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tshile
Guest
Here we are – the eve of the NFL regular season’s opening weekend. It’s somewhat disappointing we’ll be watching everyone else’s team tomorrow, but it’s also nice knowing that the league things highly enough of your quarterback that they want to showcase him in their Monday night opener; even coming off serious reconstructive surgery on his knee.
Everyone’s drafted their fantasy teams, already cursing their decision to pass on Manning or wondering if picking players off the defending Super Bowl Champion Ratbirds was a mistake. It’s also that annoying time of the year where odds makers make half-serious calls on favorites to win the super bowl in an attempt to bring in sucker money to their business; NFL Network and ESPN talking heads, most of them former players that no one would give the time of day to for any other opinion, try to make flamboyant predictions they’ll conveniently forget about 3 weeks from now when the team they pick looks like garbage; and the time of the year we used to compete with Dallas – not anymore, they’re all alone in their battle for The Offseason Trophy, we’re busy winning divisions.
It used to be a tortuous part of the year for Redskins fans – does McNabb still have it? Is Haynesworth really worth $100 million? Can Rex average less than 3 interceptions a game? Will Thomas and Kelly actually get on the field? Who is Jim Zorn? Can Gibbs still be a brilliant coach? Why does Gibbs like Brunell so much? Will Jason Campbell figure it out? Am I going to vomit when I see Deon Sanders wearing Burgundy and Gold? Is Jeff George really that big of a jerk? Seriously, who the **** is Jim Zorn?
Those are just things I can think of off the top of my head… It’s probably 1/10 of the last 15 years’ worth of questions.
Things are different this year. Our preseason wasn’t awesome because we went 4-0, it wasn’t awesome because we ran up the score, it was awesome because we went out in 4 straight games and across the board dominated, talent wise and in terms of physicality, every single team we played. All four quarters. By across the board I mean starters, second string, third string, and the guys that are currently unemployed. It was awesome because Robert Griffin III put in unbelievable effort to be ready for the opener. This is, without a doubt, the best constructed Redskins team I’ve ever seen (with the caveat that I’m young.) This isn’t some novel thought I have here, most Redskins fans I’ve talked to feel roughly the same way. There are a few that haven’t been pinched yet, they still think they’re dreaming. They aren’t alone.
It appears the odds-makers and the 'analysts’ think we’re all dreaming too. Boswell did a great article on this trend. The Cowboys have been picked quite a bit to win the division this year; or simply place higher than us in the standings. The Cowboys we thumped twice last year; the Cowboys that have been in position to win the east late in the season the last two years and choked it away both times. I don’t fault the people picking the Giants, they have a reputation of being a well-run organization and have a 2 time Super Bowl Champion at quarterback.
I’m not going to dive into a numbers game of how we’re better than our NFC rivals. We’ve had enough people doing that recently. I’ll just say this: We went 5-1 against the NFC East last year; we swept both the Cowboys and the Eagles, and were a botched last minute drive away from sweeping the Giants.
The best part about all of this season preview nonsense from the people that get paid a lot of money to know nothing is that we really don’t have to be concerned about it anymore. Who cares if some ESPN talking head thinks we’ll be bottom dwellers? Hell, I like being an underdog; it should motive our guys to be even hungrier. So there’s no need for 'I told you so’ at the end of the season when the Redskins win the division in convincing fashion. Just wear your smile, from ear to ear; we’ll all know what it means, and we’re the only ones that matter anyways.
Everyone’s drafted their fantasy teams, already cursing their decision to pass on Manning or wondering if picking players off the defending Super Bowl Champion Ratbirds was a mistake. It’s also that annoying time of the year where odds makers make half-serious calls on favorites to win the super bowl in an attempt to bring in sucker money to their business; NFL Network and ESPN talking heads, most of them former players that no one would give the time of day to for any other opinion, try to make flamboyant predictions they’ll conveniently forget about 3 weeks from now when the team they pick looks like garbage; and the time of the year we used to compete with Dallas – not anymore, they’re all alone in their battle for The Offseason Trophy, we’re busy winning divisions.
It used to be a tortuous part of the year for Redskins fans – does McNabb still have it? Is Haynesworth really worth $100 million? Can Rex average less than 3 interceptions a game? Will Thomas and Kelly actually get on the field? Who is Jim Zorn? Can Gibbs still be a brilliant coach? Why does Gibbs like Brunell so much? Will Jason Campbell figure it out? Am I going to vomit when I see Deon Sanders wearing Burgundy and Gold? Is Jeff George really that big of a jerk? Seriously, who the **** is Jim Zorn?
Those are just things I can think of off the top of my head… It’s probably 1/10 of the last 15 years’ worth of questions.
Things are different this year. Our preseason wasn’t awesome because we went 4-0, it wasn’t awesome because we ran up the score, it was awesome because we went out in 4 straight games and across the board dominated, talent wise and in terms of physicality, every single team we played. All four quarters. By across the board I mean starters, second string, third string, and the guys that are currently unemployed. It was awesome because Robert Griffin III put in unbelievable effort to be ready for the opener. This is, without a doubt, the best constructed Redskins team I’ve ever seen (with the caveat that I’m young.) This isn’t some novel thought I have here, most Redskins fans I’ve talked to feel roughly the same way. There are a few that haven’t been pinched yet, they still think they’re dreaming. They aren’t alone.
It appears the odds-makers and the 'analysts’ think we’re all dreaming too. Boswell did a great article on this trend. The Cowboys have been picked quite a bit to win the division this year; or simply place higher than us in the standings. The Cowboys we thumped twice last year; the Cowboys that have been in position to win the east late in the season the last two years and choked it away both times. I don’t fault the people picking the Giants, they have a reputation of being a well-run organization and have a 2 time Super Bowl Champion at quarterback.
I’m not going to dive into a numbers game of how we’re better than our NFC rivals. We’ve had enough people doing that recently. I’ll just say this: We went 5-1 against the NFC East last year; we swept both the Cowboys and the Eagles, and were a botched last minute drive away from sweeping the Giants.
The best part about all of this season preview nonsense from the people that get paid a lot of money to know nothing is that we really don’t have to be concerned about it anymore. Who cares if some ESPN talking head thinks we’ll be bottom dwellers? Hell, I like being an underdog; it should motive our guys to be even hungrier. So there’s no need for 'I told you so’ at the end of the season when the Redskins win the division in convincing fashion. Just wear your smile, from ear to ear; we’ll all know what it means, and we’re the only ones that matter anyways.
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