Dawg Day Afternoon

--Week 7

Skins vs Browns

Mirage. Fluke. Optical illusion. All words that could be used to describe what happened last Monday(Oct. 13th) when the Browns handed the Giants a sound whipping.

After seeing with mine own eyes, the juggernaut that was supposed to be Cleveland, I thought, "how did they pull that off?", "Evidently the Giants were asleep at the switch."

Another Sunday was upon Redskins Nation. I felt strangely detached from this upcoming game for some reason. Not really sure of a win but not really thinking we'd lose either. After all, the Browns had just put a beat down on the defending Super Bowl champs less than a week ago.

Dread was lying deep within my belly, stirring up the acids into overdrive. I tried to go about my business like nothing important was on the horizon but my heart knew better.

10:45am -- Went to church with very little sense of urgency about me. A late game makes for a leisurely trip to the House and back. Plenty of time to mingle and actually listen to folks as they chat it up.

1:30pm -- Home. I pick out the clothes that will be worn for battle(Cooley storm jersey, gray Skins sweatpants, gray Skins hat, and gray and white Nike's). Cooked up some cheddar cheese melt Hamburger Helper (not bad...a trip down the palatable memory highway). Served it with mashed potatoes(homemade tyvm! I'm a southern gal what can I say?) and biscuits(canned..I just can't get the homemade version of these down). Rib sticking good!

2:00pm -- Enjoying the happenings around the league. St. Louis is beating Dallas to the tune of 21 - 7 at the half! That's always a pick me up for a Skins fan.

2:30pm -- Ran out of the front door as my across the street neighbor motors up to his driveway(He's a Cowboy fan). I seize the moment! I can't help myself. I say, "How bout dem cowboys?"

"Shut up" he says. I wave him off as the bandwagon fan that he is. A half hour later he's knocking on my front door saying and I quote, "you know your team is playing bad when they switch to another game in the middle." "Welcome to mediocre football", I say. He leaves with his tail tucked between his legs. Top o' the world Ma! Top o' the world!

3:15pm -- I throw on the battle gear, jump into the Escort, start my journey to my Sunday home, my b-i-l Andrew's house.

3:45pm -- The gang's all here! We're ready for a rebound! Let's beat those Browns!

4:15pm -- We have lift off! We kick. That means getting the ball to start the 2nd half. YAY! That's a plus for me!

5:30pm -- Halftime! FINALLY! I think I may have dozed a few times! It was like watching a tennis match. Back & forth...back & forth. "No, you take it...No...you take it". Lots of punts by both teams. On a positive note, that enabled the Skins to get a gander at the leg of our newly acquired punter. A 240 lb bruiser of a punter. Not a bad performance considering he was signed less than a week before this game.

We even got treated to seeing Shaun Alexander 2.0. Seemed funny seeing him in the burgundy and gold. Odd to cheer for someone that I've always hoped would fail during our games.

2nd Half -- We finally show some signs of having a pulse. Clinton Portis, again does what is quickly becoming a habit for him. Another 100 + yard game. (175 yds on 27 carries, 1 TD). He, unfortunately, coughed up the ball at the worse possible moment in the game but I gave him a pass for that because 1) we won, 2) the guy stripped him from behind while trying to get extra yardage. Not much you can do to prevent that.

Campbell had a pretty decent game once again. Solid. No picks or fumble from him yet. He's in record setting territory here. Spreading the ball around ensured Randal El, Cooley and Moss each having 4 catches for a combined 163 yds. Getting Moss involved again proved to be the icing on the proverbial cake. He moved after the catches very well and was rewarded with a TD that ultimately won the game.

London Fletcher = tackling machine! (7 tackles) 'Nuff said!

Defense played a great game! Holding Cleveland to no touchdowns until the 4th quarter.

Carlos Rogers laid the smacketh down. Horton still looks amazing living up to his nickname, "The Predator". That is no optical illusion for sure. The goal line stance was amazing. They gained a lot of respect with that series. If not for the untimely Portis fumble, the defense would not have given up a touchdown again this week. But with mistakes comes payment. The Browns scored and then got 2 on the subsequent conversion. Can we expect them to hold everything? Yes..can they? No. As good as they are...they're only human. Well , except for Horton and Fletcher that is.

Special teams still need work. Randel El isn't the answer on returning punts. And our coverage needs to be better.

For the first time in a while, we actually had to sit on the edge of the sofa, hoping the Browns would be...well...the Browns. They took one last gasp of O2 and tried to kick a 54 yd field goal to send the game in to OT.

The Browns are who we thought they were! Derek Anderson missed receiver after receiver after receiver. His numbers told the tale: 14/37 for 136 yds and 1 TD. Jamaal Lewis was their only bright spot on offense and even then you had to squint to see it. He had 80 yds on 19 carries. It made for a long afternoon for Browns fans I'm sure.

7:00pm -- The End! Redskins seal a win to improve to 5-2 overall. We high five all around and are glad that we rebounded from last week. We relax and eat some pizza. We get ready for football night in America. We laugh a lot at Dallas getting beat and now don't feel so bad that we lost by 2 to the same team that just rolled over them 34-14. The Rams winning in that way makes the blow to our egos a little softer.

We start to think ahead to next week and decide that's best left for another day. We bask in the afterglow of taking the #2 spot in the NFCE, just ahead of the 4-3 Cowboys.

HOW SWEET IT IS!