Washington Redskins Play Blame Game In Lieu Of Football

Greg Blache has been thrown under the bus, Jim Zorn is on the hot seat, Sherman Lewis has his eyes on the offense (or Zorn's job) and the Redskins fan base is calling for someone's head on a platter.

After this weeks 17-20 loss to the formerly winless Carolina Panthers, the Washington Redskins have a lot of questions to answer. The offense is below average, the defense is inconsistent and the coaching staff has next to no idea what they are doing or are going to do about any of it.

With all the money being poured into staff and players, someone should be able to give the media a straight answer.

However, since the loss to the Detroit Lions, everyone seems content to point the finger at everyone else. Zorn pointed to Blache, Blache pointed to himself, Clinton Portis pointed to Mike Sellers, Daniel Snyder and Vinny Cerrato pointed to Zorn.

In the midst of all the blame being thrown around, the Redskins have forgotten the most important part of being in NFL.

Playing football.

The Redskins offense is averaging a paltry 14.2 points per game and has yet to crack the 20 point mark this season. Every player has stood by the theory that sooner or later the offense is going to explode on someone.

The world has yet to see that explosion.

Not only have the Redskins not exploded, they haven't showed any spark on offense or defense. Without a spark, the Redskins are destined for a losing season which will cost Zorn and Campbell their jobs.

Zorn is already feeling the heat with Lewis watching over his offense. Coming on the heels of Blache's media lockout, the fans have developed a number of theories on the state of Redskins nation.

Blache's personal silence and Zorn's new consultant have people talking about the status of their jobs. There is speculation that if Zorn loses to Carolina (already done) and Kansas City, he is out at the bye week. Blache already turned the head coaching job down before the season.

Logically speaking, Gray or Lewis would serve as the interim head coach in the event that Snyder fires Zorn. In either case, the Redskins will be on a one-way train to a top five draft pick come April.

Coaches and staff aside, the players have a role in the path the team is on.

The offensive line is falling apart. Randy Thomas is out for the season with yet another triceps tear. Stephon Heyer is playing the role of doorman and letting everyone into the backfield. Chris Samuels went down midway through the game in Carolina.

Everyone and their mothers pointed to the offensive line as the Achilles heel of the Redskins offense and it looks like they are right.

Jason Campbell was sacked five times against Carolina, despite an otherwise spotless performance. And while many people point to Campbell's statuesque style of play, none of the sacks were a result of holding the ball too long.

On the day, Campbell completed 74 percent of his passes going 17-for-23 for 145 yards and a touchdown. This loss, like the other losses, is not Campbell's fault.

With the line crumbling in the passing game, the running game suffered and yielded less than 100 yards against a Panthers defense that had allowed 180 per game before facing Washington.

Neither phase of the game was working for the Redskins, which ruined the effort put forth by the defense.

London Fletcher has been a tackling machine, DeAngelo Hall has created a couple of turnovers, Carlos Rogers hasn't been scorched by the opposition and the defensive line has come closer and closer to producing a big sack day.

The Redskins defense forced and recovered a fumble on Carolina's first play of the game. That ultimately led to a 10-yard touchdown pass to Portis, which was the first opening drive touchdown for the Redskins since last season and the first touchdown for Portis since the final game of last season.

The Redskins defense got to Jake Delhomme three times and intercepted one pass, but the offense's lack of movement wasted the opportunities.

In the end, it was the Redskins' special teams that led to the loss.

Antwan Randle El called for a fair catch on a Panthers punt, but Byron Westbrook, Randle El's teammate, was pushed into the path of the ball creating a fumble which was recovered by Carolina inside the Redskins 20 yard line.

Carolina promptly scored and completed a two-point conversion, taking a 20-17 lead with nine minutes remaining.

Nine minutes is more than enough time for an offense to regroup and score. Campbell tossed a picture perfect pass right over Devin Thomas' shoulder as Thomas sprinted down the left sideline.

Thomas dropped the ball and two plays later the Redskins punted.

The story of the year for the Redskins thus far. They are always a dropped pass or a penalty away from a game-changing play, but they can't distance themselves from the costly holding calls and lapses of focus on the field.

Next week, Kansas City comes to Washington in a game neither team can afford to lose.

The Chiefs are 0-4 and coming off of a valiant effort against the Dallas Cowboys where they lost by just six in overtime. The Chiefs don't have much going for them, but could and should use the Redskins recent inability to win as motivation to come out with more energy and more fire.

The Redskins are on the final week of the cupcake portion of the schedule.

After the Chiefs, the Redskins face just one team with a losing record in the Oakland Raiders in Week 14. The Redskins face the Giants, Falcons, Broncos, Chargers, and Saints once, as well as the Eagles and Cowboys twice.

If the Redskins lose against Kansas City, they will almost assuredly lose to nearly everyone else they have left on their schedule. The Redskins should feel lucky to have salvaged two wins thus far.

It doesn't matter who is to blame for the poor performance the Redskins are guilty of through the first five weeks of the season.

There is plenty of cause for concern even this early in the season, and the Redskins can ill afford to deflect the blame for their ineptitude any longer.