Stop the Insanity

Gibbs is staying, until he leaves

An article this week in the Washington Post got all the redskin fans in a tizzy this week. It seems our beloved Coach Gibbs spent some time to go back and visit his NASCAR family and friends over the weekend. In front of a bunch of NASCR media and fans he uttered the following quote:

"My time in football will be short,'' Gibbs said Tuesday during a stop by the NASCAR media tour at Joe Gibbs Racing.”Hopefully, we'll be here forever. If we don't win a few more games next year, my time in football will be real short.''

My god. It is coming. The end of Gibbs II before it begins. Sound the panic alarm. The world is ending. Complete Chaos in the streets. Biblical earthquakes and volcanoes spewing molten lava. Cats and Dogs living together.

Hold on folks. Never have I seen such a panic over a small innocuous quote. Well not since George W. Bush called the Iraqi war a crusade. There is a blatant media obsession with when Gibbs will leave the Redskins that started on day two of his second tenure. The Redskin tribe are all a bunch of insecure ex-wives who just got remarried to their ex husband. We are so obsessed on when he will leave again that we are not enjoying the time he is with us.

Look we have heard this before from the media. Earlier in the season ESPN floated a blatantly false report Gibbs was going to step down because of his Diabetes. Gibbs has flatly denied it. Gibbs has stated he intends to fulfill his contract which has another four years on it…at least!!

When Gibbs was stating his time in football was short, he meant 5 years as opposed to his previous Redskin tenure of over double that. When he said his time in football would be short he meant in relative terms as compared to the 10 + years he has spent building his NASCAR franchise and will continue to do until he dies. He also owns Gibbs racing, as opposed to being a coach for the Redskins. He has set up his sons to take over Gibbs racing and that is where the forever part of his first quote comes in.

Just take a look at what Gibbs said later in the same article:

"I signed a five-year contract and what I'd like to do is get the Redskins back to being a consistent winner,'' Gibbs said. "I don't know what that will take. I don't know if it's five years or a little longer than that.''

Hell from that quote it looks like he might even be open to an extension on his original contract. Look I admit Gibbs isn’t here forever and I will probably cry when he leaves. But I trust Joe Gibbs words. He has consistently said that he will be here for his full contract, and barring a Superbowl win, I believe he will. He has always kept his word, even to the team’s detriment (Mark Brunell). The man knows that if he says something he has to mean it. And he does

So once he retires Greg Williams will become our head coach. That is why he is not seeking any other offers. If he waits 3 or 4 years he will have the dream job of coaching in a major market with an owner who, likes to spend money. Plus he comes in as part of the organization and with the respect of the front office. Oh yeah and the blessing of a legend. A much better situation then Buffalo. Greg knows that you only get so many bites at the head coaching apple, unless your Bill Parcells.

So calm down Redskin fans. We got four more years of St. Joe. Let’s enjoy him.

Pasqualoni to Dallas

Is it just me or are you feeling surrounded by former SU talent surrounding us in the NFC east. Donovan McNabb is leading the Eagles into the Superbowl. Will Allen of the giants always seems to pickoff a pass or two when we play them and now Coach P., recently fired SU coach, is heading to Dallas as an assistant coach. Perhaps it is a curse for how badly we treated Kevin Mitchell (We should have never got Trotter in 2000. Mitchell was a tackling machine and played with great heart the year before). Daryl Johnston tormented us when he was with Dallas in the 1990s. In fact we have to go back to Art Monk for SU alum that has helped us out. Perhaps putting Monk in the Hall will exercise that ghost.

Rich Tandler's Redskin Blog

For what it is worth you should really check out Rich Tandler's Redskin Blog at http://redskinsblog.blogspot.com/. He really has a good take on all the redskin information out there. For my post about Gibbs above I drew some material from his blog. He responds to emails as well as comments. He has authored a book about the Joe Gibbs years with the Redskins called "Gutcheck". I am planning on buying it soon.

Redskins need a GM badly

Last year when I heard Joe Gibbs was coming back and bringing back almost all of the old boys back with him, visions of sugarplums danced in my head. This was the prayer that I have been praying since shortly after Pettibon’s first season. I had given up hope as he looked rested and relaxed in Nascar and even became a part owner of the Falcons. I spent the next few weeks intensely following all the coverage, taking off of work to watch the first Press Conference, convincing my then fiancé’ now wife to try and encompass going to a Redskin game on our Honeymoon (It worked by the way I went to the Giants game and what a game).

Something though this year was not right and questions kept lurking in the back of my mind. I remember certain ESPN writers at the beginning of the year stating that Gibbs had been gone so long that perhaps the game has passed him by. I remember my immediate reaction was outrage and sending out emails that I am sure are against a provision in the Patriot Act. How dare they say that the best offensive mind that ever played the game could ever be passed by? Who the hell are these hacks to question my Hero? How many rings do they have?

And I still believe those writers were wrong despite the offensive woes this year. We lost Jansen for the whole year on the eve of training camp. Sure we got Clinton Portis but he had to adjust to a new offensive system and we had to adjust to him. The wide receivers never got separation all year. Brunell never materialized into a starting quarterback despite a large contract and everyone’s assurances. Ramsey’s confidence was shattered and took a few starts to get back to respectable level. And the offensive line, even without Jansen, never got the push off the ball to establish anything.

But alas there’s the rub. And if those writers were right about any part of the game at least temporarily passing Gibbs and Bugel by it may be this. Talent Evaluation. I point to the offensive line as a prime example of this. Remember before this year how Buges was talking about the line? He even gave them a nickname, the Dirt bags. Not quite spoken with the reverence of the Hogs but up there. The name itself evoked visions of rough and tumble grisly scrappers. But what we got were a few shining moment and mostly people eating dirt. Raymer was a major disappointment, Friedman was not much better, and the Jansen injury hurt but we never recovered. I thought Molinaro and Wilson were eventual stars in this league according to Bugel but most NFL talent evaluators are calling them journeymen at best. Kenyatta Jones had a whole pre-season and never panned out. The best we could do is go to the ancient Ray Brown who was adequate at best.

I think the old boys got lost in the immense physical specimens that most NFL players, even bad ones are these days. The Hogs never had a lineman over 300 pounds. Being away from the game for ten years perhaps Gibbs and Bugel looked at those men and thought “yeah we can go to war with that” forgetting that the other teams had Guys just as big who could actually do the job. This is the same for Brunell. I am sure Gibbs looked at Brunell and saw another Theisman waiting to be molded. But the arm Brunell had could not compete with the overwhelming speed of the game.

I don’t think that this is a permanent thing. By the end of the year Gibbs woke up and dumped Brunell. Bugel stuck with Ray Brown but what choice did he have. They know they need to look at the Oline especially at center. They need to add more zone blocking and stretch plays for Portis. They are the best coaching minds the game has ever seen. I know that they have adjusted and next year will be better.

However just in case get a GM or some external talent evaluators for the draft this year and Free Agency. Gibbs has never been a great Talent Evaluator (Desmond Howard anyone?) and excelled when Beatherd was helping him. Cerrato is no Beathard and much more of a salary cap specialist finding ways to fill the wishes of Snyder and Gibbs. They need someone to say “Maybe we don’t need this guy but here, this kid is available for less and a better talent”.

Playoff Recap

Well I went 2-0 yesterday. new England looks dominating. They were overlooked with the high flying offense of Indianapolis and the Defense of Pittsburgh. All New England does is play football on both sides of the ball and play it well. Philadelphia finally got that monkey off it's back and if it is any indication by TO's dancing on the sideline he will be back from the Superbowl. You know I really hate these two week breaks. My record stands at 10-8 for the playoffs and now I am assured a winning playoff prediction record, measily as it is.

Moss for Lavar....I don't think so

In yesterday’s Washington times, Dan Daly reported on a possible trade of Lavar Arrington for Minnesota’s problem child Randy Moss. This is beyond ridiculous. But Daly did not stop there. , he also suggested that in addition to Lavar we send this year’s first rounder and next year’s second rounder to the Vikings as well. Now I have never liked the Washington Times news content but usually they keep their wild eyed speculation for their right wing news editors. However maybe a few of them got drunk celebrating the inauguration and stumbled into the Sports section.

But what can you expect from the Washington Times? They have had a long running bias against owner Daniel Snyder and therefore the Redskins overall. Under Jack Kent Cooke the PR department gave preference and inside information to the Washington Times. However when Dan Snyder took over ownership he ifred most of the PR staff and directed the new staff to give preference and inside information to the Washington Post. The Post had a higher circulation and a more diverse readership plus a more regional concentration (i.e. people who actually buy tickets). A great business move for the Redskins but the Times has been pissed ever since and have taken every opportunity to take shots at Snyder and in turn the Skins.

The proposed trade on it’s own merits are ridiculous. Trading Lavar will be a large cap hit (over 12 million) for 2005. In addition to that Randy Moss’ base salary is something akin to 7.5 million this year. So the trade will cause an immediate 19 million cap hit for a heads up trade. I don’t care if Jesus Christ was on the other team I would still not take that kind of cap hit. We are only 4 million under the cap now. Further cap relief can only be brought about by post June 1, 2005 cuts and that would kill our 2006 cap which is already close to 10 to 15 million over the cap. Not to mention also giving up vital draft picks we need to shore up our lines and get inexpensive young backups.

I also don’t buy the line that Lavar can be traded because the Defense did fine without him. Yes he missed 14 games and we finished 3rd,but what would we have been with him? Two of the things our defense did not do well is rush the passer and create turnovers. A Healthy Lavar helps that. He is also identified by Gibbs as a “Core” Redskin. With the very real possibility of losing Smoot, another Core Redskin, Lavar’s need becomes more apparent. Smoot’s replacement will probably not be able to be left on an island like Smoot, unless we get lucky. Help from the linebackers will be a reality and although Lemar Marshall was adequate I still rather see Lavar roaming around out there. What receiver would like to face the possibility of getting sandwhiched between Taylor and Lavar? I am shuddering justb thinking about it.

The Moss trade may happen but more likely it will not be Lavar being traded. Look for Gardner and/or McCants and our first rounder this year and possibly our second next year. That is a trade that is more feasible. Of course Minnesota would have to throw in a year of therapy as well.

Playoff Predictions

Well this is how it should be right? The two best teams from each conference facing each other to go to the Superbowl. No big upsets, no Cinderella teams. Just the best teams with the best records going squad to squad for a chance at glory. In fact that is why I am 8-8 in the playoffs. Yeah that’s the ticket.

New England Patriots at Pittsburgh Steelers

Well I doubt I am ever going against New England again. Last week they took apart the record setting Indianapolis Colts with such ease and skill that I felt ashamed for picking the Colts. And I still do. Pittsburgh has the homefield advantage but Big Ben is a rookie, and he looked it last week. The weather will make both teams run the ball but I don’t think the Steelers are used to this kind of pressure. This Patriot team has been to two Superbowls in three years and this incarnation may be the best of those teams. The real difference may be Adam Vinateri. He is used to pressure kicking in bad weather and field goals and extra points could be a large factor. New England wins 17 – 7.

Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia Eagles

This is an intriguing matchup mainly because of the weather. Up to 8 inches could fall in the Philadelphia area by game time and that creates problems for both teams. Atlanta is a dome team who hasn’t played in this kind of playoff weather in four years. Philadelphia is the home team however there game is much more pass oriented and could be adversely effected by the weather. McNabb prefers to pass in the pocket now but could take off. However Vick is more apt to run out of the pocket yet he needs to be able to sell that he is going to pass to set it up. Bottom line is that the Eagles have been here, the falcons have not. The Eagles win 21-14.

Put Monk in the Hall NOW!!!!!

If not then the Hall of Fame should close.

Few players achieve the type of greatness that Art Monk did in his career without the accolades to go with it. But that was the type of man #80 was. He quietly produced one of the best careers a Wide Receiver has ever had, but he never publicized himself. In fact he ignored the media entirely, which also ignored him. And now he is a longshot to make the hall of Fame and Michael "cokehead" Irvin a over hyped self promoted lesser receiver might make the Hall ahead of him. Do we really need to recap the statistics? Apparently we do.

Art Monk was the man of Wide Receivers. He played 16 NFL seasons and amassed 940 catches for 12,721 yards and 68 touchdowns. In 1984 he set an NFL record with 108 Catches. This record stood for nearly 8 years. Even though his whole career he had to share receptions with team mates (rise was the only receiver open his team, same with Largent and Irvin). With the smurfs earlier in his career and the posse later in his career he still managed to finish his career second in all time receptions (and briefly held the top spot in 1994 before being passed by Rice). He also finished in the top ten of receiving yards. 4 Superbowl appearances, 3 rings. Enough said.

Monk's detractors will point to the low number of Yards per catch or low td catches. However that is not the role Monk played. In the high octane offenses of the first Gibbs era Monk was the spark plug that made the whole thing possible. He went over the middle and got tough yards. He excelled on tough 3rd down catches that would put the dagger in opposing defenses. He even ran the occasional reverse (averaging over 5 yards per rush).

This year's class is even tougher then last year's and Monk never made it to the final elimination. Monk never was one for the media....and it's the sports writers that vote on the hall. Now Marino and Young are first vote sure fire inductees. One of the veterans will get in, but then....it should be Monk.

Playoff Prediction recap.

Well 2-2 again. New England really showed me something...and I got to say they could repeat. Everyone was talking about Indianapolis and Pittsburgh and once again the champs quietly just won. I did get one right, Big Ben looked every bit the rookie he is but the Pitt D stepped it up and pulled it out. Philly rose up to get to the fourth straight conference championship. But Vick looked pretty good killing St. Louis. My record stays at 8-8.

Mossed out

Enough with Randy Moss

All right I am tired of the two week Randy Moss media fest. Listen I don’t like Randy Moss. Many people have speculated that the Redskins would attempt to trade for him in the off season and I don’t want him. I know he is an amazing talent but his attitude is not conducive to a winning football team. Football more then any other sport is a team sport. 11 men on offense, defense, and special teams must work as one to achieve their goals. This is why we need a week between games, this is why playbooks are thicker then armor plating on a Sherman tank. And his attitude does not make up for his considerable physical talents. He is poison and should be treated as such.

But all this nonsense about his “moon” at Green Bay is just that, nonsense. Of course it was a despicable act; of course it was uncalled for and deserved a fine, which it got. But for Joe Buck and the Fox crew to denounce it as if it were the end of civilization and for ESPN to refuse to run the clip as they denounced the act smacks of Hypocrisy. I wonder if Joe Buck felt this way as his network promoted Temptation Island, The Littlest Groom, or Who’s My Daddy? Or if the network heads at ESPN were equally disgusted when they previewed the pilot for Tilt and the lead character mad a reference to relieving himself and then went to the bathroom to find a hooker there. Or how about the NFL. Is it just me or are there so many Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis commercials that on Mondays during the Football season I am half tempted to call my Doctor “just in case”.

Now I am not denouncing these shows (although reality television sucks all on its own). I actually liked Tilt and I don’t fault the NFL for advertising to the highest bidder. However fine Moss and drop it. This is ridiculous. Especially in the light of the fact that Green Bay fans regularly moon visiting team’s busses after a home win. So please stop the Moss talk and get back to what is important. The playoffs.

Playoff Predictions part deux

Ok after going 2-2 last week I have promised myself not to think too much about this weeks picks however then I looked at this weeks match up and literally any game could go any way. There is no sure victory in any of the four games in my opinion. Sure the home teams should win, but each has an Achilles heel that could topple their playoff chances. The visiting teams all come in with wins last week but they have a major weakness as well. So I am out on a limb here but someone has to put their neck out so here it goes.

NY Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers

At first look this is a no brainer. The Jets backed into the playoffs and then took advantage of Marty (hey who needs playoff wins) Schottenheimer’s overrated Chargers to get the chance to play perhaps the most complete football team still alive. The Steelers have the #1 defense and they deserve it. They have an imposing set of linebackers and a swarming tackling defense. Their offense isn’t bad either with three burners at wide receivers, a punishing bruising back in Bettis, a safety valve in Staley, and a strong armed Rookie Quarterback. But alas there it is. The Achilles Heel. Only one rookie Quarterback has Shepard his team to the Super Bowl and that was Dan Marino. He lost and never got back. But the Jets just don’t have the firepower to break through the new steel curtain nor the defense to stop them. Not to mention being 0-6 at Pittsburgh in the Divisional playoffs and it doesn’t look good. Steelers win 24-10.

St. Louis Rams at Atlanta Falcons

Again. The home team, Atlanta, should win this game. Michael Vick is one of the most electric players in the NFL. It seems Warrick Dunn is giving him a good counterbalance and Alge Crumpler is one of the better pass catching tight ends in the game. They handily beat St. Louis earlier in the year, as Vick ran for over 100 yards. But the rams are a better team then they were earlier in the year. They have won three straight and
Their defense is starting to play better. Bulger is hot and Atlanta’s defense, Atlanta’s Achilles heel. Only ranked 14th can they slow down the Rams enough that Vick won’t have to throw every down. There are few Quarterbacks I rather see play then Michael Vick but when a Tight End is your number one receiver for less then 1,000 yards it doesn’t bode well for a shoot out. Not to mention three weeks of rest for Vick might make him rusty. I think Atlanta is soft and not ready to make the next step and is ripe for the picking. St. Louis wins 35-24.

Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles

We all know the Achilles Heel here, no Terrell Owens. Can Philadelphia’s offense score without TO? Not to mention most of the starters have played very little for three weeks and have had no time to overcome TO’s loss. Then again the Vikings have no clue what Philadelphia is going to do and will be hard to game plan for. Philly also has a nice defense, which the Vikings don’t. The Vikings can not keep riding on Duante’s shoulders and without Moe Williams their non-existent running game virtually disappears. The very good Philly corners will sit back and look to create turnovers. Donovan McNabb will shake off some early rust and Westbrook will have a field day both Rushing and receiving. Eagles win 31 - 21

Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots

This is the hardest game to predict. Indianapolis is the hottest offense in the game. New England is the defending champ. Manning is one of the best Quarterbacks in the game and all Tom Brady does is win super bowls. However Ty Law is definitely out of the game (Achilles Heel). Now yes, New England has won nine games without him but he did have Peyton’s number last year intercepting him 3 times and single-handedly propelling the Pats to the Super Bowl. New England is so worried about the high flying Colt offense that they are allowing their home turf to turn into a skating rink. However this move may backfire as Indianapolis’ glaring weakness is their chump defense. A slick muddy field my allow them to mask it by concentrating on stopping Dillon. There is an intangible property to Manning this year. He stepped up against Denver last week because he wanted to avenge the previous week’s lost. Look for him to do the same against the Pats. Indianapolis wins 28-13.

Players the Redskins NEED to get Rid of

Last week I talked about the players the Redskins need to keep and this week I am going to start the discussion on players the Redskins need to get rid of. These are players that for one reason or another that need to clear out their locker and go home. By the way last week I said Betts was a free agent we need to resign. He is not a free agent so forgive my error. All Salary cap figures are according to Warpath Insiders.com

1.) Rod Gardner: The message boards and the Redskin media in general have been calling for this and for good reason. Gardner is in a contract year and there is no way the Redskins can resign him in 2006 with that being a large Salary Cap year (We are already 10+ million over that year’s cap). And even if he was to play for free, 50/50 does not have the production to waste a roster spot on him. Not to mention him partying all week long and not fully dedicating himself to the redskins. Gardner should be used as a way to trade up in the first round and get Miami CB Rolle if Smoot leaves or try and package him with to get a second round pick this year. Time to go Rod. We can save either 1.4 million in 2005 and not have the distraction.

2.) Michael Barrow: On one hand this is an obvious pick. He never made it back from his knee injury and spent the entire season on injured reserve. Antonio Pierce has supplanted him and is about to sign a lucrative extension with the Skins to shore up the middle for the next decade or so. Barrow though is in the first year of his contract with the Redskins so normal logic would dictate that we could not cut him and risk the cap hit (see Brunell below). However Snyder and Cerrato negotiated a smaller signing bonus for Barrow and shorter contract. We should cut Barrow pre June 1, 2005 and take the entire cap hit (2.1million) this year. Since barrow’s original cap number for 2005 was 2.1 million. It is a wash for 2005 but a large 3.4 million in cap relief for 2006.

3.) Chad Morton: Antonio Bryant, James Thrash, and Ladell Betts are all better special teams players. Morton has never produced on his hefty contract and it is time to let him go. If we do it before June 1st then it will be a .5million cap hit on this year’s roster and a 2.3 million dollar relief for 2006. Or after June 1st we can free up an extra .5 million for this year and 1.3 million in relief for 2006.

4.) Cory Raymer: He had a disgraceful campaign in 2004. He was always losing his battle off the ball and was the first Redskin in the dirt on every play. We can save over a million in 2005 and 2006. Let’s use that money to groom some young guys for the position.

Honorable Mentions:

Mark Brunell: The salary cap really hurts us here. Or more to the point the horrible contract Brunell signed really hurts us. Gibbs has already said he is not cutting Brunell next year and starting Ramsey, but I can’t help but wish Brunell was gone anyways. Not out of malice but out of fear Gibbs will go back to him. Ramsey will continue to struggle next year but needs to struggle for him to grow. Brunell is not even a very good backup and Hasslebeck is better (by the way need to resign him). Brunell has a 3.433 cap number next year and 5.433 in 2006. It looks to me as June 1, 2006 Brunell will be cut creating an immediate 4 million of cap relief in 2006 and 1 million of cap relief in 2007. Make no doubt about it, this contract is an albatross around our neck and if we have to dismantle in 2007 as many writers think, this will be why.

Chris Samuels: If Chris does not sign the contract extension he is in discussions for then he may move to the top of the list. He has an unwieldy cap number of 9.6 in 2005 and an unthinkable 11.3 in 2006. All indications are that they are going to get this done. That should clear about 3 to 4 million up in the next two years.

Renaldo Wynn: He is a great locker room guy, who Gibbs loves, but his cap numbers over the next 3 years are over 4 million each. He is not productive enough on the field for that. He is probably safe in 2005 but watch him to either rework the deal in 2006 or be released.

Of course we are still waiting for the salary cap figures from the NFL. IT is expected to be 85 million a large jump over last year, but some expect it to be as high as 90 million. I hope it is higher. As I said 2006 is a monster cap issue year. Currently we have 37 players under contract for cap figures totaling a little over 106 million. We still have draft picks from 2005 and 2006 to consider as well as any FA signings this year (Pierce & Smoot).

PLAYOFF PREDICTION RECAP: Ok well I went 2-2 and it is all my fault. I went with my head instead of my heart with the San Diego – Jets game. I thought San Diego was soft and overrated and they were. They got lucky to get the game into OT. The Vikings surprised the hell out of me. Green Bay’s defense is horrible but Favre had a bad day as well and that assured the loss. As expected Peyton really lit up the Broncos for the second straight year and (loved seeing Bailey laid out by Harrison) and St. Louis beat Seattle (Hey Holmgren got your resume together?). This weeks playoff games look mighty interesting. More on them later this week.

Wild Card Playoff Predictions

The Playoffs are here so I thought I would start off with a few predictions on the wild card match ups.

Minnesota Vikings (8-8) at Green Bay Pakcers (10-6)

This might be the easiest of all the pick’s. “Coach Collapse”’s team lost seven of it’s last ten including last week to the Redskins. Although the Redskins have been underrated all year long, they had nothing to play for but pride. The Vikings were playing for the playoffs. Like last year they choked but unlike last year they lucked into the playoffs thanks to a very weak NFC. They have shown they have no heart and you need heart to win in the playoffs. It doesn’t help that on the other side of the ball is Mr. Heart Brett Favre. He is on a mission to get back to the Super Bowl one more time and he owns the Vikings beating them twice this last year. However the packers have no pass Defense and that is all the Vikings will do, too bad they are playing in January in Wisconsin. Packers win 24-21.

New York Jets (10-6) at San Diego Charges (12-4)

This match up is a little lackluster. I got to be honest that I don’t know how San Diego has emerged from the ashes of last year. I think Schottenheimer is one of the worst coaches in the NFL and I can only surmise he has sold his soul to Satan or worse Jerryn Jones. I don’t think that Brees is as good as he is playing but luckily they happen to play the Jets. Look for the Jets to rush Martin a lot and try to keep the ball out of the hands of Brees and company. However the Jets couldn’t finish the deal against the lowly Rams last week either and once again they were fighting for a playoff squat (the jets backed in as well). And John Abraham will probably be out for the Jets which will give Brees time to find open receivers. San Diego wins 28-17.

St. Louis (8-8) at Seattle (9-7)

There is only one thing worse then a team backing into a wild cart spot and that is a team backing into a Dicision championship. And that is what the Sea hawks did. Seriously who wins a division at 9-7?. That mean San Francisco is only a decent quarterback away from running away with the division (hear that Leinart). The Seahawks lost both regular season wins against St. Louis and seem to be focused on the wrong things. Alexander was upset last week that the game winning one yard touchdown run was taken by the quarterback and not him. They won the game which assured them getting into the playoffs at home and he was worried that he did not win the rushing title. St. Louis has won it’s last two games and they will win this one too. St. Louis wins 28-10.

Denver (10-6) at Indianapolis (12-4)
This may be the most entertaining game on the slate. Indianapolis played it’s scrubs last week and were beaten to a pulp by the Broncos who had to win to get into the playoffs. Their reward? Facing Indianapolis again this week, but this time no scrubs. John Lynch looked real tough last week, however this week he looks $75,000 lighter and like a punk. His bulletin board comments are getting the Indianapolis offense rialed. And the last thing you want to do is get Peyton I-threw-49-tds Manning riled up. Look for the colts to open up on Lynch and the rest of the Broncos D. The colts defense will not be very good but Plummer will throw a couple of picks anyway and that will be the game. Colts win 35-21.

The Off Season is here

Well the off season here and now the debating begins. And that is why I created this blog. Most of us have been hanging out at Tullys watching the Redskins suffer for a while now. I personally have been a fan of the Redskins since I was in the 5th grade. Ever since I saw Riggins running over the fish and Butz pounding the line I have followed the Burgundy and Gold.

So what is the first priority for the Redskins? Well I say it is resigning allot of UFA's. First on the list is Smoot. He is as good as any corner in the league. However I hear he is turning down an 11 million dollar signing bonus. He is good but he isn't going to get that anywhere but out of Dan Snyder's wallet. So hopefully he will test the market and see we have the best offer on the table. Rumor is that Champ Bailey is poisoning the well.

Second priority has to be Pierce. And the good news on this is that I understand both sides are near a deal on this. Which is good because it looks as Barrow is done. Pierce is young and can quarterback our defense as goiod as any linebacker in the league. Remember this is his first year as a middle linebacker, not just a starting linebacker. he was a reserve outside linebacker for the first two years.

Third priority has to be restructuring Samuels contract. A 9.64 million cap hit next year. That is huge for an average tackle, which is what he is. Looks like he has seen the light too and understands that only with the Redskins can he make good money and is willing to restructure.

Last priority is they have to resign Betts. I know we got Portis and I love him. But for the past three years he has not finished the season. We need another back who can take 25 percent of the load, espescially on 3rd and short. How many times was Clinton stuffed on must run situation. The line sucked this year and the addition of number 76 will be a welcome site, but we need to look at changing things up a bit and save Clinton for the playoffs (yeah I said it) next year.

Thats all For now lets get some comments on here and kick off this blog right.