The Cowboys are now 1-3 and dead last in the NFC east. They are likely out of the playoff race already. Not only does their record work against them but they clearly have all kinds of problems. A fifteen yard end zone celebration penalty? What is this high school football? These are supposed to be professionals and they just give away hard earned yards for free.

I don’t know who it is that keeps predicting them to win the Super Bowl and the NFC East title but whoever it is, stop. They suck. They have sucked for years. The last time they won a playoff game was in 1996. That’s 14 years ago folks. How can people constantly pick them to win the Super Bowl when the track record just isn’t there.

I”m not ranting just because I’m a die hard Redskins fan, we won today by the way, I’m saying it because I am also a football fan. Romo is a great quarterback, no question. The Cowboys themselves are just not a solid team.

Anyone can make whatever predictions they want of course and I’m not saying that whoever is making this one should stop. I need something to rant about this time next year after all. But lets make these predictions based on some facts. Lets also not forget that Dallas has only gotten into the playoffs through the wildcard game every years since 1999. That’s eleven years of not being the best in the NFC East. And yet time and time again they are the darlings of the pre-season.

Well, I’m sure that no one will listen and they will still be predicted to be number one next year. I guess Cowboy fans can look forward to that day. There’s nothing for them to look forward to this season, that’s for sure.

I’m no where near qualified to breakdown a football game but then again i’m not getting paid for this so I can say whatever I want. Donovan was good tonight. Much better than last week against the cowboys. His only real downfall was occasionally taking those big chances down field for the big score. But really, is that a bad thing? Isn’t he supposed to play to win?

I liked how Donovan spread the ball around. Sure Santana was his big target, as was Cooley, but he did give the ball to others. That can open up defenses and create plays and its good to see that Donovan likes to spread it out.

Gano’s missed field goal was just painful. He made the pre-icing kick but missed the post-icing kick. It was awful to watch but a learning opportunity for the rookie kicker. He’s going to get iced a lot in the NFL and regardless if you agree or disagree with icing a kicker, it’s not going to change any time soon.

Our running game is horrible. This is the one area that I have to say we need serious help with. Donovan can’t carry this team on just passing the ball. I don’t know what is going on with Portis but he just is not getting very much yardage at all. I don’t know how to address this but it’s a Shanahan offense, you’d think the running game would be the least of our problems. Turns out it’s our biggest.

On the other side of the ball the Defense had some holes but also some really good plays. Yes, we gave up a 4th and 10 TD play, which really hurt, but that doesn’t mean it is a lost cause. That is to say, our defense is totally lost. We have holes, we need to find a way to fill them. And this coaching staff is one that knows how to fill them. Unlike many staffs to come before, this one, I believe, knows how to make it work.

Are we a playoff team? Playoffs?!?! Yes, playoffs. Honestly, it’s too early to tell. But if we have to lose a game, i’m glad it’s to an AFC team.

I am still in favor of the Shanahan move to DC. He’s the best coach we’ve had by far in a long time. Joe Gibbs, still of god like stature in DC, was out of the football game for far too long. The game changed on him and he wasn’t ready for it. That said he still managed two playoff runs. Shanahan brings success of Gibbs with recent NFL exposure.

I strongly disagree with the one of the Sports Junkies, Mr. Eric Bickle, on his notion that Shanahan isn’t a great choice. He is. You can’t really argue that he had because he had some bad years he’s not a top tier NFL coach. He simply is. Otherwise your criteria for a top tier coach is so above the mark that no one would qualify. Jon Gruden’s record isn’t really all that stellar. He had several season at the 4/5 win range.

All that said, I am suddenly worried that Shanahan is both on a mission to prove he’s a good head coach and also to stick it to the Bronco’s. Is this the start of a mad exodus from the Bronco’s of their key staff to Shanahan’s new Redskins banner? Will other coaches from that soon to be in trouble team be heading over to the east coast? Why does it start to seem like Shanahan wants to rub it in the face of the Bronco’s owners?

Even if that is true do we still care? So what if Shanahan is pissed. Pissed off people tend to have more energy than calm relaxed zen a-holes. Look at Zorn, he was relaxed. Did we win? Nope. And if Shanahan is trying to prove something to the NFL and to the Bronco’s, again do we even care? By proving things to the Bronco’s and the league he has to win playoff games and get to the Superbowl. I don’t really have a problem with that.

Now, all of this is probably just jumping the gun. He just recruited one coach from his former team that he worked with for 15 years. Bobby Turner is a hell of a good coach after all. He was the reason why the running backs did so well. Or was it the offensive line? Either way, I think it’s a good thing.

One thing you have to say for Rashad, that guy is in shape. He can go three rounds non stop pushing the fight. And that is exactly what he did in this fight.

Rashad’s strategy was a simple one. Push Silva into the cage, body slam him to the mat, and try and do some ground and pound. He was 2/3 successful in that strategy. Evans basically bullied Silva around for most of the fight. He took him down at will, tied him up on the cage, and frustrated the hell out of Silva.

But,honestly, that’s all he did. When he wasn’t shooting in on Silva he was running away from him. The stand up in the fight was almost non-existent with Evans contantly driving and pushing Silva to the cage and onto his back.

The end of the third round remains a mystery to me. Silva’s strategy throughout the fight was equally unbalanced as Rashad’s. For Silva it was all about stand up. Stand up, fight, make big hit, knock him out, me want more, repeat. The problem was Rashad was far too fast on his take down’s and Silva’s take down defense just sucked.

But that brings us back to the third round. Silva finally got to do some of his stand up. And just as we all know he has the power to do, he tagged Rashad good right on the button (chin). Rashad felt it too. He would tell Joe Rogan after the fight that his legs just about gave out on him after the punch. The big mystery is, why didn’t Silva press the fight after he had Rashad hurt?

Silva had a chance to put Rashad away. He didn’t take it. Rashad was hurt and Silva let him recover. For whatever reason I don’t know. Overall, the fight was boring. Rashad respected Silva’s stand up strength and just tried to stay away from him and use his athleticism to dominant Silva, which he did do, and won a decision.

I wonder how Rampage would have done under those circumstances. Quinton has worse ground game and take down defense than most fighters. Perhaps we’ll see that in the future. I do hope everyone understands, when you get a chance to star in as B.A. Baracus in a remake of the A Team, you take the job. Dana White, don’t be too mad at Rampage, its the friggin A Team we’re talking about here! There will be time to setup another Evans vs Jackson fight. Do it this summer, charge 55 dollars for HD Pay per view and quick your bitchin.

Bruce Allen is a solid pick to keep the front office in line. For the first time there is a tandem in DC. We have had solid coaches but never a solid leading force supporting the head coach. That will be what makes the difference I think.

The Sports Junkies, a local radio show program in DC that I have listened to for way too long, had an interesting theory that this was all planned out. That Shanahan had talks with Dan Snyder and basically said, you need a good GM before I am coming there. I want you to hire someone that knows what they are doing with a football organization. The results? Bruce Allen is hired and begins cleaning things up in anticipation for Shanahan to come to DC.

I happen to agree with the Junks on this. For sure Snyder had this thing sewn up. I think Dan Snyder took a good hard look at what was not working with his organization and decided that he wanted to win more than he wanted to be like Jerry Jones, both the owner and GM of the Dallas Cowboys.

The end result is good for the Skins. Allen/Shanahan combo will only do better than Cerrato/Zorn. I am not saying we are going to the Superbowl next year, not by any means, but we are going to improve as a football team. Look for a playoff berth in three years for sure, that is of course if there is even an NFL by then.

This makes me speculate that the whole Zorn debacle was just Snyder buying time until a quality head coach could be found. Two years ago there wasn’t much on the board for a good top quality head coach in the NFL. Sure he could have found a hungry off/def coordinator but that’s not what he wanted in the end. He wanted a big name to coach his team. So what did he do until he found one? Hired someone that could be easily controlled and eventually easily fired.

If that is true then it’s a serious disservice to the fans. We’ve waited for years to return to the glory days of playoff berths and Superbowl rings. To feed us, knowingly, two years of defeats while you bide your time for the right circumstances is appalling. I hope I’m wrong on that but it does seem very odd to promote a quarterback coach to head coach.

But, here’s to looking to the future. For all the mistakes Snyder has made in the past, he made one good one with selecting Bruce Allen as the GM. This is a guy that knows football. His father was a Redskins giant and his coming to DC is a welcomed sigh of relief. Whoever the next coach is going to be, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher, its going to be one of them. Yes, I know Cowher said he’ll never work for the Redskins but he wants to coach and there are not a lot of options. Snyder has a ton of money to throw at Cower and with Bruce Allen in town in may show Cower that Snyder wants to go hands off from here on out and turn this into a serious football team. There’s a lot of tradition in this town and the fans here are as rabid as they are in Pittsburgh. There’s no rivalry between the two teams so any loyalties he may still harbor for the Steelers won’t be infringed on.

My money is going to go on Gruden though. He’s got some serious history with Allen. Don’t even fret about that ESPN contract, I’m sure Gruden has a few outs. No matter who it is that will be named, I have a feeling that the future looks bright for our Washington Redskins.

First off, I do think it will make a difference. I think Vinny Cerrato was under-qualified. Sure it looks like his two wide receivers may be panning out. But, seriously that’s still just two, three if you include Orakpo. The offensive line doesn’t exist. Campbell gets no pass protection and they haven’t drafted anyone in the first round for offense since Chris Samuels. I won’t even get into Haynesworth and the millions we gave him.

So, what will happen next year? For sure the entire coaching staff is gone. If they would have won out on the season, maybe they had a shot, but now, it’ll be genocide on all Redskins Coaches. With this upcoming year likely to be a no cap season, you may see a player buying frenzy in DC the likes of which no one has ever seen. So, most of the team could be out the door as well.

Are all those good things? I don’t know. All I know is that once again the Redskins are starting from scratch. New coaching staff, probably new QB, new players, new GM, etc etc. This time, unlike previous times, I am hopeful. Names like Shanahan and Gruden are being whispered in the halls of DC offices as possible new coaches. They bring a wealth of skill to the game. No disrespect to Gibbs but he had been out of football for over 10 years. These are top tier coaches who may be given the chance to mold an NFL franchise into whatever their vision dictates.

As for all the rumors and bad press on Dan Snyder, I think I’ll pass. We all suspect he meddled too much, he said recently he didn’t meddle nearly as much.  If the Redskins had a winning season and post-season play we’d all be preaching his tune. Just another example of ‘what have have you done for me lately’ in professional sports. Then again, he did sue fans, that’s not really all the cool.

For whatever you say about the day’s performance of our beloved Redskins, you have to admit, they have some heart. More heart than they have had in years is pumping through the veins of that team. I am sitting here, about to eat some serious crow about my early bashing of this franchise.

Ok, lets not get ahead of ourselves. The owner is still far too involved in day to day operations, the play calling is a little insane with an offensive coordinate just asking for the next play should be, and the head coach is just too inexperienced for the job. That all said, all our reality checks in place, that team is one pretty damn good NFL football group.

Stars are beginning to come out. Devin Thomas and Fred Davis are beginning to figure out how to play NFL football. Campbell had his best day as an NFL quarterback. And once again we see that the defense of the Redskins is legit. Sure, the Saints scored 33 points on us, but 7 of that was from a bogus play. I’m sorry,Moore was down by contact, F U review booth. But they scored those points with one or two bomb plays and by fighting tooth and nail for every single score.

Hell even the play calling is getting better. Sherm, you bingo calling beautiful black man, you are actually doing a pretty damn decent job. Lets face facts, a brand new head coach, and I mean brand new, has way too much on his plate to be calling plays. He needs to figure out how to be a head coach and not get involved with too many things. Maybe the system they have isn’t great, ok it isn’t, but its better than they had.

Today’s game showed us one thing. This team has some serious potential. I heard the sports junkies, a local radio group here in DC, say they should fire everyone and start from scratch. I’m not so sure. There is something there. A glimpse of talent. A spec of greatness. Protect Campbell long enough and I really believe he can pick them apart. His wide receivers are starting to come into their own. They will open up defenses and allow for the RB’s to tear the field up.

I am just not so sure that firing the head coach, yes I am saying it, is the best thing to do right now. Give him some offensive line support and this team may just shock the world. One thing we know doesn’t work, if you keep cleaning house every 2-3 years and giving these players new schemes and routines to learn, they are not going to get better.

As for today’s game, let me say this. Bullshit on that late 2nd quarter review booth call. His elbow was down and it should have been overturned. As for the overtime call. Give me a fucking break. No way was there conclusive evidence to overturn the ruling on the field that it was down by contact. That ball did not start moving until after his elbow hit the ground. His big white gloved was wrapped around it. Oh and please fire Suisham. You can’t kick an 18 yard field goal? Get the fuck out of my NFL team!

Alexander had a strategy. Circle, work the front leg of Kimbo. Period. He was not the Houston Alexander that destroyed Keith Jardine. He was not the tiger, the dragon,the animal that we’re used to seeing. Why? Respect, that’s why. Houston respected the power of Kimbo. He respected it so much that it cost him the fight.

All that circling that Alexander did was countered by, who the hell knew, some pretty damn good ground game from Kimbo. In the second round he took Alexander to the ground and damn near submitted him. He had his back, put in choke holds, and damn if he didn’t have leg hooks in.

If you don’t know what any of that means, it’s all MMA speak. That’s Mix Martial Arts. I happen to be a big fan. And I think it’s both more entertaining than boxing and safer. But that’s a debate for another time.

For tonight, Kimbo Fucking Slice won by a decision over Houston Alexander. I am shocked. I am stunned. Kimbo has some damn good ground game. Houston abandoned his normal strategy and showed too much respect for Kimbo. It cost him big.

Kimbo will be back in the UFC for sure, so will Alexander. They are both excellent fighters, very dangerous, very good stand up, but when you add ground game to Kimbo, you get a seriously dangerous man. Time will tell how far Kimbo goes in the UFC. He’s over 35. Time to start thinking about retiring, not getting started. Alexander, well, we’ll see. Again he shows limited ground game. Against a superb jujitsu expert, he has no chance.

Either way, regardless of the future, it was a damn good fight.  A little slow in the first round but it picked up in the 2nd and 3rd. Until the next one!

Where can you even begin with such a dismal display? A record of 2-6. Another record of being the only team in NFL history to play 6 losing teams in a row AND nearly lose to all of them! What is the source of our trouble? Where do we turn from here? I think the problem is all over the map. But to tackle each in one post, would be a monumentally long post. So, lets see if we can find an answer somewhere burried deep in the pigskins of the Redskins themselves.

I have never worked for the Redskins organization so I have no idea what type of owner Dan Snyder is. From the onslaught of bad press going his way though, I can only imagine that many feel he is not such a great owner. I have to wonder, what does it mean to be a good owner in the first place? Is Jerry Jones a good owner? He’s on the field all the time, which undoubtedly has an effect on players, and he’s constantly involved with team decisions. He even built a stadium that got mocked during preseason for the low hanging screen. Does that make him a bad owner or a good one? He’s certainly providing the Cowboys with the opportunity to be a winning franchise, is that what it takes? Providing your team with the tools they need to win?

If that is the case, Snyder has done some moves in that area to put the Skins down the right path. And truth be told, when the skins have had a good coach, they have done well. Gibbs led them to two play off berths. If he had stayed longer Marty Schottenheimer i’m sure would have led the Skins to many playoff berths. So, why did he only stay one season? That we actually know. Schottenheimer wanted more control and Snyder wouldn’t give it to him. Period. That’s a case of Snyder chasing one coach out. Perhaps rightfully so, I wasn’t privy to those talks. The Redskins were worse after Schottenheimer, that is for sure.

So is it all the owners fault? Clearly Snyder is doing a poor job of choosing and sticking with a coach. The only one he did do that with was Gibbs and Gibbs did ok in his four years. You could argue that the success felt in the first part of last season, when everyone was ‘horny for zorny’, was due largely to Gibb’s coaching from the previous year.

All that said, I have to say that Snyder isn’t doing the Redskins much good. Sure they are very profitable from a business perspective. But from a sporting perspective, they are horrible. A 100 million dollar contract on one guy who gets hurt every time the wind blows? Pathetic.

What Snyder needs to do is simple. Go find himself a Bill Parcels, or some other football icon and legend and let them reorganize this organization from the ground up, with the caveat that Synder handles the business and lets someone else handle the football. Seriously, promoting a quarterback coach to head coach? Fucking moron.