// October 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // DC, Redskins, Sports
Games 4 & 5
My goodness this is fun. After five weeks, the Redskins are 4-1, have beaten the Cowboys and the Eagles on the road, and are ranked third on ESPN’s Power Poll. Not third in the NFC East, not third in the NFC – but THIRD. The Redskins to my knowledge have NEVER been third on ESPN’s Power Poll because quite frankly, I’m not sure ESPN.com even EXISTED the last time the Redskins were this good. I mean, we’re talking a good seventeen years here.
The Redskins are thirteenth in the league in giving up 303 yards per game on defense. Some may be concerned by that number, however the Redskins have played the first, third, fourth, fifth and ninth best offenses in the NFL through five weeks without a starting defensive end and arguably their No. 1 cornerback for the majority of that time. Meanwhile, the Redskins offense is the sixth highest rated in the league, with the second highest rusher.
The Redskins are wining with defense, they’re winning with a great run game, they’re winning with incredibly solid quarterback play, and they’re winning with “Hip Hip Hooray.” We could not have asked for a more ironically cool and quotable head coach. A great defense and a great running game combine to be the old school path to victory. Victories like these should have an equally old school cheer.
After the bungling of, the misinformation about, and public relations nonsense surrounding this January’s coaching search, I was pretty much over the Redskins. What started as pure anger and disgust in January had faded into apathy by July. I didn’t watch the draft, I didn’t read about training camp. I just didn’t care – and indifference about your favorite sports team is a great deal more tragic than hating it.
In January I made my “Rolling in His Grave Since 1999” and “Sell the Team” t-shirts and started composing my epic case against The Danny. After week one it looked like those t-shirts would sell lot hot cakes, and that piece when finished would be read by many. It’s funny how winning changes everything. Instead of hanging The Danny in effigy, we’re laughing with him as he makes an ass out of him in two consecutive weeks in the locker room after the game. Suddenly we’ve forgotten about the scoreboard, the parking lots, this purposeful misleading of fans and members of the media, the treatment of Gregg Williams and the subsequent coaching search, and all we’ve got is euphoria. And you know what, that’s fine by me.
