Redskins Hit And Spit To Advance

SKINS GET DEFENSIVE, BEAT BUCS 17-10

Cornelius Griffin plants Chris Simms during first quarter play.

Survive and advance baby! That’s all that matters. You can call the win what you want, as long as you call it a win. I know 24 other teams that would have loved to get the result the Redskins did on Saturday.

Unfortunately, if you watched any national media, you wouldn’t know the Redskins won. All you would know is that Sean Taylor “spit” on Michael Pittman and that Chris Simms looked good. ESPN should be a shamed of its coverage. Chris Berman looked so upset that the Redskins won. He hates the Redskins. I don’t know why, but he does. Just listen to him broadcast a Skins highlight. He sounds depressed after a Washington win. But then to focus on the Taylor incident is deplorable. First of all, there is no proof that Taylor did it. I haven’t seen one camera shot that proves to me that Taylor spit. I have yet to see a spit wad fly from his mouth on any replay. He didn’t even make the Robbie Alomar-like motion with his head that would indicate that he did, in fact, spit on Pittman. There must have been a second spitter. Somewhere in the grassy knoll. Maybe it was Keith Hernandez. I can do whatever I want, I'm Keith Hernandez.

But anyway, Berman decides to hold an impromptu roundtable discussion with the Three Stooges (Steve Young, Tom Jackson and everyone’s favorite crackhead). All three think that Taylor should be fined and the incident should be dropped. Fair enough. Berman, not happy with that response, turns to Chris Mortensen for another opinion. Mortensen says that the league probably won’t suspend Taylor for the upcoming playoff game. He says he expects a hefty fine though. So Fat Ass Berman, clearly annoyed that everyone isn’t trying to attack Taylor, says he believes that Taylor should be suspended next week against Seattle. WHAT? Are you kidding? You just had four “experts” come on camera and say that Taylor deserves a fine and that is it. Berman covers a league where you have had two players (Ed Reed and Steve Smith) make contact with officials and were fined only $15,000. You want to suspend Taylor because of one loogie that may or may not have been shot in the direction of another player during an intense playoff game? Where is the logic here?

What is dangerous about Berman doing this is ESPN’s influence over the league. The NFL, like every other organization, will make decisions based on which ever way the wind is blowing. And if that hot air blowing from Berman’s oversized mouth convinces the NFL that the general public would accept suspending Taylor, they’ll do it. Take a look at what happened to Marcus Vick. If ESPN doesn’t show the replay of him doing his leg stomp over and over again, Vick is suspended for two games. Now he is about to be a NFL castaway. Berman’s rant on Taylor is meant to accomplish two things: take attention away from the Redskins victory, and then put the Redskins at a competitive disadvantage next week. I’m on to you Fat Ass. Lose some weight, and stop obsessing over every touchdown pass that Brett Farve throws and every win the Buffalo Bills manage to pull out (which isn’t often nowadays). Cover the NFL fairly. That is your job. Just because you sit at an anchor desk doesn’t give you the right to stand on a soapbox at the same time.


Who is that guy in the middle? Could this be a Lavar Arrington sighting?

With that out of the way, let me focus on the Redskins win. Marcus Washington was a beast…again. He proved to the entire country why he deserved to start in Hawaii this season. Taylor, before he was ejected, controlled Joey Galloway and made Simms scared to throw the ball deep over the middle. Cornelius Griffin and Phillip Daniels had another great game up the middle. Walt Harris continues to improve. Ever since he was benched, he has responded and stepped his game up. And Lavar. There was a Lavar sighting. What got in to him? 10 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble. It looked like the old Lavar. So it was basically a perfect effort. Wait…what was that you said? The offense only gained 120 yards? Mark Brunell looked like he was stuck in concrete? Simeon Rice beat Chris Samuels like a rented mule? The Redskins got lucky? Well, here is the thing. They won. I’d like to look at this as a glass half full situation. The Redskins won, despite getting only 120 yards of offense. Do you know how good a defense has to be to win under those circumstances? The Giants offense looked equally as pathetic as the Redskins. The Giants also lost 23-0. This just shows you how dominant the Skins defense is. Just imagine when they get that offense going next week. You think Seattle is capable of doing what Tampa’s defense did? I don’t think so.

Obviously, the Redskins offense had its problems. But I think that the offensive deficiency is a one game thing. Look at how good the Skins were in the last five weeks of the year. And look at how good the Bucs defense is. They are going to look at Seattle’s defense and laugh when they compare it to Tampa Bay. Sure, Seattle has a much more dangerous offense. But the Redskins should be able, and will be able, to move the ball better against the Seahawks. But we’ll deal with how they are going to do that on Friday as usual. Just be thankful that the Redskins have another week to work out the kinks instead of having the next nine months off. If anyone can fix the problems, it’s Joe Gibbs.

Hopefully, Shawn Springs will be back next week. The Skins need their defense at full strength to take on the Seahawk machine. Renaldo Wynn breaking his arm is an equally bad break for the Redskins. Demetric Evans will have to step up. But they really need Springs. Also, the Redskins better hope that Clinton Portis is all right. They’d better give him a few days off in practice. He has taken a beating the past six weeks. Looking forward to the game this weekend as always. If for nothing else than to see the look on Berman’s face when the Redskins advance again.


Clinton Portis finds the endzone for Washington's lone offensive score.