Playoff Rooting Card: Week 17

Are you ready for it? I know I am. I have been waiting to write this line in the Playoff Rooting Card feature since I started writing these columns just before Thanksgiving. So get your reading glasses out and ready your mouse and scroll down for some truly wonderful words to read.

The Redskins control their own destiny!!!

Simply amazing that the Redskins, seemingly dead just over a month ago, are now in a position to actually make the post season. And I know the critics (myself being amongst that group at times) will point to the 8-7 record and say this is an indicator of a weak NFC. And of course, they would be right.

However that does not lessen the accomplishments that these Redskins have done. A 3 game winning streak, beating playoff contenders in each of them, twice on the road, is nothing to sneeze at. This team has saved their season when everyone, including most of us Redskin fans, had counted them out. And you can credit one man for that, Joe Gibbs.

After the Buffalo loss, even the most ardent supporter of Joe Gibbs had thought that he was in danger of losing the team. You saw the start of those anonymous quotes in the paper about the two timeout ending. Gibbs could have just decided right then and there that the game had passed him bye and just finished out the season and retired. And if he did that, could anyone have blamed him? But true leaders don’t quit, they endure.

And endure is what Gibbs and the redskins have done. In Week 1 we lost our starting Right Tackle Jon Jansen for the year. In week 2 we lost our starting right guard Randy Thomas for what was essentially the year. In week 8 Redskins starting corner Carlos Rogers went down for the season and possibly half of 2009. In week 10 Redskins Starting Safety Sean Taylor went down with a knee injury and was tragically shot in his home and killed a few weeks later. In week 14 Starting Quarterback Jason Campbell was lost for the rest of at least the regular season with a knee injury. In week 15 starting linebacker Rocky McIntosh went down for not only the remainder of this season but most if not all of next. And of course there were the normal missed games and injuries in an NFL franchise with key contributors like Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle-El, Casey Rabach, Todd Wade, Pierson Prioleau, Cornellius Griffen, and Marcus Washington all succumbing to injury at points during the season.

Now with one more week to go the Redskins host their hated rival, the Dallas Cowboys, for a regular season finale with much on the line. I for one do not buy that Dallas will roll over and play dead for the Redskins. Every down, every yard, will be hard fought. Even if some of the starters are ruled out of the game, the backups are all NFL Vets. Vets like Brad Johnson who would love to enact revenge on a franchise that spurned him. More importantly the Redskins don’t know who to game plan for and will not have tape on their opponents. Lastly Dallas will face the Redskins again in the playoffs if the Redskins survive round 1, and if I am Dallas I rather get rid of us now.

After all, they are still Dallas and we are still the Redskins, they will bring their best, and so should we.

So the only thing the Redskins can do on Sunday is come out and line up across the field and will their way to a win. Do whatever it takes and play perfect football, just like they have done the last three weeks. Defy expectations and once again do the fan base proud. To the winner of the game goes glory, and for the Redskins, a chance to continue fighting back the night.

So with that in mind, here is how we stand:

NFC East: Dallas (13-2)
NFC North: Green Bay (12-3)
NFC West: Seattle (10-5)
NFC South: Tampa Bay (9-6)
Wildcard #1: NY Giants (10-5)
Wildcard #2: Washington (8-7)

The Pack:
Minnesota (8-7)
New Orleans (7-8)

Slots 1-5 are locked and set. Everyone else has been eliminated from playoff contention in the NFC. The Redskins can get in with a win (Dallas), or a loss by Minnesota (@ Denver) & New Orleans (@ Chicago). The Vikings need to win and the Redskins to lose to get in. The Saints need to win and the Vikings & Saints both to lose.

So here is your last rooting card for the 2007 season in order of kickoff:

New Orleans Saints (7-8) @ Chicago Bears (7-8). If we lose to Dallas, we need New Orleans to lose for us to make the playoffs. Go Bears!!!

Minnesota Vikings (8-7) @ Denver Broncos (6-9). This game wont matter at all to the Redskins if New Orleans wins, but if they lose and the Vikings lose, then we are in, regardless of the outcome of the Dallas game. Go Broncos!!

Dallas Cowboys (13-2) @ Washington Redskins (8-7). Regardless of the outcomes above, a win over Dallas is always sweet. Go Redskins!!!

So on to the game. One last week for playoff glory or an off-season of “what ifs”.

As Always HTTR!!

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