Written by DCist contributor Elisabeth Meinecke The endangered 0-4 Rams will be lucky to avoid extinction this Sunday in Washington. Where to start? The 'Skins showcase their new offense for the first time this season against a team that didn't finish .500 or above in 2007 (a performance the Rams look primed to repeat – you have to admire their consistency). I learned my lesson along with every defense in the NFL last week (after......

Written by DCist contributor Rob Birgfeld Just who the hell is this team? For the fourth game in a row, the final seconds ticked off the clock and Jason Campbell was taking a knee. 'Skins fans haven’t seen anything like this in years. At about 12:59 p.m., the stage was set for a very, very bad day. Coming off a thrilling win against Dallas last week, the Skins seemed overconfident and ripe for a......

Written by DCist contributor Elisabeth Meinecke Keep an eye on the ground this week in Philly. Gaining Ground: The Redskins have leapfrogged in both ESPN and CBS power rankings (to 6th and 4th respectively) after beating the previously undefeated Cowboys Sunday in Dallas. Santana Moss was second among receivers this week in total yards (8 catches for 145 yards) while Clinton Portis was second among running backs (121 yards on 21 carries). The Redskins defense......

A post on Gregg Easterbrook’s ESPN blog has gotten our staff list all abuzz today with this anti-Tysons Corner rant, so we thought you might want to join the debate. D.C.-based Easterbrook lays down some serious Tysons hate when regarding the choice of Arizona Cardinals’ coaches to house their players in a hotel next to the mega-mall for the week between their games against Washington and New York.But rather than find some pleasant countryside location......

Going into Sunday’s game at Dallas, there seemed to be two opposing forces pulling at 'Skins fans. Common wisdom, most pundits, and the Vegas oddsmakers said Washington would return to D.C. humbled by an offensive juggernaut just getting warmed up. But if you looked hard enough, there were calls for optimism: fantasy experts talked up Jason Campbell’s surging value, while others talked about the 'Skins’s recent success against their hated rivals. And in press conferences......

Please welcome our newest DCist contributor, Elisabeth Meinecke. Steaks won't be the only thing sizzling this Sunday in Texas. The Patient: The Skins' defense is warming up (just ask Kurt Warner, who was sacked twice and hurried seven times by the Skins last Sunday), Jason Campbell is hot (this week's quarterback rating came in at 112.2, topping his Week 2 rating of 104.1), and the team is on fire after a pair of nail-biting wins......

That refrain was made famous in 1983, after the Redskins defeated the Vikings and were looking down the pike at our most hated rivals. Since then, it's been a rallying cry amongst fans, amplifying the innate hatred any good 'Skins fan feels for anyone crazy enough to be wearing blue and silver. Dan Steinberg has an interesting story on the refrain, most recently heard this weekend after we beat the Arizona Cardinals, and looked......

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......

The Associated Press (via WaPo) caught new Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn going for a bike ride with President Bush on Sunday. Both men are enthusiastic mountain bikers, and Bush apparently invited Zorn to join him out on a tough trail this weekend. What do you suppose they talked about? After coming up with a bad, cutesy nickname for him (Zorny? Zornzy?), perhaps the president taunted the coach about his team's ugly performance against the......

Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell reacts after the Redskins were assessed a false-start penalty during the fourth quarter against the New York Giants on Thursday night. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun) Written by DCist Contributor Rob Birgfeld It turns out the anxiety gathered from the last two preseason games was well-founded. Losing last night’s opener to the Giants 16-7, the Washington Redskins and their fans have a lot to be worried about. Right out of 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......

With the Nationals firmly entrenched at the bottom of the Major Leagues and the Redskins getting ready to start the season with a new head coach, another new offensive system, and a smattering of injuries, it is tough to get excited about Washington area sports right now. Given that the Redskins are 70-79 since Dan Snyder purchased the team in 1999, and the Nationals are 150-204 since the Lerners took the helm, it is easy......

We're just getting into the thick of wedding season, and so apparently are the Washington Redskins. Somewhat infamous bachelor and Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley settled down with his ex-'Skinette fiancee Christy Oglevee this coming weekend in Landsdowne. Their relationship has gotten plenty of ink (virtual and real) over the past couple years. Cooley himself waxed poetic about the romance just last week, writing on his Yahoo Sports blog, "Maybe her dad brainwashed me......

It's been all over the papers and on the tongues of many Washingtonians: who's going to replace Joe Gibbs as head coach of the Redskins? Although only a few weeks long, the saga seemed to stretch on forever. And in the end, the 'Skins surprised everybody, something Dan Snyder seems to enjoy: They picked the man who had just been hired to be the team's offensive coordinator, Jim Zorn. Who? James Arthur Zorn is not......

For Art Monk, it's been seven years, and for Darrell Green, first time's a charm. Two Redskins greats and fan favorites, the Quiet Man and the Ageless Wonder, were voted into the Hall of Fame this weekend. The accolades for the two could fill a book, with both being Super Bowl champions and multiple Pro Bowl selections. Monk was the first man to 900 receptions and formerly the record holder in both that category and......

It's the final edition of the Passion of the Gibbs! Redskins coach Joe Gibbs is resigning, the Post is reporting. Gibbs will reportedly stay with the Redskins in some kind of consulting capacity, but the 67-year-old will no longer serve as head coach after 16 years in the job. No decision has yet been announced on a replacement for Gibbs, but if owner Dan Snyder does what he said he'd do when he hired assistant......

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......

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......

Well ain't this a kick in the pants? The Washington Redskins, faced with having to take the same long cut to the playoffs that they did the last time they found themselves all but eliminated and facing a slew of teams suddenly willing to play dead, took their act on the road to Minnesota and won 32-1421, in a game that was only briefly tense and was basically decided by an alert eye on the......

>> Oh noes! The Ron Paul blimp launch was delayed, and rescheduled for its D.C. appearance on Wednesday at 3 p.m. [via Wonkette] >> D.C.'s Beacon House Falcons of Edgewood Terrace won Pop Warner Football’s Pee Wee Division I Super Bowl championship on Saturday. [Notions Capital] >> Former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey no longer thinks handgun bans are such a good idea now that he works for a city that doesn't have one.......

>> A non-rolling tennis ball catches a lot of parking tickets on Cliffbourne Place. [Marc Fisher] >> D.C. police are trying to identify a body found in the Tidal Basin. [NBC4] >> "A DC Team is in the Super Bowl again. The Beacon House Falcons are in Pop Warner Football’s Pee Wee Division Super Bowl on Saturday, December 8th at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex." [Notions Capital] >> The District government expects to......

If you're down on the National Mall this weekend and see, oh, 12,000 flags stuck in the ground, don't be alarmed. The Federal Government hasn't started an experimental flag farm, nor is the display an effort of the area's squirrels to show their patriotism. The flags have been planted to represent the 12,000 members of the United States military who have been discharged under the practice of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The policy, which governs......

After what was thought to be a succesful surgery, Redskins safety Sean Taylor died earlier this morning in Florida. His wounds -- a gunshot to his femoral artery, causing significant blood loss -- proved to be too much for his body to recover from. He was shot in what police are calling a home invasion on Monday. In a statement posted on the team's website, owner Dan Snyder said, "This is the worst imagineable tragedy.......

The mid-November start to the NCAA basketball season tends to get lost in the universe of sports coverage. This is probably due to the staggered opening nights around the country, but can also be attributed to competition with other sports -- college football entering its stretch run, the NFL in midseason, even the NBA's opening weeks garner more attention than college hoops. We're not about to let this exciting time slip through the cracks. With......

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......

By DCist Contributor Aaron Morrissey Dogfish Head Alehouse, the third (and we assume not the last) in a planned series of eateries that serve lovers of the venerable Delaware-based brewery with the American basics, is now open in Falls Church, and DCist popped by to survey the scene in advance of Tuesday night's official Grand Opening party. There’s nothing outstanding about the place upon entering. The immediate thought was the episode of The Simpsons in......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

We didn't come into this week eight matchup with the undefeated New England Patriots without some degree of hope. It's been suggested that someone has to beat New England this year. And we seem to recall that Tom Brady had not yet beaten us in his career. And Gibbs was out, doing his expectations management act, downplaying our chances, which he always does. And we were asked to compare this matchup to Michigan and App......

Every time mid-October comes around, D.C.’s population swells for a weekend. Alums and non-alums alike descend on the District to partake in the ritual that is Howard University’s homecoming. Unlike some other schools with which you might be familiar, the traditional football game is almost an after-thought, albeit a sold out after-thought. Large, celebrity hosted parties and concerts are the big draws. But if you want to avoid long lines of overly pretentious people or......

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......