Crowdgate - Butt Out

Have we really fallen so far, Redskins Nation? There’s one word to describe the now two-week-long hysteria over Crowdgate:

Embarrassing.

* FedExField is the largest stadium in the NFL. More seats equals more butts. Ours and theirs. Get used to it.

* Washington DC remains a city of transplants. There are always going to be fans of other teams putting their butts in our seats. Get used to it.

* Ever been to a game at FedEx Field? If you have, you know getting your butt in and out of there is a pain. Now put that game on a Monday Night. Figure the game ends around midnight. Know what time your butt is getting home? Neither do I, and that’s the point. But count on being the only car moving in your neighborhood except maybe Johnny Law doing his rounds.

* Checked your 401K lately? If you work for a living you feel like you’ve spent the last couple months retrieving soap in a prison shower. If your alarm is going to go off at oh-dark-thirty Tuesday morning, and some anonymous online schmuck is willing to pay you three times face for your two tickets, there’s a decent chance you’re not going to sweat checking the color of his NFL underoos.

But enough time wasted on peripherals.

Know why Steelers fans on Monday night were a factor? Because the Redskins played butt-awful offensive football. And because the entire team spent the first half looking gift horses in the mouth, extending a gilded invitation to the visitors to take control of the game.

This isn’t complicated.

If Jason Campbell hits a wide open Santana Moss at the goal line on the second offensive possession and the Redskins go up 10-0, know what you would have heard at FedEx?

This.

If Carlos Rogers doesn’t drop the Redskins weekly “thanks, but no thanks” pick-six opportunity and they go up 13-3, playing as well defensively as they have since Richie Petitbone and his various combilations (anyone?) waddled RFK's sidelines, know what you would have heard at FedEx?

This.

And if the Redskins had been the butt-kickers instead of the butt-kickees all night, know what you would have heard and seen from the “loyal opposition?”

This.

Okay, so the Steelers fans were irritating. But please put it in perspective. If the game on the field rated an “8” on the Redskin Fan’s Great Scale of Irritations given enough missed opportunities to choke a horse, a bunch of visiting fans waving cute little canary-yellow towels rated maybe a "3."

The one substantive complaint might be that the Redskins had to use a silent count on offense a few times. Obviously you’d rather not have to do that on your home field. On the other hand …

1) It’s the NFL—you start working on silent counts in May.

2) The Redskins brought the problem on themselves by screwing up several golden opportunities to take a choke hold on the game early and make opposing fans moot. And mute.

Oh and before I forget … now that as a fan base we've spent so much time publicly wringing our hands over crowd noise, be assured the always classy contingent of Dallas fans planning to show up this weekend, as they always do when their team has a winning record, will take it as encouragement and a challenge to try to one-up the Pittsburghers.

As ye reap ... you know?

So, want this all to go away? Me too. More than I can say in polite company. Here’s what has to happen:

First and foremost, the Redskins have to play like they did earlier this season against Dallas—with a nasty disposition and butt-kicking attitude. By playing physical and smart football. And most importantly, by converting on opportunities.

As for the fans, you already know what to do; the only thing fans can do to actually impact a game. I’ll say it anyway just in case anyone’s forgotten. Be loud. Be loud at the right times. And if the Redskins should happen to be losing at some point, or even stumbling around shooting off toes like they did two weeks ago, don’t boo, don’t sit on your hands whining about the other teams’ fans, rally and scream for your team even louder.

You know, help them.

Don’t go thugging on fans wearing the wrong colors, either. We all know NFL cities where they seem to think that’s how one compensates for inadequate manhood—but that’s never been us. I’d like to think that being above that was something Redskins fans were proud of.

Forget the fans in blue Sunday night. If their team is smacking the Redskins around at some point, they’re going to be loud—just like Redskins fans are loud for their team on the road. And if the Redskins are doing the smacking, count on the Cowboy fans in attendance to be inconsequential drops in a 90,000-strong sea of fans wearing the right colors.

The Steelers fans got into the Redskins heads on the field, as evidenced by all the commentary in the days after the game. They got into the Redskins fans heads too, as evidenced by the last two embarrassing weeks of talking about it (which I now find myself grudgingly contributing to).

Kick them the hell out. I’m begging you.

Here’s a guarantee: when the Redskins become consistent winners again—which they appear well on their way to doing—opposing fans at FedEx, even those of good teams with passionate and mobile fan bases, will sit there quietly and take their medicine. The burgundy and gold tidal wave around them will allow zero room for interpretation as to whose house it is.

Forget the other sideshows. Be loud. Be consistent.

Be Redskins fans.

And as for the Redskins themselves … fellas, just win. Do that, and this kind of ridiculous, embarrassing sideshow will up and vanish like the proverbial fart in the wind.

Hail.

Redskins vs Cowboys II - WWJD

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The old NFL saw that says every NFL game counts the same in the standings is true, but it’s also true that not every game counts the same in determining the arc of a season.

One could make the case, for instance, that the only measurable impact of the Washington Redskins game against the Dallas Cowboys Sunday night will be determining whether they head into the 2008 season's stretch run at 6-4 or 7-3. But that would be tunnel vision.

The Redskins aren’t going to play just another game this weekend. They aren’t going to play just another division game. They’re not even going to play just another division game against their fiercest rival. Way I see it, they’re going to play the 2008 season’s defining game.

Overstating the case? You decide.

The Redskins recovered quickly from their season-opening clunker against the NY Giants, sprinting to a 4-1 start. They earned solid consecutive road wins over two favored division opponents along the wa, and in doing so, reset the expectations bar for head coach Jim Zorn’s debut season.

Back in August, the idea of a start like that would have slapped a goofy grin on even the dourest Redskins fan's mug. After Washington dispatched Philadelphia on the road to go 4-1, with three “beatable opponents” in a row upcoming on their schedule, any lid there might have been on 2008 expectations blew off.

With the winless St. Louis Rams coming to town, all was right in the Redskins universe, and while fans didn’t do it openly (much), I suspect more than a few found themselves entertaining January dreams.

However.

A slow return to earth began that next week, with the self-immolation home loss to the Rams in which the Redskins quite literally let a game they dominated slip through their fingers. Then came two, shall we say, less-than-artful wins over Cleveland and Detroit. The Redskins won behind solid defense and just enough offense, but neither was the kind of game likely to end up in your permanent DVD library.

And then, at 6-2 and facing their first Big Stage game since the opener, they slipped on a black and yellow banana peel on Monday Night Football. The thud you heard was Redskins Nation’s 2008 expectation level ... readjusting. Remember the feeling right after the Philadelphia game, as surprise turned to elation turned to brimming, exuberant confidence? I won’t say it’s gone … but it can see gone from here.

The Redskins had an opportunity on the national stage last Monday Night to announce their arrival to themselves and to the world. To prove they were a contender this season, despite all the odds arrayed against it. Instead, agonizingly, they wilted under the bright lights and pressure of the big stage. They could not summon that one last ounce of energy, or that one last bit of focus, that inevitably spell the difference in big games.

Defensively they were stellar … until they weren’t, when it mattered most. They dropped another potential game-changing interception; one that had touchdown and a 13-3 second quarter lead written all over it. And in an ironic twist of fate, they knocked Steelers starting QB Ben Roethlisberger out of the game, only to see his backup, DC’s own Byron Leftwich, come out firing with a “nothing to lose, let it fly” mentality ... and couldn’t stop him.

Offensively, the Redskins were bested mentally and physically all night. We’ll never know how much of that was attributable to their own poor play, or how much was Pittsburgh simply playing lights out, but the result were the same. Washington was unable to sustain drives, nor make the “big play”—the kind of play that instantly changes the complexion of a game.

And so they lost. Convincingly. And suddenly the 6-3 record, given the heightened expectations just a month ago, looks a whole lot better in print than it feels in the gut.

Which brings us to Dallas. At home. Once again under the bright national lights.

My instinct is telling me that how they come out of this one will set the tone for the rest of the season.

If the Redskins lose, it will confirm what I’m sure many, like me, are quietly fearing; that the 6-2 start was misleading. That while it showed team it has the personnel to be a contender, the early success gave a false impression they could sustain that level in 2008. And I think it would portend a weekly scratch and claw battle just to qualify for the playoffs as low-seed wildcard.

Not bad considering preseason expectations, but a definite letdown given the early power play.

If the Redskins play well and beat the Cowboys, however, and show signs of coming out of the offensive shell (funk?) they have settled into the last few weeks, at 7-3 and having finally cleared the “big game” hurdle, they’re right smack dab back in the middle of things. Re-energized. Walking tall. Looking good. And, barring a total collapse, right on the Giants’ heels, fighting for the NFC East title until the snow flies.

Okay, so maybe I've convinced you it's a big game. Duh, right? What matters now is how are they are going to win it.

WWJD.

I wrote last week that for the Redskins to beat Pittsburgh, Jason Campbell was going to have to raise his game. He did not. Surprisingly, he regressed, playing his worst football since opening night.

And it wasn’t just about the pass rush, either. Sure Pittsburgh pressed him—it’s what they do, and they’re good at it. Thing is, Dallas tried that back in week four, too. Only in that game Campbell made the Cowboys pay for it, stepping up, avoiding pressure and hitting passes downfield until he forced them to back off.

Against the Steelers, Jason had opportunities to beat the pressure as well, he just didn’t make the plays. Most glaringly, he badly under threw an open Santana Moss at the goal line on the Redskins second possession, after Cornelius Griffin’s interception set them up at the Cowboys 30 yard line, already holding 3-0 lead.

Had he been on target, the Redskins would have been up 10-0, with all the confidence and momentum in the world, and we might be talking about a very different game this week. And it wasn’t just that play, either. Jason simply had a bad night, mentally and physically.

Well, he has a chance Sunday night to show it was an anomaly. Because like he was against Pittsburgh, Jason Campbell is again the Redskins key to winning.

Particularly so given that Clinton Portis, if he plays at all, will be at less than full speed.

Particularly so because the same seeds of doubt about how good this 2008 really is that many fans are feeling right now are probably finding purchase in the locker room as well.

This is what big time quarterbacks do—they’re at the best in the biggest games, when their team needs them most.

So what will Jason do? The answer to that question will determine what we're talking about Monday morning.

I don’t think the Redskins can go into this game planning to pound Dallas with the run—not with a gimpy Portis, Ladell Betts seeing his first action in a month and an off-the-street Shawn Alexander being, well … not a hammer.

Much of the Redskins early success this year, including their two “quality wins” over Dallas and Philadelphia, came because the defense was stingy and the offense was unpredictable and aggressive. The last few weeks, however, offensively they have started to look like a unit that believes it can simply line up, run the ball, drive methodically down the field and score touchdowns. They aren’t. Not yet.

Nine games have not been enough to ramp up Zorn’s modified “west coast” passing game. And that’s not an indictment—it was unrealistic to expect it before the season started, and it’s unrealistic to expect it today. What would be an indictment is if they were unwilling to adjust to changed circumstances at midstream.

To beat Dallas, and be a factor in late December, the Redskins will need Jason Campbell to play like the loose, confident player we saw earlier this year, not the overthinking, tight player we saw against Pittsburgh. They’re going to have to force the Dallas defense to react to them, as opposed to the other way around as we saw last Monday night.

We don’t know what caused the change. One the one hand, it could have been Campbell simply having a bad night, tightening up under the bright lights and in the face of a superior Pittsburgh defensive effort. On the other hand, it could have been he was trying too hard to do what he thought Coach Zorn wanted, and as a result too careful with the ball, unable to pull the trigger. You might get away with that against average defenses—not against the best.

Maybe Zorn has seen something different on film, but from where I sit, it’s a no-brainer how the Redskins should approach Sunday night offensively. Forget “balance” early—I’d come out firing.

I’d put Campbell in the shotgun right from the start, with an unequivocal green light to attack downfield.

I’d make damn sure Dallas is aware of Santana Moss.

I’d target Chris Cooley early.

I’d even send the rookies, Devin Thomas and the Malcolm “Rumor” Kelly, up the sidelines deep a couple of times. I don’t even really care if they’re open. If they get single coverage, throw it up and let them try to make a play. If not, throw it five yards over their heads. I’d just like to see, and more importantly have the opposition see, that the Redskins are willing to test them.

I don’t expect Dallas to come out playing the Redskins honest Sunday night. I expect them to drop one or both safeties, crowd the line of scrimmage with everyone else and (can’t believe we’re here again) force Washington to show they can stretch the field vertically. Or are at least willing to try.

If the redskins can’t, or won’t, and instead continue to compress their offense into a 15-yard window beyond the line of scrimmage, I fully expect to see more and more blitzes coming after Campbell as the game progresses, looking to force him into the same kind of mistakes he made against the Steelers.

The defense has given no reason to doubt they’ll play well and, at worst, keep Washington in the game. Until they show me otherwise, they've earned the benefit of the doubt. And the odds are increasingly in their favor as the weeks go by that at some point they’ll hold on to a ball and if not score themselves, at least give Campbell and the offense a short field to work with.

It’s up to Jim Zorn to put Campbell in the right situations and allow or encourage him—depending on which is necessary—to trust his reads and his arm. But ultimately, inasmuch as any can come down to the performance of any one player … as goes Jason Campbell Sunday night, so will go the Redskins.

Come Monday morning, we’ll know a lot more about the 2008 version of Jason Campbell. And unless my crystal ball is totally messing with me, we'll have a much clearer sense of how the rest of the 2008 season will play out for the burgundy and gold.

Hey, it’s Redskins-Cowboys.

It’s supposed to be big.

Not Quite Ready for Prime Time

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On their way to a convincing win over the Redskins on Monday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated defensively and did just enough offensively to close the deal. The 23-6 final was just, and left no doubt as to which was the better team midway through the 2008 season.

It also provided emphatic answers to some key midseason questions about the upstarts from the nation’s capital.

Half way through his debut season, rookie Head Coach Jim Zorn has already exceeded all reasonable expectations. Given how quickly he has settled into the role, and delivered a team few figured to be a factor in 2008 into position for a playoff run, it is fair and reasonable to begin to speculate about his becoming a successful, if not elite, NFL head coach.

But the Steelers made it clear he’s not there yet.

Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, with his 35 years of NFL coaching experience, Super Bowl credentials (SB XL) and architect of one of the perennially elite defenses in the league, drove that message home. LeBeau schooled Zorn on Monday night; out-scheming, out-playcalling and outmaneuvering him from start to finish.

I never once got the sense the Redskins offense was dictating the flow of play. Quite the opposite. When Clinton Portis ran—left, right or center—the Steelers were waiting for him, often en masse.

And when Jason Campbell dropped to pass, the Steelers rush was on him too quickly to allow him to set and throw on rhythm, or, on the rare occasions he did find time, it was clear he could find no options downfield.

The Steelers definitely have good players on defense—but this wasn’t about that. The Redskins offense has some pretty good players of its own. Without putting too fine a point on it, what happened Monday night was as thorough a job of schematic and play-calling domination as you’re likely to see in today’s NFL.

LeBeau sent the rookie coach a clear message Monday night:

"Not yet."

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that in his short time as an NFL head coach, Jim Zorn has shown himself to be a quick study, capable of honest self-analysis and effective adjustment. There’s no shame in getting schooled by Dick LeBeau—he’s been doing it to the best of the best for a long time.

What would be a shame if is Jim Zorn doesn’t take the hard lessons learned Monday night and come out the other side a better coach.

Based on what we've seen so far, my strong sense is that won’t happen.

Jason Campbell has far exceeded expectations in 2008 as well. He’s been steady, at times brilliant, and showed promising signs of developing into an elite NFL quarterback.

But he came up short on Monday night.

One play in particular stands out. Early in the first quarter, already leading 3-0 after Pittsburgh’s unsuccessful onsides attempt on the opening kickoff led to a 44-yard Shaun Suisham field goal, the Redskins defense came up with the big turnover they’ve thirsted for the last several weeks. Cornelius Griffin swallowed up a deflected Ben Roethlisberger pass and the Redskins were in business at the Steelers’ 30.

On the next play, Campbell rolled right and had Santana Moss open behind the defense near the goal line. His pass was badly underthrown, however, and the Steelers knocked it away. Two plays and only five yards later, and Washington again had to settle for three.

What could and should have been huge early momentum, growing confidence and a 10-0 lead, instead turned into 6-0 lead and the feeling the Redskins were letting things slip away.

Yes, it was “just one play.” But it was the kind of play big time quarterbacks, in big time games where such opportunities are precious few, simply have to make. And it set the tone for a game in which Campbell would throw 43 passes, completing just 24 for 206 mostly cosmetic yards, get sacked seven times and never really appear in command; never dictate the flow of play but spend a long night reacting unsuccessfully to it.

Jason Campbell might make that one key play a hundred times over the next ten years. And he may yet grow into the kind of quarterback and leader that can carry his team on days it is otherwise overmatched.

I've written since since his first preseason game in 2004 I believed he has the tools, and as of today I’m still bullish on his putting it all together before he’s done.

But the Steelers made it clear he’s not there yet.

Defensively, as brilliantly as Washington defensive coordinator Greg Blache schemed the Steelers, and as brilliantly as his unit played through most the game, when the need was greatest and the opportunity clearest, they were unable to rise to the moment either.

There is no way to overstate the impact of the one play they did not make had on Monday night. In the second quarter, with the Redskins up 6-3 and doing a pretty good impression of a dominant defensive team themselves, Roethlisberger threw toward WR Santonio Holmes the right sideline.

Redskins CB Carlos Rogers, already having a stellar night, read the play perfectly and jumped in front of Holmes. With nothing standing between him, a game-changing play and a 13-3 Redskins lead but 40 yards of green, Rogers had the ball hit him square the hands … and slip through.

Intellect tells you one play doesn’t make the difference in a game. Your heart, and your gut, know one play often says it all.

Carlos Rogers is having a brilliant comeback year. But when the moment came to break through under the bright lights, he was not quite up to the task. Before the Redskins can take the next big step, that’s a play he, and his teammates, simply has to make.

So it was no one thing that did in the Redskins on Monday night, it was an accumulation.

Jim Zorn was officially welcomed to the NFL by an old master.

Jason Campbell was served a cold reminder that the line between solid game manager and franchise quarterback is a bright one.

The Redskins defense saw first hand the difference between a good defense and a great one.

The Steelers came to the Monday Night stage game-tested, composed, and showed they belonged from start to finish. When the plays were there to be made, they made them. The Redskins, for all their promise, showed their inexperience and allowed the bright lights to get in their eyes.

At 6-3, they are ahead of schedule by any reasonable measure. Having been humbled at home, however, mentally and physically, they have also been served notice that the road ahead remains a long, challenging climb.

What they learn from the experience, or don’t, will dictate how the rest of 2008 plays out and, should they qualify, whether or not they'll be ready for the far bigger stage of the NFL playoffs.

Three Keys to MNF vs Steelers

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Had a longer list working, but in the end I distilled it down to three keys. Well ... four actually. Couldn't help myself.

See if you don't agree.

1. Jason Campbell

Campbell will need to take another step up. His overall play this year has been above reproach—witness zero interceptions reflecting excellent decision-making with the ball. But that care does has not come without a cost.

The kind of quick-strike touchdowns that can break close, defensive games open rarely come from conservative decisions, they more often than not come from bold downfield forays to receivers that are, by conservative standards, “covered.”

I’ve been watching Campbell closely for signs of finding enough of a comfort level in the new passing scheme, and in Jim Zorn’s trust factor, to start taking some chances downfield … and my instinct is telling me the Redskins will need him to take the risk tonight. Ball control and field goals won’t be enough.

2. Avoid the Slow Start

The Redskins have developed a troubling habit of winning the yardage and time of possession battles early, but failing to turn them into points. That won’t cut it tonight either. Falling behind by more than a score against a pass-rush-happy team like Pittsburgh, particularly with a slowed or absent Chris Samuels on Jason Campbell’s blind side, could be too much to overcome.

Here’s hoping the Redskins come out swinging from the opening gun and be the ones to set the early tone—not the other way around, as has been the case since the Philadelphia game in week four.

3. Catch the Damn Ball

There will be opportunities for Redskins defenders to pick off Ben Roethlisberger tonight—off deflections at the line of scrimmage, and on the kind of attacking passes mentioned above. Roethlisberger, in a word, is not shy about taking risks with the ball or forcing it into coverage.

In what shapes up as a classic defensive slugfest (now watch this one end 38-35), turnovers and field position will almost certainly be the difference. Washington simply cannot continue to let those opportunities slip through their fingers—not tonight.

And one to grow on:

4. Smack ‘em in the Mouth

Pittsburgh is one of the few teams in the league that comes into a game with a reputation that can have a tangible impact on the result. Baltimore and Philadelphia have earned it with their defense over the past decade. The Raiders used to have it before a decade of Al Davis’ ridiculous excesses frittered it away.

And the Pittsburgh Steelers most definitely have it, having managed to keep it alive 30 years since crafting it during their magical run in the 70’s.

Tonight, on their home field, under the bright lights of Monday Night Football’s national stage, the Redskins must match the intensity and physicality you can be sure Pittsburgh will bring to the table. And they need to do it right from the start.

What holds true for the schoolyard bully holds true at the highest level of sport—the way to deal with a bully is to stand up to him and make it clear you’re not backing down. And if that’s not enough, you smack him in the mouth and let him know you’re going to be there all day.

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Tonight’s game is a great opportunity for the Redskins to take “the next step” ... to go from “surprising first half story” to “team to be reckoned with" down the stretch.

Losing to the Steelers wouldn’t be a disaster—at 6-3, Washington would still be in prime position to make a playoff run. But it would be a huge missed opportunity to announce to the league—and more importantly, themselves—that they are now one of those teams you’d better have your chinstrap locked down tight against from the opening gun.

Nike had it right, Redskins.

Just do it.