HAIL REDSKINS FANS!
Washington REDSKINS 
@ 
Oakland RAIDERS
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2009 ~ 3:05 P.M.
A LITTLE LEFT OF A MIRACLE!
Another week of playing hard! Big PROPS to Jason Campbell and Devin Thomas having Career Days, but ultimately another week of disappointment. Shawn Suisham’s miss at the end of the game opened the door to Drew Brees and his offense, and I think we all had the same feeling when that kick sailed wide of the goal posts. Just another log on the 2009 Season funeral pyre!
I am hopeful that we are using up our bad luck quota for the next couple of years, because I am seeing some of the darndest things happen to us over the past 13 weeks . . . that Saints touchdown before the half was just indicative of the whole ball of wax. Cartwright was down before that ball came out . . . but, whatever! I WOULD have liked to see us try for the touchdown after 1st and goal at the 4 instead of seeming to play for the Field Goal. The Cowboys loss WAS sweet though . . . =)
We lost 2 more bodies this week – one, thankfully, with Mr. Suisham moving on down the road after costing us both the Saints game and the Cowboys game. UFL stud Graham Gano joins us after winning the audition between himself and former NFL’ers Mike Nugent, Nick Novak, and Shane Andrus. Gano kicked the game-winning Field Goal in the UFL Championship this year, so who knows. The other loss was expected to a certain degree, with Clinton Portis joining what seems like half of the offense on Injured Reserve. Vinny the Snake says that Clinton will be back next year, but with a new regime headed our way (hopefully), #26 may have played his last down for the Burgundy & Gold.
Alright, enough of this downbeat stuff. We have 4 games left starting this Sunday, with a trip out west to visit the Oakland Raiders. I am interested to see if our Redskins continue to play at the level they have been for the past couple of weeks. If they play down to the Raiders, that would CERTAINLY seal the fate of the current regime. Because on paper, we should kill these guys! This is the first of two West Coast jaunts, with this one being the one we should win! So let’s get an early present . . . a victory AND continued great seats to watch the Cowboys patented December collapse!
Hail! ...............................................................John Priddy
By Russ Thaler
Chief Digital Correspondent
CSNwashington.com
I believe in moral victories. There, I said it. Not all the time, not even most of the time. But sometimes you have to separate the positive from the losing to appreciate some of the good that’s come in spite of it.
Yes, that 33-30 overtime loss to the Saints hurts. It was another example of the Redskins being not quite good enough even when they play well enough to win. Yes, it is completely reasonable to wonder if the team would be better off looking for a new kicker this week. Indeed, there is ample evidence to make the argument that LaRon Landry does more harm than good for the Redskins defense, or that Jason Campbell isn’t a clutch performer.
Yet instead of focusing on all that’s wrong with the Burgundy and Gold right now, I think it would behoove us to focus on some positives so we can gain some perspective.
The Redskins are not going to reach any of their team goals this season. We’ve know this for weeks and so have they. Yet they continue to play like a team that has much for which to play. Go ahead and credit the coaching staff and the players themselves for acting like the professionals that they are. It’s not like the Redskins showed up to play because the undefeated Saints were in town; they do this every week despite the losing.
Let’s talk about Devin Thomas. Thomas has been dogged since the time he was drafted in 2008. He’s been called a “one year wonder”, “injury prone”, a “knuckle-head”, and just about everything else. But let the record show that Thomas “arrived” in the NFL against the Saints on this day. His seven-catch, 100 yard, two-touchdown performance was far and away the best of his career. Just think of those numbers juxtaposed against his entire 2008 receiving stat line of 15 catches, 120 yards and 0 TDs. Now maybe this performance will be looked back upon like Rod Gardner’s 6-for-208 show in 2001 against the Panthers. But Thomas has shown marked improvement in recent weeks that suggests that he is no “50-50”.
Fred Davis is another one of the “maligned three” from the 2008 draft class who is beginning to prove that he can be a reliable and dangerous receiving option. In fact, Davis has shown enough in relief of the injured Chris Cooley that I’m sure some people will toss around the idea of using the Pro Bowler as trade-bait once he gets healthy again. Davis has caught a touchdown pass in each of the last two games, has averaged at least 9.8 yards per catch in every one of the five games he’s started this season, and hasn’t been openly flogged for blowing a blocking assignment since spending his bye week working on his weakness in that area. I say, “Hooray for progress!”
Andre Carter is another player who has shown an unlimited willingness to work on his game. Carter took so much criticism last year and into the offseason for his inability to beat man-to-man blocking, let alone a double team. Well, Carter has responded with a most disruptive campaign in 2009. Throw Albert Haynesworth into the middle of the defensive line, and Brian Orakpo on the other side, and we’re talking about good things, for the most part.
We all know the offensive line needs work in the offseason. But you have to admit that they’ve performed much better in recent weeks than in the beginning of the season, in all their incarnations. Jason Campbell continues to mystify. On one hand, he seemed to have his best game of the season against the Saints, throwing for 367 yards and three touchdowns, appearing calm under pressure, working through his reads, and limiting the poor throws. On the other hand, he tossed another interception at a most inopportune time.
So go ahead and tell me all the things that are wrong about the Washington Redskins. You’ll be right on target about most of them. 3-and-9 is 3-and-9 and it’s hard to argue with results. But in order to stay “medium”, if you will, you have to be able to see the good as well as the bad. And there certainly is at least some modicum of hope in what has become a hopeless campaign.