Eagles at Redskins: Different Season, Same Story

Philadelphia Eagles (8-5-1) at Washington Redskins (7-7)
4:15 p.m. FedEx Field
Well, it was another disappointing week to go along with a disappointing two months. Was it that surprising to see the Redskins lose to Cincinnati? No, it really wasn’t. So what if half of the Bengals wins came against the Skins. That’s typical. When the Redskins screw things up, they usually do it in grand fashion. And last Sunday was no different. The game turned on one or two plays, just like most of the Redskins losses this season have.

Let’s flash back to October 12th. The Redskins were nursing a 17-16 lead over the winless Rams. The Skins defense allowed Marc Bulger to complete a 43-yard pass to rookie Donnie Avery. Kareem Moore never blitzed like he was supposed to, Leigh Torrence (who is thankfully no longer with the Redskins) never looked up for the ball, and the completion allowed the Rams to kick the game-winning field goal. Combine that play and the bizarre Pete Kendall fumble that led to a Rams touchdown, and that loss to St. Louis came down to two plays.

Back on November 3rd, the Redskins were hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers. Washington was up 6-0 early in the 2nd quarter against a Pittsburgh offense that had done nothing. Ben Roethlisberger threw a short pass out in the flat. The pass was thrown right to the chest of Carlos Rogers. And of course, instead of intercepting the pass and running untouched for the score, Rogers dropped the interception. Instead of a 13-0 game, the Redskins allowed the Steelers to hang around until Pittsburgh woke up in the 2nd half and dominated the rest of the game.

The loss to Dallas a week later was just as bad. There wasn’t one specific play, but a host of close plays that together swung a 14-10 loss. Despite Tony Romo struggling with his broken finger, the Redskins couldn’t stop the Dallas quarterback on their game-winning touchdown drive. They also couldn’t stop Marion Barber once during the Cowboys final drive to run out the clock. Also, the Skins couldn’t take advantage of the multitude of opportunities that Dallas gave the Skins offense. The Redskins had great field position during most of that game, but could only manage 10 points.

The loss to New York ended up 23-7, so it’s hard to make a case that one play changed the game. But early in the 3rd quarter, the Giants were up 13-7 when Eli Manning threw a duck 30 yards downfield. DeAngelo Hall was in perfect position for the pick and a very good return until Shawn Springs ran into him trying to intercept the ball himself. Instead of Redskins ball around midfield in a six point game, the Giants went on to score and put the game out of reach.

The end of the Ravens game was very similar to the end of the Dallas game. After the Redskins spotted the Ravens 14 points because of turnovers, the Skins put themselves in position to tie the game in the 4th quarter. However, they couldn’t get Le’Ron McClain off the field when it mattered most. So along with the Clinton Portis fumble that was returned for a touchdown, the inability of the defense to get off the field late in the game cost the Redskins another loss.

Finally, last week against Cincinnati, the Redskins had two chances at the Bengals goal line to tie the game at 17. They gave it to Mike Sellers twice. Why? I’m not sure. Portis is supposed to be the star running back. Why wouldn’t you give it to him at least once? In any case, Sellers fumbled at the goal line (even though it looked like his forward progress was stopped) and the Redskins never had another shot to tie the game.

Of their seven losses, six of them came down to one or two plays. This is typical of the Redskins going all the way back to the Norv Turner era. You rarely see the Redskins lose by 20+ points. They lose games to great teams, good teams, average teams and bad teams by the slimmest of margins. It’s been the same way for over 15 seasons, and even though this season started differently, it ended up no differently. Can the Redskins beat the Eagles? Sure. Will they? Probably not. Does it matter? Thanks to a handful of plays that didn’t go their way…no, it won’t matter at all.


Now for the rest of week 16. I was 12-3 last week, bringing the overall record to a more respectable 133-77-1. Against the spread I was 7-7-1 and the yearly record is now 109-96-6. Here are the picks, don’t gamble using these predictions. Home teams in bold.

SATURDAY

Cowboys (9-5)(-5) over Ravens (9-5)

SUNDAY

Steelers (11-3)(-2) over Titans (12-2)
Dolphins (9-5)(-3.5) over Chiefs (2-12)
Patriots (9-5)(-7.5) over Cardinals (8-6)
Buccaneers (9-5)(-4) over Chargers (6-8)
Bengals (2-11-1)(+3) over Browns (4-10)
Saints (7-7)(-7.5) over Lions (0-14)
49ers (5-9)(-5.5) over Rams (2-12)
Jets (9-5)(-3.5) over Seahawks (3-11)
Texans (7-7)(-7) over Raiders (3-11)
Broncos (8-6)(-7.5) over Bills (6-8)
Vikings (9-5)(-3) over Falcons (9-5)
Panthers (11-3)(+3.5) over Giants (11-3)

MONDAY

Bears (8-6)(-4) over Packers (5-9)