The Tears of Unfathomable Sadness

Playing the "I told you so" card is really easy when you write thousands of words per month about sports. Statistically, you're going to get about as many things right as you get wrong. This is why I don't do that dance on this blog. But I'm going to today because I've been criticizing the Redskins special teams for three years, in particular punter Derrick Frost and coach Danny Smith. And today, those special teams were what lost the Wild Card game in Seattle. Yeah, the 'Skins dropped balls, couldn't block and made some defensive mistakes; but if the Redskins had a competent punter, kicker and special teams coach, I believe they'd be looking forward to a game next Sunday in Dallas.
Look; it's not Derrick Frost's fault that he sucks, anymore than it's a tiger's fault for having stripes. It's Danny Smith's fault for sticking with Frost for the past three seasons when his awfulness is on display in every game. As early as 2005 I was yelling about the team of Smith and Frost and calling for their immediate ouster. I've done so in nearly every game since. It gets so bad each week that I should really have a "F--- Danny Smith" message saved in my "Quick Text" folders. Yes, my friends, his special teams units are that bad.
In every preview I've done for the Redskins since 2005, I always mention that the 'Skins poor special teams could be the difference between a win and a loss. This was never a bold prediction because oftentimes that's exactly what happened. Shank punts, bad coverage, poor kickoffs; the field position battle was never won by Smith's special teams. Never. Those things don't make the highlight reels, but when you're constantly giving opponents 20 yards per punt exchange, it adds up. Short drives that should be punts from the 45 turn into long field goals from the 30 because of stuff like that. Today, the Seahawks first ten points were due, in large part, to the Redskins' poor special teams. A penalty on Frost's second punt gave the Seahawks an extra 35 yards after a re-kick; they scored a TD on that drive. Seattle's first FG came after a short drive, as they got the ball on their own 45 following a 34-yard Frost punt. What was doubly bad was watching Seahawks punter Ryan Plackemeier (a Wake Forest guy, to add insult to injury) pin the 'Skins deep in their own territory three times.
Dammit.
I've written frequently about how ridiculous it is that Smith didn't see fit to bring in any competition for Frost and kicker Shaun Suisham in training camp. I often say this during games while shaking my head in disgust. This year I've ripped on Frost's punts, Suisham's inconsistency and the overall play of Smith's unit. It was so bad that it led me to write on this site before today's game:

I'm most worried about the Redskins special teams. Derrick Frost is the worst punter I've seen in the NFL this year and Shaun Suisham is just good enough to break your heart when he'll inevitably miss a chip-shot game-winner.

It wasn't just the special teams, of course; there were lots of things that contributed to today's loss. The offensive line couldn't keep pressure off Todd Collins early, Clinton Portis ran poorly, everyone dropped balls (more on that in a second) and untimely penalties (mainly on special teams) were killer.
What's even worse is that the Redskins had the game in control early in the fourth quarter. After two quick TDs, Anthony Mix recovered a poor Suisham kickoff that bounded over the head of Nate Burleson to give the Redskins the ball at Seattle's 14. Chris Cooley dropped an easy ball on first down that would have moved the chains to the 2, a killer mistake that especially hurts because Cooley rarely drops such balls. Still, even after a three-and-out the 'Skins were poised to take a four-point lead with a chip-shot field goal. As I predicted just hours before, Suisham inexplicably pushed the 30-yard attempt wide.
Had the kick been good, there was still lots of football to be played. But considering the quickness of the Redskins comeback, how much the fans would have been out of the game and the tenacity that the 'Skins defense had exhibited on the previous two possessions, it's tough to imagine that Seattle would have come back so quickly. And even if they had, a touchdown would only have put them up by a field goal.
Instead, Suisham's miss deflated the Redskins and inspired both the Seahawks and their overrated "12th man". It gave them hope. Just as I was sure that a successful field goal would have given the Redskins the win, I was equally sure that the miss meant an inevitable loss.
The final score wasn't indicative of this game. Years from now, people will look back at this score and think that the Seahawks blew out the Redskins. They'll be wrong. Washington had their shot in this game and couldn't take advantage, mainly due to a special teams unit that has no business playing in the NFL.
They'll be talk about how the Redskins were tired after their four-game win streak, about how the emotion of Sean Taylor's murder finally caught up with them and how Joe Gibbs has "lost it". It will all be bullshit. Today's game was there for the taking and the Redskins left it on the table. When Anthony Mix picked up that kickoff to give the Redskins that first down deep in Seattle territory, we had 'em. And they let 'em off the hook.
It's ironic that the final nail in the coffin to the season came when Santana Moss did something Sean Taylor never would have done: Give up on a play. Down seven points, Todd Collins heaved a ball towards Moss, who broke his route because he didn't beat his man deep. Figuring Collins wouldn't make the throw (which was probably a correct assumption), Moss slowed down and stopped playing. By the time the Seahawks defender had intercepted the ball, Moss was at a standstill and couldn't recover quickly enough to make the tackle.
I'm drained now and will probably just lay on the couch, pop in a movie and down whatever alcohol is left in my fridge. The thought of watching any more football this weekend makes me ill. It makes it worse that I think we might have just seen Joe Gibbs walk off a football field for the final time. If that's true, he deserved a better send-off.