Giant Frustrations

Week 12

Skins vs Giants

Wishful thinking lead to downright disappointment last Sunday. As I watched my beloved team crash & burn in front of the home crowd, I knew that the hopes of a better than average season that I had conned myself into believing, were a mere delusion.

The Redskins gathered themselves quite nicely after the opening day butt whoopin that the G-Men put on them back in September to open my favorite sport. Won a series of games that none, including myself, thought possible. We beat New Orleans, Arizona, Dallas and Philadelphia. The sky was the limit in my overly, simplistic football imagination. Visions of playoffs and division titles danced on the edge of my reality, beckoning me to buy into this surprisingly good team. No one thought we'd have a chance to even contend this season. Rookie Head Coach, new offensive coordinator, new(kind of)defensive coordinator, new running backs coach, and a few new, rookie players that may or may not contribute. But we came out like a team on a mission. Leaving teams battered & bruised in our wake. The sheer joy in my mind was so intoxicating and heady, I almost forgot about 2006, a 5-11 team that looked pathetic in the wake of a playoff run in 2005.

Then we played St. Louis. At home. Lost. No big deal. Right? So what if we lost to what was then a win less team? It was a fluke. All teams have down weeks. We couldn't expect to maintain that kind of a showing each & every week. Could we?

Then, we played the Browns. Hung in there to get that 'W'. Whew. A close call. Then came the Lions. We scraped by on that one too. Had some folks apparently take the week off on that game. Funny, I don't ever remember the Redskins being the kind of team that people thought we could afford to rest anyone on any given Sunday. I don't ever remember seeing Riggins or Theismann or Kilmer or Monk sitting out a game unless they were injured. But I'm not the coach nor am I the one to question whether a player is truly hurt or not. I understand the logic but I didn't like it.

I digress.

We then proceeded to drop 3 of the next 4 games. Managing to beat our playoff nemesis for the past few years, the Seattle Seahawks, whose record is on course with that of the Lions this season.

Still as a true Redskins fan, you always HOPE your team will come out and take it to 'em no matter who it is they're facing that day or night. The Steelers and their fans let it be known that the Redskins are not the only team loved in this area. Their fans filled our stadium and cheered louder than we did.

Dallas came in to town and blew through us like a hot knife through butter. We're lucky it was only a 4 point loss. I guess Wade didn't want Tony over exerting that already broken finger of his too much. So they only scored 2 TD's.

On to the Giants. In all fairness, the Giants are probably playing the best football of their lives at this point. A 10 - 1 record as they entered our house. We honored our fallen star on the 1 year anniversary of his death and then we proceeded to hand the game to the Giants in true Redskins fashion. Failure to score. Failure to move the ball. Failure to pressure Eli Manning more than 2 - 3 times. Shucks, we even beat our own guy out of a interception. How this happens, I don't know. But leave it to my Skins to find a way.

Did I really expect to win this game? No. Not really. Did I expect us to actually resemble a NFL team? Yes. Did we? No. Catching passes that were 1 & 2 yards shy of the first down markers was on the menu. And Jason kept ordering them over and over. Dropped passes also plagued us with at least 3 - 4 drops from our less than stellar receiving corp.

Is Jason the answer to our offensive woes? Some say not. I like him. He has a rocket arm but he's a bit slow on getting the ball out to his receivers. When he does manage to do that, his wonderfully talented receivers manage to drop them on a regular basis. Thanks for all of the help guys.

I videotaped myself at intervals while I watched this debacle. I've watched it a few times. It's funny to see yourself react to something that you have zero control over. You know you're going to crash, yet you can't stop watching.

If you want to really know the frustrations of the fans of this team. Take a gander at my home made video.

That says it all. Doesn't it? Now we're off to Baltimore to face the Ravens. Can we make enough changes to get a win? I certainly hope so.

I'm back to my old self as a Skins fan. Not taking anything for granted and hoping that they can get it done. Crossing our fingers so that we may have a chance at post season play. Once again we're on a wing and a prayer. Depending on others to get us there. If we don't make the post season where will this team go next season?

I think Jim Zorn was the right choice. I hope our owner can be a bit more patient and hold out to see what a new season may bring. We need to shore up the lines and give our quarterback a chance to make some plays.

Until then. I'll see ya after the Ravens game. Here's hoping we can get out of there in 1 piece and with very little damage.

Hail!