love him so, he'll never know All my life is just despair, but I don't care When he takes me in his arms The world is bright, all right... What's the difference if I say I'll go away When I know I'll come back on my knee someday For whatever my man is, I am his forever more."
This is a song by Barbra Streisand from the musical "Funny Girl." Replace "man" and "his" and "he" with "Redskins." Its kind of funny and kind of sad, but definitely kind of true.
It was a beautiful day in Washington--sunny and in the 70s. I woke up bright and early to get in a good workout, and then Joey I drove out to Redskins Club, stopping at Subway for sandwiches along the way, and singing along to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye. We got in a nice warmup game of catch in the front lawn.
The Skins were able to move the ball pretty well in between the 20s with a lot of short passes to Cooley. Campbell looked pretty solid and had plenty of time to throw, but when they got into the Red Zone, they took the foot of the pedal. Every single time, on first and goal, it was run left with Portis for 1 or zero yards. On one play, Idiot Thomas dropped a quickly thrown pass. On another occasion, Sellers dropped a perfectly placed pass that would have been a touchdown. Red zone offense reached an all time low when, after two runs, they tried a Clinton Portis option pass that missed Cooley in the corner. What the eff! I couldn't believe Zorn wouldn't let Campbell throw in the red zone. Was there not a better time to do it--at home against the worst team in the NFL?
1st redzone drive:
1st-8-StL8 Rush Clinton Portis up the Middle to StL7 for 1 yard
2nd-7-StL7 Pass Jason Campbell Pass to Clinton Portis to StL3 for 4 yards
3rd-3-StL3 Incomplete Pass Jason Campbell Pass Incomplete to Devin Thomas
4th-3-StL3 Made Field Goal Shaun Suisham 21 yard field goal is GOOD.
2nd red zone drive:
1st-8-StL8 Rush Clinton Portis up the Middle to StL10 for -2 yards
2nd-10-StL10 Incomplete Pass Jason Campbell Pass Incomplete to Mike Sellers
3rd-10-StL10 Incomplete Pass Jason Campbell Pass Incomplete to Antwaan Randle El
4th-10-StL10 Made Field Goal Shaun Suisham 28 yard field goal is GOOD
3rd red zone drive:
1st-7-StL7 Rush Clinton Portis Off Left End to StL7 for no gain
2nd-7-StL7 Rush Clinton Portis Off Right Guard to StL5 for 2 yards
3rd-5-StL5 Incomplete Pass Clinton Portis Pass Incomplete to Chris Cooley
4th-5-StL5 Made Field Goal Shaun Suisham 23 yard field goal is GOOD.
4th red zone drive:
1st-10-StL11 Rush Ladell Betts Off Left End to StL7 for 4 yards
2nd-6-StL7 Rush Ladell Betts Off Left End to StL4 for 3 yards
3rd-3-StL4 Time Out Washington Redskins timeout.
3rd-3-StL4 Rush Clinton Portis Off Left Guard to StL2 for 2 yards
4th-1-StL2 Two Minute Warning Two-Minute Warning
4th-1-StL2 Rush Clinton Portis Off Left End to StL4 for -2 yards
The defense got a lot of pressure on Bulger including the blitz, and may have shut out the Rams but for a very long Steven Jackson run that led to a fade route touchdown following a Moss fumble.
At one point, the defense clearly caused a fumble that was recovered by Andre Carter. I thought, no problem, we'll drive 20 yards and be up 10-0 in no time. However, somebody threw Bulger to the ground for a roughing the passer penalty--first down Rams. This was memorialized in a quick text conversation between me and Steve, who was in New York.
Steve: Yes!
Me: No
Steve: Shit!
Dad correctly predicted that the drive ending with Moss' fumble would sputter, though I thought we would get a touchdown. And yes, Joey got in her first nap of the year. A pretty long one. She woke up at some point in the third quarter.
The skins went for fourth down twice on the final drive in an attempt to put the game away. They got the first one. But on fourth and 1 from 4, they ran a stretch play to the left which got blown up. A stretch play when you need a half a yard? The playcalling is just unfathomable. Skins fans booed a lot despite winning. But our patience is really thin, and if they're gonna squeak by the shitty teams, they better get ready for more. We called the Rams, the Lions, the Bucs our patsies. But we're the patsys in denial until an opponent gets blown out.
Dad does not blame Campbell, he blames Zorn. "His Red Zone offense is worse than predictable. It is pitiful. The entire viewing audience knows exactly what he is gonna do on first down. Run Portis to the left side. Result? Stuff. Then, the entire audience (including unfortunately the other team's defense) knows that Campbell will try a short pass over the middle. Result? Nada. Then, on third down, there will be either another Portis run or a trick play. Trick play? You gotta be kidding. That's what we used to do after school. On the play that Gene Katz broke his leg, we ran the same play (with me playing Portis, with the same sad result). Hey, If Gene Katz and I can think up that trick play, and get results as good as the Skins got yesterday, how come they pay Zorn the big bucks and not me?
I would like football to go back to the days of Billy and Sonny. Let the QB call his own plays. Then, if Campbell screws up, we CAN blame him. Right now, there is no accountability. The team can grouse about the Head Coach calling a lousy game (true) and Boswell can bitch about Campbell having one of the worst ratios of TDs to total passes in the history of the league (blaming Campbell for this incompetence) and both are right. No accountability. Zorn is gonna get fired at the end of this season, unless he wins the Super Bowl (and maybe even then) and Snyder is gonna get himself a new QB no matter what (maybe Jeff George, or Brett Farve). And, then we're gonna rebuild for four years, and then do it all over again."
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