I've Got Half A Mind To Start Booing Right Now...

Dare we even review this travesty masquerading as professional football...?

That Chargers game was the worst Redskins football I've seen in a long, long time. Even through last year's underachieving, the Skins showed signs of potential. The Skins' game yesterday looked like a friggin' extension of the preseason. (These people MADE the team?!?) There was sloppy play all over the place--dropped balls, missed blocking assignments, poor tackling, the list goes on and on. There was ONE thing to cheer about in the first half--ONE! (Fred Smoot's interception.) During the preseason, Skins fans hoped that the meaningless games weren't foreshadowing. Oh, they were.

Oh, they were.

Geez--did you see how Junior "Mr. Dedication to a Sorry Team" Seau played? He was like a Ray Lewis/Lawrence Taylor All Star, and was a nightmare for the offense. Was it me or was the offensive line scared of him? Was nobody assigned to blocking this kid? How does Steven Davis fail to get anything near 100 yards rushing against a team that went 1-15 last year? I mean, these are THE CHARGERS we're playing.

I dunno what this QB controversy talk is about. Jeff George? Stunk. Tony Banks? Stunk. Banks' completions--mostly to Westbrook--came with less than 4:00 left in the game (AKA Garbage Time). No props here. Some might excuse Jeff "I've Got Brad Johnson's Job" George as being a bit rusty, but I don't buy it. His choices in throws have nothing to do with rust, and George made some horrible choices, trying to slip the ball to players who were clearly covered. (Maybe he was trying to avoid that fearsome Chargers defensive front. Somebody name ONE player on San Diego's front four. Just one. Didn't think you could.)

So who starts against the Cardinals? George. Because he has a higher salary.

You "Look on the Bright Side" folks may say that the Skins' defense tightened up in the 2nd half. I don't buy it. These are THE CHARGERS we're playing. They have been, will be, and were yesterday, natually innept. You want to see somebody truly shut down an offense? (I hate to say this, but...) Look at the Ravens' D yesterday against a similarly inept Chicago team. Yeah, the Bears moved the ball first half, but they didn't even have a touchdown to show for it. 2nd half? The Bears got doo-doo. All this effort from the defense despite how the offense was performing. The Skins needed not to be down 20 - zip. Had the D done it's job early, the offense might have...maybe...well...no it wouldn't have.

Special Teams? Ugh. Tim "Marion Jones" Dwight sealed the game early. And I think we missed a field goal. Whatever.

The frustration last year came from seeing a team fail to live up to its hype--I mean, potential. Watching the burgandy and gold yesterday, I felt like a Cleveland Browns fan. (Just hold your head in your hands and wait for something good to happen.) Maybe, just maybe, the Redskins aren't that talented this year, and Schottenheimer's doing the best with what he's got. Maybe this is one of those cop-out "rebuilding years." I'll leave it at this--I am NOT a fan of the Marty "I've Never Had a QB Controversy In My Years But I'll Pull My Starting QB 2/3 Through A Game And Replace Him With a Cowboys Reject We Picked Up Two Weeks Ago" Schottenheimer Era.

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OFFENSE: F
DEFENSE: D- (that's D-minus! Smoooooot!)
Sp. TEAMS: F
COACHES (AKA the Family Schottenheimer): F (did they even look at the tapes on Seau?)

Mr. Jones

PS. Ravens did pretty good yesterday. Won exactly like everyone expected. Yay.