I Dislike Your Favorite Team

It's been a very busy week and it started off badly with the Redmeat puking all over their own pants at home against the winless Rams. It seems as if the team had read a few too many articles about how great they are. This team is still a work in progress and that was made very evident.

They were unfocused and seemed to be waiting for the Rams to give up. Winless or not, St. Louis is a professional football team and they wanted to win for their new coach. They had two weeks to prepare for this game and they wanted it more. That's why they won.

I was worried about this scenario -- young team flushed with early success loses focus -- but hoped that Coach Zorn would keep them on an even keel. He needs to do a better job and I think he can, but the Redmeat came out of halftime exactly as flat as they had started.

The turnover dam broke, as it was bound to do at some point. The offensive line, while opening holes for the NFL's leading rusher Clinton Portis, was terrible in pass protection. They gave up four sacks to a team which had only generated seven in four games, and only thirty-one last year. Campbell looked uncomfortable in the pocket even when he had time -- he had the bad footwork that we saw in the Giants game.

The defense played relatively well but were unable to stop the Rams at the start of the third quarter and, most critically, on a long 3rd down with seconds remaining. They simply do not have a pass rush unless they blitz -- the only sacks were a coverage sack by DT Montgomery and a blitz by CB Springs. This, against a Rams team that had given up 13 sacks to lousy teams. The Redmeat's eight sacks ranks them below the Lions.

The offense was out-of-sync, with dropped balls and penalties. Nevertheless, they engineered a great 4th quarter drive to take the lead. Which brings me to the main point: as I have been warning all year, Special Teams will lose a game for this team. That is what happened against the Rams.

To cap one of the worst games they've played (giving up insane return yardage, generating no returns, kickoffs out of bounds), the Redmeat had a 17-16 lead with under 4 minutes when they gave up another return to set up the Rams' game winning drive.

As the Buddha said, "When you lose, don't lose the lesson."

I expect a much better game against the Browns, who incidentally kicked the crap out of the Giants last week. With Dallas losing to the Cardinals (that was awesome!), the NFC East is still tight. Stop listening to sportsjacks about the toughest division, playoff aspirations and Coach of The Year honors. One game at a time, like the poet wrote.

Backup RB Betts injured his knee so the Redmeat picked up 2005 NFL MVP Shaun Alexnder. He's a good runner and should be fresh wheels but he hasn't been the best teammate throughout his career and might chafe as the backup. He should know that Washington will probably be his last stop and he will cement his legacy here. Our entire defensive backfield is injured, facing a Browns team that lit up the champs on Monday. There are no easy games.

Go Washington Redmeat Go!