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You know it's bad when so far in the season I've been watching most of the Redskins games after halftime. Sadly, it's either been unbearable for me to watch a Redskins game at all or it's just been tough to stomach an entire 60 minutes of the once-proud franchise.
It's been years since the household used to scream at the top of its lungs and yell at players with jersey numbers like 44, 81, 28, or 72. Ah, those were the days.
Yet I watched most of Sunday's game, a bit after kick-off to kneel-down.
In the game against the Atlanta Falcons on the road, I saw a spark. A little bit of a fight that didn't last long, but showed that the Redskins are still trying hard to prove that they're not a bunch of roll-over-and-play-dead cream puffs.
Nevertheless, at the end, I saw a team that still didn't really know what to expect of itself or know its identity.
They had a bye week, which to me meant that, despite the loss of their Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley (broken ankle) and a couple of offensive linemen before Week Nine, their latest top play-caller, Sherman Lewis, would have more time to tinker with the personnel at hand.
That, and the defense would rest up and provide more sustenance for an unbalanced squad in Atlanta.
I expected Washington to come out fightin', but not really look like the Greatest Show on Turf à la the St. Louis Rams of old either. But I did expect to see some points up on the board (one or two touchdowns, maybe?), if not in the first definitely in the second quarter.
As the minutes wound down to halftime, I noticed something sharp and slick. It hadn't come from head coach Jim Zorn's playbook; it came out of Lewis', whom I've noticed has displayed fewer gadget plays yet more seductive (and productive) ones.
Lewis certainly must have caught the Falcons sleeping when quarterback Jason Campbell noticed a wide-open fullback Mike Sellers on a sweet slant pass for 47 yards in Atlanta territory before the first half.
The only time that Sellers had been that successful in a Skins passing play harks back to Joe Gibbs' second stint.
Not too long after that, the 'Skins seemed to get out of their doldrums and score a measly field goal to make the score 24-3 at halftime. (Hey, it could've been a 24-0 or 28-0 blowout, so I was thankful for the team to cut down the lead before the second quarter ended.)
After an apparently colorful and animated halftime speech given by longtime offensive line coach Joe Bugel, along with a late-hit scuffle involving all the Falcons, the 'Skins seemed to get their groove back.
On a few long drives, Campbell and back-up quarterback Todd Collins (subbing in during periods of time when Campbell couldn't play after a chest contusion and several, other hard hits from the Atlanta defense) were able to muster enough grit, despite a porous offensive line, scoring twice in the red zone on a Ladell Betts run and a Todd Yoder catch.
Once 24-3; then behind 24-10.
Now 24-17, with some time remaining in the fourth quarter.
New life? Could this be...?
The defense, though, as solid and dependable as it has been to not turn most of these games into blowouts, could not stop their opposition's running game, as Atlanta's Michael Turner, all 5'8" of him, blew past feeble missed tackles to the end zone, on a 58-yard dagger of a run.
Nope. Ball game: 31-17.
What this game showed me is that yes, there's still an owner of the Redskins who belatedly says he's sorry for the state of the Redskins. You hear his words, and regardless of the several rants of former running back John Riggins, to you, Daniel Snyder's words remain hollow.
His state of disunion address did not occur at Redskins Park, mind you. He did it at some Prince George's County high school event in Maryland, during the team's bye week.
Snyder still didn't even answer the pertinent issues the media had for him, such as the status of Zorn after 2009, or if Lewis or his own yes-man, Vice President of football operations Vinny Cerrato, would be retained once Washington's season ends in early January.
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