Depressing

I'll admit. I thought our offensive impotence would wane once Brunell was taken out of the game. And in some aspects, it has. But still....

We have not scored 20 points in a game yet. Cincinnati scored 58 yesterday alone in beating Cleveland 58 - 48. That's 106 points in a single game. The Redskins have only scored 138 points all season long!

First, the running game in the first half looked awful. In fact the only thing that looked worse than the running game was the special teams play. Keep in mind that Pittsburgh only had 59 yards of total offense late in the second quarter though they had a 10 - 0 lead. Why? Because their drives kept starting inside the Redskins 35 - 40 yard line.

Second, how many passes can two wide receivers drop? If they would stop worrying about trying get a pass interference call from the ref and just catch the damn ball, things could have gotten a little more interesting yesterday.

Third, playcalling is a science. And within that science is the use of the element of surprise. But does anyone care to explain what exactly a 5 yard pass on 4th and 15 down 9 points gets you? They intentionally threw a pass that had less than a 2% (my own stat that I just made up) chance of succeeding. I hate to say it but I'm starting to have second thoughts concerning this coaching staff.

Philly Game

The 'Skins played pretty damn well through 2 and a half quarters. The turning point was coming up empty after having 1st and goal with a chance to take the lead and ending up with 3rd an goal from the flippin' 30 yard line. After that, the defense seems like it just went limp....and for good reason.

Brunell Benched

Hallelujah!!! It only took the first 10 weeks of the season for Mr. Gibbs to realize he had made a mistake. Now, I can look forward to Redskins games again, though the playoffs are a long shot, at least I can see what Patrick Ramsey can do in an offense designed to keep the QB healthy. This move should really be good for the entire Redksins team; the offense will have more than one option to moving the ball, the defense will spend less time on the field hopefully keeping them fresher (if they aren't already spent from the time spent on the field with Brunell's inadequacies), and the games should be a little more exciting.

I am a little worried that P-Ram's first matchup is against a strong Philly team. But they will be playing on a short week so we'll see......

Win and Go to the SuperBowl

Apparently, the last two times the Redskins have played the Bengals, the winner of the game has gone on to make an appearance in the Super Bowl. In 1991, Redskins beat the bengals and went on to beat the Bills in the Super Bowl. In 1988, the Bengals laid it on the 'Skins and made an appearance in Super Bowl 23 (Roman numerals bother me). With both teams at 3 -5, it's not out of the question! Bu then again, the Redskins lost the game before the election and bush is still president so there goes any chances of that.....and the Red Sox won the Series

Cincy coming to DC

For most of my NFL life, a game against Cincinnati was a guaranteed victory, no need to watch, wow that was easy kind of affair. To quote Poe, nevermore. Cincy walloped Dallas last week and looks to continue in that fashion at Washington this week. I don't know a lot about Cincy except they have a talented Chad Johnson catching the balls and a serviceable Rudi Johnson (it's so hard to respect anyone name Rudy) running the rock. Once again, I think this will be a low scoring affair due to the Redskins Defensive success and the Redskins Offensive ineptitude. Hell why not, Redskins 17 - Cincy 10.

Brunell

I still don't understand Gibbs right now. From a CBS Sportsline article:
PLAYER NOTES

--QB Mark Brunell continues to get coach Joe Gibbs' backing despite hitting 51.1 percent of his passes and averaging just 5.2 yards per attempt. Brunell attempted just two passes in the second half of Sunday's win because Gibbs wanted to ensure the Redskins didn't make a mistake.

What has to happen before Gibbs moves on. Two passes in the second half??? You know what's going to happen with this style of playcalling, Portis gets hurt due to overwork, Brunell's incompetence shows even further. Gibbs finally pulls him and puts Ramsey in. Unfortunately, Ramsey is now put into an offensive scheme in which the defense knows the offense will pass, leading to an all out assault on the quarterback. Ramsey will get battered like he was a protege in a Spurrier offense and the pundits will start saying Ramsey's not ready for the pros.....

Redskins Victorious

I didn't see the game and I haven't done my in depth analysis yet but a victory is a victory! Hopefully this 17 - 10 victory over the Lions will be the first in a nice run to finishing this season.

Detroit Game

Mystifying irony of the week: Detroit ranks 32nd in offense and 28th in defense....yes their offense is worse than ours! Yet they are 5 - 2 whereas we are 2 - 5. To our credit that 80% of our losses have been by a touchdown or less.

I actually saw Detroit play Atlanta here in the Georgia Dome. I can't say they were particularly impressive though they did manage to come away with a victory. I think this game will probably turn out to be a mildly interesting matchup if not for the pitiful offenses involved. Redskins 21 -13