I hate bye weeks. Hate ’em. There should be anticipation on Sundays. You should be checking your watch every minute and a half, disappointed that the day is not somehow moving faster towards kickoff. There should be the feeling of absolute schedule clearing when the game does start. Religious education be damned, the game is about to start. But during the bye week – nothing. No anticipation. No pregame jitters. Nothing to look forward to. Depressing. So, in my depression, I thought I’d do a little Week 4 recap, talk a bit about what I know, what I don’t know, and hit some points that perhaps I missed earlier. The Real Deal. Okay, so maybe I’m counting my chickens a bit, but Jason Campbell has not just shown flashes of greatness, he has been steady and good. Patrick Ramsey showed flashes. Gus showed flashes. Jason isn’t just showing flashes, but had been getting more consistent every week, and is looking like the real thing. That’ll be 100,000 brain cells, please. Laron Landry should work for the state, because he is awesome at collecting tolls at the goal line. Mr. Buress? You would like to score the go-ahead touchdown? Sure thing, but it’ll cost you some gray matter. Enjoy it now, because you won’t be able to tell your grandkids about it – you won’t remember it. Mr. Curtis? You’d like to score the tying score? Sorry, no goofy white guys allowed in MY endzone. The guy just hits, and sure, he’s missed a few tackles here and there, but again, he’s a young guy who’s playing very solid ball. If he develops into the type of flying-around, no-regard for my body player that Sean Taylor has in the last few years, watch out. I have not given up hope. That Dallas will still stink this year. Sure they’re 4-0, but the teams they’ve played are a combined 3-13 this season (Redskins opponents are 3-9). That’s pretty dismal. My kid’s flag football team could probably be 4-0 at this point too, and he has kids on his team that don’t know their right from their left (of course, I’m sure a large percentage of Cowboy players need help putting their shoes on too). The Dallas offense is explosive? They have not yet faced a team with a defense ranked in the top half of the league. So while I’m willing to begrudgingly give them an ‘okay, they’re decent’, I am not yet willing to admit that they’re actually any good. That’s too painful so early in the season. Ho hum. It’s started already, after four weeks – the ‘undefeated’ talk. The ’72 Dolphins talk. Can we move on, please? All of us know (except perhaps for the ’72 Dolphins) that it’s a vastly different game these days. The chances of a team going undefeated in this era in the regular season alone are probably astronomical, never mind adding three games in the post season. Yes, it was a great accomplishment. Yes, they deserve accolades. But it was frickin’ 35 years ago? Can we move on already? Balance. I’m liking the running back situation. I said it before that I’m excited abut the idea that Clinton Portis, by virtue of his sharing time with Betts, will be fresh come Week 18 (that’s playoff week, for those of you who can’t count). Agreed, Betts is not Portis, despite what Joe Gibbs thinks, but he’s good enough to not have a significant drop in production when Clinton takes a breather. If Portis were the workhorse, with no viable backup, I’d guess that his knee situation would be much worse by now, to the point where he may not be available. This way, they can lean on Betts a bit more, and wait for Clinton to heal up. (I’m still not happy that Clinton was not in with the game on the line). An enigma. Wrapped in a riddle. I just can’t figure out what’s up with the Brandon Lloyd situation. If he peed on Joe Gibbs’ shoes and is in the dog house, then that’s one thing. But to have yet another acquisition that doesn’t pan out (see: Duckett, TJ), and the player quietly slips in to Redskin Oblivion, seems like a bit of mismanagement. Its one thing to pick a guy in the draft, and it ends up that he can’t cut it for whatever reason. But to trade draft picks (which are like play money to Dan Snyder) for a guy who has NFL experience on tape for all to see and evaluate, and then be completely wrong about him is a sign of either overconfidence in the abilities of our coaching staff to make that player better, or a sign of poor management. I’m an idiot. Of all things, this I am most sure. Joe Gibbs would not call me Supersmart. I may fight my guts out from time to time, but Supersmart I am not. Way back in the offseason (*shudder*), I planned a trip to Disney for the wife and kids. We settled on October because the crowds are smaller, and it doesn’t matter if the kids miss school since they’ll be on a scholarship anyway come college time. Now that I’ve made all the reservations, the horrible reality that I will miss not one, but TWO games (this week and next) in a row….following a bye week….which followed a crappy loss. That’s almost a whole month with no Redskins. Sure, I’ll have the games TiVo’ed. Sure, I can catch the scores in between character meals (Mary Poppins is a hottie, you have to admit – plus she can do magic *wink*), but you all know it’s not the same. So the ‘bye’ week for me really means bye. No blog from me following the win against the Lions. Like they say in the cheesy 80’s action movies. ‘Go on without me!’ So while you’re watching the game, jumping up and down with excitement, spittle on your TV screen, think of me, crammed into a fiberglass Dumbo, surrounded by screaming 6 year-olds, wondering how my Redskins are doing – and pity me. Enjoy the…
