Hail to the Redsk.... who am I kidding

This is going to be a long long year for the Washington Redskins and me. I had the pleasure of being able to attend the first game of the season with a buddy of mine which has become something of a yearly tradition. He's a Giants fan and his family has season tickets and so every year for that one game in the Meadowlands we trek out to New Jersey so that I can witness my Redskins get their asses handed to them in person. Except this game. That one was a joke. It was late in the season and neither team was relevant. No one was in the stands. It was fucking cold. People were making snow men. But Bruce Smith did manage to break the sack record. That made it all worth it.

Anyway...

That first game of the season was awful. The 'Skins game plan was to make Eli Manning beat them while they dedicated themselves to containing the running game. Well, long story short, the Redskins played like shit and Eli took what we gave him. Sure, the margin was 6 points, but of our two touchdowns, one was on a fake field goal and the last was in garbage time on a glorious diving catch by the dashing Chris Cooley. Needless to say, things were not looking good for a Redskins team looking for some success.

Luckily, the hapless St Louis Rams were the next opponent and they were coming off of an embarrassment at the hands of the Seahawks. The end of the day did end up being a victory for the fightin' Redskins, but I am far from happy. This team is awful. Three different times in the red zone resulted in 3 field goals. They do not have a single legit touchdown 2 games in to the season. It is looking like the defense will be solid, but the offense has nothing.

I have been one of Jason Campbell's biggest supporters so far, but at this point I don't know how much longer I can stay in his corner. He seems to play just well enough to not cause the team to fall apart. Last week in New York, all he had to do was step up in the pocket to avoid the strip and TD scamper from Umeniyora. He's starting to look better suited for backup work, a guy that won't throw away the game in a pinch, than a lock and load starter. Maybe I am being too hard on him. Last year I kept making excuses that the play calling never allowed him to stretch the field but I was able to witness first hand him missing Moss on a deep pass where he seriously overthrew. Make that play and don't allow yourself to be stripped on the other big one and you have a completely different ballgame.

It's looking more and more like Portis is in the twilight of his career. He's a small package who plays like a much bigger back and it's now obvious that all the abuse has taken it's toll.

All I can say is thank god for Chris Cooley and the woman who loves him.






Edit: Almost forgot, it appears that they may have lost their starting RG Randy Thomas for the season. At one point the Redskins had one of the most dominant offensive lines in the league. Nowadays their lucky to have 5 guys in uniform just to make it through the game.