What is Below Rock Bottom? Saints 33, Redskins 30 OT

What is below rock bottom?  Subterranean fresh water wells?  Aquifers?  Hot liquid magma?  Earlier in this blog, I used the term rock bottom to describe the state of the Redskins, probably after losing to the toothless Chiefs at home, or after getting into a fight with the Atlanta Falcons coaching staff in week 9.  The Skins lost two division game heartbreakers in the last two weeks because they couldn't play a full 60 minutes and hold on to a lead.  But today, December 6, with nothing but pride on the line against the undefeated New Orleans Saints, I think we found a way to chisel and hammer through the bedrock, go beyond rock bottom, and burrow our sorry asses all the way to China.

Most of what occurred today was generally positive.  Campbell played really well, spreading the ball to a lot of different receivers, not taking sacks, and making plays for touchdowns in the red zone.  Hitting long sideline routes with perfect touch, releasing the ball quickly and in stride on crossing routes, getting the ball down the field.  Devin Thomas had his best game ever, scoring two touchdowns, and perhaps persuading me to stop calling him Idiot Thomas, at least for the time being.

There are a lot of things to point the damning finger at--Suisham missing the field goal that would make it a 10 point game with 2 minutes to go, Campbell's late interception, Landry's continued incompetence and carelessness, terrible refereeing, safety Kareen Moore getting totally punked on an interception fumble return for a touchdown.  But I point my finger at the gutless playcalling.  A 10 point lead would have been good enough, one might say.  Against Drew Brees, first and goal from inside the 5--you go for the kill.  When you are 3-8, trying to knock off an 11-0 team, you go for the kill.  When you are a psychotic evil villain with a plot to take over the world or ransom a nuclear weapon, and you have James Bond cornered, you GO FOR THE KILL!  You don't turn on a slowly moving laserbeam, leave the room, and assume your diabolical scheme all went to plan.  James Bond or Drew Brees--they have the tools to strike fast.  You bring down the hammer, or the whole thing goes to shit!

It was first and goal from the 4, Redskins 30, Saints 23.  Once again, I type, this was where the Redskins coaches opted not to take this game.

2:52 4th Was 1st & 4 at NO4 Rock Cartwright Off Right Tackle to NO3 for 1 yard

2:46 4th Was 2nd & 3 at NO3 New Orleans Saints timeout.

2:46 4th Was 2nd & 3 at NO3 Rock Cartwright Off Left Tackle to NO5 for -2 yards 2:04 4th Was 3rd & 5 at NO5 Rock Cartwright Off Right End to NO4 for 1 yard

1:56 4th Was 4th & 4 at NO4 Two-Minute Warning

1:56 4th Was 4th & 4 at NO4 Shaun Suisham 23 yard field goal is MISSED. Holder-Hunter Smith

3 games in a row lost this way.  Imagine if we had a coach who had the ability to comprehend the notion of urgency.  We could have won all 3 of these games and be 6-6.

It was a cold, sunny day following a minor snow storm.  I drove up to Rockville and finally dropped off 2 bags of clothes at Goodwill, and then headed over to the Club.  Joey and I helped Dad prepare some chili for lunch, which was excellent.  We stood around the living room tv, watching the Skins stop Brees on their first drive.  However, Fred Smoot dropped an interception opportunity, one of many missed opportunities.

The Skins O came out on fire, however with a couple of passes to Fred not so Sleepy Davis and Devin not really that much of an Idiot Thomas, plus a facemask and pass interference penalty.  On third and goal from the 8, they capped a 94 yard drive when Davis crossed the zone from right to left, caught the ball in stride, and took it to the left pylon for the score.  The Skins held the Saints again on 3 plays, forcing a punt.

The next drive featured mostly passes, with completions to Davis, Randle El, and Marko.  A field goal made it 10-0.  The Saints scored on the next two drives, first with a field goal.  Then, after we crushed Reggie Bush for a loss on a punt return, Brees did was Brees do.  After a few short completions, he got Landry to bite hard on a double move.  Landry is getting worse--he shouldn't be playing free safety, and it shows.  Marques Colston got wide open and scored with ease.  10-10.  Brees was under occasional pressure, but when he had time to throw, he had all day to throw, making pump moves and double moves very easy to execute.

The Skins offense answered right back though--all throwing.  A short pass to Davis, a couple short passes to Moss, then a long sideline route to Moss dropped in right between the corner and safety.  On second and goal, the Saints came with an all out blitz, but the we were ready, as Thomas snuck around the o-line from left to right, got a short screen pass type play in stride, and dove it in at the right pylon.  Great play, 17-10.

Wow, that photo is really small.  Too bad.  Anyway, now its time to discuss the beginning of the great body blows/gut punches/rib shots, one of which literally brought me to my knees in despair it happened. 

Gutpunch 1:  We were all feeling pretty good with a stop, and a punt that looked to be really short.  But when punts are really short, things go badly for us.  Kareem Moore knew it was coming down near him, and he tried to get really small, but that strategy couldn't prevent the ball from dropping perfectly square on his back, and the Saints took over. 

D stopped the Saints with a sack on third down, with a delayed blitz from Landry.  But Landry made the play by running shoulder first again into Brees and not trying to make a text book tackle.  Brees staggered back with three or four steps and finally fell down, but holy shit, Landry!  I can't believe how shitty he is playing. 

Gutpunch 2: On third and 26, Brees threw down the middle.  The pass was short, Kareem Moore and another player dove for it.  Moore came up with it and starting running down the field toward the left sideline.  He got held up by Robert Meacham, and Moore put his back to Meacham as he tried to gain his footing or break free.  Instead, Meacham snatched the ball right out of his arm, and took it the other way.  I screamed in horror, and collapsed to the floor.

Ughhh.  It hurts to look at this.  Dad was looking for the proper words to describe Moore, finally settling on made him look like a sissy.  Other ways of describing it are got ganked, jacked, done like a ho, made Meacham's bitch, bitchslapped, punked.

Then, we threw the red flag, first hoping that the throw had hit the ground, then hoping that the intended receiver had touched Moore and therefore he was down by contact, and the strip heard 'round the Beltway would have never happened.  But it did happen.  The touchdown was confirmed.  17-17 at the half.

In order for your team to upset an 11-0 team, you need this kind of freak play to happen for you, not against you. 

The Skins offense proved resilent in their first second half drive, including a tear drop go route to Thomas on the right side.  However, on third and goal, Moss did a post pattern while Campbell threw a fade.  The field goal was good, 20-17.  The Saints tried to come out running, but the D stuffed 4 runs in a row, and tookover on downs.

The big play here was Campbell finding a wide open Thomas deep down the right sideline from a busted coverage.  On Third and 7 from 10 or so, Campbell found Thomas again on a crossing route from right to left, and Thomas tip toed down the sideline and pass 3 defenders to get in for the score.  27-17.

The Saints hit a bunch of medium passes, but had to settle for a field goal.  We got the ball back, and on third and 11, made a play that made it feel like things were gonna go our way--Campbell found a streaking Randle El on a wide open post pattern.  The safety caught up to him to save a touchdown, but things were looking great as the 3rd ended.

On first and goal, Campbell threw a pass right into the chest of a Saints defender.  If the ball had been caught, it would have been a 95 yard interception return for touchdown.  It was at that point, Dad and I agreed that we were "even" on breaks.  Looking back, and considering how I feel this rotten Monday afternoon, I'm not so sure.  But at the time, that's where we were emotionally.  The second two plays were gutless runs by Mason.  Field goal good, 30-20.

The Saints did their Saints thing on the next drive, with methodical first down conversions on one or two plays.  On third and goal, Brees went for his usual post up play to Colton in the endzone, but it was knocked away by Byron Westbrook.  Field goal, good, 30-23.

With 6:52 left, Dad said we can run the ball and run the clock out.  That would have been nice.  Campbell started with a play action rollout pass to Sellers who made a nice catch down by his shins for the first down.  A positive run by Ganther, a short pass to Kelly, a smoke screen pass to Thomas + face mask penalty--everything looked great.  3 more runs by Ganther, first and goal.

Gutpunch 3:  We got to talking of clock management, and we had figured out that with 2:39 to play, we didn't have to run another play before the two minute warning.  But that wasn't true because the Saints called timeout with 2:46 left after the first run that was stopped.  So Cartwright ran again, this time for a loss of two.  Now, it was third and goal from the 5--this had to be a pass!  It had to.  We were going for the win, right?  No, the playcaller called for a third run, also stopped. 

Gutpunch 4: Suisham came on to kick a 23 yarder.  It would have put the Saints down by 2 scores with less than 2 minutes to play.  Its basically an extra point.  Just before the snap, Dad said, "This is huge!"  Uh oh. 

The kick went straight up, on a line, to the right of the right upright.  No good.  At this point, Joey had to leave for a dinner in Baltimore.  I turned to Dad and said we gave up the chance for the touchdown, this is what happens. 

Brees didn't waste much time.  It took 33 seconds to send Meacham down the middle of the field, after getting Landry to bite again, for the east score.  Tie game.

Campbell got the ball back with a chance to win.  An 11 yard pass to Cartwright plus a facemask penalty got us to the Saints' 45. 

Gutpunch 5: Next play, Campbell tried to get the ball to Davis in the flat, throwing off his wrong foot.  Jonathan Vilma picked it off and stepped out of bounds.  Fortunately, we stayed alive a little longer because the Saints couldn't move too far, and a 57 yard field fell way short.

Overtime.  On first down Campbell, completed a pass to Moss for 10, and then Ganther ran for 6. 

Gutpunch 6: On Third and 5, Campbell rolled out, and found Sellers for a short gain, Sellers was hit hard--low. His legs went up, and his arms started to come down.  His elbow, then the other arm, and the ball came out.  The ref immediately blew the whistle and the play ended.  We were thinking, please get the play off, please, hurry, hurry.  No.  The Saints called time out, and eventually the play was overturned, and the Saints got the ball.  Look at this photo.  Dude is down by contact.  What could the refs have been thinking beyond the conspiratorial?

The Saints drove all the way down and kicked a short field goal to win.

There's this really annoying saying by Mark Twain that people like to quote: "Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth."  Redskins fans, I mean real-real Redskins fans and not the one's who will throw up their hands and the tell the world that they are no longer "gonna put up with this shit," have to say to themselves, this one really hurts, but at least it didn't cost us the playoffs, and there is hope for the future if you think about Haynesworth, Campbell, Thomas, Davis, Orakpo.