Had Jamaal Brown not jumped across the line on 3rd and 1 for a false start, that probably would have been sufficient.
Had Gano's field goal not been blocked after Sleepy Davis forgot to block his man, that probably would have been sufficient.
Had Donovan's McNabb's deep bomb down the middle to Joey Galloway been thrown a little higher/softer instead of just out of reach, that pretty much would have been sufficient.
Had LaRon Landry or Reed Doughty intercepted that throw across the middle instead of knocking each other out, that most likely would have been sufficient.
Had Philip Buchanon decided to remain covering the Texans' best player, Andre Johnson, on 4th and 10 with the game on the line instead of leaving Doughty all by himself on a jump ball, chances are that would have been sufficient.
And had that horrible time out freezing the kicker thing been outlawed like it should be, Graham Gano's 52 yard kick would have counted and he wouldn't have had to miss a second time--clearly that would have been sufficient.
But this ain't Dayeinu. Eelu hotzi, hotzi-anu ain't walking through the door.
This is the Washington Redskins. The game doesn't end after 38 enjoyable minutes like we wish it would.
Zero of these things happened, and the Redskins fell to 1-1 after giving up 20 straight unanswered points.
It was a pretty nice day for most of the day at Redskins Club. It was great to assemble our positions in the Great Room for the beginning of my 10th season pacing near the right side of TV cabinet thing. This year features a bigger, nicer tv, and a new member, Faryn
who was sworn in over blintzes at Morty's on Wisconsin Avenue on Saturday.
I think it was important for her to see how fun and enjoyable it can be when they're winning--how good the food tastes; the high-brow banter; the gentle light flowing into the Great Room.
But more importantly, to experience what Steve experiences--the predictable bitter despair and dark rage that usually occurs when when the fourth quarter ends. It is perhaps an important lesson learned.
McNabb was incredible, throwing for over 400 yards. Hitting Galloway, Sleepy Davis, and Cooley for long plays. The running game, however, was crap. Portis had very little daylight, and Larry Johnson thought running backwards for a 10 yard loss was good since at least that would get people talking about him again.
The Skins went up 27-10 after a double fake weak side thing, with McNabb hitting Cooley in stride. But on the very next drive, the Texans pulled within 10, on a short td pass from Schaub to Walter. So, yeah, we blew a 17 point lead, but its not like we were sitting on a 17 point lead for a quarter, got cocky and lazy, and gave it away. The Texans forced themselves back in the game by having arguably the best offense in the NFL right now.
And the defense, despite getting a lot of pressure with exciting blitzes, could not cover Andre Johnson or Kevin Walter. The pass defense is just terrible, or was overmatched. By a lot. Hopefully, Kareem Moore will be a big help because Doughty and Horton just aren't much right now.
Finally, this freeze the kicker with a timeout
miliseconds before the snap is total bullshit. I don't care if
Shanahan was the coach who started this phenomenon. Its unsportsmanlike, its cheap, its total bush-league.
Not only was Faryn sworn in over blintzes at Morty's, she was elected unanimously and given full membership without the normal trial period. That's quite an honor, and she has already begun producing returns on that action with her stylish high fives, as well as her influence on the offense.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the freezing the kicker BS; actually, in this game, it is not clear that the TO beat the snap. The refs may well have blown the call. So, that's one more "would have been enough" for this excellent blog.
The more I watch the Skins, the less I care about them and more I care about the magic of us all getting together on Sundays every autumn.