A Little Taste of...Absolutely Nothing

Don't be so down man, you got your catch

Like a slow-motion trainwreck, the Redskins somehow went from 14 points up to 10 points down in a gametime span of 20 minutes, losing to the Falcons 24-14 in Washington. As I was watching, I was having a hard time believing what I was seeing considering the Redskins first two offensive drives were things of beauty and the Redskins first three defensive stands were rock hard. Atlanta's third possession ended on downs when Michael Vick could not move the pile one inch. Things were looking good, as evidenced by my own comments in the gameday thread and the early comments in Hogs Haven's gameday thread.

What the hell happened? The Redskins had 77 yards rushing in the first quarter, tallying 177 by the end. Ladell Betts (155 yards rushing) is a stud and I hope this thing I'm hearing about locking him up to a contract is true, because he's a great player. Skin Patrol agrees. The Redskins possessions in the second quarter went punt, missed FG, punt. Looking good so far Mr. Suisham. Bob Novak is back in his dorm room saying, dang I could have missed that one. Meanwhile, the Falcons found their center and got Alge Crumpler, who has frustrated me since he was a Tarheel, into the game. Michael Vick went to Alge four times and he didn't catch it but he did the fifth and sixth, for 62 yards and a touchdown.

The third quarter started well, with a four-run, three-pass drive that ended in an INT, and then it was over. Michael Jenkins went in two plays later and the Redskins just are not a damage control team right now. The next two drives ended in punts. Even when Jerious Norwood broke that long one at the beginning of the fourth quarter, there were still 12 and a half minutes to play. If the Redskins could have gotten their first quarter groove back, ten points in 12 minutes is a peace of cake.

The next drive ends in a punt after three straight run plays and an incomplete pass. The pass you call on 3rd and two down 10 with 11 minutes left is a play you know works 100% of the time. Santana ran it five yards, Jason threw it three. That is a completion for Mark and how he set that record and it is also the essence of Tom Boswell on Jason's journey.

By the time the Redskins get the ball back, it's 6 minutes left, and still in reach but the Falcons played defense just mushy enough that it takes 4 minutes to go 85 yards and at that point, even if you don't toss the INT, the percentages are still against you. Jason has to play his way through these situations and get better. I was a Patrick Ramsey guy until I realized around November 2003 he keeped getting blowed up beacuse he wasn't progressing.

Defensively, the team played well, but again rolled over for a couple big ones.

Les Carpenter drew the short straw and had to do the 'Al Saunders is done' piece this week.

What's with this piece of pigskin softcore? Go back and read it again slowly while humming baum shicka baum baum. Odd that the image on this piece is a broken link (brokeback link?)

Because we do our game previews on Saturday without the benefit of the Post pregame, I could not tell you Saturday that one of the Post's keys to the game was Chris Cooley. That would have been cool.

(Curly R aside: so the Madden Football video game franchise is so pervasive that the Post is now writing about how it's actually creating new generations of football fans that normally would not be interested or be exposed to the game, and the Redskins own Ethan Albright is the lowest-ranked player. Imaginary headline: 24 Video Game Franchise Brings Torture Home for Fans.)

Duckett Watch: 4 carries for 9 yards, two good ones, two bad ones. Season now projecting to 31 carries for 132 yards. Gets a long piece in the Post that just as well could have been called 'Dude WTF.' He's the Redskins insurance policy if the Jets or Titans come calling for Ladell.

B-Lloyd Blues: Brandon Lloyd must be very blue right now. Not because of his game performance was below average (his first catch was a spectacular off-balance flying grab from thin air), but becuase with the 15-yard penalty for taking off his helmet, he officially went from useless to a detriment. Brandon has averaged about 1.7 catches per game so statistically, Sunday was a good day. No, Brandon is blue because Joe Gibbs only tolerates assholes when they play well and Brandon is a) not delivering on field and b) apparently throwing tantrums. Time to start up your 'Brandon Lloyd: active or inactive' pool for the Eagles game. I'll go in for a dollar and say active. Hogs Haven.

Being Mark Brunell: didn't get on camera. It was a 1pm game and the buffet at the Sizzler in on special until 3, so I'm guessing he was there.

Arch Deluxe: does not appear in the defensive statistics, and I do not recall a single one of the pieces linked above mentioning his name. He has been...disappeared.

Other gamewraps: Hogs Haven here. The Falcoholic here. Tandler's here. The Redskin Report here. Counter Trey here.



Antwaan Randle El & Brandon Lloyd, take two: John Mcdonnell / Washington Post