You Stay Classy Brandon Lloyd

Back at you dude

Thanks to lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery for the tip: As current Broncos and former Redskins receiver Brandon Lloyd heads off to the Pro Bowl, his team's lone representative, he has a message for his three old clubs, the 49ers, Redskins and Bears:

Fuck you.

Gee who could ever have seen that coming.



Brandon Lloyd: Getty Images from here.

Game 15: Redskins (5-9) at Jaguars (8-6)

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May Take in 60 Words or Less: The notion that Donovan McNabb's agent could go on the attack and not be representing his client is total bullshit. Donovan is simply trying to avoid confrontation so he lied to Kyle Shanahan. Simple as that.



NFL helmets from here.

Season's Greetings from The Curly R

From all of us at The Curly R, best wishes for this holiday season, and I hope Father Christmas brings you some special gifts too.

-Ben Folsom

Other Curly R season's greetings: 2006 :: 2007 :: 2008 :: 2009



Lantern Waste from here via here.

Game 14: Redskins (5-8) at Cowboys (4-9)

at

My Take in 60 Words or Less: For the first time since 2003 I am taking the opponent to win. That's right, I switched both my pool picks to Cowboys.

Talk About Rapid Response

Ouch

Go Skins dot Org, the great abstract cartoonist of the Redskins, already has artistic reaction up, Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb just chilling together on the bench. Go check the rest out here.

The Benching is now a national news story, not sure what Mike Shanahan was going for here, he sure looks like an asshole right about now.



Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb on the bench together: A GoSkins.org cartoon from here via here.

I Hope this Guy Is Still Around

Bringing down the wrath of Redskins fans

If you are the guy running the Fire Mike Shanahan blog and you have not posted since September and you are still there and want some traffic, I would suggest you check the headlines.

http://fireshanahan.blogspot.com/



Mike Shanahan: AP Photo from here.

Let Me Be Clear

I'll speak slowly for the trolls and nitwits and the head coach

There are three reasons putting Rex Grossman in the game, even for a play, is a bad idea:

1. There is a better quarterback on the roster. His name is Donovan McNabb.

2. The better quarterback is healthy.

3. The better quarterback is under contract for 2011.

These reasons notably do not include any discussion of Rex Grossman's ability or standing, nor of the price paid in trade for Donovan McNabb, because both are moot. Mike Shanahan has officially turned a segment of Redskins fans to rooting against their team just to be sure he gets the point. Nice work genius.



Donovan McNabb: Reuters Pictures from here.

BULL FUCKING SHIT

Are you fucking kidding me

What the fuck is this fucking shit, I sit here minding my own business eating my lunch when I see a headline pop into Redskins Insider:

Rex Grossman to start over Donovan McNabb Sunday

That would be this Sunday, at Dallas, bitter NFC Beast Division rival Dallas, a team the Redskins can still sweep in the season series.

And Mike Shanahan is going to bench Donovan in favor of Rex Grossman.

This is really over the line, I have watched how coach Shanahan has handled himself this season and I am very disappointed, cutting Ladell Betts then Willie Parker and Larry Johnson left the team with no experienced tailback backing up the injury prone Clinton Portis and Ryan Torain, the Albert Haynesworth standoff in training camp went too long into the season and hurt the defense. Benching Donovan in the Lions game then spinning bullshit about it. Cutting the holder after the kicker missed two in a winnable game then making up a bullshit excuse.

Maybe that year out of football did nothing to shrink his ego, maybe he is mad with the power Dan Snyder has given him, maybe he is showing off for his son, maybe he just wants to piss Redskins fans off, maybe he really needs to see the place burnt down before he can rebuild it in his own image.

Whatever the deal, this is wrong.

And it is not just wrong because I support Donovan and want to see him play and get some return on that investment. It is wrong because the team will net nothing by playing Rex Grossman.

Washington may win Sunday with Rex, sure, even Danny Wuerffel won games as a starter, that is not the point. The point is that we already know everything we need to know about Rex. He has had his shot, he was in Chicago for six years and could not hold the starting job the year after he took his team to the Super Bowl. His success came largely from the scheme the Bears employed at the time and he is a turnover machine. Years of future success in Washington will not be achieved with Rex Grossman under center.

You only sit a healthy established starter at the end of a season when you have no postseason to play for, and when that starter may not be there next season. But Dono is under contract so it is the team's option, not the player's to have him back.

If Mike Shanahan was serious about seeing what is in the kitty for 2011 he would be starting John Beck, the darling of Kyle Shanahan, my guess is that head coach Shanahan would not start John Beck on a dare meaning this is not about Rex or the future, it is about putting Donovan in his place.

And all the bullshit about lowest rated passer and worst season of his career, that is all bullshit. This is just wrong and win or lose Sunday Redskins fans just lost some more faith in their team.

=====

Some quick reaction I have received in person, by phone, email and text since 11:30 am when the story broke:

Lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, via email: Talk about a place in total chaos at this point. I thought Shanny would prevent this sort of shit from happening. Didn't DMac have an over 100 passer rating last week?

The wife, Mrs. Curly R, via phone: They have no idea what they are doing, didn't they cut the holder after the kicker messed up?

Former co-worker Rob, via phone: Dude our team is sooooooooo dysfunctional.

Eagles fan and former roommate James, via text message: Sexy Rexy to start? McNabb out of gas or out of favor?


Post your quick reaction in comments.



Donovan McNabb: Getty Images from here.

Looking Back On When Donovan McNabb / Was A Nappy Headed Little Boy

Serioiusly who has my activator

Working on a midday post about butthurt Eagles fans pissed that Donovan McNabb is not in the running for the Pro Bowl following the 2010 season because for him to have done so would have meant Philadelphia's 2011 draft pick from the trade that brought Dono here would have accelerated from a fourth rounder to a third.

In the meantime, check out that 'do. No gauge on the year, Dono has hosted five NFC Championship Game press availabilities. Any Eagles fans out there, help me out with the date.



Uncredited image from here. With apologies to Stevie Wonder for the title.

Come On Washington Post, Get It Together

Like the Redskins: Great idea, poor execution

Back in September, just a couple of games into the 2010 season, the Washington Post launched an iPhone app called Football Insider, a brilliant play designed to bolster the flow of eyeballs to what is already consistently the most popular topic of coverage for the paper, the Washington Redskins.

A great appliance app in concept and basic design, Football Insider pipes Redskins related content in three categories: stories, game coverage and photos. Stories are subdivided into blogs, featuring Redskins Insider, DC Sports Bog and Hard Hits with LaVar Arrington, articles from the print edition and columns; game coverage includes play by play, box score and general info like weather and for home games traffic and stadium transit; the photos are the same galleries as the paper publishes with game recaps.

Considering how much of my time is spent F5ing Redskins Insider I downloaded it immediately then with the use of a handy black app called Rename, relabeled it simply Redskins.

The 1.0 version was terrible, it kept crashing from the game menu and I stopped using it. Version 1.0.1 came out a few weeks later and not only featured the spiffy image of Donovan McNabb as you see above, the 1.0 version simply had a generic burgundy helmet with no Redskins logo, the app also... started working. No problems, no crashes, could access all menus and all content would refresh as expected.

About three weeks ago version 1.0.3 appeared and I upgraded, immediately problems came back, new annoying problems.

It crashes, most notably when I move from the stories section to the games section, though not as often as the 1.0 version. The most annoying thing is the app's inability to refresh itself. Under versions 1.0 and 1.0.1, when you switch away from the app and come back, it respawns, you see the splash image of Donovan as the menus are refreshing content.

Now, once you open it and then switch away and come back, the app takes you straight back to the content menus, not the splash page, which would be fine if the content updated automatically, BUT IT DOES NOT. In order to get the menus to refresh, I either have to go through the annoying process to shut down a rogue app, or restart the whole phone. Occasionally after a crash it will respawn and not be able to reestablish its data connection, hence the image above, in these cases I hit the Home button then go back to the app and oh yep everything is just fine again.

Cannot get much in the way of support either, the Support link on the iTunes online page for Football Insider links back to generic Washington Post help page, if there is a thread or a topic on the Football Insider app then I am not able to find it easily.

Maybe I should not bother expecting a decent app until I get a decent team.



Screencap of aborted app load by me.

A Picture of Dorian McNabb

Less than a year and look how much it has aged

Right now I am a depressed and confused Redskins fan, depressed because we are hurtling toward yet another postseason in which I watch lots of football yet none of it includes my beloved team and confused because I am getting lots of mixed signals about quarterback Donovan McNabb:

Donovan McNabb having his worst season since his rookie year in 1999? Donovan was a rookie out of Syracuse that year, coming from the college ranks where he made his living on his legs at least as much as his arm. In his rookie season he split time in Philadelphia with Doug Pederson, appearing in twelve games and starting only six. He finished the year with 948 yards passing and a 60.1 passer rating. The next season he assumed the starter role and had it every year barring injury for the next ten seasons.

Looking at Donovan's numbers over the years though, I do not see a guy that is dropping off the cliff, in fact if Donovan can pull his passer rating up seven tenths of one point, the whole story goes away and god forbid he could get it two and a half points up, with another game or two like the Tampa Bay game and a 100.7 rating, then not only is 2010 not his worst as a starter, it is not even next to worst. Plus I think the strict measure of a guy by his passer rating is lazy.

Let us walk some of the other stats. Games: Averaging 13.4 per season over career, if we remove the first season when he was part time then it is virtually unchanged at 13.5 games per season. Donovan has already played thirteen games this season, one more and he busts over his career average.

Completion percentage: A career average of 58.9 percent, 2010 number is 58.3 percent, still well within reach to bust over with three games left and if not is teetering right the average at sixth tenths of a point less. I count four seasons with a lower completion rate and one a virtual tie.

Attempts per game are nearly four per game over career average, not a surprise considering the Redskins have had an unsettled tailback position all season. He can still sling it and the coaches are not compensating for some perceived dropoff, they are telling him to GET THE HELL OUT THERE AND THROW IT.

Passing yards / passing yards per game: In terms of his per game average, Donovan is nearly 35 yards per game over his average and if the season ended now 2010 would be the third highest per game passing yards in his career. Looking at total passing yards, Donovan already has more total passing yards in 2010 than in four of the seven years he has played thirteen games or more.

It is not all rosy though, Donovan's touchdown passes are dangerously near a career low, he will need to throw two more to tie his non rookie career low, oddly enough those career lows came in one season where Donovan played only nine games and in another where he played all sixteen.

Interceptions are already at a career high by two, one of the great statistics on Donovan coming into Washington was that he was one of the least intercepted passers in league history, even though Donovan is having his worst INT year ever, check the big board for quarterbacks: seven guys, including two named Manning, have as many or more than Donovan.

Sacks are also dangerously near career highs, 2010 is already Donovan's second worst year for sacks, two more and he ties it. Of all the stats that we can apply other players' performance to, this is the one that I place the most on others, the crappy offensive line the Redskins have in 2010.

The last stat to look at is long passes, Donovan has thrilled Redskins fans with the ability to connect on long passes, Jason Campbell had the arm but not the time, chemistry or accuracy to make them like Donovan has this year, then you look at his stats and 2010 is just middling in his late year performance, since 2004 Donovan has tossed eleven or more passes of forty yards or more five time in seven years. The guy can still sling it.

So let us dial back the Donovan is having teh worst yaer of his lief bit, I am not buying it.


Donovan McNabb is on pace to set Redskins franchise and personal records for passing yards? Wait I thought he was having his worst year evar as a starter? Then how can that headline be true? Well let us look at the numbers: At his current pace, Donovan should throw for 4156 yards in 2010 if he plays all sixteen games. That would be more than he has ever tossed in his career, he has never been a 4000 yard passer ever.

This number would also place Donovan ahead of 1986 Jay Schroeder and 1999 Brad Johnson for the most passingest Redskin of all time, for a franchise that has been in continuous operation since 1932.

Worst year ever = best year ever.


Wait, Donovan McNabb might get benched down the stretch? The latest ginned up story, principally credited to FOX's Jay Glazer, is that backup quarterback slash fumbler Rex Grossman is being prepped possibly to start or replace Donovan. For his part, Donovan was dismissive (op. cit.), and head coach Mike Shanahan was as you might expect evasive in talking about it.

This is of course bloody ridiculous. You only sit a veteran like Donovan at the end of the season if he is hurt or if he may be gone the next season and you really need to see what you have on the bench. And we all know, Super Bowl and NFL credentials or otherwise, that Rex Grossman is not an unknown quantity. Hell he may be starting caliber for all I know any more, alls I am saying is that we know everything we need to know about Rex and John Beck is certainly no option when you have a healthy Donovan McNabb. There is your fast path to cascading boos right there.


Stay with him and play with him, whatever ails the Redskins in 2010 it is not Donovan McNabb.




Photo by me of my still new Donovan McNabb number five jersey, I have only had it since 27 September 2010 and the numbering is already coming off the nylon, compare to my Santana Moss number 89 jersey I have had since the 2005 postseason, I wore that jersey for every game until this season and washed it at least twice a year and the numbering on it still looks great. Is that some sort of metaphor? With apologies to Oscar Wilde for the title.

Shattered

2011 offseason starts now

A complete humilation today against the Giants, I am embarrassed right now to be a Redskins fan.

We knew there would be growing pains, we knew Mike Shanahan and his system would not turn the Redskins into a Super Bowl team in one season. We knew all this and expected to see the team struggle at times.

What we did not expect was an organization unable to field a basic NFL team. The struggles we imagined were oh man that was a close loss and damn that one play, not hey shit guys that was six turnovers today and why can't Chris Cooley catch the ball.

8-8 looks really optimistic at this point.



Metaphor as photo by me of the three year old Redskins Christmas tree ornament my eight year old son accidentally dropped today.

Game 12: Redskins (5-6) at Giants (7-4)

vs.

My Take in 60 Words or Less: Are you there god? It's me Ben, if you have to give us a demoralizing blowout where the Redskins are the child being fed live to the giant python, at least please don't let have Donovan McNabb get hurt.


In other news, Santana Moss, Albert Haynesworth, LaRon Landry and Carlos Rogers are all inactive. Great. (Ed. note, looks like Santana was a go after all, mot making much of a difference through one quarter. -Ben)

What Should I Do?

Jamie Lee Curtis?

Comedian slash Redskins fan slash radio host Danny Rouhier is out with his week twelve video that I first thought was supposed to represent Danny's internal dialogue then I see in the video description that it is a parody of a LeBron James commercial, not only do I not know this commercial, I am not even sure I could pick LeBron James out of a lineup because you see I AM A FOOTBALL FAN.



YouTube from here.

The Folsom Point 11/30/2010: Beginning of the End

It's a blog. NOT FUCKING TWITTER!

Wherein we discuss the end of meaningful Redskins football in 2010.



Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

Game 11: Redskins (5-5) vs. Vikings (3-7)

at

My Take in 60 Words or Less: I have no idea how to call this game, I have no idea who is going to show up for either team, I really hope the Redskins do not roll over and give the Vikings their one game new coach bump win on the road.

GOD DAMMIT

Was it us?

Do you have any idea how fucking pissed off I am? Check that stat line in the image above, that is Brandon Lloyd, Broncos receiver, leading the league in receiving yards with 1046 yards in ten games, TEN GAMES THE DUDE HAS CAUGHT 54 PASSES FOR ALMOST A TWENTY YARD AVERAGE IN TEN FREAKING GAMES!


Brandon was traded to Washington from San Francisco in the 2006 offseason on the first day of free agency, the Redskins gave up two picks, a 2006 third round pick and a 2007 fourth rounder, to acquire Brandon, then turned around and gave him a seven year, 31 million dollar contract with ten million guaranteed. He was supposed to bolster a 2005 receiving corps that principally consisted of Santana Moss, Chris Cooley and Clinton Portis. Antwaan Randle El also arrived that offseason as a free agent, the Redskins had their bunch of sparkplug wideouts, no one over six feet tall.

I knew what Brandon could do, I had followed him in San Francisco and even seen him in person in the Redskins 52-17 circus in 2005, I was all about this signing, my recidivist take on Washington pushing TWO MORE Santana Moss clones in favor of pursuing a receiver free agent with size, height or physical credentials was simple: If Mark Brunell wants little guys that can get separation, who am I to disagree?

Pretty quickly though it got rough, the early returns on Brandon were indicative of how he would perform overall in his two troubled seasons in Washington. Through a miserable 2006 season that saw Mark Brunell give way to Jason Campbell at quarterback and the team win only five games, Brandon caught 23 passes for 365 yards in fifteen games, barely third receiver quality numbers, Brandon was supposed to be a solid number two that could push the number one.

In game seven that season against the Colts Brandon argued with Antwaan Randle El, the two had to be separated. Brandon did it again in game twelve against the Falcons, throwing his helmet on the field in the fourth quarter, earning the Redskins a fifteen yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. This second egregious loss of control earned Brandon a closed door sit down with head coach Joe Gibbs who you remember was supposed to be the guy ultimately behind the Redskins player acquisition decisions.

Brandon's reaction to being singled out on the team and in the media for detrimental behavior, and of being hauled behind closed doors for a verbal whipping by a Hall of Fame head coach? Not so much.

Still, coach Gibbs said he was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting and indicated Brandon would play in game thirteen against the Eagles, Brandon did not start and had one catch, off an option pass from Antwaan Randle El.

Three games later coach Gibbs had had enough, Brandon was inactive for the season finale against the Giants, the injury report indicated Brandon had bronchitis, no one believed it, Brandon's first season in a contract with ten million dollars guaranteed was a disaster.


Heading into 2007 it was not feasible to cut Brandon, Joe Gibbs and the team clearly was going to give Brandon another shot.

It did not start well. After bragging about how the 2007 offseason was the first time he had ever engaged in significant offseason workouts, Brandon gave himself shin splints and was unable to practice at full speed for the first three weeks THREE WEEKS of training camp. Still, he made the 2007 team.

And things did not get any better for Brandon. Two weeks into the season he did not have a catch. In the third week, Redskins fans were treated to one of the all time great displays of tone deafness, Brandon was featured in the Washington Post Business section as a compensated spokesman for Microsoft and their upcoming video game Halo III. In the article, Brandon named all the free gear and the advance look at the game experience the number one perk he had ever received as an NFL player, and then went on to talk about what a huge part of his life playing video games is. It would still be two more weeks, into October until Brandon got his first catch in 2007.

In November Brandon missed a team meeting and was barred from accompanying the team on the road to game eight against the Jets, and once again Joe Gibbs insisted Brandon was still important to the team and viable as a receiving option. Little did we know at that time that with seven games still left in the 2007 season that Brandon had already produced everything he would produce: two catches for fourteen yards.

One more game and no more catches later, on the last play of practice on Wednesday 14 November 2007, Brandon broke his collarbone, the team put him on injured reserve, ending a season that never really happened for Brandon. In all he missed nine games between healthy scratch, bronchitis and the clavicle injury, and produced 25 catches for 378 yards and no touchdowns. In February of 2008 the team cut Brandon, two years into thirty million dollar contract with ten million dollars guaranteed. Washington barely noticed.

Brandon played with Chicago in 2008, holding close to Washington form with 26 catches for 364 yards in eleven games. In 2009 he signed with Denver and produced only eight catches in two games.

Coming into 2010 no one expected Brandon Lloyd to do what he is doing now, Josh McDaniel has Brandon and quarterback Kyle Orton really working on the same page, Brandon has already set a career number for catches, with six games still remaining in the schedule, and is nearly four yards per catch ahead of his highest yards per catch season ever.

Something has happened, hell has frozen over, Brandon Lloyd has turned into a franchise receiver. I'm pretty pissed about it.



Image screencap detail of this page.

Thanksgiving Football Thread

Grilled

A Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your family and hangers on from us here at The Curly R, this year we are back in Dumfries at the home of the Folsom parental units, grilled turkey and football all day. And now on to the timeline:

0230 Realize neighbor and cable TV holdout Tony Almeida and I have been talking about his project to distribute media into all rooms of his house and drinking whiskey for way too long, depart, corn chips and a big water, asleep on the couch.

0600 Awakened by kids ready to watch TV, move to kids room, fall back asleep.

0900 Once again the wife offers the option to stay home and sleep or get up and go with the family to a Turkey Trot road race, once again she seems surprised when I choose to stay home and sleep, move up to my own bed, close eyes and quiver.

1045 Hear family coming back into house, get up and pretend oh yeah honey I'm up, why do you ask? Shower, pack kids for overnight at Grandma's.

1215 Depart Alexandria for Dumfries, realize too late the early game, Patriots at Lions, starts at 12:30pm, not 1pm, fail to get football picks in for this game.

1305 Arrive Dumfries, realize parents no longer have wireless router I left with them specifically so I can get wireless in their house, go to plan B, fire up wireless hotspot app on iPhone, what an awesome feature.

1400 Halftime of Patriots-Lions game, blink hard to be sure I see what I think I am seeing, Lions leading by seven points. Cringe in embarrassment for Kid Rock in the halftime performance, it is an obvious lipsync and even so he sounds terrible.

1430 Time to eat, grilled turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, ambrosia, stuffing and gravy, cranberries, deviled eggs, rolls. My mom can still bring it on Thanksgiving.

1620 So much for that Lions lead, they get killed, on to the Saints at Cowboys, FOX is really lathering on the we heart our troops bit, I think exploitative is too strong a word, and if it improves troop morale then maybe it is ok, I tend to think the job of our deployed troops is sufficiently serious that we should not be mixing it up too much with broadcast entertainment. It kind of smacks of permanentizing wartime. Oh by the way I hate the fucking Cowboys.

1715 So far this game is going the way I want, off from parents' house back to Alexandia, sans kids, the wife and I will be taking a food coma nap then going to see a show later at 9:30 Club, Donavon Frankenreiter who is the guy that does the I wish that I knew what I know now song.

1830 Returned home, wallowing in post meal fatness for an hour or so before drinks with friends before the show, we are kidless for the evening.

2100 Crash wife's friend's family Thanksgiving party, feel lucky I brought a flask, this is a beer and wine crowd. Now heading out to show.

2330 Show over, it was great, Donavon Frankenreiter put on a great show, we head to Nellie's sports bar in the neighborhood for a nightcap then head home.

0130 26 Nov 2010, the wife is in bed, I am cleaning up the scene, final water and chips and I head to bed, hope everyone had a good turkey day.


Other Curly R Thanksgiving threads: 2006 :: 2007 :: 2008 :: 2009




Photo by me of the turkey being grilled by the other Redskins fan named Ben Folsom.

Allistair Spotswoolingtonworth

This season McNabb has fallen over several times

Comedian slash Redskins fan slash radio host Danny Rouhier is out with his week eleven video, a sober introspection on how the fuck Donovan McNabb keeps tripping on his center's feet at the snap. If you thought it was Casey Rabach's size eleventeen sneakers that were getting in the way, the Titans game with all its injuries provides useful insight: DONOVAN TRIPPED OVER WILL MONTGOMERY'S FEET TOO. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THIS?

Get on over to Danny's YouTube channel and give some loves.



YouTube from here.

The Folsom Point 11/23/2010: Dono Darko

Got a mean comment? HAHAHA I LOL'ED!

Wherein we discuss a breach in the Primary Football Universe.



Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

Game 10: Redskins (4-5) at Titans (5-4)

vs.


Because no one gives a fuck and the Redskins are going to get killed.



NFL helmets from here.

Twenty-five Years Ago

Their paths diverged from here

Thursday night was an important night for former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann. It was his second game as color analyst for the NFL Network's Thursday games, Joe had been out of the game game since getting shitcanned by ESPN after the 2006 season in favor of Ron Jaworski on Monday Night Football. Up to that moment Joe Theismann had been a color commentator for NFL games dating back to 1988, an eighteen year streak that ESPN had to end because Tony Kornheiser is a whiny brat that does not get along with anybody and whom the network mistakenly thought was carrying the broadcast.

How ESPN later canned Tony for another football guy in Jon Gruden tells you all you need to know about how wrong the network was to stick with that loser for so long.

Frankly though Ron and Jon does not work for me either, it is one hardcore football mind in that booth too many and with Jon trying to keep his options open for another coaching gig someday the posturing by that guy in the booth is enough to make me sugar vomit.

But I digress, that is not really the point, nor is Joe Theismann getting back in the booth for live games really the occasion of importance in Joe's life.

Twenty-five years ago Thursday night, 18 November 1985, was the night Lawrence Taylor broke Joe Theismann's leg live on Monday Night Football in one of the most gruesome career ending injuries that has ever been witnessed in football.

Joe's football career was ended that night, Lawrence went on to make the Pro Bowl that season, and every year for the next five seasons, he would win two Super Bowls, be named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team and to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team. A first ballot Hall of Famer, Lawrence's number is one of only eleven retired by the Giants, a team that has been in existence since 1925.

Three years after his injury, Joe Theismann resumed his football career in broadcasting, becoming ubiquitous in the sport for better or for worse. Lawrence Taylor turned to partying and drugs and a hard lifestyle, while a player he tested positive twice for cocaine, legend has it only the threat of a lifetime ban for a third positive forced him to quit.

After retiring he did lots of drugs and became the shady character that goes with the lifestyle, he was arrested twice for trying to buy from undercover officers and went through rehab at least twice in the 1990s. He lost lots of money in bad investments and became a caricature of himself in pop culture. Last year he was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident then this year it got worse, he was arrested for statutory rape of a sixteen year old admitted prostitute, he is facing trial on these charges. In a sign times are tough for Lawrence, he went to court, or rather technically did not go to court, to try and get child support payments for his twelve year old daughter by his first wife reduced.

Kind of seems like Joe Theismann got the better of that whole deal from 1985. Not judging, just saying.



The immediate aftermath of Lawrence Taylor's career ending hit on Joe Theismann: George Gojkovich / Getty Images from here.

"We rob them of their dreams"

Fallen

In pitch perfect style Redskins fan slash comedian slash radio host Danny Rouhier goes Behind the Music with the Redskins for his week ten video, ever notice how you cannot get on BtM unless you made a bunch of money then lost it all or got hooked on drugs or lost a limb or something? Yeah the Redskins are like that.



YouTube from here.

The Folsom Point 11/16/2010: No Air

Wife excusing me from inlaws to blog? VICTORY IS MINE!

Wherein we discuss a trainwreck game of epic proportions.



Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

Game 9: Redskins (4-4) vs. Eagles (5-3)

vs.

Out of the Box: The rematch, on Monday Night Football no less, as the new quarterback plays his old team in the stadium where he won ten times in eleven years, it's the Eagles in primetime at Redskins Stadium, 8:30pm on ESPN.

=====

Quick jump to

The Story So Far :: Curly R Aside :: Oppo Research :: Trainer's Table Gameplan :: My Take in 60 Words or Less :: Preview Generalia
=====

The Story So Far: Well here's some shit. Quarterback Donovan McNabb was benched with two minutes to go against Detroit and the game still winnable, after the game head coach Mike Shanahan said putting backup Rex Grossman in the game gave the Redskins the best chance to win the game, Rex was offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan's backup last season in Houston so presumably Rex had greater familiarity with Kyle's two minute drill. Bullshit factor: HIGH, Rex never ran a two minute drill in Houston and was not known for his late game heroics in Chicago. Poor Rex went in there, got sacked on the first play, fumbled and gave up a touchdown to seal the game.

The next day the story was about coach Shanahan's concerns about Donovan's health and cardiovascular conditioning. The health part of the comment is a reference to Dono's sore hamstrings and quadriceps, a byproduct of playing professional football for more than a decade. The cardio comment was about Dono's basic conditioning, which we have learned the Shanahans think is not good enough to play their system. Bullshit factor: HIGH, like all veterans halfway into a football season, expecially those quarterbacks stuck behind bullshit offensive lines, Dono is sore. He is also a warrior, if he walks he goes. As far as conditioning, the dude trains all offseason at altitude in the Arizona heat, the guy is more than in shape to play this position, for christs sake Malcolm Kelly, ten years younger than Donovan, could not handle Donovan's training regimen, pulling a hamstring that ultimately ended his season.

As the week wore on we heard more whispers, about coaching unhappiness with Donovan's practice habits and coaches maybe not feeling Donovan is a great fit for the system. Bullshit factor: MEDIUM, it may in fact be the case that Donovan McNabb at age 33 or any age may not be the Shanahans' idea of a scientifically perfect quarterback, and to that I ask

WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER OPTIONS FOR WINNING IN 2010?

To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you go onto the football field with the team you have, not the team you may want or wish to have at a later time.

In 2010 Donovan is that guy, a better option for a winning season than Rex Grossman or John Beck, so get the fuck off your coaching high horse and play the guy like the star athlete he is.

No one ever questioned the authority of the coaches, they can bench Donovan in favor of a ham sandwich and no one disputes that, it is the lies, the whispers and the unproductive rhetoric that pisses Redskins fans off, there may be players out there that get motivated by being shat on, if that was ever Donovan he is well past that now, he is in an elite class of self motivating professionals, just give him the damn ball and let him go to work.

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Curly R Aside:

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Oppo Research:

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Trainer's Table:

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Gameplan: Last time these two teams played Donovan had a bad game, Michael Vick was separated from his ribcage and the Eagles were gasping for breath at the end. On offense the Redskins need to go after the Eagles secondary, they are missing two starters, including safety Nate Allen who was selected with the 2010 pick the Redskins traded for Donovan. On defense, just keep it up, rattle Michael Vick, make him move out of the pocket and throw on the run, let DeAngelo Hall and LaRon Landry do their thing.

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My Take in 60 Words or Less: DAMN YOU GET ME A SWEEP BY MIDNIGHT I WANT TO BE 3-0 IN THE DIVISION

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This is a nationwide game, for you watching at home on ESPN or locally in Washington and Phildelphia, we will be treated to Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski.

Enjoy the game, I will be there, this will be the 23rd of the past 24 Eagles-Redskins games for me and game partner lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, this game marks my twelfth straight at Redskins Stadium and 21st in a row overall, our tradition of attending all Eagles-Redskins games together dates back to 1999.


This is a gameday open thread.



NFL helmet logos from here.

Ready to Go

Game on

Everything is in place, Monday cannot get here fast enough, got my tickets and my parking pass for tomorrow night's Eagles at Redskins game. Accompanying me this year will be two Swarthmore Drive neighbors, an college friend slash opportunist, political writer, radio host and former editor of Redskins Examiner Mark Newgent and lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery.

For Wilbert Montgomery and me tomorrow's game will be our 23rd of the past 24 Eagles-Redskins games played at any venue, for me it will be my 21st in a row overall and my twelfth in a row at Redskins Stadium. Our streak goes back to 1999, Donovan McNabb's rookie year.

If you are in the Gray lot or nearby come on down and have a drink with us, send me an email and I will give details.


P.S. - Whereas I was hoping to see the Cowboys get slaughtered today, they did not and in fact handily beat the Giants, I will say what I said last month about the first Dallas-New York game, as much as you would have loved to see the Cowboys take a beating when they are already down, Dallas winning that game was much better for the Redskins... as long as Washington remains in playoff contention.



Photo by me.

Piling On

Brilliant

At some point this week I need to turn back to the Redskins, for now I am still wallowing in the midseason firing of Dallas head coach Wade Phillips and the Cowboys' smile inducing 1-7 record.

So imagine the pleasantness of my surprise when I open my weekly copy of The Onion on Metro this morning and see the Cowboys covered in Sports. Money quote:

According to a recent USA Today poll... Thirty-two percent [of the country] said that the season has been emotionally taxing for people who grew up worshipping Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, and Emmitt Smith, and that those people should probably go fuck themselves anyway.

Enjoy your weekend, the Cowboys play at Giants Sunday in the late game, let us Redskins fans tune in and be the game's laugh track.



Team attending to an injured Tony Romo: Uncredited image from here.

Wade Phillips: Buh-Bye

Don't worry Wade, it wasn't you

Something that has never happened since Jerral W. Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989 happened yesterday, Jerry fired his head coach midseason, terminating Wade Phillips after an embarrassing 45-7 loss to the Packers on Sunday, dropping the Cowboys to an awesome 1-7 in the 2010 NFL season. Offensive coordinator and one time head coach in waiting Jason Garrett assumes the reins for the rest of the season.

I am sure all of Redskinsland joins me when I say in all sincerity

HAW HAW

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More than simply dropping the Cowboys with finality out of the playoff race, this move makes clear how far the Cowboys have fallen, at the start of the season America's Team (lol) had high expectations of being the first team to play on its home field in the Super Bowl, number 45 of which will be played at the Taj Mahal of the NFL, the new Cowboys Stadium in February. The Cowboys are a complete mess with discipline and execution problems all up and down the team. As a Redskins fan this warms my heart like a cup of hot chocolate on a snowy day.

It did not take an advanced degree to see this coming, and now begins the apocrypha that EVERYone saw this coming, I watched the horrific showing Dallas put up against Houston in an August preseason game then went over to Hogs Haven to write about it, later that week a coworker told me was willing to bet the Rams would end 2010 with a better record than the Cowboys, it was not exactly a bold call to look at that team and think there was an overconfidence problem.

I bear Wade Phillips no ill will, I think he is a good coach, he just has an expiration date, he is an aw shucks players coach who basically ignores the offense, in addition to being the head coach Wade was also the defensive coordinator. Wade is not a fire breather so he is not going to motivate his players with his you come on you guys are professionals post game speeches, one thing I have learned from watching so much football at all levels is that player need coaching all their careers, they need to be reminded constantly to keep focus, to forget the last play because the success you earn in the NFL always starts with the next play.

Jessica Simpson, Kardashians, reality shows, a stadium with cage dancers I mean WHAT THE FUCK GUYS.

They loved being Dallas Cowboys so much the past few years they got complacent and it is simply not Wade Phillips' gig to get a stray team back on point.

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I wrote extensively about the Cowboys coaching search and options following the departure of Bill Parcells in January 2007, the first thing Jerry Jones did was hire Jason Garrett, as either head coach or offensive coordinator with a big to be determined hanging out there while Jerry looked at other candidates. With the Jim Zorn hiring debacle still more than a year in the future, the notion that a team would hire a guy and then determine where he fit in the organization was ludicrous and damaging, well paid players with contracts can smell uncertainty in the wind and loyalty is as much about who is in charge as who is not. Hiring a guy and then telling the organization ok he may be the guy let's wait and see was a mistake from the beginning.

So with a possible head coach in the fold Jerry went out and surveyed the landscape, coming up with Mike Singletary who had been in coaching all of four seasons at the time of his interview and who is sure to be fired from the 49ers at the end of the season, pairing Mike up with Jason who had all of two seasons coaching experience was an idea so bad that even Jerry Jones did not bite.

Norval Turner was the only other real candidate and the 49ers gave him a raise to stay, so Jerry settled on Wade Phillips, while no team can ever publicly say a guy has a shelf life, at the time I looked at the plan as this: Wade coaches for a couple three seasons then moves on, either under contract expiration or honorable resignation, the idea that it could end with a firing is a bad PR move because it would call into question the competence of the coaching and management staffs, so if Jerry really wanted to marinate Jason Garrett and then promote him in the near to middle term, it was going to have to be a joyous transition, not in the midst of a storm.

For those of you into the palace intrigue, what kind of relationship do you think Jason Garrett had with Wade Phillips with this knowledge? Have Jason and the owner had a lot of um meetings over the years?

Fast forward to 13-3 and a playoff loss on a Tony Romo snap bobble in 2007, 9-7 and no playoffs in 2008 and you get to 2009. Dallas made the playoffs at 11-5 season, capping the regular season with a 24-0 shutout of the Eagles, then an emphatic 34-14 beating of the same Eagles team in the same stadium in the playoffs.

Even though Dallas lost the next game to the Vikings, the Cowboys had achieved a milestone: Their first playoff victory since 1996. A month earlier Jerry Jones had come right out and said it, if the Cowboys did not get into the playoffs, Wade would be fired, the strong implication was also that Dallas had to win a playoff game, again what would have been their first since 1996.

So when they did and then did, Jerry was stuck, he could fire Wade after a win any more than the Giants could fire Tom Coughlin after winning the Super Bowl.

And now we have this season, soft, undisciplined players arguing on the sidelines, the quarterback out for what will be the season because a fullback did not pick up a blocking assignment, culminating in a humiliating loss to the Packers and the inevitable decision to fire Wade.

So now Jason Garrett becomes head coach in a time when the quality of his offense is strongly in question, in the midst of a storm, the guy in waiting from 2007 now has become just a guy, the seasoning he was supposed to get may actually turn out to have been dry rot, the Curly R prediction is Jason Garrett is out at the end of the season, having never been considered a serious candidate for the full time job.

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For the record, lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery discussed this at length on the way home from the Colts at Eagles game Sunday, while listening to the Sunday night debacle on Sirius NFL Radio, his call is for John Fox in Dallas next season, I think this makes sense, with John's contract expiring at the end of the year and the Panthers in need of a change, the Carolina job is wired to Bill Cowher whose home is in the Charlotte area, Jerry Jones will strike out with Cowher and settle on John Fox.



Wade Phillips coaching his last game with the Cowboys: AP Photo from here.

Handy Accessory

Let me get that for you

Quick Saturday bye week post to show off my latest piece of Redskins gear, a coworker was kind enough to gift me this Redskins keychain bottle opener and as it happens I have an immediate and relevant use for it, lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery has invited me to join him tomorrow for the Colts at Eagles game in Philadelphia and I think we may want to open a beer or two in the process.

Now that I have a real communications device check me on twitter.com/curlyr throughout the day as I microchronicle the oh so pleasant experience of attending an Eagles game as a (plausibly) neutral fan, I will also photochronicle this game for your enjoyment.

Hope you are having a great and Redskins free bye weekend.



Photo by me.

You Tell Him I Will Straight Up Bench His Ass

Donovan's like so fat

Danny Rouhier is out with his week eight video on the Lions debacle, among his best work yet. For just a second this season I thought the Redskins were going to be good and we would not need Danny.

WRONG AGAIN BEN



YouTube from here.

We've really hit rock bottom here. The Redskins tried out JaMarcus Russell today, I will laugh if the Redskins wound up trading Jason Campbell for JaMarcus.

Game 8: Redskins (4-3) at Lions (1-5)

at

Out of the Box: Vuja de all over again as the Redskins travel for the second year in a row to play a struggling Lions team, may this time be better than the last, 1:00 pm ET on FOX, unless you live in the Detroit market.

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Quick jump to

The Story So Far :: Curly R Aside :: Oppo Research :: Trainer's Table Gameplan :: My Take in 60 Words or Less :: Preview Generalia
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The Story So Far: Normally the last time the teams played is later in this section, in this week's case the game is all about the last time they played, the Lions were on a nineteen game winless streak, going back into 2007, the Redskins in Jim Zorn's failing second season has head coach blundered into Lions Stadium for game three and got beat. We know what happened after that.

Meanwhile back on Earth there was a week of news. After beating the Bears in the sloppiest game ever in which cornerback DeAngelo Hall tied an NFL record with four interceptions, much of the focus of the week was on the offense, this unit has been somewhat sloppy and inconsistent with a persistent inability to close games out. Quarterback Donovan McNabb, while still thrilling Redskins fans just by being here, is on pace for just about his worst statistical season ever.

The second biggest story after Donovan McNabb having his worst season ever, has got to be Albert Haynesworth and the team negotiating a peace that allows Albert to be Albert while still allowing the team to stick with its 3-4 philosophy, the result of this new arrangement saw Albert have his best game as a Redskin, although we can now expect not to see Albert in base 3-4 sets, we will still see lots of him, doing his best Charles Jefferson impression (op. cit.), going through the line straight to the quarterback. I hope this works.

As the Redskins defense continues to be a sieve a pattern emerges: It is all about turnovers, the Redskins are sitting at seventeen takeaways and a plus eight turnover margin, good for third in the league.

Take a minute to think about this: Seven games into the 2010 season the Redskins have matched their win total from 2009. Those four wins are all quality wins with playoff implications: Two wins in the Division and two in the Conference.

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Curly R Aside: This week I finally upgraded from my crappy old Blackberry to a brand new iPhone, I have the Washington Post Football Insider app which pipes in Post blogs, articles, columns, game stats and photos, a very cool app. Help me out readers, what other apps are essential for the football fan?

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Oppo Research: Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who like Sam Bradford did in game three this season, won his first career NFL game last season in the Lions epic win Redskins epic fail of a game, this year the Lions do not look a lot better, Matthew went out in Detroit's game one, this is his first game back from that injury. Hopefully the Redskins can exploit this and get Matthew on his back.

The other major threat for this team is receiver Calvin Johnson, he had a big hand in last year's debacle and creates matchup problems for the Redskins. Let us see if DeAngelo can keep it up or if he has a predictable letdown.

This is of course not to disrespect defensive tackles Ndamakong Suh and Kyle Vanden Bosch, see below for more on them.

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Trainer's Table: Safety Kareem Moore, who played plenty against the Bears but did not actually start, is suffering lingering problems from his preseason knee injury. This is not good, Kareem is better at the free safety position than either Chris Horton or Reed Doughty.

The team this week finally admitted something everyone already knew: Right guard Jammal Brown is not fully recovered from the hip injury that caused him to miss all of the 2009 season and that made him expendable in New Orleans. Veteran utility man Stephon Heyer is right at his door and may take that job which if you have been watching the past few seasons you will recognize as a bad thing.

Fullback Mike Sellers left the Bears game with a foot injury and was seen wearing a boot after the game, he appears to be fine. Tailback slash return man Chad Simpson pulled a hamstring in practice and was inactive for the Bears game, he is to be determined (op. cit.).

Tailback Clinton Portis, he of the detached groin muscle, is still two weeks away minimum before coming back. Still predicting he has no serious role in this year's offense.

Other players appear on the Redskins Wednesday injury report then again on Friday's, those not named here will play.

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Gameplan: On offense the Redskins are still looking for some consistency along the line, right tackle Jammal Brown is still slowed by the hip injury that kept him out all of 2009, his main backup Stephon Heyer is as much a threat to make mistakes as block well. While not as dangerous as DeMarcus Ware and Clay Matthews, Lions rookie Ndamakong Suh and free agent pickup defensive tackle Kyle Vanden Bosch, Albert Haynesworth's old teammate in Tennessee, are menacing, setting the rhythm early is key.

On defense the plan will be to try and get to the quarterback, the Lions have talented but limited weapons on offense, the Redskins will plan to limit Matthew Stafford and force the Lions to do it on the ground.

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My Take in 60 Words or Less: Trap game schmap game, show Detroit the Redskins remember humiliation, take this game seriously and go kick their assess.

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LaVar Arrington's keys to the game: Offense / defense / special teams; Inactives: tailback Chad Simpson, cornerback Kevin Barnes, tailback Clinton Portis, linebacker Perry Riley, nose tackle Anthony Bryant and left guard Derrick Dockery, this is Derrick's fourth straight game inactive, John Beck is the emergency third quarterback.

Broadcast coverage, as you can see no one cares about this game but us and the game is blacked Detroit, Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan on the call, I like Tim on Sirius NFL Radio but not always on TV, I will be looking to give him another chance.

Enjoy the game, I will be in my usual spot on ShedTV, we watch outside as long as the weather permits.


This is a gameday open thread.



NFL helmet logos from here.

Which Five Games Was that Again?

That DeMarcus Ware?

Browsing the week's games with neighbors last night I came across the NFL preview for the Jacksonville at Dallas game, check that last section, the Did you know:

...Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware has a touchdown in five consecutive games.

Say what? He has who what? A touchdown. In five consecutive games.

We decided to try and proof this postulation and were unable to. Here is what we did find:

* DeMarcus Ware has two touchdowns... in his career, both coming in 2006, one on an interception return and one on a fumble recovery and return. It is not consecutive games with a sack either, DeMarcus has eight for the season and has scored one in five of six games, but not five in a row.

* No Cowboy has scored in five consecutive games this season, receiver Dez Bryant has three receiving touchdowns and two punt return scores, though they are not over a five game consecutive streak.

* Tony Romo has thrown a touchdown in five consecutive games, though his streak this year was actually six games.

So what the hell is this all about? If it is a typographical error it is pretty epic, I think Cowboys fans are so down that the league wants to cheer them up with some happy talk and being the simple lot they are, the league knows they will not go and check facts.



Image screencapped from the NFL Game Center preview here, for reasons I do not understand the posted previews on all the major sites, including NFL, ESPN, CBS Sports, etc., all disappear at kickoff.

Think I Found My Halloween Costume

Schadenfreude

I have three slings left over from the bicycle crash that left me with a separated right shoulder in April, and the two subsequent surgeries. Problem is I refuse to spend a dime on Cowboys regalia, even the cheap ass Walmart shit.

Jay Leno Thursday night: "For Halloween you can stick a fork in yourself and go as the Dallas Cowboys!"

Enjoy your weekend.



Image screencapped from NFL.com homepage, linked to this story.