Redskins at Jets: From Boy, To Man-genius, To Man-fool

Washington Redskins (4-3) at New York Jets (1-7)
1:00 p.m. Giants Stadium
I’m not going to spend too much time talking about last weekend. It was ugly. It was a blowout. The Redskins didn’t deserve to be on, or near, the same field as New England. There was nothing positive to take out of the game except for another sterling performance from London Fletcher. Other than that, the game was a complete waste.

I did enjoy the ESPN freakout when debating whether or not the Patriots ran up the score. For whatever reason, the Redskins were shown as whiners and complainers on this issue. The only thing is no one from the Redskins really complained for two days. Finally, ESPN and NBC were able to find Randall Godfrey, who had some issues with the way the game ended. AT LAST! ESPN had their story. Based on one player, who is really insignificant, the entire organization was painted as a bunch of softies who couldn’t take their beating like men. It just took them two days and interviews with nearly every coach and player to find one who had problems with the Homeless Bum running up the score. Typical invented story from Bristol.

It reminded me a lot of when the NBA’s John Amaechi wrote his autobiography and announced he was gay. ESPN must have interviewed every current and former player to see if they could get someone to say “Ewww, a gay dude…I’d never play with him” or something to that effect. It took them almost a week before they found Tim Hardaway and Shavlik Randolph, two players of no real importance, to say something stupid. All of a sudden, it blew up and became the big story ESPN hoped it would be. I could see a big deal being made if LeBron James or Gilbert Arenas said something. Just like I could understand if Joe Gibbs or Jason Campbell said something after the Patriots game. But Randall Godfrey? That’s just getting ridiculous.

As usual, following any Redskins loss, the city goes into panic mode. That’s why I’m here. Not to get too high after wins, but not to keep you too depressed after bad losses. If you are looking for a big picture, I’ll give it to you. As bad as that loss was, it only counts as one loss. In fact, that game was less important than previous losses to Green Bay and the Giants because it was outside of the NFC. It carries no real importance in terms of postseason positioning or tie-breaking scenarios. Better to play New England in the middle of the season instead of playing them towards the end of the year in a must win situation. The Redskins are 4-3, with two winnable games coming up and they are still right in the middle of the NFC playoff race.

I mentioned this after the Giants game, and I feel it merits mentioning again. I’m continued to be blown away by the similarities between this season and 2005. In the 7th game of 2005, the Redskins went to the Meadowlands with a 4-2 record. They promptly got dismantled 36-0 by the Giants, only to go on and beat the Eagles the following week. Fast forward two years, and the Redskins find themselves in nearly the same situation. Following an ugly loss in their 7th game to drop their record to 4-3, the Redskins season is far from over. A win this week, and the Skins reach the halfway mark at 5-3, which is exactly where I thought they’d be when the season began.

That being said, I believe the Redskins MUST win these next two games. First a terrible Jets team followed by a struggling Eagles team the Skins have already beaten once this season. The Redskins need to be 6-3 heading into their two game road trip to Dallas and Tampa. The Skins faced their first “must” game of the year two weeks ago against Arizona. They barely won it.

So as the Redskins make their first of two visits to the swamplands and pig farms of Northern New Jersey (I think now is a good time to tell you how much I hate Jon Bon Jovi. That no talent assclown's music shouldn't be on the radio, it should be burned and destroyed), their mission could not be clearer. The Redskins should win this game against the Jets easily. There should be no problems. This Jets team is absolutely terrible. They flat out stink. They can’t run or pass the ball. They can’t stop the pass or run. They have one of the worst defenses in the league to compliment one of the worst offenses.

The head coach of this project is Eric Mangini. Mangini took over the Jets last year and was hailed as a savior. After all, Mangini had coached under the Homeless Bum in New England. How could he not be great? Never mind the track record of Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, two other Belichick disciples. This guy was going to be different. This is the “Man-genius” we’re talking about.

After one season, it looked as if the Jets, their fans and the loyal Belichick subjects at ESPN were correct. A 10-6 record and a trip to the playoffs were in order for the Jets. However, no one looked closely at the numbers. Yes, the Jets were 10-6 and did make the playoffs. But they played one of the easiest schedules in the history of the NFL. The 10 wins came against teams with a .400 winning percentage. That was the lowest in NFL history for any playoff team. The Jets won a considerable number of those games by a touchdown or less. So the Jets got a couple of lucky bounces against some incredibly bad teams. Instead of a 6-10 season, which they could have easily had, the Jets ended up in the playoffs. All those fortunate bounces and their terrible schedule were overlooked. Mangini became a hero.

I hated watching every minute of it. It was disgusting how the national media ate this guy up without even considering how lucky he had been. It sure didn’t help that Mangini is just as big an asshole as his mentor. With his snide remarks at innocent questions, his shoving of camera men, his superiority complex, it was as if we were staring at a younger Belichick. The only good thing about it was I knew the Jets were due for a terrible year this season. I knew that the law of averages would balance out, and some of those close wins last season would become losses this year. I knew the Jets schedule would be much harder. No more NFC North and AFC South (which was much worse last season than this one). Now the Jets had to deal with the NFC East and AFC North. On top of that, they had to play a second place schedule, so they’d get games against Tennessee and Kansas City instead of Houston and Oakland. The best part about the “Mangini legend” being built up is that he would have farther to fall when 2007 rolled around.

Sure enough, the Jets are terrible. Their season is already over. Now, the same media that built him up as the next great head coach, is scratching their heads wondering what happened. Mangini is getting ridiculed left and right by the repulsive New York media for failing to live up to the very lofty and unreasonable expectations that the media themselves created. And I’m loving it. Mangini and New York deserve each other.

As I said, this Jets team is absolutely abysmal. Their defense is 29th in the league. They surrender almost 26 points a game. The best player they have is Jonathan Vilma, and the Jets are doing to him what Joe Gibbs did to Lavar Arrington. They’re putting him at a position he’s not suited for, then benching him when he doesn’t perform well. Now he’s “hurt” and not playing at all.

Offensively, the Jets are 30th in the league. Thomas Jones has proved to be a decent runner and is really one of the only bright spots on the entire team. Other than that, the offense is a mess. Primary receiver and former Redskin Laveranues Coles will miss the game with a concussion. The Jets continue their quarterback shuffle as fragile Chad Pennington returns to the bench. Remember when ESPN built this guy up to be the next Joe Namath? Well, technically he succeeded, since Namath was a bad quarterback who threw 60 more interceptions than touchdowns for his career. His entire Hall of Fame credentials are built around one game. A game he didn’t play all that well in either. And Art Monk isn’t in the HOF yet because…?

Anyway, I digress. Pennington will sit as Kellen Clemens gets the chance behind center. Quarterback changes like these always make me nervous. You know what you’re getting with Pennington. With Clemens, he could be even worse than Pennington, or he could be the spark the Jets are looking for. I like the Redskins secondary, especially with the loss of Carlos Rogers and the return of Fred Smoot, against Clemens in this game. The Redskins usually do very well against the run and that will force Clemens to beat them. I’m not sure he’s going to be able to do that.

Again, the Redskins should win this game and win it easily. Which of course means the Redskins will make this game a lot closer than it should be. So expect a three point game with field goals being the difference. Even though the Redskins are better than last year, some things never change.