Laughing at the Misery of Others: Redskins 34, Raiders 13

"I think I am going to guarantee a victory for this one."  Me, 12/10/09

"I think this is what's crazy about football: The Redskins were in the biggest freefall of any team in the league around midseason, with an offense that didn't score more than 17 points in any of the first eight games. Now they've lost their best two running backs for the year, have a retiree calling plays, and they've scored 88 points in the last three weeks. And Jason Campbell looks like a player." --Peter King, SI

On Saturday, I played soccer at 8 AM in 25 degrees.  It was freezing.  The team is the third worst in the division.  I'll likely be abandoning it for a new team in the Spring.  But because I'm a professional, with pride, I showed up ready to go, ready to continue my goal streak.  And I did, after blocking a pass by the sweeper, taking one hard dribble toward the goal from left to right, and depositiong and perfectly placed right side foot shot into the right side of the net.  We won 4-2.

The Redskins did the same out in Oakland by out performing a similarly sad sack team that could not stop committing penalties.  The game was relatively close until the 4th quarter when the Skins pulled away, thanks to an injury that forced Gradkowski out and Ja-Terrible Russell in, lots of Raider penalties, an historic sack performance, and smart offensive football.  It was a nasty rainy day in DC.  I had planned on getting up early and meeting Mom for a 11:00 showing of The Road at Bethesda Row, but because Joey had been messing around with circuit breakers the day before, the alarm clock's AM/PM confused me in my tired state, and I overslept.   So instead I did some laundry, ate an egg sandwich, and prepared my luxury yacht for a voyage to the French Riviera. Mom came through with Hanukkah latkes and a promise not to clean anything.  They were excellent and we snarfed them down. New kicker Graham Gano (pronounced G'Noh) started his Skins career with a big kickoff, that pinned the Raiders in deep after good coverage. 

Nothing much happened, except for a Raiders field goal, until Campbell threw a short dump off pass to Quinton Ganther who took it down the middle and to the left for a 40+ yard gain.  A few players later, Campbell threw to Fred Davis for a short touchdown.  7-3.  Fred Davis did an excessively distateful celebration dance, and the 15 yard penalty helped the Raiders start their next drive in great shape.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljDKMIaDlSc&feature=player_embedded

Gradkowski hit McFadden for a catch and run for 26 yards.  He was being covered by Landry.  Landry played much closer to the line of scrimmage as a strong safety, and played much better overall, causing a fumble that we almost recovered before going out of bounds.  However, Gradkowski drove them down to the goal line, and Fargus scored on a short run.  10-7 Raiders.

Gano responded with a pleasing premier kick--a 45 yarder in the mud to tie it at 10.  And late in the half, after Campbell hit Thomas for a big first down, Campbell found Davis again in the back corner of the end zone after stepping up in the pocket.  This time Davis spiked it instead of dancing.  17-10 at the half.

 What was huge for the Skins, though, was that toward the end of the half, one of our guys grabbed Gradkowski hard by the leg before he got rid of the ball and he was done for the day.  In came JaMarcus, who is crazy-bad at throwing.

The Skins offense was dreadful on the first two 2nd half drives.  Janikowski hit a really long field goal to make it a 17-13 game.

With about 7 minutes left in the third, the Raiders were driving again at our 28.  But here is where the title of this blog really starts to make sense:

-sack by Andre Carter

-false start penalty -ineligible man downfield penatly

-sack by Brian Orakpo

-completed pass ruled incomplete after replay challenge -incomplete pass

-punt for touchback All this happened consecutively. 

I often howled with delight during this sequence, thankful that it was the opponent going backwards for once. So the skins started a long 80 yard drive, and had the ball around midfield when the 3rd quarter ended.  Kelly made a nice grab over the middle for a first down, and Moss made a great catch and run inside the 10, weaving in and out, getting a first down at the 2.  Ganther took it in on second down for the TD.  24-13.

Russell then threw an interception to Landry--he made a nice play to jump forward to descending throw down the middle of the field.  A 30 yard pass to Moss helped the Skins moved down to the goal line, and Ganther scored on another short run.  31-13. Russell went back to pass again (more sadistic laughter) and Orakpo nailed him on the blind side, causing a fumble.  Andre Carter couldn't pick it up for what would have been an easy touchdown, and the Raiders got it back. 

The Raiders punted, and Randle El did it again--he was running full speed on the punt return and the ball slammed off of his numbers and the Raiders recovered.  It was our, day, however, because the Raiders couldn't move the ball.  Russell was sacked again on 4th down.  After a drive of basically only runs, the Skins got another field goal, and that was that.  Game over. It was nice to get a win.  It always feels good no matter how bad the rest of the year has gone.  Also satisfying is the opportunity to play spoiler to both the Giants and Cowboys and the joy that comes with ruining something for someone that you hate. 

Spite is really underrated.  This holiday season, take the time to feel the toasty warm glow that comes with destroying something desired by someone you loathe.

Another thing, Brian Orakpo was a total beast.  Back in 2006, we watching the Redskins close out a terrible season, and witnessing a defense that couldn't generate any pass rush or make any stops.  The RClub was silently watching the clock run down.  I spoke up, and said, we need some big monster of a man, someone named Beastmaster Johnson, who is 7 foot 3, 450 pounds, who just picks up the center and the guards off the ground, clunks their heads together like Moe in the 3 Stooges, and destroys the quarterback.  We didn't get that exactly with Orakpo, but he is doing really really well.  11 sacks as a rookie, 4 against the Raiders.  Very exciting and hopeful.

Steve said:
I was slightly encouraged by Campbell's performance, especially because he's using the young receivers more effectively. He also looked significantly less tentative in general. Maybe that's due to the Raiders sucking, but it could also be a sign that he's finally getting comfortable with the offense. I still don't think he'll be back next season, but that's mostly because I don't think Zorn will be back. If Zorn comes back, I think it's possible we keep Campbell, but still draft a young QB to take the reigns at some point.