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
THE ARGUMENT AGAINST writing the column you are about to read is that no 
one cares about the Nationals, but that is precisely the point.
After four years, baseball in Washington is an unqualified flop.
Since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992, no stadium has drawn fewer fans in its inaugural season than Nationals Park. For the record, 17 parks have debuted in that time span.
Baseball's magic formula says the last-place Nationals were averaging 29,077 fans per game — the 20th best in the majors — as of Wednesday. (Thursday was to be the home finale, weather permitting.) Anyone who's actually been to a game or watched one on TV — we'll get back to that subject — knows that far less than that fill the seats.
Any report you hear about TV ratings shows greater disinterest than the previous bleak news. Just this month, only 6,000 people tuned into the Nationals game on the same day as the Redskins opener. More people probably watched C-SPAN.
The Washington Post even reported that the radio audience is so small that the ratings aren't statistically valid.
A dreadful team is to blame for most of this, and the Tampa Bay Rays' success offers hope that D.C. can one day drum up support for a winning team.
Let's be realistic, though. The Nationals are going to stink next year and probably the year after that. Attendance will only drop, and fewer people will bother searching for MASN to watch the games on TV.
It took 33 years to bring baseball back to D.C. It took four to get bored by it.
Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post
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" »
IT WASN'T SUPPOSED to be this way for the ACC.
Three years after completing its expansion to improve its football reputation, there is only one ACC team in this week's AP top 25.
Raise your hand if you thought Wake Forest was the best team in the conference.
OK, No. 20 Wake may not be the ACC's best at year's end, but the league is a dud so far.
Continue Reading "More or Less, ACC Lags Behind in Football" »
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" »
ROGER FEDERER USED to make it look too easy.
During his prime, most of his matches were boring unless you studied the majesty of his groundstrokes — which is about as exciting as NFL preseason games.
Now, though, it isn't so easy for Federer. This past year, he's become the crafty veteran who must win with his brains more than with his skills.
Not that Federer has fallen off the map, but Rafael Nadal is considered the best player in the world.
TRY AS I MIGHT, it's hard for me to be overly optimistic days before the NFL opener between the Giants and Redskins.
Jim Zorn’s offense is going to be the Redskins' biggest liability this season.
Forget the preseason decline — though it was noticeably steep — or Derrick Frost’s spot-on criticism that, clearly, management has more sway than the coaching staff on the opening day roster.
Almost every time a new system is put in place, a team's offense struggles. Given this is a first-time head coach who never served as an offensive coordinator, a slow start should be expected.
The trouble is that if Washington digs itself a hole early, the schedule doesn't seem to offer much of a reprieve.
The Redskins face all three of their division rivals on the road within the first five weeks.
Let's say the powerhouse Cowboys split with the Redskins for rivalry purposes. The improved Eagles could be in a position for a sweep Dec. 21 if they are in playoff contention, as I expect. We'll give Washington a split with New York.
Outside the NFC East, home games against Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and a road contest in Seattle seem daunting.
Sure, wins should come against the Rams (Oct. 12), Bengals (Dec. 14) and 49ers (Dec. 28). With the Cardinals (Sept. 21) and Ravens (Dec. 7), there should be another victory.
That's it. It looks like a 6-10 season with hopes of drafting a stellar offensive lineman next April.
Photo by John McDonnell/TWP
Addison Road
