Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Judge Throws Out WTU Suit Over Teacher Layoffs
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
Today in Crime Trend Stories
Well, sad to say, but the A-Hole Patriots Ran Up The Score On Us Revenge Tour of 2008 came to a premature end in Seattle Saturday, and Washington fell to the Seahawks, 35-14. Yeah, yeah, they lost by 21 points. But the game was much more competitive than the score implied. In fact, after a Seattle special-teams mistake gave Washington a fortunate fourth-quarter possession deep in Seattle territory, I was starting to believe that something otherworldly was affecting the outcome myself. But there's only so much poltergeists can do.
For most of the first half, it looked as if Seattle's defense was going to keep the Redskins offense completely bottled up. Patrick Kerney led the way for Seattle, a seething pillar of menace that single-handedly short-circuited our schemes, providing plenty of opportunities for his teammates to get into the act. A Leonard Weaver run for touchdown and a second quarter field goal allowed Seattle to take a 10-0 lead into the locker room, with Washington looking for some sort of answer to get the team moving again.
Washington responded in the second half by giving quarterback Todd Collins some adjustments - shorter drops and quicker reads - to help him get rid of the ball in the face of Seattle's onrush. But Seattle gave Washington an assist themselves by going conservative on defense and easing up on the pressure - the wages of playing teams like Arizona and St. Louis, I suppose.
Slowly, Washington started to get moving, and in the fourth quarter came that brief flood of impassioned play that made it seem like the tide was turning. Washington finally got on the board with a touchdown pass to Antwaan Randle-El. On the ensuing possession, the defense got into the act, with Laron Landry grabbing an interception that would set up a quick touchdown pass to Santana Moss.
When Seattle, mystifyingly, failed even to field the ensuing kickoff, allowing special-teamer Anthony Mix to grab possession, it really looked like Washington was going to seize the game. But the team couldn't close the deal, and the drive - their best opportunity, really - ended in a Scott Suisham miss. Phillip Daniels told reporters afterwards, "Not to score on that turnover, that changed the momentum of the game."
Fatally, as it turns out. While Landry managed another pick, Seattle bore down and got the score they needed. And on the next possession, a critical route-running error from Moss allowed Seahawk corner Marcus Trufant finally to hang an INT on Todd Collins - one that he took the distance for what would prove to be the game-icing points.
And just like that, the season was over, leaving me stuck with deciding which group of smugbags I want to root against more - this season's New England Patriots or the 1972 Miami Dolphins (email me your advice, please). From the big picture standpoint, the season's positive outcome has likely done the team a world of good. If Washington had not managed to arrest their mid-season slide out of contention, the offseason would have seen some sort of system-wide rebooting of the team, and history has shown that the last people you want carrying the ball for Washington is Danny Sixflags and the front office.
More importantly, though, Washington's fortunate run was an unexpected period of joy in a season scarred by loss. No one would have blamed this team if the loss of Sean Taylor had put thoughts of competing out of their minds. But the team made something of their season, playing with heart and sharing their passion with the fans. It was more than anyone could have possibly expected. A special season, and hopefully better days to come. There were times this year when this team pushed me to the brink of pure acid and cynicism, but even though we couldn't punch our ticket out of Seattle, I'm moved enough now to offer one last Hail to the Redskins. See you next season.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I think Philip Daniels forgot that the team didn't score any points in the first 3 quarters..due to several dropped passes. Don't sandbag our prolific kicker for missing a field goal in a direct wind that had stymied all kick-offs into said wind. The sandbag of the game goes to Moss for dropped passes and giving up on his route, thereby leading to a) an interception and b) a return of that interception for a td b/c he wasn't even close enough to the defender to make a tackle. We needd to focus on tall and speedy receivers for next season.