Vincent Orange, fighting Kwame Brown for Gray’s seat, went with a smaller Cadillac SUV than his competitor. What, he couldn’t afford an orange paint job?

There were so many things wrong with the Redskins’ performance in an utterly demoralizing, nationally televised 45-12 beating last night: the shockingly porous offensive line, the defense’s inability to stop anything Eli Manning was doing, the silly “fight” between Brandon Jacobs and Albert Haynesworth, and on and on. Sadly — or fortunately for those of you not in the mood to read 5,000 words on how this team really stinks — much of the Redskins’ glaring ineptitude can be and was encapsulated in one terrible play. Through the magic of YouTube, we enter Exhibit A in the case of “Washington Redskins v. competent football”:

Head coach Jim Zorn and special teams coach Danny Smith really screwed the pooch on this one. First of all, they did the worst thing an offense can do — tip the play to the defense. Zorn and Smith had already shown the trick formation to the Giants once, and New York called a timeout to prepare for it.

There’s just so many paradoxical questions to be asked about this play. Whose bright idea was it to have Todd Yoder, the snapper, try and block three Giants rushers? Why was Graham Gano going in motion — was he supposed to receive the pass? How is it that when the Hail Mary was thrown, there were four New York defenders and one Redskins player at the end zone? What was the point of shifting the line, since most of it just stood idly out wide while Hunter Smith got clobbered? The best thing about the play for Washington was that Bruce Johnson, who fielded the heave, outran his blocking and didn’t return it for a touchdown.

ESPN broadcaster Mike Tirico’s live assessment from the booth — “What in the wide world was that? This is embarrassing.” — did a fine job of summing up the thoughts of everyone else watching this abortion of design. Zorn, on the other hand, called the play “unique,” and thought that the Giants played “good defense” on the play. Well, sure, when you basically allow the New York Giants defensive line an uncontested run at your punter, that’s probably always going to end up looking like some good defense. Congratulations, Mr. Zorn — this play is how we all will remember your coaching regime.

We’ve been wondering when the Redskins would give up on this terrible season. With this play, it looks like we finally got to that point.

Filed Under: football, nfl, redskins, sports, worst play ever,