Body Snatchers

Skins vs Rams

Week 6

All NFL fans experience this phenomena at some point in their "fandom". some teams' fans experience it more often and for longer period of times than others.

As a Redskins fan, this phenomena has been "how we roll" for more years than I care to admit.

Let me clarify the "Body Snatcher" experience. This occurs when a team takes the field on any given Sunday and looks nothing like the team they were the week before. Sometimes it's a good thing...sometimes not.

This phenomena reared it's ugly head in DC Sunday. The win less Rams came to town to face a high stepping, chest thumping, Redskins team that had beaten 2 divisional opponents in their stadiums on back to back Sundays. Unbelievable!

Now the history of this team suggests that at no time should they ever "overlook" an opponent at any time. But most of us, I think based on the previous 4 games, thought that the Redskins would win this game. We had played with an intensity not seen in quite some time around these parts. But the team that took the field Sunday looked entirely different from the team that had beaten Dallas and then turned around and handed it to Philly.

Flat. No fire. No expectation of winning. Could they have actually bought into the media hype? Did they actually look past an 0-4 Rams team? Several things occurred here.

1. Butterfingers --(Not the candy bar.) Turnovers were the order of the day. 3 fumbles in the 1st half. After 5 weeks of no offensive turnovers, the Redskins committed 3 in the 1st half. Cooley, Kendall, and Rabach/Campbell all coughed up the ball. Kendall's was definitely the most costly as the Rams scored their only TD after returning that fumble 75yds.
2. Dropsy -- Too many dropped passes on the offensive side of the ball + 2 dropped INT's by the defensive side = here a drop, there a drop, everywhere a drop drop.
3. Punting -- Bring the punter, he'll do what we need him to do. Oh wait that was another season. I will admit that I thought Brooks was the real deal after seeing him boot that ball during training camp(I know...it was training camp..but still). But he has yet to "get 'er going". And from the rumblings out in cyberspace, Mr. Brooks(not the movie)may be sent on his merry way. We still need improvements on kick coverage and field position.

We took some dings to our egos and to our personnel. The knees have it with Betts, Samuels and Thrash respectively, sustaining injuries. A groin strain to Smoot(SMOOOOOOOOOT!..I love his name) and an ankle strain to Horton<gasp>.

So when you really look at everything and realize these guys are the actually the same people as last week, what does that leave you with? A team that has a virgin head coach with his own brand and style of coaching, players that looked as if their reserve tanks had been emptied the previous weeks and fans that crashed back down to earth in .623 seconds.

Does this mean this team is done? Is this the beginning of the so-called end? I think not! It is what it is. A loss. The fact is that if we had taken a loss in Dallas or in Philly there wouldn't have been so much as a passing glance in our direction by the powers that be. There would be no fan meltdown or disappointment. But when you are flying as high as we were prior to Sunday's shenanigans, it's a big, belly whopper of a return to planet earth.

The measure of this team will be how it responds to this adversity. If this is what I think it is then next week we'll return to "pre-Ram" form against the Browns. Thank God the Browns have 1 win.

Fight on Sons of Waaash-ing--ton! Rah Rah Rah!