Who has been here the longest?

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This is therapy, but it is not a "What if" exercise, because the plural of anecdote is not data, and, frankly, I don't want to dwell on the result.  I listened to this entire game intently because Gus Johnson was calling it, and he's incredible.  I think he should call every Texas Tech game.  I would pay my cable provider a service fee to make sure that happens.  I wish he called my life.  His boothmate was forgettable, and indeed I forgot him.  I wish he was more forgettable, because I do recall two thing he said:

1) On one of what felt like a dozen field goals we kicked tonight, Gus asked him about going for it on fourth in scoring territory, and Forgettable repeated agreed with the move, stating something like the conventional wisdom of "You never leave points on the board."

2) After we kicked our extra point, Forgettable asserted that "this" ("this" being that we were losing a football game 45-40 with 33 seconds left on the clock) was the reason you kick field goals, I guess referencing our field goal on 4th and 9 in scoring territory early in the fourth quarter, although he might have been talking about the other five that we attempted.  I assume his point is that kicking field goals puts you in a position to win games, so long as you successfully onside kick the ball with 33 seconds left and score a touchdown.

To his first comment; he's right, which is precisely why you shouldn't kick field goals.  To his second point, he's wrong, one reason we were losing 45-40 with 33 seconds left was because we kicked field goals.  Maybe.  I fundamentally disagree with him that kicking field goals is a wise decision, in most situations that we and other teams kick (or punt for that matter, which we shouldn't have done on 4th and 1 at our own 15).  Exactly one of us is right about that.  Jump.

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Let's do something right.

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Timmy Smith was a great Redskin, if only for a moment. Recall that Smith set a rushing record in Super bowl XXII (204 yards and a pair of scores) and would surely have been named the game's MVP but for Doug Williams's brilliant performance in destroying a Dan Reeves led Denver Broncos 42-10. Smith remains one of my all time favorite Redskins despite his short tenure with the team. He accomplished nothing of consequence subsequently and retired just a few short years later (in a Cowboys jersey, unfortunately). Although the rushing record was nice (and remains to this day, putting Smith among greats like Marcus Allen [191] and John Riggins [166 booya]), my affinity for stems mostly from his combination of my two great passions: 1) Washington Redskins football and 2) Federal cocaine convictions Texas Tech football -- both Timmy Smith and I claim the Red Raiders as our alma mater.

Forgive the fluff piece, but this time of year is still somewhat slow on the news cycle and we're all grasping at things to pass the time. Preseason always seems to move slower than Christmas for me if only because the great long wait of the offseason is punctuated by a series of teaser events that kind of sort of but not really resembles what we have all been waiting for. A cruel trick, that, but a necessary evil to reduce the roster size by a dozen or so come August 31st and to the final 53 on September 4th. The big stories this time of year, if you're lucky at least (injuries being the unlucky story), are who is and who isn't going to make the team. As I type this a post goes up about Anthony Armstrong and Brandon Banks among others battling to make the team. Neither is guaranteed a spot but both have certainly had their deserving cases heard for a coveted place among the 53. I was perusing the Redskins roster searching hopefully for some Texas Tech Red Raider that I could hang my hat for the remainder of preseason. None. Very unfortunate

But I compiled these numbers anyways so that you lucky few could better cheer on your favorite college football teams through the rest of the preseason. Results follow for Redskins University which will hopefully supplement your preseason viewing guide for the remainder of the fake season.

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Kevin already touched on Coach Shanahan's Bill Walsh Coaching Tree roots (pictured). Recap: George Seifert coached under Bill Walsh in the 80s before taking the reigns in 1989. Although Seifert ultimately ended his career in somewhat forgettable fashion at Carolina (1-15 in 2001, doh) his eight seasons as 49ers Head Coach included eight 10 win regular seasons in a row, six division championships, five NFC championship appearances and two Super Bowl rings. Not a bad run, shared in part by offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan from '92-'94, thus placing Shanahan in the Bill Walsh coaching tree (incidentally this also places Shanahan somewhere in the the Sid Gillman coaching tree, among our very own George Allen and Shanahan's former boss Al Davis, more on that below. Understated conclusion: Minus Al Davis, decent company, Coach.)

I think Bill Walsh's legend is growing excessively, but kill me for that in the comments. I'm told, however, that one of his greatest contributions to the game was meticulous gameplanning:

If [Walsh's] legacy is not about reducing the risks of throwing the ball through a disciplined approach, it is by revolutionizing how coaches prepare for games through simple organization: scripting plays, analyzing tendencies, self-scouting, probing defenses to look for weaknesses, and so on. As with his plays, none of Walsh’s innovations here were truly new, but his approach obviously worked because not only was his success outsized but so has been the success of those who coached with him — those that were able to observe his methods.

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Coach-speak is a difficult language to process, particularly because it is usually coded and frequently presented in sound bites that lack context and do inadequate justice to the nuances involved. While I recognize the danger of taking at face value what a Coach says about a complicated web of quarterback transactions, extending over months, and subject to circumstances that are unknown and unknowable, Coach says a possible future world involves a Redskins quarterback trio of:

1. Donovan McNabb

2. Jason Campbell

3. Sam Bradford/Colt McCoy

4. Presumably, Rex Grossman

Coach Shanahan brought us McNabb. Shanahan also assured Jason Campbell the opportunity to seek a trade elsewhere, so that he may start, somewhere. But if nothing materializes, Coach at least pays lip service to keeping Campbell around. And even in the event that McNabb and Campbell stick around, we're still open to drafting a QB in the 1st round?

[Kelli] Johnson noted that the team was still hosting top QB prospects like Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy, and Shanahan suggested that there was nothing odd there.

"I think if you take a look at Philip Rivers, when did he start? His third year," the coach said. "You take a look at Aaron Rodgers? His third year.... I think a perfect scenario would be a young quarterback coming in here and backing up. You never know what's gonna happen on draft day."

If we have McNabb and Jason Campbell on the roster come draft day, and considering our switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense, I think we're better off not drafting a QB or trading down for additional picks. I suspect that Jason Campbell is probably not going to be here next year -- that's too bad, I've always liked Jason and, full disclosure, have been lobbying on his behalf since at least November of 2006 -- but if he is still here, why the need for a Colt McCoy/Sam Bradford? Do we really need to go out and get a Phillip Rivers three-years-down-the-way?

I'm giving Campbell too much credit here, and the circumstances weren't right, but would San Diego have been better off with Drew Brees instead of Phillip Rivers?

I see where Coach is coming from. Having three quarterbacks on the roster, two of whom are proven NFL quality starters, and one talented potential future-star, is a great problem to have. But we have a lot of needs and a valuable first round pick, and maybe having two proven starters (maybe three, depending on one's feelings towards Grossman?) on the roster this year is enough, and we can worry about getting that star quarterback down the road. I guess my position is, when the kitchen is dirty with a broken oven and new management, maybe resources are better spent fixing the appliances and cleaning the floors, rather than hiring the three best cooks in town.

Is Rex Grossman not a serviceable 3rd-string QB? What of Colt Brennan? I want the team to protect itself from the horrors of starting the wrong quarterback, but let's not overdo it when the rest of the team has needs too.

How dare you beat Baylor by less than a million points. Prepare to be eaten for your indiscretions. Below the jump, please enjoy the NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW transcript from the Mike Leach post-Baylor rant, and if I have time, also after the Kansas game. So far as I can tell, no one has taken the time to pen the entire thing. Part of me is doing this to forever preserve, in the old media of written word, the motivational speeches of the great Captain. Part of me is lying. And part of me just thinks it will look as funny on my monitor as it sounds in my ears.

Enjoy (did I mention NSFW?):

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Sports died unexpectedly Wednesday from an apparent suicide, when one of the last bastions of integrity in college football decided that contract price and opportunism were more important than graduation rates and success. Sports was as old as human history.

Texas Tech University, speaking on behalf of college football, stated Wednesday that battling entitlement was simply too challenging, because teaching kids about hard work is expensive. "We really wanted to get the message out," Tech said in a prepared statement, "that a kid having to spend two practices in an air conditioned room is too high a price to pay for graduating athletes and teaching boys how to become men." Fans were shocked that college football's capitulation would be announced from Lubbock, considered one of the toughest parts of Texas. "Well paint me [expletive] surprised," said Grizzled Badass West-Texan between bites from his hammers and nails filled omelet, "I guess I was wrong about college football being a man's game. Has women's basketball started yet? Here I come."

Sports had been engaged in a well publicized losing battle with chronic softness for years, a fight that has already taken the life of basketball. With the demise of college football, once thought to be sport's best chance of battling entitlement, doctors maintained little hope for sport's future.

"I'm really disappointed," said God, fighting back tears, "I went to a whole lot of trouble to provide a meaningful escape that also afforded you all an opportunity to learn about virtue, and now you've gone and screwed it up. Jesus Christ bananas, I'm out." College football was unavailable for comment, because it has nothing to say for itself.

There will be a service at the 2010 Alamo Bowl. Many seats are still available, and will probably remain so throughout the game.

Watching the DeAngelo Hall scrum during the Falcons game with (what appears in retrospect as) their entire sideline, it did not cross my mind that the thing wrong here was a lack of Redskins uniforms, in large part because:

3-3-ATL 40 (1:37) (Shotgun) 2-M.Ryan scrambles right end ran ob at ATL 44 for 4 yards (30-L.Landry). PENALTY on WAS-30-L.Landry, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at ATL 44. Penaltyon WAS-92-A.Haynesworth, Unnecessary Roughness, declined.

Count me among those who desperately think this team is lacking something right now, be it passion, talent, or coaching. But one of the few jerseys that did show up to the party on Hall's behalf ended up with a penalty. At the time I thought little of the incident beyond 'this is what a frustrated, 2-5 football team looks like when they're down 21-3 heading into the half and the bad guys are about to score.'

Having watched the incident again, more than once, I was a little struck both by the dearth of teammates defending Hall and the unusually long amount of time it took them to appear. See for yourself after the jump:

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A bit early, perhaps, but here comes Double T Nation's Big 12 Roundtable, hosted at Rock M Nation later this week. I reason that the sooner I get this post up during the week, the more time you will have to fix my wrong answers. Enjoy a teaser and the rest of the questions follow post-jump:

Rock M Nation: This question was posed by Rock Chalk Talk's Denverjhawk in Rock M Nation's Live Thread on Saturday: Could a Big 12 North all-star team compete with and/or beat Texas?

Skin Patrol: I say the answer is yes. UT is the toast of the Big 12, but that does not make them some kind of unbeatable behemoth. In stranger years, like 2006 and 2007, barely or not bowl eligible Kansas State teams have beaten Texas with something approaching ease. Whether or not those versions of Texas were comparable to this year's is certainly debatable, but Texas of 2009 has not looked unbeatable in the same way that Texas v.2005 did. I think my answer is likely to change as the season progresses, because I have a hard time believing that Texas will continue to play as lackadaisically on offense for the remainder of the season as it has at times thus far. The UT offense will click, and then we'll start seeing fewer, if any, truly close games.

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Another week, another Big 12 Roundtable; you get the shtick. Post your own answers below and let me know what I got horribly wrong. Much thanks to Bring on the Cats for hosting this week. Remaining questions are after the break.

Bring on the Cats: Though not true of everyone -- Texas continued its "just take care of business" approach -- Saturday shook a lot assumptions we had about some teams.  What, if anything, can you say with confidence about your team?

Skin Patrol: I can state with confidence that we beat Nebraska, on the road, 31-10. Beyond that, whatever I say is mere conjecture. My confident conjecture, since you're asking, is that, as of this moment, we're the second best team in the Big 12. The only teams from the north challenging were, perhaps, Nebraska and Kansas and both lost this past weekend. We took out Nebraska on the road, despite a lackluster effort offensively. It is a rare thing indeed for Tech to be able to state that its defense won a game, and this is probably the biggest game of the Leach era that defense definitively won. On the road. That's a problem for people that aren't Tech (although one could argue it's a problem for us; why did the offense look so flat? Maybe because Nebraska is about as strong a defense as exists in the Big 12). The current leader of the north, plucky Kansas State, was deconstructed by us two weeks ago. From the south it would be Oklahoma State and Oklahoma to contend with. There is no shame in losing to very good BYU (at home! on neutral field) and Miami teams by one point, nor is there any shame in losing to Texas by three on neutral ground. We've played three ranked teams on the road and we're 1-2. That first number is what distinguishes us from Oklahoma. Oklahoma State has a ranked victory (although it's looking less and less impressive) at home. We have a ranked victory on the road. Against common opponents we probably look better: We lost to Houston by one, at their house, and handled Rice better than them. Acknowledging the weakness of the transitive property in football, Oklahoma State's toughish win against A&M is suspect given that they lost to K-State so bad... who lost to Texas Tech with equal fail. If I assume that Texas one day beats Oklahoma State, and I am, then I'm taking Tech. Our game against Texas A&M could well settle that issue against us, but by resume of this date, I state confidently that Texas Tech has the 2nd best in the Big 12. Take me to task for it.

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Crimson and Cream Machine: What is the biggest Big 12 game this weekend not involving OU and Texas? Why?

Skin Patrol: Duh, Texas Tech @ Nebraska, for the reason that I attended school at the former. Actually I don't even need shameful homerism to call this one, as Nebraska is the third highest ranked team in the Big 12, and is probably better than their ranking, relative to the competition. Oklahoma State is 16th, but is moving in the wrong direction, at least relative to the season's start. Nebraska, on the other hand, has looked better with each passing week, particularly as Virginia Tech's (Nebraska's only loss) stock continues to rise. To give you an idea of who the smart money thinks would win on neutral field between the road challengers against teen ranked teams, Tech is a 6 point dog against #15, and Mizzou is a 7 point dog against #16. So we're better, right? Yuck yuck yuck.

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Once more into the breech with the Big 12 Roundtable. Again I am indebted to Rock M Nation for the questions, and my colleagues here at Double T Nation for providing additional answers. I hope you enjoy.

Rock M Nation: A solid 10-2 showing for the Big 12 this weekend. Which of these wins was biggest for the Big 12 and why?

Skin Patrol: Has to be Oklahoma State. After last season's humbling bowl experience, questions remained as to whether or not the Big 12 was an offensive sideshow or a conference legitimately challenging for the title to best in the land. Oklahoma State's victory over Georgia certainly doesn't answer that question by itself, but the game does represent a compelling data point towards the conclusion that we -- the Big 12 -- are the real deal. Given Oklahoma State's subsequent jump in the polls, I think it is safe to say that many voters and coaches concluded the same regarding the import of victory for the Cowboys.

Kayakyakr: Baylor made a huge jump, looking sharp early and holding off the Wake rally in ACC country. Sure, the ACC showed that they weren't all that, but it's still Baylor and still a long way from their home stadium. Most of the other wins had issues, and I'll never be one to give props to Oklahoma State.

More after the break...

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Welcome to the Big 12 Roundtable, with much appreciation lobbed at Rock M Nation for taking the lead on this project. He issued the questions and we're firing back with answers.

Rock M Nation: Everyone knows the national talking points for each Big 12 team by now (Oklahoma has new linemen! Bill Snyder's back at Kansas State! Baylor might upset somebody!). Give us a storyline for your team that isn't quite getting the attention it should.

Skin Patrol: The typical storyline for Tech has been: How can we possibly replace Crabtree/Harrell. I am not sure this is an untold storyline, but perhaps one that deserves more attention: Taylor Potts has looked pretty damn good thus far. As relates to Tech's first timer quarterbacks, Coach Leach typically lets them wiggle around in positional purgatory, never declaring an outright winner until the last moment (first snap of game one?). Potts is pretty clearly the starter of this team and has been for longer than any other Leach first-timer, at least so far as I can tell. Leach's coaching style oscillates wildly, but if there is an identifiable method to his madness, it's that he is never shy about speaking his mind. This applies doubleplus true to his players, who he is not afraid to dress down publicly when they aren't doing as told. There is just a sense that Taylor Potts has run this offense better, as a first time starter, than anyone before him; he's received less criticism -- and considerably more praise -- than former Leach quarterbacks to this point in the CFB season. And considering that former QB list includes NCAA record holders like Cumbie, BJ Symons, and Graham Harrell, there's reason to suspect that Potts will be good for something like a million yards and touchdowns. Do you replace Harrell and Crabtree easily? No, but the caveat might be unless you are Texas Tech. Although it is hardly a hidden storyline, I think many will be surprised with just how well prepared Taylor Potts is, relative to his predecessors, to run this offense even sans one of the best receivers in CFB history. I think he will be better than Harrell in 2006 and Cumbie in 2004, but probably not better than Symons in 2003. Certainly he will be better than Hodges in 2005.

Kayakyakr: Running Game, I think.

More below...

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Not particularly Redskins related, I guess, but I thought I would stop by and drop a line to see how everyone is doing. Not sure if anyone even remembers me at this point. We're something like 22 hours shy of Redskins football and I couldn't be more excited. I'm finishing up a summer job right now before heading back to school, which will hopefully free up enough time so that I can get back into the mix of things here and start contributing again. Site looks great and has obviously gone on to bigger and better things without yours truly, which is a huge credit to KevinE and Sugar.

Line for the game looks something like 31 and a half, which seems low to me for a preseason game. I'm calling the over.

I'll be around.

Go Skins

Global domination.

From various sources comes an emerging and troubling potential Clinton Portis vs. John Riggins duel the likes of which have not been seen since, well, the last time Clinton Portis got into it with anoter former Redskin. Remember this?

Portis: What you go on TV and say, what you sit on your radio show and say, 'Portis need to shut up?' Portis gonna keep talking.
Mitchell: You keep talking. Keep talking, bro.
Portis: So the fools saying Portis need to shut up, they can kiss Portis's ass. I'm saying that. Ain't nothing gonna change, my man....
Mitchell: Clinton, I'm gonna tell you like this bro. I always talk. I'm an analyst. I analyze positive and negative. If you can't handle the negative....
Portis: You're a hater, that's what you are....
Host John Thompson: "Both of y'all are guys that we're both proud of, and when you see one another, eat a sausage sandwich, sit back and put your toes up and laugh about this crap."

That was just months ago and was widely reported as escalating dangerously towards a physical altercation. Now John Riggins is piling on though, thankfully, no one's pockets are losing their straightness as a result. Net yet, at least. Pro Football Weekly and Mark Maske provide the potentially offending quote:

"I don't think there's any turning back now because obviously to a certain extent Clinton Portis has the team over a barrel from my understanding of the amount of money that he's owed, guaranteed money that becomes really cost-prohibitive to get rid of him over a [salary] cap issue. There's not that many teams that would be interested in Clinton Portis, I don't think, and so they have a bad situation on their hands. [That's] my personal take on it."

We'll talk more about the salary implications in a moment, but what's all this noise about, anyways? Something like:

Redskins RB Clinton Portis spoke with a small group of media, including PFW, in Tampa before the Super Bowl and said he still isn’t sure if he’ll be a part of the team’s offseason workouts in the D.C. area or if he’ll work out in Miami, as he has become accustomed to doing — but something the coaching staff would rather he not do.

“I’m going to play it by ear,” he said. “I’m going to be taking my time. I know I’m winding down. I’m going to take my time and make the decision best for me to help carry this team.”

Part of me wants to know more about this "winding down" and wonders why it is that NFL employees get to "play it by ear" when it comes to what their employers want whereas the likes of me do what we're told. Part of me also recognizes that this is hardly business as unusual, and that Clinton Portis (and others) routinely trains outside of Washington in the off-season. So I'm somewhere between lamenting one of our best players effectively telling the staff that what they want may or may not matter, and really being disinterested in his off-season workout destination so long as he shows up healthy. (Mark Newgent correctly points out that perhaps John Riggins isn't the appropriate task-master for this, as he was hardly a boyscout.)

But about this being over a barrel business... Just start adding zeros. Although slightly dated, I don't think much of Portis' contract has changed since January 1st of this year, and Warpath's figures have Clinton as:

• The highest compensated player on the team through 2013, escalating dramatically in 2010 to over 10M a year.
• His release fees start at 13M in 2009 and go down about 2.5M-3M a year as additional guaranteed moneys are prorated out of his contract. Keep in mind this number is just as likely to increase as decrease, because the preferred solution for solving every Redskin salary cap problem is renegotiating formerly unguaranteed money into guaranteed money prorated over the course of the contract, thereby increasing the penalty for early release.
  
• Cursory examination shows that Portis is just above Chris Samuels and just below Chris Cooley in terms of release penalties over the next 3 years.
• Incredibly, the team is in the unenviable position of taking a 7 digit penalty for cutting Portis at any moment before 2013. I love Clinton Portis, he's one of my favorite players on the team. I am incapable, though, of defending our decision to tie so many funds into his contract necessarily. Fates change rapidly in the NFL and you're better off not marrying yourself to (virtually) any player for that much change. I think this is especially true of running backs, as the position is one of the more fungible ones in the game.
  
• Because he's set to cost the team an alarming 10+M in 2010, the team can actually save money by cutting him (with a penalty of around 8.5M) which would then give us the largest individual dead cap hit that I can recall seeing in Washington (for a nice comparison, we paid ~ 6M in total dead cap hit last year) though I could be wrong about that.
  

I harp on it too often and will forget the point for now, but briefly: I do not think restructuring unguaranteed moneys into guaranteed money is a wise strategy generally, and the sheer volume in dead cap hits that we'd suffer from cutting Clinton Portis at any time over the next 3 years is partial evidence of that, in my opinion. Having said that I urge everyone to fall back in love with Clinton Portis, because whatever happens he's either going to be here for a while, or haters should exercise caution over what they wish, as Portis cut and sent packing out of town represents (relatively) dire financial consequence for the team. In other words: Yea, over a barrel sounds about right.

Updates of the news and new media news and blogging variety all carry the same ominous update:

After getting hammered all night by Terrell Suggs and the Baltimore Ravens defense, Washington Redskins Pro Bowl left tackle Chris Samuels tore his right tricep muscle at the start of the fourth quarter of last night's loss, he will have surgery as soon as possible and he is done for the season.

Let's try and make heads or tails of what we're doing to replace Samuels:

Soooooooooo Chris Samuels was the anchor on left side at the seasons greetings. Jon Jansen was the presumptive starter on the right side but quickly lost that job to Stephon Heyer, who equifast lost it right back to Jansen. With Samuels out the smart money says Stephon Heyer gets another shot at this starting offensive line thing the only difference is he has to switch to the other side which surely won't present any problem to a young still somewhat untested undrafted rookie with the confidence of a... young somewhat untested dundrafted rookie who was demoted months ago. Heyer would be replacing former Chris Samuels stand-in Justin Geisinger who, per Curly R:

When Chris went out backup center Justin Geisinger came in to play left tackle, he was immediately victimized by Ravens defensive end Terrell Suggs...

But then Geisinger got an injured knee, so he's out. Reader(s) may be forgiven for thinking "I didn't even know we had a backup center." We don't have a lot of things, actually. Jon Jansen suffered a "grade II sprain of the MCL in his left knee" and, much like our offensive line, he doesn't have any backups available to play left knee when his starter goes down. What the deuce is a grade II sprain, anyways, is there a doctor in the house that can explain the difference between a grade I sprain and a grade II sprain? More hit points and mana, I presume? (NERD ALERT.)

Because our backup right tackle is now our starting left tackle and because our starting left tackle is now on injured reserve and because our starting right tackle (formerly starting tackle turned backup tackle turned starting tackle again it is a wonderful tale of redemption and love and hope that will air on Oxygen this coming spring) had to put his own left knee on injured reserve, hopefully temporarily, big boy Jason Fabini will likely get a chance to prove that he's really just now ready to peak in his 12th NFL season. I'm talking about our starting right tackle, here. Jason Fabini.

The backdrop for this is a Redskins team who, per the Official Site, is really just "Trying to Recapture Momentum" which I thought was delightful and optimistic but not those two things at the same time. Recapture momentum? I don't even know what that means anymore after 2 straight losses and a 1-4 record in our last 5. I've got a plan, though, that's sure to catch that elusive momentum and there's absolutely zero percent chance of failure you just have to trust me on this one I stayed at a Holiday Inn:

Did it work?

It is important to note that this is not what panic looks like yet but it is definitely on the radar.

How is everyone else doing? I am well and I hope you are too.

Quick thoughts and then I'm off to bed. As I doubt no Cowboys fan likes to write about losing to the Redskins, no Redskins fan likes to talk about losing to the Cowboys. I'm brief because I hate the territory.

• The offensive play calling was not good. Normally when we convert 3rd downs I have some sense that it was due in large part to a well designed play. This entire game, barring one screen pass which I thought was well timed, when we converted on third down (so, really, the other four times, as we went an awful 5 of 14 on the most important down) it felt like great individual effort by the players. It is never fair to blame exclusively the coaching staff, or the players, for a loss, but this one felt like coaching.
• Clinton Portis is a man. He came out and ran despite injury and I respect him more and more as this season moves forward. His pockets are, indeed, straight.
• 3.6 yards is how many we had per passing attempt. I read a lot of box scores post-Redskins games and I cannot recall the last time that number was lower. That includes sacks, but even without we're well below 5 yards per attempt. That's just dog meat. How many times does the well have to come up dry before you stop lobbing to the sideline. If it doesn't work the first two times -- and by doesn't work I mean getting tackled for a loss or somewhere around there -- it's not going to work. Even when that play is working you shouldn't go there more than 3-4 times a game. They watch game tapes, ya know?
  
• I hate when the Cowboys succeed at anything, but I appreciate the logic in going for it late in the game with a 4 point lead. Wade Phillips had guts for doing that and I respect him for it. One of the reasons I love Jim Zorn is because he's not afraid to go for it, so I can't well criticize the other bastard for sharing similar sentiments, especially when they succeed. We went for it on 4th and 4 with 6 minutes left. I imagine many of you are going to have something to say about that decision. I loved it, we didn't convert, that sucks, but I thought it was the right call.
• 228 yards of offense? On an average day, the worst offense in the league (Bengals) gets 240 someodd yards. That just sucks and it tells the entire story of the game, which probably wasn't as close as the score.
• The defense played better than I'm feeling about them right now. Fresh in my mind is Marion Barber and company running down our throats seemingly at will, but the box score looks fine. 315 yards drags the Cowboys' season average down, two turnovers, nothing ridiculous on either yards per rush or passing attempt... A slightly high third down percentage (5/11, lower, actually, than the Cowboys' season average) is the only thing bothersome I see. You should've stopped them at the end, defense, but why do we deserve to win any games if we can't score more than 10 points? We'd be 0-9 this year with 10 points per game.

Congrats Dallas, etc. I'm not in panic mode just yet, but we looked strong at the beginning of the season and progressively worse since. Getting demolished by the Steelers, beaten by the Rams, and struggling to beat the Lions and Browns is not good. I don't know where that week two through five team went, but I miss them.

Kickoff: 8:15 PM Eastern at beautiful FedEx field, where the weather looks to be cold with a chance of miserable. Now the good news: Tonight's lunar cycle is the Waning Gibbous variety which, I'm told:

As the moon wanes, the darkness creeps in as shown in the lower line of Xun in the waning gibbous phase. The waning crescent that is two-thirds dark is represented by the two yin/dark lower lines of the trigram Gen. Coming full cycle, we arrive back at Kun and the next new moon.

Saaaaweeeeeat.

Cloudy and cold with 10-15 MPH winds in the evening is the word from some weather website. Low is 31 degrees, so expect modestly dressed Cheerleaders prancing around with smiles and shivers.

All kinds of neato badeato stuff available at Blogging the Boys for the upcoming game. Previews, Q&As, etc. Go enjoy.

Injury Report:

Cowboys: Isaiah Stanback is out. More importantly, Felix Jones is out. He wasn't much of an issue in the first game, but I blame that on poor coaching by the Cowboys as they failed to use him properly. He can play, but not today.

LB Bobby Carpenter is also out. He's a role player, no big shakes. Probable is a laundry list of people, highlights: Leonard Davis, Terence Newman, Tony Romo will play, and Jason Witten. I expect to see them all out.

Redskins: Clinton Portis is questionable and probably will not play. Shawn Springs is questionable but I don't know if he will play, if any reader(s) can update that status as news comes in, that'd be just swell. Anthony Montgomery is out struck down by his achilles heel, which is where his mother held him over the burning hearth to give him his invulnerability everywhere except there. That's why whenever Trojans get Achilles' heel injuries, perhaps by arrows applied directly at, people always think of Anthony Montgomery. I may have this mixed up.

Probable are: Malcolm Kelly who I've read elsewhere will play, Pete Kendall, Santana Moss, Chris Samuels, Jason Taylor -- I've read he'll play, Devin Thomas, Marcus Washington, and Ladell Betts, who we need desparately without Clinton Portis.

Ben will have some info up later on at The Curly R. He managed an interview with Chris Horton earlier this week which is simply phenomenal. Horton sounds grounded and awesome, I really like this kid and couldn't be happier with the way he's playing this year. Redskins.com Gameday. Hog Heaven will have something up later, etc.

Prediction: I'm going to home base on this one. We played them pretty well the last time around but will have to do so tonight without Clinton Portis. We do have our home field advantage back in full effect and I'm absolutely comfortable with the defense against their offense until they prove me wrong. I think we win a close game somewhere in the 20 point range on both sides, so... 27-24 Redskins. Post your predictions below.

This is Dallas Hate Week. Chris Horton says, in the aforementioned interview: "It's [the rivalry] unbelievable. It kind of reminds me of the USC-UCLA rivalary, obviously it's just on a bigger stage. Obviously the fans and, uh, everyone around here can't stand Dallas."

By my lights we're still four wins short of a WC spot as 9-7 simply won't cut it this year. It will especially fail to cut it if, with a loss to the Cowboys, we let their foot into the door for the 2nd spot of the NFC East and get to compete with them for the remainder of the season for limited playoff resources now that they're approaching healthy. All games against the Cowboys are important to Redskins fans. But rarely in year's past have we had the opportunity to so settle their season (I think we kind of did in 2005, that was cool) with a victory. Whether this is a must-win for us, I know the Cowboys have circled that as a game they desparately need to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. If 10 wins is where one needs to be to go postalseason, 5-5 is a horrible spot to be in, especially sitting at 1-3 in division with no possible tie breaker against at least one of the teams in front of you.

So let's win. Post your predictions/thought below and enjoy some Redskins prime time football.

We're not up until 8:15 Eastern or so. Until then, enjoy the afternoon games and comment on them here, if you're so inclined. I get:

Houston Texans @ Indy Colts.

Tennessee Titans @ Jacksonville Jaguars

Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers

That assumes I don't go to a bar. Big assumption. None of the above games have much interest for Redskins fans though I'll probably catch the Titans game with a friend because he's a huge fan. Maybe the Bears/Packers game has some interest given how even-steven the NFC North is. That division could produce a wild card. The games I am interested in, which I can't watch, are:

I like watching Drew Brees so I'll probably catch some Saints @ Chiefs, though I'm optimistic the Saints won't contend for an NFC South wild card spot.

Constantly rooting against the Giants, who we need to stumble in order to have a shot at winning the beast of an East, has us supporting regional rival Baltimore Ravens. I don't like cheering on the Ravens any more than I do their chances of winning this game, but for at least one week best wishes to Baltimore.

The Eagles are a win (and a Redskins loss) away from catching us in the division, though we hold the head-to-head tie breaker. I'd just as soon they lose to anyone and everyone they play to prevent them from catching us, ergo: Go Bengals.

NFC South is a problem. Panthers are going to beat the Lions, and both the Falcons and the Bucs are in prime WC clinching position. I need one or both of them to lose, so I've been tentatively rooting against them week in and week out. Both play at home this week with the Falcons hosting the Broncos and the Bucs hosting the Vikings. Very good chance at least one of them loses.

It is alternatively treated as one of the great College Football Traditions or bains of that sport that rooting guides amongst fans are convoluted messes because the BCS system has made NCAA final destination a mess that can only be sorted out fluidly week by week. As a Texas Tech Red Raider fan, I'm blessed to support one of the few teams in College that still controls its own destiny. But that doesn't mean I've plotted out hypotheticals where we lose to Oklahoma and maybe, just maybe, we need some bizarre things to happen to win a three-way tie breaker in the Big-12 South. I won't bore you with the many permutations I've concocted where we get the nod over Oklahoma or Texas (probably won't happen). The NFL is far more cut-and-dry... Your SOS doesn't really matter. You don't need opponents to win by large margins or slim margins to compel human voters that it could've gone either way. Style points are irrelevant. The Redskins are looking like a wild card team from the NFC East that still has a shot at the division, and so rooting interests are clear: Against all division opponents who could bump us down, against all similarly situated WC challengers from other divisions, against all Redskins opponents. That isn't too difficult to manage. For those of us who write blogs, maybe 'tis better to have some broken, absolutely complicated system of human/cyborg voters that are largely irrational or unpredictable from week to week just so we can discuss the endless possibilities that can play out. For most fans, though, I think there's an appeal to the simplistic NFL postseason system that makes rooting guides so much easier to consume.

You know the drill, some questions answered for the game this weekend, this time complements of Blogging the Boys contributor Brandon W. My answers to their questions will be up some time soon, I'd imagine. Enjoy:

Hogs Haven: What if anything is Tony Romo not going to be able to do under center that he would otherwise be fine at supposing he wasn't recovering from an injury? Anything exploitable?

Blogging The Boys: Apparently Tony Romo is able to do everything he could do before he got hurt and by all accounts is throwing the ball pretty well. The questions surrounding Romo's return are not really on how the injury will affect him, but how the time away from the game will. They say the great quarterbacks are able to step in after an injury and pick up right where they left off, so long as that injury doesn't linger. There's no doubt that having Romo back will infuse this team with some much needed hope and energy and it looks as though Romo has found that energetic spark he's had in the past that was missing earlier in the season. It's amazing what a few games on the sideline will do for your outlook towards the game. As far anything being exploitable, I would say it's going to be the same old Romo out there; a guy who like to take chances and will sometimes force the ball into tight coverage. However, a reinvigorated Romo could be very dangerous to the Redskins and other teams moving forward. The key for this matchup is for the Redskins to apply as much pressure as they can on Romo, because he might be a bit skittish of having that hand knocked into. The Cowboys' offensive line hasn't played up to par this year and Romo was getting hit more than ever when he got hurt against Arizona. Put pressure on him and force him to get rid of the ball quickly and the Redkskins could do a good job of disrupting the offenses timing.

HH: I'm of the opinion that QB pressure plays at least as big a role in generating turnovers as does good secondary play. You guys have a lot of sacks, apparently have gotten some pressure on opposing quarterbacks, but virtually no interceptions. Any reason for that?

BTB: There's a couple of factors that can explain the lack of turnovers the defense has generated. First you have to look at which quarterbacks the Cowboys have faced. Aaron Rodgers, Donovan McNabb, Jeff Garcia, Kurt Warner and Jason Campbell are all averaging well under an interception a game and have done a great job of finding open receivers when pressured. The Cowboys were able to put pressure on these quarterbacks but for some reason weren't able to force bad decisions. A great example of this would be the game against Tampa Bay when the Cowboys repeatedly had Jeff Garcia on the run, yet was constantly throwing the ball out of everyone's reach, something he is doing exceptionally well this season.

Another reason could be the scheme the Cowboys are running with their secondary. The Cowboys have been playing a zone, soft coverage scheme all year in an effort to minimize the big plays against them and keep the receivers in front of them. This prevents the defenders from playing aggressively on the ball and relies on the pass rush to force bad throws. If the quarterback is able to throw the ball accurately, the defenders haven't been in position to make plays on the ball, thus negating the chances for an interception to occur.

The last few games the Cowboys defense had become much stronger in the pass rush and were able to force three turnovers against the Giants, including an interception return for a touchdown by rookie corner Mike Jenkins. The return of outside linebacker Anthony Spencer will allow the Cowboys more options with the blitz and should provide more opportunities for forcing the quarterback into bad decisions. Now we just need the secondary to capitalize.

HH: What is going on with Roy Williams right now? He hasn't been too loud in Dallas just yet, and wasn't playing too loud in Detroit prior to the trade. Is it a lack of chemistry? Can Brad Johnson be blamed?

BTB: First of all I don't see anyone playing too "loud" up in Detroit right now, so I don't see how his lack of production there this season is anything to be worried about.

Roy Williams arrival to the Cowboys came with some very bad timing; as he was walking onto the practice field Tony Romo was walking off for the next month. In his three games with the Cowboys, not only has he failed to produce but the entire offense has been anemic. We got to see flashes of Roy Williams can bring to the table, including a clutch touchdown grab against Tampa Bay and an absolutely incredible one handed catch on the sideline against the Giants. Unfortunately that's about all the action that has gone his way. See the funny thing about receivers is that for them to be effective they actually have to have the ball thrown in their direction, something that wasn't happening at all with Brad Johnson at quarterback.

Williams hasn't made any excuses or mentioned a lack of knowledge of the playbook, so now it's just a matter of getting the ball in his hands. That task now falls into the lap of Tony Romo and Jason Garrett. Romo was able to build on field chemistry with T.O. almost immediately after he became a starter and I don't see a problem with that now with him and Williams. If the Redskins decide they want to focus on taking Owens out of the game, then Romo needs to realize how talented a receiver there is on the opposite side just willing to go up and get the ball.

HH: Terrell Owens called out DeAngelo Hall this week. What do you see from T.O. in this upcoming game? What does he, or the coaching staff, need to do differently to see normal production from Owens?

BTB: I almost feel bad for Owens. He was having a rough go of it earlier in the year and was having difficulty beating the press off the line of scrimmage. When he was getting open, he and Romo were misfiring a bit for whatever reason. Then he started to beat the coverage and find himself open countless times, yet Brad Johnson repeatedly was unable to get him the ball which is the most frustrating thing to happen to a star receiver. They want it thrown to them, but when it is they also need it catchable.  That has been happening the past few months. The responsibility also lies on Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett's shoulders. Last year the Cowboys were able to find mismatches for Owens across the board, putting him in different spots on the field nearly every play, which resulted in Owens having a free release against linebackers and safeties. Garrett needs to find a way to get back to these mismatches for Owens to be effective. Make no mistake about it, Owens is the Cowboys' most dangerous weapon and for them to have success they must find a way to get him the ball. The return of Romo and the addition of Roy Williams should (in theory) take some of the load off Owens and free him to do what he does best.

I also want to say how impressed I have been by Owens' attitude the past month. If ever there was a prime opportunity for a T.O. blowup, this was it. The team was losing, the quarterbacks were inept and even better the Cowboys traded for another top receiver and signed him to a long term deal. Yet Owens has kept his cool and while it's obvious his isn't happy with how things have gone he also hasn't gone crazy on the team or coaches.Owens realizes this is his last chance to win it all, and I am sure he doesn't want to blow it. Completely ignoring Ed Werder helps.

HH: Please tell me everything you know about Felix Jones and his availability for the upcoming game. I have no interest in seeing him on the field.

BTB: When  on the field Felix the Cat has been nothing short of fantastic and his absence has left the running game with some issues. His return would mean a whole new dimension to this offense and could help take some of the pressure off Romo.

Fortunately for the Redskins and bad for us, it seems as if Felix Jones will not be able to go after missing yet another practice on Friday. So there you have it.

Afterall, they have so much in common. They share spit, they talk:

After Terrell Owens spit in DeAngelo Hall's face in Saturday night's game, Hall insisted he'd have nothing to do with the Dallas receiver.

Owens, who was fined $35,000 by the NFL, kept trying to contact Hall, the Falcons' star cornerback. Former Atlanta and Dallas player Deion Sanders finally convinced Hall to take a three-way telephone call on Monday.

"We had a pretty good conversation," Hall said Wednesday. "As far as I'm concerned, it's over. We got it all out, cleared it all out. It's over."

They both face new depth chart challenges. In DeAngelo Hall's case, he joins a Redskins roster already set at CB and looks to be something like our 4th string guy (Leigh Torrence was cut to make room) behind Shawn Springs, Carlos Rogers, and Fred Smoot. Alternatively he could be 3rd CB if Springs is moved over to safety, a possibility voiced here. Terrell Owens probably isn't the #2 wide receiver just yet, but with Roy Williams about he's no longer the perpetually unquestioned alpha male of the Cowboys receiving unit.

And they're both having bad years. Hall was recently cut by the Raiders from a 7 year something like 70 million dollar contract to sign with Your Washington Redskins for a one year deal worth, ostensibly, much less cash. DeAngelo fell out of favor in Oakland in part because of his allegedly bad attitude, and in part because he flat out isn't playing very well:

"At the rate he's playing, I'm looking forward to a big day," Owens told the Associated Press at his book signing today in New York. "I'm no stranger to playing against him. I've had success against him just as much as everybody else has, so if he's out there, I'm looking forward to playing him."

T.O. speaks the truth. Hall, who was extremely overrated in Atlanta, has been horrible this season. Per Stats Inc., he gave up more yards (556 on 40-of-66 passing) than any other cornerback in the league during his brief stint as a Raider.

T.O. is apparently looking forward to playing against a corner that probably wouldn't be lined up against him anyways, as he's buried now much deeper on our depth chart than he would've been on the Raiders. As TORB points out:

This seems like an awfully roundabout way of saying “I hope the new guy is covering me, because the two guys they had on me last time really shut me down[.]”

And maybe that would be best for Owens, as he isn't having the best season of his career. While he's pretty square so far on touchdowns, with six in nine games, his yards are much lower than he's used to as are his yards per reception. If he maintains his 13.3 YPC throughout the rest of the year, that will end up being the third worst season of his career. He's averaging around 52 yards per game, which would be the lowest total of his career since his rookie year in 1996.

Football Outsiders is even meaner. They think he's just about the worst receiver in DYAR (only nine players with 30 or more passes are below him) with a miserable catch percentage of 48%. He has yet to gain 100 yards receiving this season.

And, finally, they'll be on the same field (though probably not often lining up against one another) this coming Sunday at FedEx Field. Given how the year is going for T.O., and his relatively (to his career, I mean, his 7 for 71 yards and a touchdown was probably one of the best games of this season) bad performance against us the last time around, in his house, I think Owens probably missed a perfect opportunity to shut up.

But we will see.

Welcome to midseason or thereabouts, which coincides nicely with our bye week. We get to face the Cowboys at FedEx field but not for 10 days. Meantime, thanks to Big Blue Shoe at Stampede Blue for organizing and collecting votes for the now-annual SB Nation NFL Midseason Studs and Duds of 2008, where a gaggle of us bloggers vote on best and worst of this maturing season. Clinton Portis you done good, son. Enjoy:

Clinton Portis is playing like an MVP right now.

The Studs

NFL Mid-Season MVP: Clinton Portis, Redskins

Comment from David the Falconer at The Falcoholic:

The homer in me wants to say Michael Turner, but he's done the majority of his damage against the league's weakest defenses. Portis has put the Redskins on his back and carried them 100 yards or more down the field most games, and for that he deserves my vote.

Best Player on Offense: Clinton Portis, Redskins

Comment from Skins Patrol at Hogs Haven:

He also has 150 yards receiving and has had his role increase with the injury to Ladell Betts Not everyone knows this, but Portis is the best pass protecting RB blocker in the league and is a big reason why Jason Campbell is playing well this season.

Best Players on Defense: Joey Porter, Dolphins

Comment from BigBlueShoe at Stampede Blue:

I thought this guy was DEAD. How the hell does he have 11.5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles? I mean Jeezus, it is only Week Nine and he has 11.5 friggin' sacks! The hell are they feeding them down there in Miami?

Best Rookie: Chris Johnson, Titans

Comment from cgolden at Revenge of the Birds:

No explanation needed. Just watch this kid play and it's obvious why he's truly special. Were we really questioning his status as a first round pick six months ago?

Best Coach: Jim Zorn, Redskins

Comment from WCG at Windy City Gridiron:

I hate doing this, but in that division the Redskins should have easily been the worst team.

Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio has seen better days.

The Duds

Mid-Season Worst Player: JaMarcus Russell, Raiders

Comment from Dave the Falconer at The Falcoholic:

Consider that this guy was the first overall pick in the draft. Then consider that he can't throw a pass without collapsing into a heap.

Mid-Season Worst Rookie: Vernon Gholston, Jets

Comment from cgolden at Revenge of the Birds:

He's learning a new position so this probably isn't fair but seven tackles in eight games for a top six pick is simply unacceptable. You'd think he could at least be a situational pass rusher.

Mid-Season Worst Coach: Jack Del Rio, Jaguars

Comment from Chris at Big Cat Country:

Can I vote for Del Rio and the Jaguars for every possible spot?

See what I did there? "Not everyone knows this, but..." then I state what many would consider a subjective evaluation as if it were an objective fact. But, point of parliamentary procedure, as a matter of fact, it turns out to be the case that, Clinton Portis is the best pass protecting RB in the league. He deserves all the praise he gets.

The timing was wrong on the vote (shortly after our disaster against the Steelers) and I was worried Coach Zorn would get too penalized for that, but we got him called as the man of the half-year. What he has done with this team is simply phenomenal, and I'd be a liar if I said I knew from the start we would turn out so well under his coaching. I was very skeptical about the overall move and could not be happier to have been so wrong in doubt.

Readers are strongly encouraged to post their own votes and/or justifications and let me, us, know what we got wrong or who we unfairly left out.

I would add punctuation but what's the point? The badness of the field result was beyond question mark. My quick, no sleep necessary on this one thoughts:

• Don't blame the defense. We lost the field fight by 3 yards by only allowing 224 (though only gaining 221). If you give up 3.7 yards per offensive play you probably should not manage to lose by three possessions.
• That is, unless, you only accomplish 3.4 yards per play. This was the worst the offense has looked, although perhaps I'm too many weeks removed from the debacle at the Meadowlands to appreciate what we didn't do against the Giants.
• 3 of 15 on third down tells the entire story. I cannot imagine winning those types of games.
• Why am I listening to cheers when the Steelers score and boos when the Redskins do something well? I think there were more Pittsburgh fans in the stands than there were Redskins fans, or else the bad guys were just louder. I couldn't count the terrible towels.
• We scored our last points with over eleven minutes left in the first quarter. Some of that can be explained by late game gambles in the redzone, but that explanation requires admitting that we can't score when we need to do so with the game on the line.
• Seven times Jason Campbell was sacked. The offensive line had its worst game of the season and we had no answer for edge rushers. I counted about four instances where they had players leaving the line of scrimmage untouched straight for Jason Campbell. Steve Spurrier nods his head with approval.
• How long will the national nightmare this is Antwaan Randle El returning punts continue? He simply isn't good at it. When your head starts bleeding is about the time you stop banging it against the wall.
• Just so amazingly pissed off.

Good night.

Full story here at the Washington Times (speaking of, it was the Times Ryan O'Halloran who was the offending eye-roller, apparnetly, but it's all good now) though I quote the Redskins 360 cliff notes version because I'm one of them insular blogger types. David Elfin said:

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher just told me that Dan Snyder did call him about coaching the Redskins after Joe Gibbs surprised Washington's owner by suddenly retiring on Jan. 8.

"We talked," Cowher said. "It was a good talk. I was very flattered, but I expressed that it wasn't the right time."

I was troubled by how to frame the story, as we're now well beyond the point of caring about Bill Cowher not becoming the Redskins head coach. At the time, perhaps, there was a lot to be said about chinning up with Bill, but off to a 6-2 start I join my Redskins faithful friends in saying, uncontroversially:

We lucked out.

At the time of the hire I was as apprehensive as many fans, as we'd just taken a former QB coach and promoted him to his first head coaching job. I was unconvinced Zorn was the future and certainly others shared that skepticism. Quoting from Pro Football Prospectus:

Jim Zorn's huge leap to head coach comes with more questions than answers. The theme of his first minicamp involved the newcomers to the team, himself included, having to prove themselves to the veterans. Rookies got logo-less helmets. Zorn's opening speech to the team was part auto-biography. The core of veterans who control the locker room in Washington aren't stupid; they know Zorn is inexperienced, wasn't the team's first choice, and doesn't have anywhere near the pedigree that any of their previous coaches have had. If everything goes wrong in the first half of the season, there exists the distinct possibility that this coudl be a one-and-done head coaching career. That's not to say it's likely, but it's possible.

That's not the kind of thing that makes you leap out of bed in the morning, but thank goodness it all worked out. Safe to say that very little has gone "wrong in the first half of the season" and suggestions of one-and-doneness are easily dismissed in hindsight. A lot of coaches have to explain themselves and their performances this year, but Jim Zorn ain't one of them. If this continues -- this being something like a 12-4 record -- he'll be a candidate for coach of the year.

Speaking of candidates... once again, for I think the third time, Clinton Portis was nominated to FedEx's Ground Player of the Week. Having won it twice already, Portis is uniquely blessed to extend his lead over the field with a win this week. Not easy, though, given he's up against Brian Westbrook, who went off gang-busters style against the Falcons. Get voting, reader(s).

Clinton Portis, Washington Redskins

Portis rushed for 126 yards over 24 carries as the Redskins beat the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, 25–17.

(I suggest Drew Brees for the Air player of the week but whatev you want to do.)