McNabb/Redskins 17, McNabbless Eagles 12

"Well, well, well. How the turntables..."--Michael Scott

"How does it feel, Philadelphia!?"--Me

This one goes out to Donovan McNabb. That other team didn't treat you right, girl. I know we had our ups and downs in the past, girl, but its gonna be alright, girl.

"I came along when he broke your heart

That's when you needed someone

To help forget about him

I gave you love with a brand new start

That's what you needed the most

To set your broken heart free

I know you cried, and you felt blue

But when I could I gave strength to you

I'm waiting for the day when you can love again"--Beach Boys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBi5eHfqW5s

Thanks to a power running game, some timely down field passes, a very physical and smart defense, and a sandwich tackle that put Michael Vick in the MRI room, the Redskins secured Donovan McNabb's revenge, won 17-12, and put the Redskins into first place in the NFC East with a 2-0 division record.

It was really a pretty perfect October weekend. Metro FC, my soccer team, took advantage of its fourth chance to beat The Stove--a team that is very good and really ticks me off. When it was 1-1 in the second half, I personally took advantage of a high, under-kicked lead pass, slowly dribbled it to the 18 yard box, and banana-ed it around the goalie and into the far pocket. We won 4-1.

Then I went to see Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps at the Uptown. It wasn't as great as I hoped, and it did a pretty weak job explaining how banks hedged against the toxic assets they forced the rating companies to say were solid investments, or show real people suffering from this fraud, but Michael Douglas was excellent.

At Redskins Club, we tossed the ball around in the drive way. Steve broke out the old Stevie pattern which is completely indefensible due to the presence of zero pass rush.

When we played at Ayrlawn back in '86 or so, we were coached to run 8 step down and outs, 14 step down and overs, button-hooks, post patterns, fly patterns, fades, zig-outs, slant--all the things wide receivers are coached to do.

This was nonsense, according to Steve, who was determined to run all over the field, in circles, doubling back, doing triple fakes, like a deranged honey bee, until after three minutes he would call for the ball. If it was late in the day, I'd let him catch it so he wouldn't throw a tantrum.

As for the game, the Skins started fast, thanks to a big Brandon Banks punt return and a horse collar penalty. Then Ryan Torain trucked an Eagles safety, making it 7-0.

The team out-hit the Eagles--whether it was Torain taking out this guy, DeAngelo Hall and Kareem Moore sandwiching Michael Vick and busting his ribs, or Lorenzo Alexander crushing a guy on a kick return.

On the next drive, McNabb hit Cooley on a perfect play action pass for a touchdown.

McNabb could have had a second td pass when it was 14-3 as Armstrong got super duper wide open, but the ball trailed to the right and Armstrong stumbled out of bounds after he caught it. The Skins had first and goal at the 3, but wouldn't you know it, Kyle Shanahan called two gadget players for Brandon Banks (clearly a big time red zone threat historically). Why not just keep

trucking people with Ryan Torain? I don't get it at all.

The Eagles had a chance to pull within a TD late in the 2nd quarter, but 10 minutes of lag time from a booth review wasn't enough time for nobel prize in physics winner Andy Reid, and a delay of game penalty forced them to kick a FG instead.

The rest of the game was kind of annoying as McNabb went for 2-8 and the Skins seemed content to run the game out. McNabb scrambled for a first down late in the fourth but then ran out of bounds. "Rocks for brains!" Those precious seconds mattered, because of course, on the last drive, Carlos Rogers dropped another game-ending interception. So Kevin Kolb had one play from the 35. The ball fell into Jason Avant's hands, but the laws of physics were on our side as he tried to bring it in because the ball popped free was caught by DeAngelo Hall. Game OVER!

Good Things:

-Ryan Toran's bruising running style

-Portis looked better

-Defense held the Eagles to 1 touchdown, great pass coverage

-Orakpo continues to get held. I hope he doesn't have a contract escalator based on the number of sacks he gets because he's getting screwed if that's the case

-Brandon Banks is a dangerous punt returner

Bad Things:

-Brandon Banks is a dangerous punt returner

-Kyle Shanahan's red zone playcalling is still inexcusably horrible

-Stephon Heyer is a major liability

-Sleepy Davis thinks stopping in his tracks is the best way to catch up with a strongly thrown ball

-McNabb running out of bounds