Redskins, RIP

My Beloved Redskins really do stink on toast. I’m willing to say that, right now, that Washington DC is home to the worst football team in the NFL.

That’s tough to say, not only because I’m a lifelong fan, but because there is no real reason at all the team should be so very bad. The ‘Skins have as much talent, on both sides of the ball, as any team in the league. The team has a Hall of Fame coach and two of the best assistants in the game today in Gregg Williams and Al Saunders. No player on the team would find a real problem starting on any other team, so it’s not as if we’re talking about a team in the middle of a rebuilding year, relying on rookies and retreads to build a solid nucleus.

But maybe that’s the way the team ought to be going. Maybe it’s time to scrap the team and start all over – not because the players lack talent. Clearly they do not. They lack something more necessary to winning.

Heart.

The Washington Redskins, nearly to a man, lack any semblance of mean. The offensive line hasn’t pushed a team around all season save one – the Jacksonville Jaguars. They have, instead, been consistently beaten by smaller and more hungry defenses. There is no excuse for getting beaten at home last week by a winless team whose secondhand running back runs for a career high in yards. None.

There is no excuse why a team with three incredibly fast wide receivers can’t find ways to get the ball up the field to them. Today’s game featured an offense that seemed to forget the firle was longer than 15 yards. I don’t think I saw a single passing attempt that went more than 20 yards upfield. Santana Moss, one of the best receivers in the game, barely got a look in the second half. That should not happen.

What is worse, though, is the blase manner in which these losses are being taken by the Redskins players. I cannot abide one more shucky-darn pose-game press conference from Mark Brunell. I refuse to accept another one of those “well, we didn’t play very well as a team” quotes from Coach Gibbs. it’s time to see which of the players are prepared to play professional football and which should be looking for a job Monday morning. That starts with players getting called out, in public. If the loafers can’t handle it, then too bad. I don’t want to hear about who is injured and who isn’t used to starting. I want to know which players are going to give their maximum effort on every snap and which ones should be calling around for employment.

Mostly, I want to see some mean. I haven’t seen a single ounce of it in the past three games and I’m beginning to wonder if there are football players wearing those uniforms, or cheerleaders.

So let’s call out a few pussycats, shall we?

Adam Archuleta? I heard you were a real hitter. I haven’t seen any evidence of that. You sure as heck aren’t a cover man. So what good are you?

Marcus Washington? Either run that defense or get out of the way so the coaching staff can find someone who will. Right now you’re not stopping the run, not creating any sort of pass rush, and you couldn’t cover a bed if we spotted you three corners.

Derrick Dockery? You have one job – push the guy in front of you out of the way. You’re not doing that. You’re getting beaten one out of three plays. You are one of the big reasons that we have no run game. And apparently you don’t care since you’ve not gotten better in the past four games.

Derek Frost? That was one stupid display out there today. Rule #1 is: Don’t take off your helmet when you’re on the field. Why on earth you thought you could is beyond me. Maybe we could allow a slip if you could punt the ball more than 42 yards more than three or four times in one game and we had some hope that your leg would get us back the yards you cost the team. Unfortunately, you can’t. it’s also possible I misspelled your first name. So what? If you had given anyone a reason to remember it ebcause of your good punting skills it might matter. But you haven’t and it doesn’t.

Nick Novak? You’re paid to kick field goals. I don’t think anyone cares that you’re merely a replacement for an injured starter. We all know that John Hall would have missed at least one of those kicks. I would have hoped that you would have used these few games as a chance to win a permanent job somewhere. Does bagging groceries seem like a better career to you?

Sean Taylor? Have you played in the past three games? I couldn’t tell mostly because I didn’t hear your name being called by the referee. But at least you were out there hitting. Now you’re just out there, or so the stat sheet says. If it’s not too much trouble, could you at least try to force a fumble somewhere?

Any chance of making the playoffs disappeared today – actually, it disappeared last week when the Redskins got beaten at home by a team that should never should have been given a reason to expect they could be competetive, much less win. Now it’s time to find out which players have some mean in them and which ones are the pussycats. I suspect there are way more of the latter than the former.

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Category: My Beloved Redskins