Bye Bye Birdies

Forgive me Father, for I have played hooky! Yes, that's right. I skipped church in favor of football. I couldn't help it! I had way too much to get done before the game; laundry, cook dinner for my husband(I mean, the man has to eat right? I can't leave him without food for the day, can I?) No....no....of course not! So I wasn't able to squeeze Amazing Grace in between washing and cooking. Heaven help me. I hope Jesus is a football fan.

Funny....the Cardinal is VA's state bird but AZ can't seem to win in these parts. <snicker>.

Skins - 24 Cards - 17

As we close out week 3 and look ahead to week 4, we notice that time-proven, veteran QB's don't always belong as high up on the pedestal as the media types tend to put them.

We all heard the typical, over-hyped press about AZ. "It's the Cardinals' year this year", They've replaced Leinart with Kurt Warner and he should be able to get this team going." "Kurt Warner had a perfect QB rating last week. That makes 2 of those for him. WOW. Can you say comeback kid?" Cardinal fans are still waiting.

Skins fans, on the other hand, are stepping a little higher, feeling a little better and timidly getting a little swagger in their walks. It's an all around brighter day in Redskinsville. We've beaten 2 teams that most of the "pros" thought we wouldn't compete with. Although to be fair a few of them made the "gutsy" call and picked the Skins to win this one. According to our favorite, color commentator, Darryl "Moose" Johnston, "AZ beat themselves". Someone please tell him that the Redskins were on the field at some time during this game and scored 24 points while the Cardinals beat themselves. Let's cut to the chase here. The pluses on Sunday:

• SPREADING THE WEALTH - Seven(7) different targets for Jason Campbell. Way to get others involved. Loved it! Moss, Cooley, Randel El, Thomas, Betts, Sellers, Yoder, and Portis all got a piece of the action.

• IMPROVEMENTS BY JASON CAMPBELL - He was able to get the ball away a little quicker imo. Finding his targets and getting the ball there looked nice. I was elated to see him run for some quick and needed yardage at critical times. I couldn't understand why he wasn't doing that in the previous games. Glad he turned that around. He looked more comfortable and executed at a higher level. His numbers: 22/30 193yds 2 TD 0 INT's. The offense racked up 323 total yards and kept the ball for a little over 33 minutes.

• DEFENSE - Heads up play again this week for the most part. 2 turnovers(1 INT & 1 fumble recovery) that resulted in 10 points. Carlos Rogers reeled both of these in. McIntosh forced the fumble. London Fletcher added 7(3 solo, 4 assists) more tackles to his resume' for a season total of 31 thus far. Go Fletcher! We pretty much kept Aquan Boldin in check(3 catches for 25 yds, 1 TD). We pressured or hurried Kurt Warner a plenty. Had 2 sacks as icing on the cake.
• Special Teams - Better than last week, but not as good as they could have been. Suisham missed a 52 yarder. Had the distance..accuracy ...not so much. Although it seems by the actions of the head coach afterwards, the place holder had a hand in that. Speaking of Brooks, he punted better than last week with kicks of 35, 45, 56 and 35 yards respectively.

The Minuses

• We failed to contain Edgerrin James. He was able to accumulate 93 yards on 18 rushes. We must get a handle on this lack of run stoppage from the defense before we roll into Dallas this coming weekend. I don't quite understand, however, why the Cardinals didn't continue pounding James down our throats instead of allowing Warner to sling all over the place.
• There are few little things that we need to get cleaned up. We drove down the field, picking up pieces of real estate little by little and when we make it to the red zone, we take a time out! Imo, a team should continue smacking the opposition while you have them reeling from the previous blows. When you have an opponent pinned on the mat, don't allow them to get up to gather themselves. My head tells me this is a rookie head coach issue, my heart says to me.."WTH?". While it isn't the most significant piece of the puzzle, but you can't complete the portrait with a piece missing. Let's get it cleaned up.
• The running game didn't quite get off the ground like we're used to seeing. Although we did use the 1-2 punch effectively for a while. Campbell, Sellers, and Thomas also took a few strolls around the park. I, personally, was elated to see Campbell use his feet to pick up much needed yardage. My biggest concern here was with Clinton Portis. 21 rushes for only 68 yards or about 3.2 yards per carry. Dismal IMO..at least for him. However it is refreshing to NOT see him gasping for air at the end of the day and perhaps it may save his legs for further use i.e. the post season. Things that make you go HMMMMM!.

Overall, I give us a good grade on this game. I'm happy with the steps we've made up to this point. Not a SuperBowl team but we're not the Browns either!

Watch out Texas the Skins are coming to town. Be afraid...be very afraid!

Hail!