NO PLAY BETTER summed up the state of the Washington Redskins than the New York Giants' first extra point on Sunday.
The holder badly mishandled the snap — to the point that he had to reset the ball — yet the kick got away uncontested.
Any team with players running toward the play would have at least disrupted the chip shot, if not simply blocked it.
The Redskins were standing still, though, just as they have for more than a month.
Gone are a 4-1 start and 6-2 record at the halfway point. Washington is 7-5 and on the outside of the playoff picture.
It seems as though the version of the Redskins that lost to the Rams is a lot closer to reality than the one that beat the Cowboys and Eagles in consecutive weeks early in the season.
Jim Zorn's team isn't getting worse per se; it just isn't getting better.
Say what you want about Joe Gibbs 2.0, but his teams almost always played best in the home stretch.
The Redskins are — to borrow ex-Cardinals coach Dennis Green's infamous line — who we thought they were.
They play solid defense but can't score. Nothing is going to change the rest of the way.
Washington probably has a couple wins left in it.
But, in conclusion, the Redskins look like they are good enough to just miss the playoffs.
Photo by Preston Keres/TWP
A LOT HAS been made, and rightly so, of Jim Zorn in his first year as the Redskins' coach.
As you may have noticed, Washington isn't 6-2 halfway through the season very often. In fact, the last time that happened was under Norv Turner in 2000. Oh, and by the way, Dan Snyder fired Turner — who started 7-1 in 1996 and somehow missed the playoffs — with three games to go in what turned out to be an 8-8 season.
That's where the comparisons end with Turner, though.
Zorn's fiery temperament — whether he is yelling at Clinton Portis on the sideline or at a reporter during the postgame news conference — seems to be just what the Redskins needed after four years under Joe Gibbs.
Yet if you were to look at the key contributors on this year's team, all were brought in by Gibbs.
A cynic would ask why, with this talent, Gibbs needed two incredible finishes for his only postseason appearances in his second tenure. Yet at 6-2, there's no need for rudeness when we can laud the old coach for his player evaluation.
Trades for Portis and Santana Moss have proven correct in the long term. Drafting Jason Campbell and Carlos Rogers out of Auburn the same year sure looked good, too. Ditto for taking LaRon Landry — a genius move for tragic reasons — and signing London Fletcher.
So, as Zorn is praised for being the right coach to lead the Redskins to the playoffs, don't forget to give Gibbs his due one last time.
Photo by Preston Keres/TWP
IF THE ABILITY to win close games is the measure of a good team, then the Redskins surely qualify.
With an average margin of victory of 4.6 points, Washington has scraped by to a 5-2 record. But, as they say, the end result is all that matters.
Yet there is something to be said for a blowout. Flexing your muscles as one of the NFL's elite every once in a while never hurt a top-notch squad.
This Sunday's game against the woeful Detroit Lions offers a perfect opportunity for the Redskins to pile up a huge victory.
Name someone on the Lions not named Calvin Johnson. I dare you. Remember Jon Kitna is on injured reserve and Roy Williams is now in Dallas. Can't do it?
That's exactly my point.
I'M BEGINNING TO think everyone in the nation's capital returned with me from Oktoberfest drunk.
How else do you explain the resurgence of the dreaded "B" word — as in bandwagon — surrounding the Redskins? And that's after a loss to the previously winless Rams.
Maybe it's the influx of Seahawks. Surely, the punter was the reason Washington couldn't hold onto the ball last Sunday at FedEx Field.
Luckily, Shaun Alexander didn't look washed up the last time we saw him carrying a football. Even more fortuitous is that coach Jim Zorn is plucking from his old stomping ground, where he won a Super Bowl. Oh, wait — neither is true.
No one is disputing that the Redskins look like a playoff team — far better than my fearlessly foolish preseason prediction. Still, let's see the Redskins beat the lowly Browns and Lions before the bandwagon is rolled out.
Sunday's loss to St. Louis is easily explained after emotional and important wins at Dallas and Philadelphia. The defeat was probably a fluke, yet championship teams usually avoid such letdowns.
At least we know — or do we? — that Zorn's crew has not peaked yet. History shows teams want to be playing their best in December on a run to the Super Bowl.
Maybe the upset ahead of two other trap games will serve as a warning for the rest of the season.
D.C. may be saying "cheers" and knocking together steins later this season. Just remember: It's still Kool-Aid, not beers, until the playoffs start.
Photo by Preston Keres/TWP
JOHN MCCAIN SHOULD be as lucky as the Redskins.
Presented with a list of bad choices — think Mitt Romney or Jim Fassel — both the presidential candidate and the football team reached to the Pacific Northwest for a seemingly unknown candidate.
While it may be hard to remember now, Jim Zorn had the same deer — or moose — in the headlights look as Sarah Palin his first few weeks as the Redskins' coach. Actually, Zorn looked shell-shocked by preseason's end and after a disastrous opening week loss.
Something clicked, though. Zorn formed a bond with quarterback Jason Campbell precisely when the season seemed lost. When many, including I, thought Washington would be 1-3 entering this week's game against the Eagles, it now stands 3-1 and sure looks like a playoff team.
The poise Zorn has shown in play-calling has rubbed off on the Redskins, who look as confident as they did in the era when Palin was still a sportscaster.
Instead of playing not to lose, the Redskins were the aggressors Sunday in the huge upset of the Dallas Cowboys.
Zorn's attitude and West Coast offense have given the team an identity missing when Joe Gibbs and Al Saunders clashed over how to use the Redskins' weapons.
Forget Campbell; Santana Moss and Clinton Portis have never looked so good in burgundy and gold.
Palin may turn into a fumble for McCain, but it's clear the Redskins scored a touchdown with their Hail Mary pick of Zorn.
Photo by John McDonnell/TWP
SUDDENLY, THE REDSKINS look like they belong with the big boys. As in, the Dallas Cowboys.
The team and its fans are feeling good after a second-straight win. And why not? Washington is improving on offense and making plays on defense.
The biggest hot-button issue continues to be the punter, Durant Brooks, who kicked just fine Sunday against Arizona but apparently "iced" Shaun Suisham while holding on a 52-yard field goal.
A 2-1 record was deemed unfathomable after a disastrous first quarter of the season. While it's still early, there's no doubting the importance of not falling behind in a division in which every team has a winning record.
Continue Reading "Redskins Get a Chance to Prove They Belong" »
THE ONLY THING more embarrassing than drafting a punter cutting said kicker because he couldn't make the cut.
Nobody knows this better than Redskins executive vice president Vinny Cerrato, which is why two weeks into the season there is a punter controversy in the nation's capital.

The guy Cerrato drafted and forced on coach Jim Zorn was so bad last week against the Saints that memories of Derrick Frost bring back warm, fuzzy thoughts.

Frost, aptly named considering the reception he received in Washington, was the butt of many a joke. The jeers were well-deserved. He did just enough to infuriate fans and coaches alike, but not enough to be cut in three years under Joe Gibbs.

Sick of it all, Cerrato used a sixth-round pick last April on Durant Brooks, who was the Ray Guy winner and the nation's best punter. An "open competition" was held at training camp.

It was there that Cerrato got caught with his pants down long before Chris Cooley ever did.

By any measure, Frost (45.5 yards-per-kick average) outperformed Brooks (42.8) in the preseason. But the switch to Brooks was a fait accompli.

For some inexplicable reason, punting appears to be different in the pros; college's best is so deep in the doghouse that Cerrato stalked Brooks' moves at practice Wednesday. Is the hook looming?

Only here, a rare spot where Jeff Feagles never landed, could the punter position drum up interest. Yet only in D.C. is there a person so misguided as to draft a punter.

Photo by Toni L. Sandys/TWP
FACING A SITUATION that was eerily similar to the Redskins' opening loss to the New York Giants, Jason Campbell on Sunday finally stopped overthinking.
Instead, the Redskins' quarterback just reacted, making two snap decisions that proved critical in erasing another nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
First, Campbell adjusted a call on second-and-22 to hit the resurgent Chris Cooley for a key first down with less than 10 minutes to go. Then, the gunslinger who supposedly wasn't a good fit for the West Coast offense avoided a sack and hit Santana Moss on a touchdown pass almost identical to the receiver's long scores against the Cowboys in 2005.
"He knew exactly what to do with the ball," coach Jim Zorn said Monday, noting Campbell's decision to scramble in a similar moment against the Giants hurt the offense.
Welcome to life under the microscope week to week.
DID I MISS the memo that said the football season had been canceled in the nation's capital?
Never has excitement been so muted entering the second week of the season in Redskins Nation.
It's like all the air was let out of the balloon in the first quarter of last week's loss to the Giants.
Now there is a silent acceptance that Jason Campbell is somehow a bad fit for the West Coast offense and this is a lost year.
To anyone who feels this way: The Redskins are only 0-1. Relax. Not all is lost.
We don't know anything about this team yet.
Continue Reading "It's Still Too Early to Judge the Redskins" »
MAYBE 6-10 WAS a bit too optimistic.
In the aftermath of Thursday night's 16-7 loss to the New York Giants, the Redskins barely resembled an NFL team, let alone one that will compete for the playoffs.
Among the problems:
» Jason Campbell looked wholly uncomfortable in new coach Jim Zorn's West Coast offense.
» The entire team looked ill-prepared during the opening quarter, in which Washington was lucky to only be down 10-0 after 15 minutes.
» Zorn's time management was worse than Joe Gibbs 2.0, which is saying something. There was no sense of urgency in the final drive when the team was only losing by 9.
Continue Reading "A Giant Disappointment: Redskins Falter Out of the Gate" »
Addison Road
