They're Calling it 'The Clinton Portis'

Film at eleven

Danny Rouhier is out with his week three video, a sneak peak at the evening news, team coverage of a disturbing new trend and visual confirmation of a long assumed theory on news anchors work attire.

Get over and subscribe to his channel, Danny makes us laugh in good times and keeps us afloat in the bad.



YouTube from here.

They're Here

Gotta support the team

The set is complete, the kids' jerseys arrived today, Brian Orakpo for Josh and a refresh of Clinton Portis for Will to go along with my Donovan McNabb and the three year old's non numbered jersey, these jerseys replace the ones they got in 2005, they have long grown out of those. Unfortunately I read the sizing wrong and these are a little big for eight year olds but what the heck, they will grow into them. Football Jersey Rule One does not apply until you can buy your own.

The boys will be christening their new jerseys in thrilling fashion, lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader lurker Wilbert Montgomery has invited them to join us for our annual trek to Eagles Stadium, Sunday's game will be our 22nd of the past 23 Redskins-Eagles games, my twentieth straight rivalry game and my eleventh Redskins-Eagles game in Philadelphia.

Tonight I tried to tell them it is not going to be all fun and games wearing burgundy and gold to an Eagles game in Philadelphia, not least Donovan's return, not leaster a game for the Division lead, kids younger than Josh and Will have cursed me a blue streak in that city, usually in tandem with their fathers. They were not ready to hear it, tonight was a night to let them wallow in the joy of graduating to a ritual their father and godfather have executed since before they were born.

We will talk personal safety later.



Photo by me.

Seriously Dude?

This is a violation of Football Jersey Rule Number One

Editor's note: Eagles week rolls on, tee minus three days until Donovan McNabb returns to Eagles Stadium. -Ben

So Sunday the Folsom family mounted a morning expedition in the rain to the National Zoo in Washington DC, I had my football picks safely in and the Redskins did not play the Rams until 4:15 pm so it was safe, we were out the door by 10:00 am with a projected return time of 1:00 pm parentheses so I could watch the early games close parentheses.

With not a lot of time and rain coming down we decided to go to the Amazonia exhibit, it is a house exhibit with giant water tanks you can tour from below, then wander through a synthetic Amazon jungle complete with monkeys and spoonbill birds above. Very cool, the wife and kids had been there many times, this was my first time in this exhibit. You should check it out.

As we wandered from the tank level through the jungle level, the guy you see above and his family was in front of us, it did not escape my notice that Eagles fan dude was sporting a Ricky Watters jersey.

I say again, a Ricky Watters jersey.

Ricky Watters jersey.

Ricky Watters.

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Back in 1992 I was living in Charlottesville Virginia working as a sound engineer, lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader lurker Wilbert Montgomery was also in Charlottesville, working as a bartender and musician, at this point we had already been arguing about Eagles and Redskins for years, and we decided to start up a fantasy football league.

It was called the Garrett Football League, or the GFL, after the bar where Wilbert Montgomery worked. There were only five of us that participated, we had a late night draft, there were no draft magazines back in those days so were on our own. We established our own rule book and kept The Book on the shelf at the bar, your weekly lineups had to be in The Book before kickoff or you forfeited the week.

I was Commissioner and we agreed to use USA Today's box scores for the weekly tally, everyone submitted their own scores and the Commish double checked them, by the end of that season I had USA Today sports sections completely surrounding the trifold futon bed in my dingey little room on Broad Avenue.

There being only five of us we all had all star teams, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Emmitt Smith, Barry Foster, Thurman Thomas, Sterling Sharpe, Michael Irvin, Jerry Rice. As ever in fantasy football the difference was not the top line players, it was the lower round players, the gems you find in a draft.

For me in 1992 it was Ricky Watters. Ricky was in his second NFL season in 1992 after not playing a game in 1991, he burst onto the scene in San Francisco with 1,013 yards and nine touchdowns in fourteen games as a second year player, by far besting any of the second line tailbacks my fantasy opponents had, helping to propel me to a league victory in the one and only season of the GFL.

Ricky stayed with San Francisco for two more seasons and left as a three time Pro Bowler in his four years there, despite an alarming trend in his three seasons as a starter there: Each year, as his number of carries went up, his yards per carry went down, his fumbles per game went up and his scoring remained stagnant.

In the 1995 offseason, as the still new concept of NFL free agency was enriching the top players at a dizzying rate, Ricky left San Francisco, following his former defensive coordinator and new Eagles head coach Ray Rhodes to Philadelphia, signing a three year, 6.9 million dollar contract and supplanting Herschel Walker, Ricky was now the highest paid ball carrier in the game.

Things did not get off to a great start in Philadelphia, in his first game as an Eagle Ricky famously short armed a pass to avoid contact in an opening loss to the Buccaneers, when asked after the game about why he did not pull in the ball and take the hit, Ricky famously responded For who?! For what?!

Ricky stayed in Philadelphia altogether for three seasons, rushing for more than eleven hundred yards in each season, making two more Pro Bowls, in 1995 and 1996. Ricky became a free agent in the 1998 offseason, the Eagles did not negotiate with Ricky, preferring to let him walk, they had Charlie Garner up and coming and, consistent with Eagles' player practices today, did not want to pay league topping money at the tailback position, Ricky would have merited close to four million dollars a year by that point.

So he moved on to Seattle, signing a four year, thirteen million dollar deal with the Seahawks in the 1998 offseason, Ricky would rush for twelve hundred or more yards in each of the next three seasons, making Ricky the first, and still only as far as I can tell, player to rush for more than a thousand yards three times each with three different teams.

Ricky finished his NFL career with more than ten thousand yards rushing and is considered by the NFL itself as one of the top ten players not in the Hall of Fame, it is also widely agreed his arrogant attitude early in his career, punctuated by his For who For what outburst, is what is keeping him out of the Hall.

For my part I always thought it was in part memories of Ricky's dominant years on the ground that still infused Eagles fans two years after Ricky left, when fans booed the selection of Donovan McNabb over Ricky Williams, and partly why despite Dono's success in Philadelphia, fans and the media were never loyal to him and were so quick to turn on him: West coast offense shmest coast offense, Eagles fans want a ground pounder.

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Back to my zoo trip, this guy in the photo is wearing a jersey that does not look like it is minimum thirteen years old, it is the new Eagles colors and logo that was introduced in 1996 and Ricky's last season in Philadelphia was 1997. So where does it come from?

Does dude only break it out on gameday, treat it well and wash it in Woolite? That would then disqualify him as a real Eagles fan.

Does he have some connection to Ricky? Hometown, friend, former teammate? I will give a pass if this is the case, that of course does make the jersey more of a conversation piece than a statement on team loyalty.

Is he just really a Ricky Watters fan? Seems a longshot, it was thirteen years ago and five NFC Championship appearances since this guy played for that team. If the guy wanted a classic Eagles player jersey there are many others to choose from.

If none of these is the case then we are forced to confront an ugly possibility: This guy went out of his way to buy a Ricky Watters jersey, and recently.

This is a clear violation of Football Jersey Rule Number One: Your jersey selection must have relevance.



Photo by me.

So Troy Aikman Almost Played for the Eagles. Wait What?

Green and white?

It is Eagles week so all the sporting world is united about just how fucked up it is that quarterback Donovan McNabb will be returning to his former home stadium as a Redskin, to the place where he was the undisputed starter for eleven seasons, where he he led his team to five NFC Beast Division titles, five NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl, to the place where he began his professional football career the same year that Andy Reid began his head coaching career, eleven long years before that same head coach thought so little of Dono that he had him traded to a Division rival.

So do not ask me how I missed this story last year, the story of something that would have made Donovan McNabb to the Redskins seem pedestrian:

Troy Aikman considered coming out of retirement to play for the Eagles in 2002.

It all started today when I got an email from lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, my game partner with whom I have been to 21 of the past 22 Eagles-Redskins games, a streak dating back to Donovan McNabb's rookie year of 1999, exclaiming surprise that neither of us had ever heard this, with a link to a piece on Matt Mosely's ESPN NFC Beast blog titled No closure for Donovan McNabb in Philly.

Waaay down in paragraph thirteen of seventeen is this doozy:

As a brief sidebar, Reid once attempted to lure Aikman out of retirement when McNabb was injured early in his career. Aikman gave it some serious thought, but ultimately declined. If you think it was hard adjusting to McNabb in burgundy and gold, how do you think Aikman would have looked in green and white?

So odd I found this that I had to go back and do the research, sure enough there it was, back on 1 November 2009, less than a year ago, Troy Aikman was interviewed by Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times and told the story. Google tells me that within three days both the USA Today and Philly.com, the online home of both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, had picked up the story. I do not recall reading this in the Washington Post online or in the paper.

It was the famous Donovan McNabb Plays with a Broken Ankle game on 17 November 2002, midway into Donovan's fourth season, Dono twisted his ankle on the third play of the game and broke it, then stayed in the game and went on to tie a career mark with four touchdown passes and lead the Eagles to a 38-14 victory over the Cardinals to move the Eagles to 7-3, ultimately in 2002 the Eagles went on to lose the NFC Championship at home, in Veterans Stadium no less, to the Buccaneers.

According to Troy's story, he was in the booth that day doing color analysis on the 49ers at Chargers game all the way across the country when a production assistant passed him a note to return a call at halftime. Troy did, it was Andy Reid, ready with a pitch to lure Troy out of retirement for the rest of the season, Donovan's injury was projected to keep him out six to eight weeks and ended up kept him out the final six regular season games, after a bye week Dono returned for both postseason games.

Apparently Troy seriously considered it before ultimately deciding his post LaVar Arrington life as a broadcaster was safer than heading back under center, he declined coach Reid's offer, thus robbing Redskins fans of the limitless joy derived from taunting Cowboys fans forced to watch their golden boy playing for the other team. Possible failure as an Eagle would have been icing on the cake for Redskins fans.

The chronology works if we look at the timing of the games, Arizona at Philadelphia was at 1:00 pm and San Francisco at San Diego was at 4:00 pm. Donovan makes it through the whole game and is x-rayed immediately following the game, Andy Reid considers his options in Koy Detmer and AJ Feeley and makes the call to FOX to track down Troy before halftime.

I really wish this had happened.



Troy Aikman from here via here.

The Folsom Point 9/28/2010: Coffee and a Cold Shower

100 posts. I'M ESTABLISHED.

Wherein we discuss potential realities invading the season.



Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

It's Here

Looks good in burgundy and gold

After some unnecessary delays in the ordering process, mainly having to do with outfitting new jerseys for my eight year old sons who have outgrown their Clinton Portis and LaVar Arrington jerseys from 2005, we finally decided their new jerseys will be Clinton Portis and Brian Orakpo, my number five Donovan McNabb jersey arrived today.

After never wearing a football jersey in my life before the 2005 Redskins-Buccaneers playoff game, I have worn number 89 Santana Moss every gameday the past four seasons. With Dono coming to Washington there was never a question about whether I would change.

I will be christening this jersey on a fitting gameday, this Sunday lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery and I travel to Philadelphia for our 22nd rivalry game in the past 23, this will be my twentieth straight(!) Eagles-Redskins game, our streak of games goes back to the 1999 season, Donovan McNabb's rookie year.



Photo by me.

Oh It's THAT Game Again

The Coming Out, The Torching, The Trial By Fire, pick your aphorism

Takeaway Drill: A pretty weak performance; down two scores before the first pee break; overwhelmed by an overwhelmed rookie; taking out their best player is supposed to slow them down; we've seen this bit before.

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Quick jump to

Monday Walkthrough :: Soapbox :: Chattering Class :: Omnibus Spotlights :: Recaps and Stats

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Monday Walkthrough: The Redskins play timid, look like a team afraid to win, make lots of individual mistakes and fail to capitalize when the Rams' best player is off the field, lose 30-16 in Saint Louis, Washington drops to 1-2. Sam Bradford certainly looks like a quarterback capable of throwing to open receivers. A frustrating and predictable letdown game.

The Rams elect to receive to start the first quarter, Saint Louis' first possession starts at their 40 yard line when Graham Gano's kick goes out of bounds, riding tailback Steven Jackson and including the Rams going for it on fourth and one, Kareem Moore whiffs on Steven on a run off right tackle, Steven darts 42 yards through open field to score, extra point good and the Rams take an early 7-0 lead. The Redskins get the ball for the first time, first two plays are passes, a crackback penalty on Santana Moss leads to a first and 25, on the next play Santana fumbles, the ball is recovered and returned almost to the goal line. Saint Louis gets the ball for the second time, inside the Redskins five yard line, on second down Sam Bradford rolls right and finds tight end Daniel Fells in the back of the end zone for a score, extra point is good and the Rams push their early lead to 14-0. Washington gets the ball for the second time, a run for nowhere on first down, a false start on Stephon Heyer on second down, false start on Artis Hicks on third down, Graham Gano's punt is blocked and the Rams take over near the Redskins 25 yard line. Graham Gano punting, wait what? The Rams' third possession is one play as Kareem Moore tips and then intercepts Sam Bradford's pass intended for Daniel Fells, there was a penalty on that play though it was against the Rams and the Redskins get a do over. The Redskins third possession starts at their own fifteen, Clinton Portis finally gets two good runs, 34 yards on two plays, two incompletes on solid defense and the Redskins drive is killed and they are punting. Saint Louis gets the ball for the fourth time, a three and out with good Redskins defense. Washington's fourth possession starts with another good Clinton Portis run, Donovan McNabb is forced to use a timeout to prevent a delay of game, back from the timeout cornerback Bradley Fletcher badly interferes with tight end Fred Davis way downfield and the Redskins have the ball at the Rams fourteen, two more plays and that is where the quarter ends with the Rams leading 14-0.

The Redskins continue their fourth possession into the second quarter, Oshiomogho Atogwe nearly intercepts Donovan's pass, a holding penalty on Jammal Brown stalls this drive, Graham Gano sets up for a 29 yard field goal, it is good and the Redskins cut the Rams lead to 14-3. The Rams' fifth possession never happens, on the kickoff following the field goal Reed Doughty hits rookie receiver Mardy Gilyard, fumble and Lorenzo Alexander collects the ball, Redskins have it back. Washington's fifth possession is a one play drive as Donovan McNabb finds Santana Moss 21 yards into the end zone, rolling right and throwing across his body off his back foot, extra point is good and the Redskins cut the Rams lead to to 14-10. The Rams get another chance at a fifth possession, Saint Louis struggles to get any momentum going, Kedric Golston and Brian Orakpo team up on consecutive downs to end this possession, punt. The Redskins get the ball for the sixth time, tailback Ryan Torain busts a run for 36 yards on first down, then three yards on the next play… then minus one on the next, Donovan McNabb breaks the pocket and scrambles for 26 yards, Ryan Torain has another good run, the offense then commits a delay of game to push back to third and nine from the Rams thirteen, Chris Cooley cannot get the first down, Graham Gano sets up for a 24 yard field goal and it is good, the Redskins have now pulled to within one point, 14-13 Rams. Saint Louis gets the ball for the sixth time, a questionable pass interference penalty on Carlos Rogers gets things going for the Rams, this is a long drive that features a number of small but steady gains, a Redskins fumble recovery is overturned on review, the Rams use fifteen plays and more than seven minutes of the clock to get to the Redskins one yard line, four attempts inside the Washington five yard line and Saint Louis gets nothing, they set up for a 21 yard field goal, barely an extra point, on the snap in comes Phillip Daniels through the line and BLOCKS the kick, the Rams get nothing. Washington gets the ball back at their twenty, the Redskins seventh possession is a one play kneel down by Donovan McNabb, and the half ends to boos from the home crowd as the Rams lead 14-13.

The Redskins get the ball to start the third quarter, Washington's eighth possession, Donovan McNabb goes long to Santana Moss for 56 yards down the right sideline, tack on a fifteen yard horse collar and the Redskins have the ball inside the Rams ten, two runs later they stall and Graham Gano kicks a 21 yard field goal to put the Redskins ahead for the first time, 16-14. The Rams' seventh possession is a struggle to midfield, another long Rams drive in drips and drabs, eleven plays and 74 yards later Kenneth Darby runs through a big hole in the middle for twelve yards and the touchdown, extra point good and the Rams retake the lead 21-16. Washington's ninth possession features one good pass to Clinton Portis, the rest is pretty much weak as the Redskins five and out, punt. Saint Louis gets the ball for the eighth time, a hard fought drive that goes down to fourth and short, the Rams end up with a three and out and punt. The Redskins' tenth possession is a return to the all passing offense, three incompletes and the Redskins are punting, this drive looks like Washington is trying to get back to what worked against Houston and it did not work. The Rams get the ball for the ninth time, Sam Bradford manages to find as he has all day an open receiver, a final running play and the quarter ends with the Rams leading 21-16.

Saint Louis continues their ninth possession into the fourth quarter, Kenneth Darby continues his best Steven Jackson impression and bulls for a first down, then seven more to Darby, this guy can run consistently against Washington, finally the Rams stall at the Redskins nineteen, Josh Brown sets up for a 37 yard field goal, it is good and the Rams extend their lead to 24-16, an eight point lead with less then twelve minutes left in the game. Washington's eleventh possession starts with a first down crossing pattern to Santana Moss nullified by a holding on left tackle Stephon Heyer, Santana gets some of that back then Donovan is sacked by defensive end James Hall, Santana is short on his third down catch and the Redskins are punting. Danny Amendola puts the Rams at midfield to start Saint Louis' tenth possession, three runs to fourth and inches, the Rams go for it, get it, then DeAngelo Hall falls down on the next play to give up a 30 yard run, finally Washington's defense stiffens inside the Redskins fifteen and the Rams stall, Josh Brown sets up for a 29 yard field goal, it is good and the Rams extend their lead to 27-16. The Redskins get the ball for the twelfth time, Chris Cooley gets things started with a sixteen yard gain, a non fumble is challenged and upheld, then left guard Kory Lichtensteiger gets called for a false start, now we are at first and fifteen with under four minutes left in the game, cornerback Bradley Fletcher pulls in the next pass on an interception intended for Santana Moss on the left sideline, Rams ball. On the turnover the Rams get the ball for the eleventh and final time with under four minutes left in the game and leading by eleven, Mark Clayton moves the chains, the Rams stall there but are already in field goal range, Josh Brown sets up for a 36 yard attempt, up and good and the Rams extend their lead to fourteen points, 30-16, with less than two minutes left in the game. Washington starts their thirteenth and final drive with no timeouts and down two touchdowns, Roydell Williams and Chris Cooley catch passes and make good gains but it is too little too late time runs out and the game is over, the Rams win 30-16 to drop the Redskins to 1-2, and they looked pretty bad today.

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Soapbox: Death by a thousand cuts and a bad defensive plan. The Rams capitalized on some individual mistakes, safety Kareem Moore whiffing on tailback Steven Jackson for the 42 yard touchdown run in the first quarter, a rare Santana Moss fumble that led directly to another score.

While attempting to play the base 3-4 defense, the Redskins gave up short and intermediate yardage plays when the Rams showed the only long plays they could manage were when Redskins players made mistakes. Third down continues to be a big problem for the Redskins defense.

Where is the phyiscal play? Sam Bradford may have a huge upside, for right now he proved he can hit wide open receivers ten to fifteen yards downfield; there was no jam at the line. And why the hell is Andre Carter out following anyone in pass coverage? Know your freaking personnel.

The Redskins played not to give up the big play against a team that had not previously showed it was capable of making big plays. Poor planning.

On offense, I was left with the feeling that the team abandoned the run too soon, after rolling up 115 yards on the ground in the first half the team managed one yards on five rushes in the second half. And what is up with Clinton Portis taking a dive? Since when doe any player except a quarterback fall on purpose?

Adding injury to insult, punter Josh Bidwell injured himself in warmups and was not available to punt, instead kicker Graham Gano did the job, he was ok, here we go again with the sea of punters coming through Ashburn. Could we possibly see punter Hunter the Punter Smith?

Department of Boasting: After falling down and letting backup tailback Kenneth Darby go 33 yards, cornerback DeAngelo Hall proved why I want to cover their best receiver kinds of comments are best kept in the locker room as he appeared to cover the sideline instead of the receiver, letting Mark Clayton, the Rams top pass catcher make a first down on third and twenty when a tackle at the point of the catch would have put Saint Louis five yards short. Mark is a plenty good receiver to be sure, let ye remember that Mark was cast off from the Ravens when they acquired Anquan Boldin and TJ Houshmandzadeh.

The Redskins always seem open to these types of games, maybe it is from overlooking a team, maybe these things just happen, let us go ahead and add today's game to the following list of right game wrong execution games:

2006 game six (link one / two): The Tennessee Titans were 0-5, could not stop anyone on the ground and their running game did not have enough power to pull a greased string through a rat's ass. Verdict? Travis Henry has 178 yards rushing, Clinton Portis less than 60, Titans win in 25-22 in Washington.

(We forgive about everything in 2007, including the game eleven double timeout debacle against the Bills)

In 2008 there were two of these games, game six against the Rams, it was head coach and current Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett's first game as interim head coach, coming in 0-4 to Washington the Rams beat the 4-1 Redskins 19-17 as Washington turned the ball over for the first, second and third times of the season and left guard Pete Kendall picked up a fumble and thought he was a fucking tailback. Later in the season my road trip to Cincinnati was ruined when the Redskins, still clinging to slim playoff hopes, lost to the 1-11-1 Bengals in a game fourteen marked by Clinton Portis insulting head coach Jim Zorn in the week leading up to the game, a complete inability to execute any kind of offense and a goal line fumble by fullback Mike Sellers, the Bengals were already up 17-0 in that game before Washington even managed a first down.

Last season in 2009, in game three same this week's game, Washington gave the gift of hope to a Lions team that had not won a game since the 2007 season, a span of nineteen games, when Matthew Stafford, another rookie quarterback exploited a Redskins team that seemed unprepared for even the worst team in the league, like this game the opponent's top rusher, Kevin Smith, was knocked from the game, a series of game management errors, poor planning and individual errors, led the Lions to a 19-14 victory in Detroit.

But I'm not bitter about any of this.

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Chattering Class: Tracee Hamilton at the Washington Post writes about the Redskins sad humiliation by team they should have beaten easily and wonders why the offense is still a work in progress after all this genius time since January. One converted third down and oh for three in the red zone will not cut it in Washington.

Tom Boswell, also at the Post, notes that all the bad teams seem to have a good day against the Redskins, no matter the year and wonders if the all the years of unearned media attention have made this team structurally soft.

Rounding out the Post coverage, Sally Jenkins just thinks the Redskins are soft, that whatever the team has to work with this season that nothing will fix getting pushed around in the short term, notable is the trend that the Redskins lose fight in second halves.

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Omnibus: Broadcasters: Dick Stockton, Charles Davis and Jim Mora the Younger, Charles and Jim are practically amateur, how did this game get such lousy broadcasters? It was really amateur hour up in here when the booth lost Jim Mora's mic and could not get it back until 8:48 left first quarter.

Uniform watch: A one game return to a more traditional look, the white jersey paired with the burgundy pants, my favorite home combination since I was in high school.

Almost was: Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo nearly became the Redskins head coach in 2008, unless you believe coach Spagnuolo was simply gaming the Giants for a bigger contract, it was coach Spagnuolo that first set shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato and owner Dan Snyder down the path to promoting Jim Zorn to head coach. Thanks a lot Spags.

Pregame stats: Redskins have lost ten of last eleven road games; Rams have lost 27 of their past 28 games period.

Albert Haynesworth did not start, Maake Kemoeatu did; safety Kareem Moore is back in the lineup with his first start of the season. Albert was in by the fifth play of the game.

Plus Internets list: LaRon Landry with a big hit for a loss in the Rams first possession; Reed Doughty atoning for his give up of a touchdown to Andre Johnson last week by causing a special teams fumble, Washington recovered and scored on the next play; Kedric Golston for pressuring Sam Bradford on second down in the Rams fifth possession, then to Brian Orakpo on the next play, chasing down Bradford from the back side for a sack to end that possession; Ryan Torain and Mike Sellers for teaming up on the Redskins sixth possession, Mike for a lane opening block and Ryan for taking it 36 yards; Kareem Moore in the Rams seventh possession, Sam Bradford's pass to Brandon Gibson is broken up by a flying Kareem who lays the hit and knocks out the ball.

Gaffes list: Kareem Moore, whiffing on Steven Jackson in the Rams first possession, Steven was free and clear for a TD on that play; Santana Moss in the Redskins first possession, a crackback block that put the Redskins at first and 25 in their own territory, Santana then fumbled on the next play and gave the Rams the ball inside the Redskins five; Phillip Buchanon on the punt return to start the Redskins tenth possession, a weak muff that is only saved by the proximity of the sideline; Stephon Heyer in the Redskins eleventh possession, fourth quarter, for committing a holding penalty to put Washington in first and twenty when the penalty nullified a fourteen yard Santana Moss gain; DeAngelo Hall falling on his ass in front of Mark Clayton in the Rams tenth possession, fourth quarter, that gave up a 30 yard run to the Redskins eleven.

Advertising notes: Great new tagline for Budweiser, Grab Some Buds, drug humor lol.

Stephon Heyer came out at left tackle, Trent Williams could not make the start with his knee and toe, hoping to learn more about this. Kory Lichtensteiger came in at left guard in the Redskins second possession.

8:48 left first quarter and the Redskins are already down 14-0. Awesome. That Redskins second possession is an epic disaster with two false starts and a blocked punt, this was also where we learned punter Josh Bidwell was injured in pregame warmups so kicker Graham Gano, a college punter, was in on emergency duty.

The football gods obviously were angered by the Rams pummeling of the Redskins in that second possession for on the first play of the next Saint Louis drive Kareem Moore intercepted the pass and the ball went back to Washington, I love it when the football gods reverse fortunes on consecutive plays.

Through a quarter and a half the Redskins are winning the time of possession battle by over six minutes, 115 total rushing yards by the Redskins on eleven carries.

Steven Jackson came out of the game and was seen on a trainer's table during the Rams sixth drive, second quarter, later reported that Steven has a groin injury and his return is questionable.

This is important: The Rams had the ball over a minute inside the Redskins one yard line, six plays before the field goal try, thanks to Phillip Daniels crashing the line, Saint Louis gets NAHTHING.

Working titles for this gamewrap: Welcome Back Kareem Moore; Return of the One Play Drive; Ten Points Thirteen Seconds Apart; It WAS the Fumble; Seriously? The Rams?; Oh It's THAT Game Again.

Second half opens with Steven Jackson still in uniform but not in the game.

Nice shot in the Rams' seventh possession, third quarter, of head coach Steve Spagnuolo wiping his nose on his shirt sleeve.

The Rams score on their seventh possession, third quarter, was only Saint Louis' second third quarter touchdown in the last nineteen games. Pretty bad and the Redskins have a tendency to play their way into these milestones don't they?

At the start of the fourth quarter it seems as though the Redskins cannot stop the Rams, Washington is not giving up long plays but they cannot stop this offense, tick tock in the running game as Saint Louis seems to be getting four or five yards consistently off the run.

Nice work bringing in Mike Pereira, the former NFL head of officiating, on the Chris Cooley non fumble challenge in the Redskins twelfth possession, fourth quarter, he lends some credibility to FOX on these matters.

How depressing to see the Redskins get picked apart one play at a time, the Rams had few big plays but were able consistently to move the chains. After last week thinking the Texans pass offense was simply better than the Redskins pass defense, I need to re think all this, Washington's defense was weak overall in this game.

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The Mastermind: Some yelling by head coach Mike Shanahan, now 1-2 as Redskins head coach, interesting story about multiple and or inaccurate submissions of the inactives list, leaving the team normally inactive linebacker Perry Riley active and utility offensive line substitute Will Montgomery inactive. Whose fault is that?

Number Five: Quarterback Donovan McNabb was respectable, nineteen of 32 for 236 yards, a touchdown and his first interception as a Redskin, seven Redskins players caught passes though the reliance on receiver Santana Moss and tight end Chris Cooley is going to limit this team in the long run. Dono did have a great 26 yard scramble on third and eight to preserve the drive that ultimately led to Washington getting back within a point after surrendering two touchdowns early.

Silver and Back: Rookie left tackle Trent Williams was inactive for the game, his knee and toe still not ready to get back to action, this left Stephon Heyer to start at left tackle, for all the knocks on Stephon, he anchored the left side in the Redskins best first half of rushing so far this season.

Albert the Butthurt: Defensive nose end Albert Haynesworth did not start... but he did play right? His in the list of substitutions (PDF), though his name does not appear in the play by play and was not credited with a tackle. Anyone?

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Washington Post recap, photo gallery. NFL recap, box score, full play by play, Gamebook (PDF), photos, video highlights.


Next up, The Streak continues as lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery and I travel to Philadelphia for our 22nd of the past 23 Redskins-Eagles games, this will be my twentieth straight rivalry game played in any venue and my eleventh trip to the City of Brotherly Love to see the Redskins play since 1999. Oh and Donovan McNabb returns to play the team he led to seven playoff appearances, five NFC Beast Division titles, five NFC Championships and a Super Bowl appearance in eleven years. Yeah this ought to be good.



Sam Bradford: Getty Images from here. Donovan McNabb in his last game against the Redskins as an Eagle: Reuters Pictures from here.