Don't Call It An Upset: Redskins 26 -- Cowboys 24

Today's victory by the Washington Redskins in Dallas was big on so many levels. First, the Redskins earned an NFC East road victory during a brutal stretch where they face New York, Dallas and Philly away from home during three of the first five weeks of the season. Emerging from this stretch at 3-2 was always the goal and now the 'Skins are assured of that, regardless of what happens next week against the Eagles.
Secondly, for the third consecutive week, Jason Campbell looked strong and confident in the pocket and, more importantly, played the fourth quarter with a coolness he never has exhibited during his career. The reason I was high on JC this offseason when many in the DC area were unsure was that Campbell always seemed to possess the qualities that quarterbacks can't learn. He was poised (other than late in games), had the arm, had the touch and managed games very well. His two main problems is that he tends to focus on one receiver, not searching the field, and his late-game meltdowns. Today, Campbell showed massive improvement in both areas.

* The Redskins only won by two, but the score wasn't indicative of how they outplayed the Cowboys. Granted, the team needs to get in the endzone more when they're in the red zone, but if that's the only problem they have after today, it's an OK one to have.

* Clinton Portis continues to fly under the radar nationally, but he's arguably been the most consistent back in the league over his career. Others are more flashy, get more points and have more pub, but Clinton brings it every week and always plays a vital role in Redskins' wins.

* It's no coincidence that the revival of the Washington D has coincided with the arrival of safety Chris Horton. The dreadlocked seventh-round pick out of UCLA is the epitome of a ball hawk; his interception of a Tony Romo floater today was caused by Horton's sprinting out to the sideline, only picking up the flight of the ball at the last second. Many will give Vinny Cerrato credit for finding Horton in the final round of the draft, but I can't agree. (And it's not because I can't stand Cerrato and am loathe to give him credit for anything. He once had a very nice tie on. So there's a compliment.) It's just tough for me to praise NFL teams for finding guys in the sixth or seventh rounds. Yes, scouting plays a big role in finding undiscovered gems, but luck plays a much bigger one. Sure, Cerrato liked Horton. But if he liked him so much, why wait so long to take him? It's not like anybody would have been ripping Vinny for reaching with a sixth-round pick for him. This reminds me of when people lavish praise upon the Patriots for drafting Tom Brady. If the Patriots were so enamored with Brady, why didn't they take him in the fourth or the fifth round? Why risk letting him go somewhere else. The Patriots liked Tom Brady enough to select him in the draft and for that they deserve credit. But if they thought he was going to be one-fourth as good as he is now, they wouldn't have let him stay on the board so long.

* Troy Aikman is the best color analyst in football. He said two things today during the game that no other analyst would have mentioned. First, he eviscerated Danny Smith for calling a pop-up kickoff to start the second half. 'Skins K Shaun Suisham pooched the ball to the 20 and Dallas promptly returned it to the 42. The Cowboys hadn't returned a ball more than 22 yards all game, and Smith was popping it up? It made no sense and gave the Cowboys momentum to start the half. Aikman noticed this and ripped the kick immediately after it happened and then after Dallas scored a game-tying TD on that drive.
The ex-Cowboys QB also called out Marcus Washington for being completely worthless, which is something that most Redskins fans have noticed, but is rarely discussed in the media. Marcus is awful, by the way. He and Fred Smoot are liabilities when they step on the field.

* Durant Brooks had a much better day at punter, and Shaun Suisham was great at kicker. Too bad Danny Smith had to mess that all up by ordering that kickoff.

* Seriously, I have a man-crush on Chris Horton.

* It can be said enough how huge this victory was. And it just goes to show that NFL "experts" have as much of an idea what is going to happen as you or I. Nobody on ESPN picked the Redskins to win and the Cowboys were 11.5 point favorites. Although, one downside of the win is that now people will be hyping up the 'Skins, when I was quite content to have everyone sleeping on them. Depending on what happens in this Philly game tonight, next week's showdown will easily be the most-anticipated of the weekend.

* As for other NFL action; I told you about the Browns back in April. Good thing they're on in primetime four more times this season. Nothing like showcasing a team that couldn't beat out Tennessee for a playoff spot last year. And, for real, why can Brandon Lloyd catch the ball now that he's out of a Redskins uniform? He just made a catch while falling backwards, which is one more catch than he could make while standing upright while in Washington.

* I'd be remiss if I didn't congratulate the Washington Nationals today. They earned their 102nd loss on the season, thus clinching the #1 draft choice in next June's MLB amateur draft. Thanks to the Seattle Mariners for winning three straight to end the year, thus letting the Nats sneak into the top spot.

Why Jason La Canfora Needs To Go

It was really only a matter of time: FireJLC.com
While I agree with the general outlook of the site, I don't agree that Jason La Canfora should be fired, per se. A reassignment would be in the best interests of everyone. With circulation plunging at the Post, does the newspaper really want to alienate those who subscribe mainly for the Sports page by continuing to give inches to a writer with an axe to grind against the city's most popular team?
It's impossible to read a La Canfora-bylined story in the Post without questioning whether the information that's given is being used to drive the author's anti-Cerrato agenda. I wrote this a few weeks back, but as it was a decent point and I make so few of them, I'll repeat it: The Post would never allow John McCain's beat reporter to pen a blog entry discussing how much he hates John McCain. Once a reporter's objectivity is called into question, readers immediately begin to question that reporter. So why does the Post allow La Canfora to write such things on Redskins Insider? The newspaper has been the best major publication at working in blogs to their news site. Dan Steinberg's DC Sports Bog is one of the best blogs there is. And if he had beef with Vinny Cerrato, I'd be all for it. That would be OK, because there isn't a conflict of interest.
In political coverage reporters often let their leanings come through in their articles, but it's not as big an issue because half the people tend to side with the reporter (and the other half are Republicans who already accept that unless they want to read The Washington Times, there's no use complaining about it.) But those who read the Post's Redskins coverage are fans of the team. Redskins haters aren't reading Redskins notebooks and game stories, it's safe to assume. So why piss off all those fans who read the paper to get their 'Skins news?
This isn't to say that the Post can't be critical of the team or needs to become an outlet for the propaganda spouted by the front office (as Daniel Synder would like). They need to, however, realize that those who subscribe to the paper predominantly for the Sports page (like me; I don't mind reading the other sections online, I like having the Sports page in my hands though) are doing so for Redskins coverage. And it's expected that the news coverage of the team be unbiased and informative. Jason La Canfora can't provide the former. It's time for him to go.

The Clashin' in Ashburn: Cerrato vs. La Canfora

Every day is a soap opera at Redskins Park. Today's involves my two least favorite people associated with the team: Jefe-for-life Vinny Cerrato and Washington Post Redskins beat writer (emphasis on beat) Jason La Canfora. The story is, well, it's actually unbelievable. Here's as quick and unbiased a recap as can be given:
Vinny Cerrato began his radio show last Friday. I had distinct opinions on the subject. One of my questions was what Cerrato would discuss on the show, considering that many topics would be off-limits because of NFL tampering rules (personnel moves, and such). Jason La Canfora thought the same thing, only he just didn't wonder. He wanted to find out what constitutes tampering. Now, a little back-story. (I told you it's a bit confusing.)
On the debut show, Cerrato interviewed Adam Schefter of the NFL Network. Cerrato asked a question about Raiders coach Lane Kiffin, which Schefter responded to by saying that if the Raiders had lost last week's game, Kiffin would have been fired.
After hearing that clip, La Canfora called the NFL League office to see whether Cerrato had violated any tampering rules by discussing Lane Kiffin's job status. La Canfora was told that there was no restrictions on publicly talking about another team's players or coaches.
And that's the end of the story. Only, it was actually just the beginning.
The Redskins don't get along with The Washington Post. They never have going back to the days of Jack Kent Cooke. That's a story in its own right, but it will suffice here to say that there has long been animosity between two of Washington's three most important institutions. (The third, of course, being Ben's Chili Bowl.)
Jason La Canfora fits right into the Post/Redskins battle. He has a personal enmity for Vinny Cerrato that makes me think, "yo, bro, you need to relax". He seems petty and resentful, likely because the Post doesn't get the access it thinks it deserves. (In their defense, the Redskins probably could stand to be more accomodating to the city's newspaper of record that provides free publicity for the team year-round. However, guys like La Canfora also need to understand that it's not the Redskins job to do your job for you. If you want a story, get it. There's a reason Sportsline's Jay Glazer broke the story about Gibbs coming back to Washington, while all the local guys were left wondering how the got scooped. Glazer had sources, the beat guys didn't.) Now, La Canfora takes all his frustrations out on Cerrato by trying to narc on him to the league office. The whole "tampering tip-toe" could be looked at in one of two ways:
1) La Canfora was doing his journalistic duty by inquiring about the tampering. It's a legitimate story and one that would have been interesting and informative.
2) La Canfora was doing his dirty work under the guise of journalistic duty by inquiring about the tampering.
The second option seems far more likely.
The Post defended La Canfora today (more on that in a second) by writing:

Jason did not make any sort of complaint whatsoever. (In fact, reporters cannot charge teams with violations of NFL rules. Only other teams can file charges like tampering.) He referred to Cerrato's questions about Raiders coach Lane Kiffin only to provide context for the question he was asking. He did not write about the issue.

That might technically be true, but it belies the point. La Canfora wanted Cerrato to get stuck with a tampering charge, so he played narc and figured if there was a violation, he could get a story out of it. The Post notes that he didn't write about the issue. Of course he didn't. There was no story. Once La Canfora found out that there was no tampering, the story was dead. You can be guaranteed that there would have been a story had the NFL said, "yeah, that's probably tampering."
I'll also take issue with the "he referred to Cerratos questions about Raiders coach Lane Kiffin only to provide context..." quote. That's crap. La Canfora could have used any sort of hypothetical to ask his question about what constituted tampering. Instead, he chose a very specific example, which shows that it was used to see whether that specific statement was a violation of the tampering rules.
La Canfora tried to create a story. He failed. La Canfora probably did what he did with a smirk on his face, hoping that something would stick against Cerrato. Maybe it wouldn't have resulted in any penalty, but a public rebuke or any embarrassment that La Canfora could have provided for his arch-nemesis would have probably been viewed as a victory.
We've established La Canfora's pettiness and complete lack of professionalism (I once described how he goes to work dressed like a frat guy who's late for a 10:00 a.m. class), but to shift blame back to the Redskins for a bit, this is exactly why you don't give a live radio show to your sitting general manager. Everyone saw something like this coming, it was inevitable. Jason La Canfora is an idiot, but so are Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato for fostering an environment that led to Jason La Canfora's idiocy to ever become a big story.
So what should happen to La Canfora? I can't imagine his Post editors are happy about this, despite their public show of support. It might not be a fire-able offense, but a move off the Redskins beat is probably the best thing the newspaper can do at this point. Might the paper's editors resist that so as not to lose face in their never-ending battle with the team?
As for the Redskins, they have to be even more furious with La Canfora and the Post than they already were. What can be done? Could the Redskins ban Jason La Canfora from the grounds? I'm not even sure if that's possible. But the punishing of one petty act with another petty act doesn't make any sense. (Which is why Vinny Cerrato is probably considering that very option.)
It's just all a mess. And it should never have happened in the first place. Vinny Cerrato never should have gotten that radio show. It was a bad idea when it was announced and it's even worse now that there have been two shows. He should have stuck to his office, scouting every college WR in order to take 7 of them next draft, getting excited about every over-the-hill free agent and feeding grapes to Dan Snyder while he gets his pedicures. Just like old times.

Victory: Redskins 24 -- Cardinals 17

With road games at Dallas and Philly coming up over the next two weeks (thank you, schedule maker -- maybe it's the same idiot who made the Yankee Stadium finale one week before the end of the season against the Orioles) -- the Redskins win over Arizona was a huge victory to get the squad to 2-1.

* Jim Zorn did two things I loved this game. First, he screamed at (crappy) punter Durant Brooks after Brooks called for a field goal snap before the refs had started the game. Zorn, who said something like "you'll be outta here tomorrow" during his sideline tirade, was angry that Brooks had, in effect, iced his own kicker with that move. Zorn also yelled at Danny Smith, which obviously bumps him up about 30 notches in my book.
I also loved the play-call on 2nd and 4 with under two minutes remaining. Had the Redskins not gotten a first down, they would have had to punt to Arizona with about 35 seconds on the clock. The Cards had no timeouts, so a first down wins the game. All my life the Redskins have run the ball in that situation, sometimes getting the first and ending the game, other times getting stopped short and having to punt. But Zorn did something different today. He ran a play-action to the right side, which drew the defense completely to that side of the field. Campbell rolled out the opposite way and found a wide open Chris Cooley on the sideline.
Had the pass gone incomplete, Zorn would have been eviscerated, as the Cards would have received the ball with probably 60 seconds on the clock. But it worked. It was ballsy. And it's the sort of play that gives players confidence in both their own ability and their coach.
The call isn't on the level of Mike Shanahan going for 2, but it's the same type of thing. For most, it wasn't the right move until it was clear that it was the right move. But even though I was initially skeptical, I realized that having the stones to make that call says something about Jim Zorn, and I think that something is pretty good.

* Zorn also decided to go for a 52-yard field goal late in the game that would have put the 'Skins up 10. Those on TV thought he should punt. It turned into a should-he/shouldn't-he question that was answered when Shaun Suisham missed the kick. But there should have been no debate. You don't punt that ball (unless you have a punter who can coffin corner kicks, which the Redskins do not). A 52-yard FG is a makeable kick. Shaun Suisham gets paid to make those kicks. The problem is, he's awful, so he can't. But you have to give him that shot, if only to give me another reason to hate Danny Smith.

* Durant Brooks -- wow, he sucks. The Redskins need to find another punter, stat. (Good news though: Derrick Frost is doing just as poorly in Green Bay.)
(Note: Mr. Irrelevant tells me that I've been told I'm being too harsh on the rookie. That may be the case, but how long should he be given to improve? Two more weeks? Two more months? His poor punt led to what could have been a back-breaking score in the Saints game. It's bound to happen again. I don't actually think the 'Skins should get rid of Brooks right now, but I'd say his leash should be very short.)

* The referee of the game was a first-year official whose name isn't important enough for me to waste time looking up. But he called one of the weirder penalties I've ever seen. On a pass play that had a route going up the sideline, the officials called offsetting pass interference calls. Meaning, the receiver and the corner were both called for PI. How is that possible? One guy engages the PI call so he's the guy who gets the flag called on him. Anything that happens afterwards is an extension of that first penalty. I don't get that one at all. Daryl Johnston said he had never seen that call ever.

* That ridiculous personal foul on Stephon Heyer could have been a game changer. For those who didn't see the game, Heyer got called for a personal foul after pushing Cards D-lineman Darnell Dockett in the back during a play. The call negated a 65-yard TD from Jason Campbell to Devin Thomas. The problem was that Heyer didn't do anything illegal on the play. Jason Campbell rolled left and the play left the area in which Heyer and Dockett were standing. Dockett was standing non-chalantly, content to not follow the action. Heyer, on the other hand, blocked Dockett while he was standing around. It was a purposeful shove -- Dockett had been jawing with CP all day -- but a legal one. The play was still ongoing and Dockett was on the field. Just because he had stopped playing doesn't mean everyone else had. What a brutal call.

* Don't want to be a Negative Nancy, but the lack of rushing game worried me a bit. Frankly, both lines are worrisome.

* Great INT by Leigh Torrance and Carlos Rogers (INT off the helmet of Torrance, into the arms of Rogers). It's amazing that Rogers can make that circus catch, but can't pick the ball when it's thrown right to him.

* Santana was great, as usual.

* London Fletcher was playing with a heavy heart after his father passed away on Wednesday. As always, London was the hardest-working man on the field and was the only Redskins linebacker who did anything.

* Marcus Washington and Fred Smoot are officially useless. And as for Reed Doughty, don't get me started. Why he was in there over Chris Horton is baffling. Maybe Vinny Cerrato can talk about that tomorrow on his radio show.

* Other than the deep play where Fitzgerald worked Doughty, the Cards offense didn't do too much against the Skins. That would make it 11 straight quarters of solid defense (excepting the first quarter of the Giants game.)

* Jason Campbell looked much more relaxed. He still is telegraphing his passes a bit, but has improved in that regard. The timing is still a little off, but he's made huge strides early in the season. I'm down with JC.

* Shawn Springs is necessary for that secondary. When he was out in week 1, the unit was all over the place. Since Springs' return, they have played well, as long as Reed Doughty isn't in the game.

You've Gotta Be F***ing Kidding Me

Because drafting crappy players, overpaying free agents and monitoring the league's personnel moves doesn't take enough time as it is, Redskins Jefe-for-Life Vinny Cerrato will add HOSTING A LIVE RADIO SHOW to his duties. Yeah, you read that right. Let's take it back to third grade and do our 5 W's (which is about what Cerrato seems to lead the team to most years) about the Vinny Cerrato Radio Hour.
WHO - Vinny Cerrato, the most ineffective de-facto general manager in the NFL.
WHAT - He'll be hosting a two-hour radio show that will discuss -- well, what will it discuss? All Cerrato could possibly do is brag about the two good picks he's made (Chris Horton and Chris Cooley -- even though Cooley was more of a Gibbs guy), overinflate the worth of his other terrible picks "We love Reed Doughty, he's just a late bloomer") and, that's pretty much it. NFL rules violate a general manager or president from discussing players on other teams, so it's not like Vinny could be talking about how he'd like to trade away the entire 2009 Draft for a chance to get DeSean Jackson. Because that'd be against the rules. And say what you will about Vinny, but at least he doesn't cheat, Bill Belichick.
WHEN - Mondays and Fridays from 10:00 a.m. -- 12:00 p.m. But, wait, you'll say! Aren't Mondays the most important personnel days of the football season? Why yes, friendo, they are.
WHERE - They'll be broadcasting from Redskins Park, or the 8th circle of hell, depending on traffic.
WHY - Why?? Whyyy??? WHHHHHYYY? Who the hell knows. At this point, the relationship between Snyder and Cerrato has turned from awkwardly symbiotic to creepily dominated by the one without any money or power. Cerrato seems to have a trance on Snyder, one that he uses to convince Snyder to let him do all these ridiculous things like draft 3 pass-catchers in last year's draft or host a radio show in the middle of the season when he should be working.
Amazingly, Jason La Canfora hates on Cerrato even more than I do (which is weird, because La Canfora covers the team, and I'm just some dude. I mean, would the Post allow it's McCain beat reporter to write blog entries ripping McCain?), which made for a good read on tonight's Redskins Insider. The money excerpt:

And the show will run Mondays, which is the busiest personnel day of the week, with tape to be broken down of your own team, film to be looked at of other players, lists to be compiled of free agents to bring in. It's when you fill voids from injury or ineffectiveness, dissect the roster, check in around the league.

In general, when a lot of other GMs and personnel guys are breaking down film of free agents, and opposing players in the afternoon, trying to find any way to upgrade the roster, Cerrato personally attends every Redskins practice, usually right by Snyder's side. So between those 2 ½ hours per day on the practice field, and then another 4 hours a week on the radio ... let's just say that's a big chunk of time. I'm not sure how many of you guys could function at your primary jobs while cutting out prime hours like this twice a week to moonlight on the radio. Seems like it would be tough.
Sure, Cerrato has a staff around him, but trust me, this is pretty unprecedented. I've covered every pro sports league to some degree and been around this business a long time, and I'd be stunned to find another executive with this type of position who can waste four hours of prime business hours per week - in season no less - yapping on the radio. What if an agent is trying to reach him? What if a GM has a trade offer? What if there is an emergency of some sort?
"I've never heard of anything like that before, and I've been in this business a long time," one NFL executive said after being convinced that this was in fact not a gag. "I can't imagine anyone else in the NFL doing this. How can you justify spending your time like that? What am I doing still in the office breaking down film (it was 9 pm at the time)?
"And you're telling me this is gonna be every Monday? The morning after a game? They wonder why people point the finger at them over there, then they keep doing stuff that opens them up to criticism. I can't believe this one."

This just confirms what we've all thought for a long time: they have no idea what the hell is going on over there at Redskins Park. Before, we just thought we knew. But underlying that doubt was the glimmer of hope that maybe, one day, Cerrato and Snyder's plan for football dominance would come to fruition.

Now it becomes evident that football success is somewhere in between maximizing revenues and strengthening the Redskins brand idendity on the "to do" list on the two-man desk that Dinny inevitably shares. If Snyder is willing to sacrifice meaningful hours of his football boss's day, then it's a reasonable assumption that Snyder is less interested in winning football games than we thought.

That was always the thing about Snyder; we all thought he wanted to win. That's what he had going for him. That's why the entire town hasn't yet turned on him. He loves the Redskins and always wants to win. With this move, however, that perception could change. Snyder still loves the Redskins, but giving Cerrato a show in the middle of the season indicates (to me, at least) that he's just as interested in winning a radio battle.

If this was any other of my teams, I'd have jumped shipped long ago. But the bond is too strong. I can't abandon these helpless idiots who are destroying my city's beloved franchise. Maybe one day they'll change. Or maybe one day they'll elope to Hawaii, never to be heard from again. That'd be great.

The Clinton Portis/Brian Mitchell Battle

One night last year after the Redskins beat the Vikings in a key Sunday night game, my buddy Ben and I celebrated the win by drinking Patron and watching the local Comcast postgame show that featured Brian Mitchell. Mitchell was a versatile punt and kick returner for the Redskins for over a decade -- the only constant from the first Gibbs years to those lean campaigns with Norv Turner at the helm. For a time, Mitchell held the NFL record for most total yards gained, until Jerry Rice passed him. After brief stays with the Giants and Eagles (I could be wrong about the Giants), Mitchell retired. He is now employed by Comcast Sports Net. We all loved B. Mitch back in the day, so it stood to reason that our feelings for him wouldn't change as he made the transition into television. We were wrong. B. Mitch is a hater; a huge, I-want-what-you-got hater.
Back to that night after the Vikings games, it was a great win that just about wrapped up a playoff berth. But all Bitchell could do was complain about Clinton Portis and bad defense and poor safety play (this was three weeks after Sean Taylor's murder, so criticizing safety play at that point was absurd). It was impossible to watch.
All Mitchell does it hate. My mom thinks he has a chip on his shoulder. Another friends thinks he's probably just a dick. Whatever it is, Brian Mitchell has turned into one of the more hated ex-Redskins in the area. That perception will grow after a on-air verbal spat between Bitchell and Clinton Portis, in which Portis called out Bitchell for talking smack on the air.
(The conversation stems from an article last week in The Washington Post in which Portis talked about his career and pondered what it would be like to be on other teams. It's important to note that, while Portis was taking some shots at play-calling, he never expressed a desire to be anywhere but in Washington.)
I'd recap it for you, but with so many interesting parts, I'd probably leave off something you'd enjoy. So, even though it's 12 minutes, I recommend listening to the whole thing. (And if you don't want to do that, the first 6 minutes features the best part of the spat.)

http://nick8.surfernetwork.com/Media/Pod/wwxx/podcasting/09-16-08-Portis-JT-Show.mp3

Redskins Ramblings: Week 2

* When the feel of inevitable failure was seeping into FedEx Field today, all I could think about was how this was a game that shouldn't have even been close. The Redskins had dominated New Orleans on both sides of the ball all day. Except for capitalizing on a bad turnover and a nice punt return, the Saints had done very little. The Redskins, on the other hand, moved the ball, made defensive stops, drove and controlled the time of possession. But they were still down by 9 points. Then, with a key 3rd down conversion to Chris Cooley, the Redskins picked up momentum, carried it on Clinton Portis's back into the endzone and maintained it on a 3rd down stop by Chris Horton. After a long TD from Campbell-to-Moss and the game was won. The Redskins dominated, but won in a tight, hard-fought battle. Such is the way of life in the NFL.

* Jason Campbell had a great fourth quarter. Getting away from the Saints rush, stepping up in the pocketing and hitting Santana Moss on a picture perfect 67-yard go-ahead TD pass was the signature play of his short career. But this should not belie the fact that Campbell was ineffective for much of the game. He took too long in the pocket, couldn't check down the field for other receiving options and, on numerous occasions, his timing was way off. Wide open receivers were waiting for Campbell to release the ball. By the time the pass was coming their way, defenders had converged. Campbell needs to work on that timing. He wasn't bad enough to lose the game for the Redskins at that point, but he wasn't good enough to win.

* Clinton Portis and London Fletcher are the definition of football players. They bring it every game.

* Reed Doughty was Wally Pipp'd this week by rookie 7th round choice Chris Horton. The dreadlocked UCLA product had two interceptions, one fumble recovery and, just as importantly, contributed on a key 3rd-and-1 stuff late in the game (the change of possession eventually led to the Campbell/'Tana touchdown). He should be the NFC's Defensive Player of the Week. And this is the first start of his career.

* Jim Zorn going for two in the middle of the fourth quarter was about as dumb as Mike Shanahan's decision to go for two was ballsy. When there is more than 10 minutes left on the clock, you ALWAYS take the points. Because of the botched conversion, the Redskins were down two scores following Reggie Bush's touchdown instead of one.

* The special teams, oh, the special teams. I must have written a "special teams!!!!" text to my friends about 15 times during the game. The extra !!!!! were to ensure that the sarcasm was dripping. One missed FG, one botched snap that led to a missed FG, horrible punts, horrible punt returns -- Danny Smith's crew are who we thought they were. Crappy at football. I love me some Antwan Randle-El, but he's gotta stop returning punts. It's time.

* Love the decision to throw the slant on 4th-and-2 to run the clock out. That was a ballsy call, so kudos to Jim on that. He still looks like a doofus with those tight t-shirts though. Who does he think he is, Larry Eustachy?

* 1-1 with 2-0 Arizona coming to Landover. I'll take it. With road games at Dallas and Philly looming, this is as big as a non-marquee game can be early in the season. That made sense, right?

Greg Blache Compares Reggie Bush/Jeremy Shockey to a "1-2 combination" from Muhammad Ali

What does this mean? 158 yards and 2 TD for Devery Henderson tomorrow.

The ESPN Ombudsman Is Back At It

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record (as I seem to write this every time she writes a new column), but the ESPN ombudsman is spot-on with her analysis and critique of the network. Her latest piece looks at ESPN's relentless focus on cross-platform synergy. I don't think it's a coincidence that SportsCenter has improved since Le Anne Schreiber ripped the show. Now, if she can just write something about Sunday NFL Countdown...

Jason Taylor Burning Bridges In D.C.

Or maybe he's flaming them. Either way, Jason Taylor isn't winning any friends at Redskins Park or around the Washington D.C. area. It's only been one week, but his signing is already reminding some (OK, me) of the Deion debacle... But at least Deion was eminently likable.
Taylor contributed nothing to the Redskins defense on Thursday night and was probably a liability when he was on the field. This week, in his brief words to the media (more on that in a second), he tried to defend himself with lines like:

"I'm nowhere near 100 percent yet.... I'm not there yet, but there's no excuse. I've got to find a way to make plays."

The only athlete quote I enjoy more than the non-apology apology is the non-excuse excuse. You can't make an excuse and then say, "but there's no excuse." The "I'm nowhere near 100 percent" quote is an excuse. As my buddy Jaf said today, Cornelius Griffin goes out every week banged up but you don't hear him complain about it during the week. It's the NFL; nobody is 100%. Shut up, Jason.
A friend texted me from Redskins Park today and said that Taylor is already making enemies with the media and the PR staff. He rarely does interviews (which is fine, except when you make the press go to your charity events to speak to you) and, generally, seems to be regarded as a prima donna. That might have been well and good in Miami, but until he produces in D.C., Taylor gets no leash from anyone. Dancing With the Stars doesn't get you mileage here, jackass.

New picture courtesy The New York Times

Live Blogging Tonight on Shutdown Corner

The title is pretty self-explanatory. Thankfully, the Redskins aren't playing tonight, so my
comments shouldn't consist solely of referee-bitching and criticism of Jim Zorn. Stop on by and leave a comment; I'll be covering the first game (Vikings/Packers) along with Roto Arcade's Scott Pianowski. MJD and Andy Behrens will be on duty for the nightcap.

DeSean Jackson Is Hot Like Hansel

It's only week one, but according to everyone, rookie Eagles WR DeSean Jackson is the real deal. I hope these prognostications turn out to be false for many reasons, the least of which is that the Redskins passed on Jackson not once, but twice in April's draft. The 'Skins selected Devin Thomas (you know, the guy who doesn't stretch) with the 34th pick and then Fred Davis (of the oversleeping Davis's) at #48. Jackson went with the next pick to the Eagles.
If Jackson does indeed blow up, maybe this will be the death knell for Vinny Cerrato. Naw, I'm only kidding, Vinny is untouchable!

Hope You Didn't Pick Tom Brady on Your Fantasy Team

Yahoo! Sports' Mike Silver is reporting that Tom Brady is out for the season after tearing his ACL this afternoon. A gregarious, handsome blogger on Shutdown Corner asks the next logical question, who's Matt Cassel?
I was traveling today so I wasn't able to catch a lot of the NFL action, but I did enjoy Joe Buck calling Adam Jones "Pacman" and the look on Norv Turner's face after Jake Delhomme threw a bullet as time expired to upset the Chargers in San Diego.
As for the Redskins, I still can't believe that they were running the ball with 4 minutes left.

Update: It's been more than two hours since Silver's piece went up on Yahoo! Sports. As of 9:58 p.m., ESPN.com and SI.com still don't have anything on Brady being done for the year. And thanks to Awful Announcing for the video.

Dr. Z Is Like The Rest of Us: Not Sure About Jim Zorn

Dr. Z's Thursday NFL column is always a must-read on SI.com, but if you're a Redskins fan, this week is especially so. The esteemed Sports Illustrated writer seems to be a big fan of Jim Zorn, but he still tells it like it is when he describes how Zorn was in over his head in his NFL debut. Check it out.

Like Jennie Garth, The 100-Meter Dash Is Back

Dear Marketing Professionals of the World,
There is a sport that, if promoted correctly, is begging to regain its foothold into mainstream consciousness. It features one of the most charismatic athletes in the world, who stole the crown of 'world's best' from two erratic, wily veterans.
The sport is exciting, quick, easy to televise, has a long history in the memory of older sports fans and is short enough to satisfy the frenetic TV viewing habits on today's youths. It's time for the 100-meter dash to make a comeback. It's ready. Somebody needs to figure out a way to make it happen.
Whether it's primetime 100-meter races on ESPN; setting-up a track in Times Square and having Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell run on that; or organizing a Rumble in the Jungle; just do it. Get it done. The 100-meter dash is ripe to become an event that the mainstream sports fan can care about. It doesn't just have to be in the Olympics. We always love seeing people run fast.
It's been far too long since somebody added a new, original idea into the mix about how to make the 100 popular. I don't have those ideas, but I'm just an idiot with a sports blog. I mention this because I dare you to watch this race and tell me that you wouldn't want to watch a live rematch on ESPN in between the end of the 4:00 p.m. Sunday games and the 8:00 p.m. Sunday night games.
Watch ahead to about the 2:00 mark for the race. Also, I'm up in Vermont for the weekend, so my NFL Preview was a bit delayed. And there was that whole matter of getting mollwopped all over the field last night. So, maybe I'll get to the NFL Preview tomorrow before the wedding when the women are getting ready, or maybe I won't. (Thanks to Awful Announcing for the clip.)

Update: I didn't catch this earlier, but apparently SportsCenter showed this race live. So that's a start.

Dan Snyder Already Wishing He Had Hired Gregg Williams

Here's all I have to say: It was as much of a drubbing as any 16-7 game can be. The offense looked terrible, Jason Campbell looked almost as clueless as Jim Zorn, Chris Cooley was unused and the offensive and defensive lines looked every bit their age. Throw in a no-show from Jason Taylor and most of the secondary (who were only busy when they were dropping picks), and it's pretty amazing the 'Skins had a chance to get back in the game.
And get back in the game they should have. In the third quarter, Santana Moss made a bobbling circus catch on the ground after he was touched by a Giants defender. Therefore, he was not down by contact and should have been able to advance the ball. The refs incorrectly ruled that Moss was down, NBC never looked at the play and it was forgotten as quickly as it happened.
Look, I know the 'Skins didn't deserve to win and played terribly, but if that call is made correctly, it's all of a sudden a much different game.
Another big factor: The loss of Shawn Springs. Dude wasn't even on the injury report this week and then sits out with a calf injury. I've had a calf injury, and I know I wouldn't have been able to stand for three hours on the sideline with a calf injury. That's all I'm sayin. I think Springs was actually out with a bruised vagina.
What else, what else. Oh, that punter I really wanted? Brutal. Maybe less brutal than Derrick Frost, but brutal nonetheless. He's like the Kelly Goodburn on aught-eight.
Nice job game-planning Jim Zorn. The two-minute drill made last year's two-minute drill look like John Elway was running it. Zorn was calling run plays with under 2 minutes left! And the third downs?! Oh, the third downs! It was as Zorn would look for a play that would get the team exactly two less yards than they needed for the first.
And where was Chris Cooley? I'm so glad Vinny Cerrato drafted Fred Davis to be the backup to a Pro Bowl tight end who's not even used. And those Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas picks are looking great too. It's not like the decrepit offensive line needed any help. Stephen Heyer looked like, well, Stephen Heyer out there.
I'm done now. At least we have a ten day break before we're subjected to that offense again. Bill Cowher, leave your phone on. Danny and Vinny might be calling soon.

Skins at Giants; Chaz at Yahoo!

Big day today; the Redskins open the NFL season in New York and I made my debut on Yahoo! Sports' NFL blog Shutdown Corner. I'll still be here ranting about the Redskins and Wake Forest, but be sure to check out me and the indomitable MJD over at Shutdown Corner and the college basketball blog The Dagger.
Oh, we're also live blogging tonight, so come on by.

How Virginia Tech and Mark Warner Blackmailed The ACC

How's expansion working out for you now, John Swofford? After Virginia was pummeled by USC, Maryland could only muster a seven-point victory against Delaware and the ritual collapses of Clemson and Virginia Tech came earlier than usual, the ACC is the laughingstock of college football -- not what the commish expected when he "greatly improved" the conference by expanding to 12 teams in 2003.
The ACC has just one team ranked in this week's AP poll (#20 Wake Forest) and the conference has become a punchline on every college football telecast. So, I figured it'd be a great time to look back on how we got into this mess in the first place. Here's as short a version as can be told:
In an effort to make more money, the ACC decided to expand from nine to twelve teams. This would supposedly provide two main benefits. First, the conference would gain a foothold in new television markets. Secondly, with 12 teams, the ACC would become eligible to hold a conference championship game in football. Rumors of adding Notre Dame into the conference began the expansion talk in 2002, but the main discussions started in 2003 when word leaked that the ACC was planning a Big East raid.
The three schools the ACC had on its wishlist were Boston College, Miami and Syracuse. Miami was the main target, Syracuse was the next most desirable and Boston College was thrown in to get the 12th team and to open up the Boston television market to the conference. Virginia Tech was not considered.
Seven of the ACC's nine schools wanted to expand, with Duke and UNC being the only hold outs (wanting to preserve the basketball tradition of the conference). The nays from the Tobacco Road rivals didn't matter though, as seven votes was the threshold for approval. It was all but assured that the three-team expansion would be voted in. But then UVA changed its mind.
Virginia Tech, which hypocritical bluster that many politicians would find uncouth, spent months decrying the ACC's planned poaching of the Big East, all while privately begging to be included. At one point, Hokie officials went to Greensboro to meet with ACC brass. The meeting lasted 28 minutes. After they were rebuffed, Virginia Tech joined a lawsuit that claimed the ACC was "conspiring to destory" the Big East. The five Big East institutions which brought the suit reportedly asked for well over $200 million.
However, just as the Miami/BC/Syracuse expansion was set to be approved, a wealthy donor who went to both VT and Virginia got the ear of Virginia Governor Mark Warner and convinced him to somehow get Virginia Tech added to the expansion roster instead of Syracuse. Warner agreed and began a process of political blackmail to get the state university, UVA, to vote against a Hokie-less expansion. From a recent piece on the expansion from the Hampton Roads Daily Press:

"[Virginia] President John Casteen was always supportive (of Tech), but his board got a little wobbly," Warner says, referring to the university's Board of Visitors, members of which are appointed by the governor.
"I had to refresh the memory of some board members that they serve at the pleasure of the governor," Warner says with a smile. "That this was not about U.Va. versus Tech, ... it was in the best interest of the state.
"After a few candid conversations with a couple of board members, I think they understood. And the board stood solid."

For 11 days, UVA held the ACC hostage. With their holdout, the vote was 6-3 in favor of expansion. It's worth noting that Duke or UNC could have approved the BC/Miami/Syracuse plan at any time, but they chose to stay opposed to expansion, which allowed Mark Warner and his cronies on the UVA board to strong-arm the conference into letting in Virginia Tech. Eventually, the other schools capitulated, Syracuse was dropped and the school nobody wanted was suddenly in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
This led to classy quotes from those associated with Virginia Tech, such as:

Expansion was going to happen, and it was going to happen with Virginia Tech, period."
-- Dave Braine, former VT athletic director

It only took a sitting Governor strong-arming the board of a state university to do it but, yeah, Dave Braine, VT's ascension to the ACC was pre-ordained. Jackass.
In the five years since the expansion, the move has been universally dismissed by everyone outside of Blacksburg, VA. Miami has been a non-factor in football, the TV contract money increased, but had to be divided 12 ways instead of nine, and the conference championship game has been a failure at the gate and in the ratings. That doesn't concern ex-Governor and Senate-hopeful Mark Warner though:

"As governor, you're called some good names and some not-so-nice names. But even during the worst part of the tax debate, I wasn't called as bad ... names as I was on some of the (Virginia) message boards: 'Raise my taxes, but don't let the Hokies into the ACC.'
Many times, I hear 'You're a blankety-blank Democrat, but I'm still going to vote for you because you got our Hokies into the ACC.'

If I were Warner, I wouldn't count on those Hokie votes come November. You know, because convicted felons can't vote.

Uh-Oh: Jamaican track stars don't just love weed

SI: Two Jamaican Hurdlers Implicated in Steroid Ring

This might not be bad for Usain Bolt, but it certainly isn't good. Before this report, Bolt was largely (naively?) assumed to be clean. Now, even though his name appears nowhere in this piece, his reputation gets dragged through the mud merely by association. Prediction: this will be the first of many steroid reports dropping in the wake of Beijing. By the end, at least one star runner will be implicated.
Check out that link, if you haven't already. Look at the picture of the top hurdler. When I saw her in Beijing, everyone I watched with said "'roids" when she came up on the screen. Now it's been detailed that her name was on a shipment. It doesn't take much to assume that Ennis-London probably used steroids. But where are the positive tests? And why do we always assume the new, really fast guy is clean. We fall for the trap every time.