NFL: Committing a Cardinal Sin

It’s not even the holiday season yet, and already the Redskins are in a giving mood. For the second straight week, they handed a game to their opponent, this one a far inferior opponent. Now the Redskins are 6-4 and in second place in their division, one and a half games back and lumped in with a bunch of mediocre teams.

Look at the stats from Sunday’s game and you have a recipe for the Redskins crushing the Arizona Cardinals. The Redskins had a 13-minute, 52-second advantage in time of possession. They made 27 first downs, compared to the Cardinals’ 11. They outgained the Cardinals 431 yards to 178 and ran 33 more offensive plays. Stephen Davis had 30 carries for 124 yards, a sure sign of victory. The man piled up more offensive yards (rushing and receiving) than the entire Cardinals team. But they found a way to lose to Arizona, the "armpit of the NFL."

I didn’t even say that--it’s a quote from Cardinal Simeon Rice.

How do you lose this game? Penalties (eight for 59 yards, many in critical situations, turnovers (the Cardinals had two offensive yards and were ahead by 10 points) and special teams that would make any football coach fume.

Even when the Cardinals returned a fumble 103 yards for a TD--a 14-point swing--and intercepted Jeff George, leading to a field goal and a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, the Redskins and their fans were not very worried. The team should have been able to hand off to Davis and march up and down the field.

And they did, only they couldn’t execute the basic plays that every football team, from Pop Warner to Florida State University, take for granted. A bad snap (for the second week in a row) on an extra point left the Redskins trailing, 10-9, instead of tying the game. The special teams also allowed a 71-yard kickoff return and missed two field goals. Many other mistakes were made, but they lost by one point--a point that should have been on the scoreboard.

This team has stuck with status quo far too long--not being able to execute the most simple plays cost the team a playoff game last year and several plays this season. It is time to fire special teams coach LeCharls McDaniel. What else is the answer when they’ve had multiple long snappers, multiple holders and three kickers over the course of two seasons? It’s embarrassing.

Now at least the calls for George to be the starting QB might subside. He made some eye-popping throws, but he also made some horrible ones. Putting in a new QB is not a cure-all--this offense is just hurting with little speed at wideout and no gamebreakers. George threw the ball at Albert Connell (who seems to be a head case and has only three catches in two games since his "breakout performance" against Jacksonville) 11 times, and Connell ended up with a grand total of one catch. George underthrew and overthrew him, threw it too high, too low and behind him. Connell is to blame also; he completely stopped running on one deep route. I’m hoping that this is from a lack of practice time together. The two should get a feel for each other in the upcoming weeks, but that wouldn’t have happened if Brad Johnson was still the quarterback.

Maybe the Redskins were ripe for a letdown after a tough stretch in their schedule. The classless Cardinals did play this game like it was their Super Bowl, but excuses are inexcusable in this instance. The Redskins should have taken care of business easily. Now they find themselves in panic mode again. The next two weeks should be fun around here.

D.C. Notes: Sunday was a banner day for D.C. sports, as the Capitals got pounded 5-2, by Tampa Bay, the dregs of the NHL.