Redskins at Seahawks, Wildcard Weekend: The Bandwagon Returns

Washington Redskins (9-7) vs. Seattle Seahawks (10-6)
4:30 p.m. Qwest Field
For the first time in a long time – maybe ever – the Washington Redskins find themselves as America’s favorite team. The popular vote and sentiment are with the Redskins. This never happens. The Redskins are the team people love to hate. Dan Snyder is too young and throws around too much money. Joe Gibbs is too old and the game passed him by. Clinton Portis is a primadona. The team name is offensive. And, in ESPN’s case, they play in a division with three of our “favorite” teams so hopefully they lose at the expense of Dallas, Philadelphia and New York.

Now the tables have turned. A tragic death, a quarterback injury and all of a sudden the Redskins are the little train that could. Everyone is piling on the bandwagon. I want all those people off immediately. Throw them off while the wagon is moving if possible. Then run them over. For the past 15 seasons, the Redskins have been kicked, degraded, tarnished, sullied, insulted, slighted, snubbed and ignored by anybody and everybody outside of the greater D.C. area. Don’t you dare try to get on now while the team is potentially on their way to become one of the greatest stories in the history of sports. We weren’t good enough for you then, we’re not good enough for you now.

The last time the Redskins won the Super Bowl, I was seven. Since then, not including this season, they have been to the playoffs a grand total of three times. They have won three playoff games. They have never even made it back to a NFC Championship game. Fans like myself deserve a winner. The millions, and I do mean millions, of Redskins fans in and around D.C. have pumped billions upon billions of dollars into a franchise that for the last decade-and-a-half has found new and painful ways to disappoint us every season. The fans fill up the largest stadium in the NFL week after week. Despite having the largest stadium, the waiting list for season tickets is the second longest in the NFL (only behind Green Bay, but if the Redskins were playing at a stadium the size of Lambeau Field, the Redskins’ list would be longer). We have dealt with numerous coaching changes, unconscionable personnel moves by idiots like Charley Casserly and Vinny Cerrato, and teams with talent that routinely under-performed. Now, after losing the starting quarterback and replacing him with a 36-year-old journeyman, and after having the team’s best player killed in midseason, the Redskins are poised to write a script that Hollywood itself couldn’t have even penned (both literally and figuratively, since the writers are on strike). So excuse us if we’re not ready to grant room on the Bandwagon for the Johnny-come-latelys. Go root for Brett Favre, Tom Brady or the NFC Pro Bowl team in Dallas (12 players, really? Are you fucking kidding me?).

Now, before I keep saying those two words that begin with “S” and “B”, it’s time to talk about the playoffs. As Redskins fans have learned over the past 15 seasons, there is no way that this team can look past anyone. That includes a good Seattle team that plays in the NFL hinterlands and has one of the best homefield advantages in the league.

Everyone forgets about the Seahawks because of where they play. They are no longer a surprise in the NFC West like they were a few seasons ago after emerging from a long bout of mediocrity. They now are a good team, playing in one of the NFL’s worst division. Since Shaun Alexander stopped running like Shaun Alexander, there has been little reason for anyone to venture into the Pacific Northwest to see what these guys are up to.

It’s a shame really. Redskins fans know about being ignored. We can sympathize with our friends in the Great Northwest. Matt Hasselbeck is still one of the most dangerous passers in the league. Hasselbeck threw for over 4,000 yards. He turned Bobby Engram from a NFL outcast into a 1,157-yard receiver at the age of 34. Believe it, since I know most of you didn’t pay attention to Seattle this season that Bobby Engram went well over the 1,000-yard mark. Yes, that Bobby Engram. He’s still in the league.

However, the Seahawks are not the same team the Redskins faced two seasons ago in January. That Seahawks team was built around running the football, with the pass as a complimentary weapon. Since that time, Alexander has suffered a couple of injuries. He has gone through the aging process that happens to all running backs at the decent of their careers. Once a running back starts suffering lower body injuries, it’s all downhill. Just two seasons ago, Alexander was the NFL MVP and set the record of most touchdowns in a regular season. This year, Seattle fans have booed him mercilessly. How quickly tides turn. The Seahawks have run the ball almost 100 fewer times in 2007 than they did in the 2005-06 season. This is another one-dimensional offense the Redskins are facing. This is just the first one they've faced where the one-dimension is the pass.

If you are a Seahawks fan, the one thing you have to be worried about is the lack of competition the team has faced this season. The Seahawks have beaten exactly one playoff team. That came in the form of a 20-6 win over Tampa Bay in week one of the season. Not only was that win eons ago, it came against the one of the worst playoff teams. Seattle only played one other playoff team, and they got embarrassed 21-0 in an ugly loss to Pittsburgh. Seattle has had the benefit of the NFL’s easiest schedule and playing in one of the NFL’s easiest divisions. Two games against Arizona, San Francisco and St. Louis, along with games against Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore and Cincinnati haven’t exactly helped the Seahawks prepare for the postseason. The Seahawks are basically the Memphis Tigers of the football world. Sure they look good on paper, and boy that record looks nice, but with below average competition, aren’t they just a first or second round loss waiting to happen?

The Redskins, on the other hand, faced the NFL’s second toughest schedule (behind only Philadelphia). The Skins had seven games against playoff foes, including games against New England, Green Bay and two against Dallas. If you listen to the national media, that’s four games against three of the top four teams in the league. The Redskins won two of the seven games they played against playoff teams, but were in every game except their blowout loss to New England.

Here’s how the Redskins win this game. First of all, it appears that there is some kind of monsoon going through Seattle for the game. When it's raining in Seattle, and it rains so much that it's news, you know there's going to be some bad conditions. That will help slow down the Seahawks passing attack. The one thing the Redskins haven’t had to deal with during this four game winning streak is a balanced offense with a dangerous passing game (Yes, they played Dallas. Despite the Cowboys trailing 20-3 with their starters still in the game, I have to question the effort they were making). Hopefully, because of the rain, they won’t have to face either of those today. So the rain dance worked. That was step one.

Secondly, the Redskins have to control the clock. The obvious advantage for the Redskins in this game comes on the ground. If the Redskins choose to, they can be one of the best running teams in the league. Give the ball to Portis and let him be the workhorse. The past four weeks he's proven he can carry this team. They also need to control the clock because I’m still unsure how good their defense really is. Again, during this winning streak, they faced the Bears pathetic offense, the Giants in a wind tunnel, the Vikings and Tarvaris Jackson and a Cowboys team that gave minimal effort. Not exactly murderer’s row. Without Taylor, this defense is still very vulnerable to the pass, especially the deep pass. They just haven’t faced a team capable of going deep until the game today. Limit the amount of opportunities Hasselbeck has by keeping him off the field. If Hasselbeck is on the field for over 30 minutes, this game probably won't be close.

Finally, and it sounds obvious, but don’t turn the ball over. Todd Collins has thrown five touchdowns with no interceptions in the last three-and-a-half weeks. In fact, in the last 14 quarters, the Redskins only have 2 turnovers. It’s no surprise that during those 14 quarters, the Redskins have outscored their opponents 97-53. Hold onto the ball as much as possible, don’t give Seattle a short field, and the Redskins can win this game.

The last four weeks have been incredible. I really don’t harbor any delusions that the Redskins can win, or even make, the Super Bowl. But for this team to recover from a 5-7 record and an absolute tragedy off the field has been an amazing story. If the Redskins go out and lose, so be it. They would still be a amazing story. However, it would be really something if the Redskins went out and won again, and had a paid a nice little visit to you-know-who next weekend. Let’s get it done.