With the Redskins up 27-10 late in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Texans, I took a quick break to go fix some dinner, thinking that a three-score cushion would hold up. I forgot that I was watching the Redskins, who have only won five games by more than a single score dating back to 2006. What started out as a powerful offensive display by the Redskins ultimately turned into defensive surrender, as the Texans overcame the 17-point deficit to win 30-27 in overtime.

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…