Written by DCist contributor Rob Birgfeld It was just the Cardinals. No doubt about it. But these Cardinals came in confident and 2-0 for the first time since 1999, and no one had any idea what to expect from our Redskins. The Week 1 portrait of ineptitude or the Week 2 team that showed offensive promise? Well, the Redskins gave fans a little of both yesterday at FedEx Field on their way to a......

Written by DCist contributor Rob Birgfeld. No one is suggesting the Super Bowl is in our future. But with a 29-24 win against the New Orleans Saints yesterday at FedEx Field, we can safely remove ourselves from the ledge and take a deep breath. While I’m not actually sure what a “schneid” is, fans across the metropolitan area are happy the Redskins have gotten off of it. After a painful first half, when the......

Please welcome new DCist Redskins contributor Rob Birgfeld. So what do we make of the preseason? When the team started 3-0, even the most subdued Redskins fans began to salivate at the potential that was 2008. The kid from Hawaii with the name that screams “star quarterback,” Colt Brennan, was shining. The veterans were cheering on the young ones from the sidelines and the new coach looked cool and collected. Even James Arthur Monk......

A month ago, the Washington Redskins needed to win out the rest of their season and receive a ton of help from the rest of the NFC in order to make the playoffs. And it needed to start in the short week between a Sunday's loss to Buffalo and a Thursday night game with Chicago. And then it needed to start after Sean Taylor's funeral. And then it needed to continue despite losing starting quarterback......

>> Clinton Portis' performance in last week's game against the Vikings got him the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award. [Washington Redskins Official Site] >> Pepto Bismal threw up inside the Carville-Matalin home. [DC Metrocentric] >> Hosiery Warehouse finally gets the Cease and Desist order handed down as developers prepare to make way for condos. [City Paper] >> The Hirshhorn Museum's Chief Curator Kerry Brougher has been appointed acting Director until a permanent......

As the region continues to mourn the loss of Sean Taylor, some hopeful news has come to light in the search for his killer. Over the course of the week, officials have stated that they have "no reason" to believe that Taylor was anything more than the random victim of a botched burglary. However, in a story broken by the Miami Herald, a relative of Taylor's has announced that three men have now been detained......

The Germans have a lot of long words that encompass very difficult concepts. Words like "schadenfreude," "Hubschrauberlandeplatz," and "Verantwortungszuständigkeiten." I don't know if they have word for the frustration you feel when you've thought that your team had already managed to overcome the mistake you thought was going to cost them the game -- like a fourth-quarter Ladell Betts fumble -- only to discover that the relief-shattering error that was going to lead to a......

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did......

Southeast Jerome. Sheriff Gonna Getcha. Coach Janky Spanky. The Ghost of Southeast Jerome. Most of the 2005 season, and a few times last year, Clinton Portis showed that he wasn't only electric on the field by holding press conferences dressed up as ridiculous characters, who he named and gave purposes. The get ups were such a hit that they even made a t-shirt about them (hey, we all knew that Snyder wouldn't let a chance......

It took Joe Gibbs a few minutes to get to his point, but after only a couple cursory questions, he was able to say that, yes, the guys sure did “play their guts out” yesterday. It’s become a mantra of his, as though we’re rooting for a team of underdog high school kids and what matters isn’t whether they win or lose, but how they play the game. No matter the futility, the mind-boggling play......

Ugh. Really. I'm at the point now where I never want to see Washington attempt another wide receiver end around again. While the play had its heyday about twenty years ago, I cannot remember the last time Washington executed the offensive gimmick in a satisfying way. Surely there is a successful occasion of its execution that a mind untrammeled by the frustration of this past weekend might recall (feel free to have your way with......

Jason Campbell couldn't miss, the defensive line looked like a wrecking crew, Carlos Rogers actually intercepted a pass (and returned it for a touchdown!), and Baby Jesus announced his preference for Joe Gibbs over Jon Kitna in a beating of the Detroit Lions so savage that Daniel Snyder had plenty of free time to stop worrying about the state of his football team, and start worrying about how the rides from his terrible theme parks......

By no means am I strictly an NFL guy. When the lights dim after the Super Bowl each year, I seamlessly move with the seasons into the maelstrom of college hoops and then the long, drawn-out, slow-motion marketing fantasia that is the NBA. Over a lifetime, I’ve soured on baseball but stayed constant to soccer, the sport I participated in myself as a child, with engrossingly mediocre results. But then, the NFL comes around again......

Dear Al Saunders: Please run the ball this year. Seriously, Al. In this, the Fourth Season of the Second Coming of Gibbs, you’ve got to run the ball! I realize that you got handed a crazy paycheck last year to be the steward of the offense, and on some level, I imagine that you had to go out there and prove you deserved it. After all, you didn’t want to be thought of the same......

The days when one could slyly slip down to a basement, enjoy a beer, put a couple hundred bucks down, and gather around a ring to watch two dogs maul each other to death may soon become an activity worth more than a slap on the wrist. The Washington Times reports that a bill going before the D.C. City Council today proposes to increase penalties for attending a dog fight from a misdemeanor to a......

>> Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network's Everyday Italian was in town this weekend filming a bit for her new show, Weekend Getaways. One Flickr photog caught her picking out plump tomatoes at the Dupont farmer's market; did anyone else get a glimpse of the "Cooking With Cleavage" star? >> Oh, Clinton Portis, really? The Redskins player decided to come out in favor of dog fighting to defend embattled Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. This......

And it's burgers! Redskins owner Daniel Snyder revealed today that he will purchase Johnny Rockets, the ubiquitous chain-diner. With District locations in Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and Union Station, most of us are probably aware of the grease-trap's existence even if we don't quite remember many of our experiences there -- the restaurant's hours tend to attract the late-night stumbly crowd. For those of us unfamiliar with the chain, Johnny Rockets tries its very hardest to......

The Washington Redskins gave the Carolina Panthers all they could handle and earned Jason Campbell a win in his home debut yesterday. At the very least, the win will be remembered as one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise frustrating season. Washington gave a complete effort in beating a quality opponent; their offense, defense, and special teams contributed in significant ways. At most, the win gives supporters a renewed sense of optimism, allowing......

Here's the good news: Jason Campbell looked good in his first game as, well, anything for the Washington Redskins. The descriptives you'll hear all week will be "poise" and "command," traits that he showed in abundance both on the field and, with an easy charm mixed in that'll only make you want to root for the kid more, in his post game interviews. His stat line isn't world-changing: 19 of 34 for 192 yards only......

> > Pour one out for Coach Janky Spanky. Clinton Portis will receive surgeries for his bum shoulder and broken hand, which means he's headed to the IR for the rest of the season. It'll be up to Ladell Betts to carry the rock, though, who knows? Maybe the coaches will remember their costly impulse-buy TJ Duckett, mouldering on the bench. [Washington Post] > > The U.S. House of Representatives is filled stem to stern......

Earlier this week, Washington safety Pierson Prioleau spoke about his own season-ending knee injury as an ominous sign of setbacks to come. He seems prescient now. On Sunday afternoon, the Redskins took themselves out of contention early and often as the Philadelphia Eagles turned the match into a low-effort rout. Along the way, Washington gave up big plays, took the business end of a throttling fluke fumble, and, in the snakebitten way Prioleau described, suffered......

>> Following the footsteps of Beck, Middle Distance Runner sent out an e-mail announcing a secret show tonight at DC9. They'll be playing with Cloud Cult and Hot IQs as part of the DAM! Fest Hangover party. Festivities start at 9 p.m. >> We've got wood. Today the Capitol Christmas tree started its journey from Washington State to D.C. where it will be adorned with 3000 kids' crappy hand-made ornaments. Even Mom knows when it's......

If Washington fans have a shred of playoff hope left to hold onto, it's only because after seeming to hit bottom last year, the Redskins went on an improbably winning streak and got just about everybody else who needed to lose to go ahead and do so. Having thus acquitted themselves last year, there was every hope that Washington would take the next step this season. But with only one win over a quality team......

One of the first lessons you learn about blogging is that timing is everything. Earlier this week I was emailing DCist Matt about a story idea, a two part story that would ask the question that just had to be answered: Who is crazier more eccentric, Gilbert Arenas or Clinton Portis? We decided to write it over the weekend and run it next week. Great in theory, right? But then Esquire had to go......

For the casual fan, yesterday's Washington v. Jacksonville tilt was a Sunday afternoon classic, replete with offensive pyrotechnics, lead changes, great individual performances, and down-to-the-wire intensity. For Redskins fans, however, it was a stomach-tightening affair in which the script flipped wildly between what seemed like certain victory and certain defeat. Relief finally came scant minutes into the overtime period, when Redskin wideout Santana Moss grabbed a pinpoint pass in traffic and took it to......

It took overcoming a shaky start, but the Washington Redskins wound up running away in Houston with the win they desperately needed. Led by a restored Clinton Portis and a scintillating, Billy Chapel-esque performance from Mark Brunell, Washington's offense played inspired ball, and the Texans conceded their third defeat, to the tune of 31-15. As the two teams traded opening series, Washington fans had to wonder if the team's woes were going to continue. Ceding......

Joe Gibbs and Charley Casserly, who successfully collaborated at Washington during Gibbs' first coaching tenure, meet this weekend as rivals, with Casserly currently serving as the VP/General Manager of the Houston Texans. Both still have one thing in common, however: their respective teams are off to disappointing starts this season, and eye this weekend's contest as a chance to put themselves back on the right track. This week, Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell found himself back......

Even when they were winning games last year, the Washington Redskins offense would often go through long periods of time when it looked like they were struggling to get on track. But there regularly came moments when, despite the seeming malaise, everything would suddenly find a groove. That’s how things went down the last time the Skins traveled to Dallas—Santana Moss got loose behind the defense for two massive pass plays that enabled Washington to......

Coach Joe Gibbs, despite having posted a career win-loss record that is just to die for, has never once won an opening week game on a Monday night. It makes you wonder why he’d willingly go through it again, especially after last night’s dispiriting loss to the Minnesota Vikings and their newly befuglified uniforms—squandering both a home game and a match against a very beatable team. In a game set against the backdrop of September......

Geezers need excitement. And for two of them, Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell and former Redskin/now-Viking QB Brad Johnson, ESPN's Monday Night Football premiere will be providing it as these two NFC foes duke it out at FedEx Field tonight at 7:30 p.m. For Washington, who miffed and mussed and stunk their way through the preseason, all eyes will be on the offense. Widely deemed a depthless liability toward the end of last year, a heavy......