THN: I think the one positive (I don’t know if positive is the right word for this) I could take from the last two games is Jason Campbell’s courage and toughness he displayed after getting hit and knocked around so much. What does his ability to come back and keep fighting say to the rest of the team? He could easily say “You know what? Ownership doesn’t want me, the season’s a lost cause and there is only one games left after this” but he doesn’t and he keeps fighting for the team. What do you think every time you see him get roughed up but keep coming back despite the pain he’s in?

AC: It takes a lot of heart for a man to come back from being battered like that. However, it’s no surprise to me coming from Jason. He has always been a tough player.

THN: Last week Jason said he felt some of the players quit during the Monday night game against the Giants and it looked as if not many others showed up on Sunday night so I’m sure he felt the same way after losing to Dallas as well. Without naming names or calling anyone out, would you agree with Jason’s assessment, especially based off of the overall performance of the team the last two games compared to the previous four?

AC: It’s so tough to say because I am in the zone focusing on winning. I have to have confidence in my teammate that he feels the same way. We can’t always worry about the man next to us tapping out or not. We have to have faith and try to win.

THN: Do these types of big moves before the season ends and the fact that there will likely be no salary cap next offseason force players to think about themselves and where they will be next season as opposed to working as a cohesive unit on a team when game time comes? Is selfishness a reason for the lack of production on the field?

AC: I really don’t feel it’s selfishness. Even though there is no salary cap next year, that particular topic hasn’t been a constant discussion since the season has been winding down.

THN: The last two games were not a very good way to show off the talent on the roster to a new general manager. After the loss to the Giants on Monday night, DeAngelo Hall said if he was the GM, he would just scrap the whole team and start from scratch in 2010. If you were in Bruce Allen’s shoes as the team’s new general manager, what would be going through your mind witnessing these first two games and how would you assess the team?

AC: If I was Bruce Allen I would say, “There is plenty of talent on this team but a lot of work needs to be done.”

THN: The pass rush had improved immensely earlier in the month but was stopped by the Giants and Cowboys line pretty well the last two weeks. Why were opposing offensive lines able to stop the rush even with Haynesworth back in the lineup for these matchups?

AC: We have been unsuccessful in first and second down. We have been in 3rd and 4-5 situations instead of 3rd and long. When New York and the Cowboys have passed the ball they max protect with seven players in the box.

THN: What have you and your teammates said to each other late in the last two games when the Giants and Cowboys fans outnumbered Redskins fans and they both essentially turned into Giants and Cowboys home games?? I know you like to be even-keeled and mild-mannered but that had to infuriate you to see your home stadium taken over, did it not?

AC: All I can say is “Wow.” We need to win more games. I have never experienced that situation and it can be frustrating because it’s on our home turf.

THN: Will the wear and tear of a second cross-country road trip in one month be a factor in the team’s conditioning at all or will San Diego’s consistently beautiful weather cheer everyone up to the point where it won’t matter?

AC: Man, it’s San Diego. Great football weather in December. We will be ready to go.

WR- Devin Thomas

CB- Kevin Barnes

OL- Edwin Williams

G- Paul Fanaika

LB- Alvin Bowen

LB- Curtis Gatewood

DE- Reynaldo Wynn

I have no idea what to think. My Redskins just held to Cowboys to 7 points. My Redskins carried a lead into the fourth quarter, against the Cowboys, at their house. I should be happy.  Yet, I find myself wondering “so, what?”

The problem was, that lead consisted of 6 points.  Six lousy points, on two field goals.  I can’t entirely blame Zorn, this time.  The patched up offensive line took another blow, with the loss for the year of yet another lineman.  The second string running back, who had knocked them dead last week with a clutch performance, went down with a season ending knee injury.

So, they lose, 7 to 6. Hey, at least the play calling was creative. Rock Cartright played his heart out. The defense was dominant (though the Cowboy-loving sports press seems to be putting that all on the inept play of the Cowboys, rather than giving the Redskins defense at least some credit). Sure, there were a couple of blatant lapses, but, what the heck… and, of course, Campbell ended the game with his usual very impressive, but pointless (get it?) statistical performance.

What’s telling, is that my beloved Redskins lost to the Cowboys… and instead of experiencing the normal feelings of devastation, I’m almost completely apathetic. This is what it’s coming to for thousands of us in Redskins Nation. “We lost to Dallas? (shrug) Whatever.”

Few people are truly upset, as they would have been in the past. We are numb to the losses…

I have to ask the question… “am I dead? Is this Detroit?”

I mean, we want to be excited. We want to care about the outcome of the game… but it’s just become drudgery… the word is APATHY.  The cup may be half full… or half empty… but we just find it hard to care right now.  I find myself being teased by a very good defense… and let down by the score.  Repeatedly.  How much can a heart take?

That’s right, Mr. Snyder. Apathy is infecting the fan base.  You SHOULD be very concerned.  If there is anything worse than an angry, or even enraged, fan base, it would be an apathetic fan base.  What do you intend to do about it?  Ahhh… a hefty dose of status quo?  That’s always good for some excitement.  No, no, no. How about you try something new?  How about you give the keys to the team to a football professional?  Oh, I just did it again.  I have to stop setting myself up for disappointment.

So, now, the burning question is, will the Redskins make a real run for the first pick in the draft? Will they win any games against the NFC East… currently in the running for the most inconsistent division in football? Can they beat Oakland? Does it even matter? I mean, what can be more exciting going into next year than more of the same?

I’m such a sucker.  I have no intention of getting off the bus… but, just the same, I hope you don’t mind if I hang out back here by the rest room…  you understand… quicker trip if I have to throw up.

Sigh. Mr. Snyder. Can we have our team back?

Please?

As if things weren’t bad enough, there are now competitors in the NFC East for the counseling services that our Redskins have been offering to the downtrodden of the league. Fortunately, most can’t meet the level of services offered by the Redskins.

Take the Dallas Cowboys, for example. One week ago, while providing ego reinforcement therapy to the Kansas City Chiefs, they actually ended up causing more psychic damage, when they scored a dramatic late game touchdown. They had completely forgotten why they were there. Fortunately for KC, there was a competent service available within 7 days, and long term emotional damage was avoided.

More serious competition comes from Philly, where they have demonstrated a propensity for rescuing distressed teams. Yesterday, they did double duty… they not only assisted the Oakland Raiders to experience the illusion of light at the end of their long, dark tunnel, they even offered some solace to the fans of the Washington Redskins, by removing a bit of the motivation for fans of the Green and White to harrass us…. err… them. “Yeah, baby! The Eagles suck too!” could be heard outside of houses throughout the Washington Metro area. Every Redskins fan who has to work with an Eagles fan was thrilled at the prospect of being able to walk into work through the front door this week. How cool!

But, hey, Philly! You have an opportunity coming up this week to improve upon your technique.   Monday evening… you can not only improve the emotional status in Washington of the fans of the Redskins, you can even provide an opportunity to really boost the team’s offense… giving up 28 points would be just awesome.
Maybe you could just think about it, you know? Consider the possibilities. You could make Jim Zorn appear to be clairvoyant… weren’t you listening to today’s presser when he recalled how you guys were 2 and 4 at this point last year, yet still managed to go to the playoffs? Plus, you know, Sherm Lewis could use some strokes, too. Imagine the possibilities!

How sad is that?

The real laugher, however, is the Giants… they clearly haven’t gotten the hang of this therapy thing… I mean, you are supposed to be providing the service to winless teams… or to those who should be winless. When you are playing against a team like New Orleans, you are actually supposed to show up. That’s just embarassing. Let me spell it out for you, Eli… Lose to the teams you are supposed to defeat… That’s how this therapy thing is supposed to work. (I’m not sure how its supposed to work against teams you should lose to… we just don’t have that data yet).

But, I guess you can’t have everything.

HTTR

We can look back at some of our old articles, or old message board posts, or podcasts, or maybe even back to one of our Cartoons.

So we’re going to look back to Game 2 of the 2005 Season, when we were facing our arch-rivals, the Dallas Cowboys. This cartoon was put together by BringThePain, Scott Hurrey, Scott Peek, and myself. 

Cowboys Cartoon

To check out the cartoon, visit How Dallas Fans Became Ugly, and enjoy!!

Check out all of the cartoons at http://www.thehogs.net/Flash/Cartoons/index.php.

To replace Octavien, the Redskins signed linebacker Brandon Archer to the practice squad.

Archer is in his second season. He entered the league with the Indianpolis Colts as an undrafted free agent our of Kansas State.

Octavien is the fourth member of the Redskins practice squad to be signed to another team’s active roster this season.

For all updated roster moves, please visit our Redskins <a href=”http://www.thehogs.net/washington-redskins/transactions.php”>Transactions</a> and <a href=”http://www.thehogs.net/washington-redskins/roster.php”>Roster</a> pages.

For more on the practice squad moves, please check out:

<a href=”http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/2008/12/archer_replaces_octavien.html“>Redskins Insider Blog at WashingtonPost.com</a>

<a href=”http://www.redskins.com/gen/articles/News___Notes__Fletcher__Lewis_Still_Lead_the_Charge_28465.jsp“>Redskins.com</a>

Next comes the section called “on a fine line.” In this section he lists the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers. Washington, Dallas and Atlanta are all 6-4, and while Green Bay is 5-5 and in a three way tie for the North division lead, he believes they are the favorite based on the fact that he likes Aaron Rodgers.

Since this is a Redskins blog, here’s is what Steve had to say about our beloved Skins:

Washington (6-4, tied for second NFC East): Two straight losses have the once-promising Redskins reeling. Their inability to score points has finally caught up to them. Coach Jim Zorn has to regain confidence in quarterback Jason Campbell and Campbell has to do something to earn it. The offensive line has to regain its swagger in protection as well. The proof if Washington can improve on both counts comes in two of the next three weeks against the NFC East-leading Giants and Baltimore. If the Redskins can’t snap out of their funk, Dallas could replace them as a wild-card favorite.

Its hard to really argue with any of this. The Redskins have had trouble converting for touchdowns, especially the last two games against 3-4 defenses. They confidence they played with en-route to their 6-2 record was noteably lacking in the last two games, and Jason Campbell has thrown three interceptions in the last two games (although I only remember thinking one of them was his fault). These are all things that can be corrected.

As for the Redskins remaining schedule, here’s how it breaks down:

@Seattle 2-8
N.Y. Giants 9-1
@Baltimore 6-4
@Cincinnati 1-8-1
Philadelphia 5-4-1
@San Francisco 3-7

This is no easy test, as their remaining opponents combined record of 26-32-2 might indicate. Of the remaining games, only two are at FedEx Field (of course, this might be a good thing). In fact, Decemeber — which has been a golden month for Redskins fans in the two previous play-off runs — the Redskins only have one home game, and its against a division rival in Philadelphia that the Redskins beat at the Linc in week 5.

The Seahawks give the Redskins fits at Qwest, and let’s not forget how the Redskins offense looked against the Giants in week one. I thought the offense had progressed greatly since then, but they had the same look the last two weeks.the Ravens are built much like the Steelers, whom the Redskins would like to forget about playing. The Bengals just held the Eagles to 14 points and should have won in overtime, the Eagles are out for revenge and the 49ers are an improved team under Mike Singletary and his bare bottom.

The Redskins can and probably should win three of these games (Bengals, Seahawks and 49ers), putting them at 9 wins. They Ravens game will be tough unless the offensive line figures out a way to stop blitzing outside linebackers in a 3-4 system. The  Giants and Eagles are both divisional games, and so neither is a gimme. The Skins need to win at least one of these three, and probably at least two, in order to work their way into January.

Come on Skins! Six in a row, or we don’t go!

As of November 18, the Redskins boasted four of the top ten overall vote getters. Clinton Portis is second behind only Drew Brees with more than 450,000 votes. Following Portis, Chris Cooley, Santana Moss and Jason Campbell are fifth, sixth and ninth respectively. Now let’s break down the individual positions for the NFC squad:

Quarterback

1: Drew Brees, NO – 490,844 votes
2: Eli Manning, NYG – 395,526 votes
3: Jason Campbell, WAS – 307,366 votes
4: Kurt Warner, ARI – 272,969 votes
5: Donovan McNabb, PHI – 186,137 votes

Running Back

1: Clinton Portis, WAS – 458,082 votes
2: Adrian Peterson, MIN – 303,151 votes
3: Marion Barber, DAL – 208,348 votes
4: Michael Turner, ATL – 189,836 votes
5: Brandon Jacobs, NYG – 174,856 votes

Wide Receiver

1: Santana Moss, WAS – 324,324 votes
2: Larry Fitzgerald, ARI – 322,588 votes
3: Anquan Boldin, ARI – 209,671 votes
4: Plaxico Burress, NYG – 199,605 votes
5: Greg Jennings, GB – 192,709 votes

Fullback

1: Mike Sellers, WAS – 220,662 votes
2: Madison Hedgecock, NYG – 90,818 votes
3: Deon Anderson, DAL – 48,159 votes
4: Mike Karney, NO – 47,737 votes
5: Korey Hall, GB – 44,249 votes

Tight End

1: Chris Cooley, WAS – 341,629 votes
2: Jason Witten, DAL – 306,166 votes
3: Kevin Boss, NYG – 108,914 votes
4: Jeremy Shockey, NO – 77,869 votes
5: Greg Olsen, CHI – 65,218

Center

1: Casey Rabach, WAS – 182,517 votes
2: Shaun O’Hara, NYG – 170,262 votes
3: Olin Kreutz, CHI – 109,725 votes
4: Matt Birk, MIN – 98,065 votes
5: Andre Gurode. DAL – 85,024 votes

Guard

1: Pete Kendall, WAS – 175,617 votes
2: Randy Thomas, WAS – 172,636 votes
3: Chris Snee, NYG – 137,481 votes
4: Steve Hutchison, MIN – 125,712 votes
5: Leonard Davis, DAL – 95,430 votes

Tackle

1: Chris Samuels, WAS – 198,906 votes
2: Flozell Adams, DAL – 103,178 votes
3: David Diehl, NYG – 92,706 votes
4: Kareem McKenzie, NYG – 80,156 votes
5: Stephon Heyer, WAS – 74,234 votes

Defensive End

1: Justin Tuck, NYG – 198,223 votes
2: Andre Carter, WAS – 161,705 votes
3: John Abraham, ATL – 134,068 votes
4: Julius Peppers, CAR – 131,168 votes
5: Jared Allen, MIN – 93,816 votes

Defensive Tackle

1: Cornelius Griffin, WAS – 166,644 votes
2: Kedric Golston, WAS – 143,733 votes
3: Kevin Williams, MIN – 119,237 votes
4: Pat Williams, MIN – 105,117 votes
5: Fred Robbins, NYG – 84,143 votes

Outside Linebacker

1: DeMarcus Ware, DAL – 177,959 votes
2: Jason Taylor, WAS – 158,883 votes
3: Marcus Washington, WAS – 151,439 votes
4: Rocky McIntosh, WAS – 145,950 votes
5: A.J. Hawk, GB – 132,005 votes

Inside Linebacker

1: London Fletcher, WAS – 202,969 votes
2: Brian Urlacher, CHI – 156,288 votes
3: Antonio Pierce, NYG – 98,265 votes
4: Patrick Willis, SF – 96,583 votes
5: Zach Thomas, DAL – 64,080 votes

Cornerback

1: Shawn Springs, WAS – 165,968 votes
2: Carlos Rogers, WAS – 162,694 votes
3: Charles Woodson, GB – 160,922 votes
4: Asante Samuel, PHI – 121,491 votes
5: Ronde Barber, TB – 104553 votes

Strong Safety

1: Chris Horton, WAS – 164,271 votes
2: Adrian Wilson, ARI – 53,622 votes
3: Darren Sharper, MIN – 51,974 votes
4: Atari Bigby, GB – 49,253 votes
5: James Butler, NYG – 46,488 votes

Free Safety

1: LaRon Landry, WAS – 188,238 votes
2: Brian Dawkins, PHI – 82,622 votes
3: Nick Collins, GB – 54,611 votes
4: Michael Johnson, NYG – 42,068 votes
5: Ken Hamlin, DAL – 37,612 votes

Kicker

1: Shaun Suisham, WAS – 135,832 votes
2: John Carney, NYG – 56,796 votes
3: Jason Elam, ATL – 53,408 votes
4: Nick Folk, DAL – 50,976 votes
5: Mason Crosby, GB – 48,215 votes

Punter

1: Ryan Plackemeier, WAS – 108,080 votes
2: Jeff Feagles, NYG – 106,723 votes
3: Derrick Frost, GB – 32,200 votes
4: Brad Maynard, CHI – 30,720 votes
5: Saverio Rocca, PHI – 30,102 votes

Return Specialist

1: Rock Cartwright, WAS – 124,563 votes
2: Devin Hester, CHI – 121,882 votes
3: Reggie Bush, NO – 87,266 votes
4: Felix Jones, DAL – 44,353 votes
5: DeSean Jackson, PHI – 39,495 votes

Special Teamer

1: Khary Campbell, WAS – 134,554 votes
2: Chase Blackburn, NYG – 60,918 votes
3: Jarrett Bush, GB – 40,730 votes
4: Keith Davis, DAL – 31,367 votes
5: Corey Graham, CHI – 29,527

Pretty impressive on the part of the Redskins marketing department, I’d say. To illustrate, here’s your starting line-up if voting ended the 18th and counted for 100% of the election process (Redskins bolded):

Offense

QB: Drew Brees
RB: Clinton Portis
FB: Mike Sellers
WR: Santana Moss, Larry Fitzgerald
TE: Chris Cooley
OT: Chris Samuels, Flozell Adams
OG: Pete Kendall, Randy Thomas
C: Casey Rabach

Defense

DE: Justin Tuck, Andre Carter
DT: Cornelius Griffin, Kedrick Golston
OLB: DeMarcus Ware, Jason Taylor
ILB: London Fletcher
CB: Shawn Springs, Carlos Rogers
SS: Chris Horton
FS: LaRon Landry

Special Teams

K: Shaun Suisham
P: Ryan Plackemeier
RS: Rock Cartwright
ST: Khary Campbell

Now, some ( huh-hmm Dan Steinberg) may look at this and think that what the Redskins are doing is making a mockery of the Pro Bowl, but I submit that the Pro Bowl election process has already cheapened the Pro Bowl. Every year, players more deserving of a roster spot in the Aloha State are sitting at home watching guys past their prime or guys that play for the best and most popular teams.

As a case in point, let’s talk about London Fletcher. He has been one of the best middle linebackers in football for ages, but has never been to the Pro Bowl. Fletcher’s exclusion is among the many players, Redskin or otherwise, that has long deserved a trip to Hawaii and has been snubbed year after year. If nothing else comes of the ‘Vote the Redskins Ticket’ campaign, righting this wrong is enough.

So I say to all Redskins fans, we’ve done well so far, but let’s not get complacent. The NFL Digital Media Department sent this note to all NFL teams (courtesy of Matt Terl):

As it stands right now, the Redskins are leading the NFC ballots in 16 of 19 positions. Its no surprise, given that they have been promoting this all season long and currently have an interstitial ad and a top right ad urging fans to vote.

This would be a great weekend to promote pro bowl voting to your fans. Let me know if you need any ideas or support from the league (or the Redskins :)) in this important initiative.

Other team’s are taking notice, none more important to note than the Dallas Cowboys, annually the biggest beneficiery of the moronic Name Recognition Bowl voting. This comes from Todd Archer’s blog on the Dallas Morning News website:

Since Pro Bowl voting began on Oct. 13, the Redskins have put out out quite a campaign. According to the totals, Washington has four players among the top-10 vote getters regardless of position and conference.

The Cowboys? Only one – Jason Witten at No. 10.

Running back Clinton Portis is No. 2, tight end Chris Cooley is No. 6, wide receiver Santana Moss is No. 6 and quarterback Jason Campbell is No. 9. If that’s not a challenge for Cowboys’ fans, I don’t know what is.

Todd is calling on Cowboy fans to try and match our votes, and I say that in this year of historic national elections, why not keep this up and create one of our own. The Pro Bowl is a meaningless game, which bestows a rather arbitrary honor on a select few players that get in based on name and reputation year after year, so why not make this the year of the Washington Redskins?

If you think we can’t keep it up, just remind yourself of Bob the Builder, and some other famous politician, and remember, Yes We Can! Vote The Redskin Ticket!

The day after a loss to the hated Cowboys of Dallas, however is considerably worse. This is because there are simply way to many Dallas fans in Washington.

The part that sickens me the most is the fact that better than 99% of the Dallas fans that I’ve met, haven’t even been to Dallas. This in my opinion is the worst kind of fan. They are “Joiners.”

I, for example, am what you would call a “Homer.” I root for my home team. I live and die with my home team. In my opinion that’s why you have a “home team.”

Contrarily, most of these “Joiners” simply root for Dallas because of their Super Bowl wins from the ‘90s. Don’t think so? Ask them about their team when they lose and they’ll all tell you the same thing “I don’t even really watch football” or “well I only started liking them back when they had [insert player's name here]” or “I just like the color blue.”

Occasionally you’ll find these “Joiners” are simply working out some unresolved “Daddy-issues” (e.g. “My Dad was a Redskins fan, but he’s a jerk”), but very frequently they are simply Cowboys fans so they can be “different.”

Not the good kind of “different” as in “refreshingly unique,” but more the goth-kids-at-the-mall kind of different. The people who want the shock-value that comes with painting their face white and wearing seventeen layers of mascara but then want to whine about how they are consistently persecuted by mall security for “being themselves.”

The worst part about the Redskins losing to the Cowboys, and then having to deal with the avalanche of Cowboys fans, who suddenly come climbing out of the gutters, is having to bite your tongue.

The simple fact about this last game is that yes, the Redskins lost and the Cowpies won. Unfortunately, that’s not how the ‘Pie fans retell it.

“Cowboys kicked butt last night” is the general consensus by the average ‘Pie fan.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you, as a Redskins fan can say. Sure you can point out the fact that the ‘Pies merely won the game, but there was no kicking of rears involved. You can point out that the game was decided by less than a touchdown, and a total of 24-points, but really anything you say forces you to face the obvious.

The Redskins were worse than the Cowpies. That’s what it will always come back to. Whether you realize it before you say it, or whether you give them the satisfaction of hearing it from your own mouth, that’s what it always comes back to.

The Redskins offense was both porous and predictable. They could not stop the pass rush, Campbell couldn’t find his receivers, and when he did, they were either stopped at the line of scrimmage, or they simply dropped the ball.

The Redskins defense held up their end of the bargain by picking off Tony Romo twice but on both occasions the offense simply turned the ball back over with a three-and-out.

Special Teams tried to get them a seven point lead at the half by returning a kickoff all the way back into field goal range, but the Redskins again went three and out and settled for the three-point-lead.

So, unfortunately Redskins fans, we’ve just got to suck it up. We are finally seeing the rookie head coach that we expected to see earlier this year. Our dreams of a play-off berth were squashed by Sunday night’s exhibition of how to run an offense that results in yards gained but no points.

Until the Redskins can figure out how to convert on third down, and how to score touchdowns from the red-zone, this team would only be embarrassed if it did somehow back into a play-off spot.

The only bright spot from Sunday night’s game came on the Redskins very first drive. They showed they could move the ball, and they scored a touchdown from the red zone. Unfortunately they could not repeat that performance for the rest of the night. Until they figure out a way to accomplish the efficiency of that first drive four or five times a game, they simply will not be play-off ready.

Now watch, since I’ve typed this, the Redskins will win the Super Bowl just to spite me.

Hey, if that’s what it takes, right?

Go ‘Skins!