Thomas Boswell may namecheck “Amazing Grace” in his profile on Coach Joe Gibbs, but best we can say about the Redskins, floundering in the NFC’s lower depths at 3-7, is that they’re neither lost nor found, just looking to turn a corner on this season and get the “ship” righted.

Coming out of their battle with the Philadelphia Eagles at the Linc this Sunday, the 28-6 score says everything and nothing about the season thus far. It doesn’t need to be spelled out that these Redskins are a far cry from contention. Washington is still killing themselves with penalties (12 for 115 yards), still dropping from injuries (add guard Randy Thomas to the infirmary), and are still falling victims to some lousy luck (Gibbs lost a challenge that would have ended a Philadelphia drive that he absolutely should have won). And if you are a fan of the downfield passing game, the Redskins once again proved to be a disappointment, this time with Patrick Ramsey under center.

It’s really difficult to judge Ramsey’s performance. He went 21 for 34 for 162 yards and a pick, which is a statistical improvement over some of Mark Brunell’s recent outings. However, the passing game was as one-dimensional and risk-averse as Terry McAuliffe. The bulk of the routes were an ennui-packed hullabaloo of slants and ins and hitch patterns—oh my, the hitches! There were more hitches in the playbooks than you’ll find at Daingerfield Island Marina! I kept waiting for a Philly defender to jump a route and go to the house with it—thankfully this never happened. A few perfunctory throws downfield were about as vertical as Ramsey’s game got, and it left fans to wonder if The Kid wasn’t prepared to play or if the gameplan had been scaled back considerably to get Ramsey up to speed slowly.