'Skins Edge 'Hawks, 23-17

Washington finally made enough plays to win a close ballgame.  This snaps a 6-game losing streak, the longest of Coach Shanahan’s career.  But it sure was an adventure.  I was sure Washington was determined to give this game away.  Untimely INTs, blocked/missed FGs and penalty’s kept the game close enough for me to gnaw my fingernails down to the knuckle.  It’s a good thing that they won.  The natives were restless and their prayers have been answered with a 23-17 win by the Redskins.

Seattle is a tough place to play with the noise level reaching decibels that equal a 747 during takeoff.  The weather is usually miserable as it usually rains like it did Sunday.  And for a team from the East Coast, the long 6 hour flight usually drains them physically.  The Seahawks are a tough team.  Even when they’ve had their struggles, no one looks forward to playing them.  Tavaris Jackson earned the praises of the commentators Sunday playing injured with that torn pectoral muscle on his throwing arms (right) side.  Jackson was in a lot of pain, but if you were at the game just watching and didn’t hear the commentators, but, you would have never known.  Jackson completed 14 of 30 passes for 144 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT that came at the end of the game when he was forced to throw the ball.  Jackson’s had his struggles in Minnesota and was never really given a fair shake to be the man.  Although he was the starting QB, Coach Brad Childress had him handcuffed.  Namely give giving Jackson a safe and conservative gameplan.  Pete Carroll has turned him loose.  Jackson looks very comfortable in the Seahawks’ Offense and he has talent around him.  Zach Miller at TE, Mike Williams at WR and “Beast Mode” Marshawn Lynch at RB (who had 111 Rushing Yards on 24 carries) are all Jackson needs along with the support of his head coach.  But the Seahawks have a lot of talent on Defense starting with those big CBs who both go 6’3”.  But the guy that stole the show was DT Red Bryant who blocked a FG attempt and a PAT attempt.  If you ask me, had the Seahawks pulled out a win, he would have been Player of the Game.  But, alas, the Seahawks lose falling to 4-7 on the year.  The funny thing is, with Washington’s win, they improve to 4-7.

Rex was Rex.  He can make a great play and then turn around and make a dumb one right behind it.  You get what you get with him.  But he’s still going to sling it.  He is never gunshy.  Thank goodness he isn’t, because that 50-Yd. TD pass that he threw to Anthony Armstrong came on a 3^rd and 19 call that could have easily been a checkdown pass followed by a punt.  Grossman completed 26 of 35 pass attempts, for 314 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs.  If Grossman could ever get out of his own way, he’d be considered one of the best in the league.  He can make every throw.  He’s fearless in the pocket.  He can complete a high percentage of his passes and he can lead a comeback.  He has all of the tools, but his mistakes are killing him.  Grossman had extra help as Santana Moss returned from his injury but wasn’t out on the field for a lot of snaps.  Anthony Armstrong only had one catch, but it was a 50 yard catch for the go-ahead TD.  Jabar Gaffney led the way with 5 catches for 72 yards, but he didn’t find the endzone this week.  DeAngelo Hall had a good game considering all of the stir that he caused by saying Washington should cut him following his performance against the Cowboys last Sunday.  And it was fitting that Hall got the INT to end the game and seal the Redskins win.   I just hope he can continue to play as well has he has this season and stop worrying about his numbers.  And finally Kyle Shanahan gets the nod of approval this week for following up the Cowboys game with another solid gameplan.  I will admit I was his biggest critic, but he showed that he is worthy of being on this level as an Offensive Coordinator.  Now all he needs is his new André Johnson and he will have the potent Offense that he had in Houston.  Maybe we need to get Matt Schaub too.  No offense to Rex.

This weeks gameball goes to the man that I have given the blues all season Rex Grossman.  Good job Rex.  Now keep it up next week against the Jets.

‘Boys Edge ‘Skins In OT, Sweep Season Series

You can take Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys two ways.  One way would be to say Washington played a great game, but came up short.  Or the other way would be to say Dallas made just enough plays to win.  Either way, Dallas won 27-24 in OT.  Tony Romo made plays at critical times during the game to secure the win.  Never mind the fact that their best WR, Miles Austin, didn’t even play.  If Romo can continue to play the way that he played Sunday, Dallas can make a run deep into the Playoffs.  As for Rex Grossman, he played well, but he just came up short.  Washington falls to 3-7 and all but eliminated from Playoff contention, if it weren’t already obvious.

Washington could barely muster up 60 Rushing yards through 6 different ball carriers.  Roy Helu led the way with 35 Rushing Yards.  Graham Gano, who 2 weeks ago booted a 59 yard-FG, missed two FG of 50+ yards.  One FG could have won the game in Regulation and the other could have won it in OT.  Washington had their chances to win this game, but just could get it done when the opportunities presented themselves.  Dallas was 8 of 17 (47%) on 3^rd down.  That is too high of a percentage if you want to be considered one of the best Defenses in football.  You have to get the other team off of the field on 3^rd down.  You also have to win the Turnover battle.  Dallas won that 1-0.  Sure Washington would have had to play perfect, but with one turnover, 2 missed FGs and a 3^rd down efficiency of 53% on Defense (Dallas converted 43% of their 3^rd down opportunities), they had to a chance.  That’s all I am saying.

Dallas started off looking like a dominant team, then they hit a wall.  But, time and time again, when they needed a timely 3^rd down conversion, they got it.  Tony Romo extended a few plays to buy himself time and hit open WRs.  The one play that sticks out he long TD catch and run by Jason Witten.  That was the signature play for the Cowboys.  They just found a way to break the Redskins Defense’s back.  You’d think 3^rd and Long means drop back don’t give up anything long, try to tackle them short of the 1^st Down marker and force them to punt.  Unless, of course, Dallas opts to go for it and run it right down their throats like the Cowboys did on one 4^th Down conversion.  Dallas is playing the way everyone expected at the start of the season.  The sad thing is…  so is Washington.

Mike Shanahan, no matter how well he prepared the Redskins for Sunday’s game, should be on the hot seat.  The problem is, Washington still owes him $21M of guaranteed money.  Dan Snyder has already had his fill of paying retired players and coaches.  So in the best interest of his pockets and the organization, they will give Shanny at least another year, maybe two.  So Redskins fans, we may have to live through another abysmal (a Brotha had to break out the big word for this one) season. 

This weeks game ball goes to Tony Romo for this clutch performance completing 23 of 37 passes for 292 yards and 3 TDs.  Good job Tony.

Dolphins Overpower Redskins, 20-9

I remember in 2007 the Dolphins were 1-15.  Most people remember their record.  I remember thinking that they dropped six games by 3 points.  They could have easily been 7-9.  But people only see the record and not the games.  Fast forward to this past Sunday.  Miami came into the game against the Redskins at 1-7 coming off of their first win against the Chiefs the week before.  The Dolphins had lost three of their eight games by 3 points.  Again, people only look at their record and not their games.  With guys like Yeremiah Bell, Carlos Dansby (one of my favorite players from the Cardinals), Jason Taylor, Anthony Fasano, Reggie Bush, Davone Bess and Brandon Marshall, I couldn’t figure out for the life of me, how they were 1-7.  Well I don’t have to worry about that now, because the Dolphins improve to 2-7 and look like they are a Playoff team.  Washington, on the other hand, looks like the same ol’ Redskins of the past six weeks.  And that, my friends, is not good.

Washington made the switch back to Rex Grossman, who, for all intents and purposes, was going to sling all around the field, unfortunately two key passes went to the other team.  But hey, what else is new?  One wasn’t his fault, but the other was.  John Beck either doesn’t have the arm strength or the “testicular fortitude” to throw the ball down field, and Rex has the “testicular fortitude” but he throws the ball to the other team so much I am starting to think poor Rexy is color blind.  I will give Grossman one thing, he made some throws in that game that made me think I was watching Tom Brady.  Rex has the physical tools to be a good NFL QB, but his dreams of being Brett Favre are killing Redskins Nation right now.  So where do you go from here?

Mike Shanahan flip flops almost as much as he changes QBs and RBs.  Now at 3-6 Washington is in the running for Andrew Luck.  If I am Luck I am hoping that the Redskins will win a few more games so he doesn’t come to DC.  Poor thing!!  His career would be over as fast as the commissioner could call his name.  Shanny doesn’t know how to handle QBs nor pick the talent.  Luck is talented, but would get lost here.  Please fire Shanahan.  I usually don’t call for firing the head coach.  I wanted Zorn for one more year and I wished that Coach Gibbs could have stayed longer.  But in this situation, Shanahan (both Mike and Kyle) needs to go.  If it sets us back a few more years, so be it.  This man said he picked the best players, character guys if you will, to be on this team.  I wonder if some talent went out the door too.

I was pissed off about how the Redskins lost, but I got a kick out of watching Beltsville, MD native and DeMatha High School graduate, Cameron Wake doing the “Dougie” dance on the Miami Dolphins' sidelines.  Miami is going to party a little bit tonight.  Washington is going to hang their heads for a bit, but will quickly turn their attention to the Rivalry Game coming up next week against Dallas.  That should be fun.

Had the Redskins won this game, I would have given the game ball to Leonard Hankerson for his performance in his return home to Miami.  Hankerson had 106 yds on 8 catches.  But since Miami won I am actually going to give the game ball to Matt Moore.  Moore completed 20 of 29 passes for 209 Yards.  But Moore did a good job of sticking throws when the Dolphins needed it, and doing a great job of managing the game against a stiff Redskins Defense.

49ers 86 Redskins, 19-11

Don’t let the scoreboard fool you. San Francisco thoroughly whipped Washington’s ass. It got so bad, at one point Washington just started putting the ball on the ground. Be it dropped passes or fumbles, the Redskins were serving it up. The one good thing about this game was to finally get a look at Frank Gore. I’ve been excited to see him come back from a myriad of injuries to be a very productive RB in the NFL. I’m so proud of him. Heck even Clinton Portis made a comment about how he wasn’t surprised that Gore was tearing it up. Gore is just another player from the "U" doing their thing. But the guy that I was so proud of and happy to see finally getting some props was Alex Smith.

It is amazing what a coach can do for a player. Alex Smith was a running joke in the NFL. Smith is in his 7th Season from Utah and was the #1 Overall Draft Pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. He has struggled mightily over the past few years. Smith has had a few coaches come and go in San Franciso. From Mike Nolan, to "Samauri" Mike Singletary and now Jim Harbaugh, Smith has gone through his fair share of chiefs. But his Offensive Coordinators have changed more than his coaches. Smith has had Mike McCarthy, Norv Turner, Jim Hostler, Mike Martz and now Greg Roman calling plays for him. I’ve always wondered what would happen if Alex Smith actually got some coaching, you know from a Quarterback, and vote of confidence from his head coach. He’s had guys like Tim Rattay, Trent Dilfer, Shaun Hill and even Troy Smith, taking the reigns during his tenure. But with a Head Coach who has actually played in the NFL and played the position that Alex Smith is playing, it make his job easier for him to pick up. And Harbaugh has given Smith the vote of confidence missing over the past 6 years. Sure Smith is only managing the game right now, but he is doing one heck of a job and is making me look like a genius. I’ve always thought that he was a starting QB in the NFL. And now he has the San Francisco 49ers at 7-1 and poised to win the NFC West, which is long over due if you ask me. But as there is separation in the NFC West because of the wins by San Francisco, Washington is separating themselves from the pack in the NFC East by stinking it up on the field.

Now at 3-5 what do you do? Do you go back to Rex Grossman? Do you stick with John Beck? Do you bring in another veteran QB to finish the season and compete for a job next year? Or do you play out the season with Grossman or Beck and hope to draft a QB in the 1st Round next year? Does it make sense to start scouting Offensive Linemen? Does Terrell Owens help bolster a WR corp that is struggling right now? With how bad Washington looks now, T.O. might actually help. Is Mike Shanahan on the hot seat? Is Kyle Shanahan on the hot seat? Was it a smart move to let Jason Campbell get away? Is playing musical RBs helping right now? Can Washington salvage this season and finish at .500 (8-8)? One thing is for sure as the losses mount and the temperature continues to drop, you will see more and more of the opposing team’s fans at FedEx Field. There’s nothing I hate more than having the visitors outcheering us at home. But hey, at least Mr. Snyder will make money either way. Washington is staring down the barrel of a 3-13 season, and that is sad seeing as though they started 3-1.

This week’s game ball goes to Alex Smith, who completed 17 of 24 passes for 200 yards and 1 TD pass. Good job Alex. But keep in mind, Patrick Willis could have easily gotten a game ball as well.