Synaptic Shotgun - DaView, London, Going Deep, Wimoweh

Occasional, recurring short-form posts about
the Washington Redskins, NFL and maybe even Life.
Almost like a blog.

Redskins 17, DaBears 14

Season Record: 4-3 (2nd, NFCE)

Don't mind me. Just enjoying da view.

Been a while since I felt like I was watching something being built. Yes, Jim Zorn started 6-2 in his debut season, but with Vinny Cerrato and Jason Campbell large and in charge, even then it was hard to get too excited about the upside. Respectability maybe. Possible championship(s) not so much.

This feels different. Allen, Shanahan, McNabb, Williams, Orakpo, Landry ...

Hey I'm not saying how far off. Just that if I squint my eyes just so, I can almost see it from here.

Meanwhile let's not forget to stop and enjoy some of the roses along the way. With winning comes suddenly finding familiar favorite names and faces starting to appear on all those lists and features that for so long Redskins fans have viewed from the outside looking in.

Do they "mean" anything? No, not really.

Is it cool anyway? Oh yeah ...

Not Your Same Old Redskins

When Mike Shanahan accepted the Redskins’ head coaching job last January he made it clear right from the beginning that his first season would be no rebuilding project. He acknowledged that certain areas of the roster—the lines in particular—needed rebuilding, but didn’t agree the Redskins needed the kind of raze-it-to-the-ground fresh start many fans and observers were clamoring for.

He wanted to build, but also to win. Now.

At first blush, it appeared he and general manager Bruce Allen intended to do that with a Back to the Future is Now approach that would have made George Allen and his famous Over the Hill Gang approach proud.

Six-time Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb (33) was brought it to replace popular but ineffective incumbent Jason Campbell (28).

Running backs Larry Johnson (30) and Willie Parker (30) were brought in to compete with Clinton Portis (29).

At wide receiver the team signed graybeard Joey Galloway (39) and not-spring-chickens Bobby Wade (29) and Roydell Williams (29).

Key names expected to help transition the defense from a base 4-3 alignment to a 3-4 included Philip Daniels (37), Vonnie Holliday (37), London Fletcher (35) and Ma’ake Kemoeatu (31).

Before you knew it word on the street was the 2010 Redskins, the “oldest team in the NFL,” were simply the latest incarnation of Dan Snyder’s Flying Circus and destined to crash and burn.

But a funny thing happened on the way to disaster.

An opening night victory over ballyhooed Super Bowl favorite Dallas was followed up by a close loss to the suddenly relevant Houston Texans. A road win over division rival Philadelphia and surprising victory over preseason Super Bowl favorite Green Bay had the team 3-2 and suddenly being called “rugged” instead of “ancient.”

In a matter of just five weeks, the national conversation about the Redskins had evolved from clichés about age and “buying championships” to “tough and improving.”

On the fly, without fanfare and even while changing the losing culture fielding a competitive team in a transition year, Shanahan and Allen are also making the Redskins younger...

Get your free subscription to Hail! magazine to read the rest. You won't be sorry!

33 Yards Between Glory and Unemployment

As Redskins placekicker Graham Gano lined up to kick a potential game-winning 33-yard field in overtime against the Green Bay Packers, I jotted down the phrase that would become the title of this column.

In the heat of the moment the comment seemed utterly reasonable. If in the cool light of hindsight it reads a little hyperbolic, that is because Gano coolly drilled the kick down the middle, sealing the Redskins’ dramatic come-from-behind victory over a team that had dominated them throughout most of the game.

Had Gano missed, however, the title might well have served as a roster move announcement.

In the NFL placekickers are generally noticed—only truly register with fans—when they miss. Professional field goal kickers are “supposed” to make routine 33-yarders to win overtime games. And they do, for the most part.

When they succeed fans go home happy and spend the afterglow hours talking about everything but the kicker. They talk about the quarterback that drove the team down the field to set the kick up; they talk about a defense that dug in its heels and limited one of the NFL’s most dangerous offenses to three second-half points.

If the kicker misses, it’s a very different story.

Synaptic Shotgun 10.21.10 - Da Bears, Some Dude, Norval, Viva

Occasional, recurring short-form posts about

the Washington Redskins, NFL and maybe even Life.

Almost like a blog.

Six games into the 2010 season, the Redskins are 3-3, one game out of first place in the NFC East and heading to Chicago to play the Bears. Transition year (new Redskins regime) or not, it's a Big Game.

Win on Sunday, and the happy vibes and upward trend in DC continue as the Redskins stay in the thick of early playoff position jostling. Lose, and the darkness of doubt settles in again as the team dips back below .500, and all the same old questions and demons Washington fans have become so accustomed to come a'calling.

Like I said.  Big.

Weird thing about the Bears these days though. It's hard to get a good mental image of this game. When I think about the Redskins at Chicago I still conjure smashmouth. Monster defense, power running game, faceless quarterbacking, icy wind off the lake and SOLDIER FIELD.

I'm struggling to shift gears and envision the Flying Martz Circus, baby-faced, lazy-eyed gunslinging quarterback Jay Cutler and this shiny thing passing as Soldier Field:

Hey, call me curmudgeon, but this is Redskins at Chicago:

And this.

This, not so much:

The new Redskins, Bears and Soldier Field have work to do.