I feel for the Redskins, I really do. Here’s a team that has endured some woeful seasons since the glorious early nineties; a team typified by late-season collapse, poor quarterbacking and plain bad luck (not one incident more starkly remembered than the murder of Sean Taylor in 2007).
Coach Shanahan is great for this team; getting rid of the lazy, awkward, waste-of-money-tackle that is Albert ‘the distraction’ Haynesworth is good for team spirit; trading Donovan McNabb to the Vikings and once again making the bold assertion that Rex Grossman has the skills to make it as a pro football player, let alone a starter, shows confidence in your guy, however misplaced it may transpire to be.
The NFC East, despite containing the much-fancied Eagles, is a weaker division than it’s been, but I don’t see the Redskins getting out of it any way but the hard way. There won’t be a wild card from this division unless every other decent team, trapped in a hellish divisional rivalry (Packers/Bears/and, believe it or not, Lions – Falcons/Saints and, believe it or not, Buccaneers) rip each other to shreds and ruin their records in the process. Realistically, though, only one team is coming out of the East and you have to fancy the Eagles.
Should Michael Vick go down, however, and the Eagles find themselves forced to rely on (gasp!) Vince Young or Mike Kafka, there could be a glimmer of hope for the Redskins who, although still the weakest team of the bunch, have enough grit and good coaching to give them a shot.
Verdict: they will not be an embarrassment to the division, but may well struggle to break .500 if the historically better teams in their division get it together before Christmas. I think they might go 7-9 and finish new the bottom of the NFC East.
Pick up THE HARE newspaper at Night and Day, Bar Centro, Font or Tiger Lounge in Manchester town centre, or the Oakwood in Glossop.
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