NFL.com – Washington 13, Chicago 10
The Redskins ended their four-game losing streak on October 17 by beating the offensively inept Chicago Bears 13 to 10. It’s a win, but I don’t think it says much about the team’s ability to win more games. This was a game between two bad teams, and the Redskins came out on top. The next week the Bears lost to the only other team the Redskins have beaten this year, Tampa Bay.
NPR : The Week in College Football
NPR ran a story Friday that mentioned the firing of the University of Florida’s head football coach, Ron Zook, and Florida’s interest in Steve Spurrier. They stated that Spurrier was fired from the Redskins. That’s not true. The Redskins did not fire Spurrier. He quit.
Taylor Arrested On DWI Charge (washingtonpost.com)
Redskins rookie safety Sean Taylor was charged with DUI at 2:40 a.m. Thursday morning. He makes close to $6 million per year, so he can certainly afford a cab. He’s only 21, but he should know better.
His father is the Police Chief of Florida City, FL. There was a players-only meeting 3 weeks ago, and one of the issues that was discussed was the need to avoid the Washington area’s nightlife during the football season. As his teammate, Phillip Daniels said, when you have a big game later in the week, there’s no reason to be out late on a Wednesday night.
ESPN.com – NFL – Clayton: Enough already
John Clayton says it’s unusual to have so many 1 win teams in the NFC at this point in the season. He says that having so many 1 win teams in 1 division kills the idea of expanding the playoffs beyond 12 teams, because it would allow 8-8 or losing record teams into the playoffs and that would cause the “integrity” of the playoffs to suffer.
The Redskins lost to Baltimore Sunday night, 10/10. The defense played a good game, but turnovers and an inept offense killed the Skins this week. Brunell did not look good, but Joe Gibbs is sticking with him again this coming Sunday, 10/17. As Rich Tandler pointed out, there are many similarities between this team and the 1981 Redskins. Let’s hope the 2004 Skins turn it around like the 1981 Skins did. Go Skins!
Yahoo! Sports – NFL – Burning Questions
We’re 1/4 of the way through the season, and Don Banks of Sports Illustrated thinks the Redskins are the biggest disappointment. I agree.
Clinton Portis claimed that the Browns knew where many of the Redskins plays were going Sunday. Joe Gibbs reviewed the film and concluded that it looked like the Browns may have figured out what the Redskins were going to do on 2 plays, but that was it. Rich Tandler used his Tivo to watch the game again and concluded that the Browns appeared to know where the play was going at least 25% of the time.
Yahoo! Sports – NFL – Browns 17, Redskins 13
The Redskins lost to the Browns Sunday in another disappointing loss. Sloppy play seemed to be the cause of this loss. At least it was good to see two former Virginia Tech players, Lee Suggs and Andre Davis, have good games for Cleveland.
I think I, like many other Skins fans, set my expectations too high after Joe Gibbs came back. I’m not jumping ship – I’m in for the long haul. I’m just crashing back to Earth (reality) and realizing it takes time, even for Joe Gibbs, to build a winning team.
Who’s next? Baltimore on Sunday night. Both teams have good running backs, mediocre offenses, and good defenses. It will hopefully be a good game.
This QB doesn’t fit the system – The Washington Times: Sports – September 29, 2004
The Washington Times questions whether Brunell and Portis are the right quarterback and running back for Joe Gibbs
The Redskins lost to the Cowboys 18-21. They lost another division game, and this time it was a home game. They now sit alone at the bottom of the NFC East.
The offensive line did not do a good job protecting the quarterback and gave up 5 sacks. They also did not do a good job opening holes for Portis. At least the offense did not have any turnovers this week, and Rod Gardner and James Thrash had good games. The defense did not get enough pressure on Testaverde and only had 1 sack.
The Redskins’ timeout management was horrible. Mark Brunell wasted two timeouts on one of the drives, and Joe Gibbs challenged a Dallas touchdown and wasted a timeout. Gibbs has an ex official in the booth to advise him when to challenge. Surely, this ex official did not advise him to challenge the touchdown after looking at the numerous replays ABC showed.
If the Redskins would have had one of those timeouts, they could have had a shot at tying the game in the final seconds. The Redskins did not get the job done and did not play well enough to win the game. They must win their division games and their home games if they want to have any success.
Yesterday, I asked my local CBS affiliate (WDBJ) why they did not show the Baltimore Ravens (the local AFC team) game and why WDBJ did not show 2 games yesterday. Here’s the response I received:
Mike Bell
Program Director
WDBJ
I’m not happy with their decision to not show the Ravens game, but I can understand why they decided to show the Browns/Giants game – an attempt to get higher ratings. The answer to # 2 doesn’t make sense, because there were was a game on CBS at 4pm yesterday – Broncos/Chargers.
The Redskins play Dallas tonight, and September would be a success if they beat Dallas tonight. If the Skins only win two more games this season, let it be the Dallas games. Just beat Dallas! If Joe Gibbs beats Dallas twice this season, he will have had a successful season, even if they go 3-13. Go Skins!!
Why don’t the local CBS and Fox stations show 2 NFL games apiece each Sunday during football season? My local CBS station is only showing 1 game today, and it’s not the Baltimore Ravens game. I would consider the Ravens the local AFC favorite, but the local station is showing the Browns/Giants game instead.
The local CBS station here has 3 digital channels. Why can’t they show a different game on each of the digital channels. Instead, they have the Browns/Giants game on one of the channels, Orioles baseball on the second channel, and local weather radar on the third. I can live with the Orioles game on the second channel, but they should have a football game on the third channel.
The local Fox station is showing 2 games this week, but they only have 1 listed for Sunday, 10/3. Once again, why can’t they show 2 games? The networks shell out huge sums of money to broadcast NFL games, so why don’t they get the most out of their investment and show me as many as they can?
I attended my first Virginia Tech football game Saturday, 9/18, and I watched them defeat Duke. It was definitely worth the price of admission, but I thought it would be much louder, because the tv announcers oftem mention how loud it is in Lane Stadium. I guess it’s not as loud when you’re sitting 4 rows from the top of the stadium in the corner of the end zone versus when you’re on the sideline at the 50 yard line.
As someone posted on the webskins mailing list, the Giants showed how to beat the Redskins: