Skins sign Shaun Alexander

I'm fine with the move. I don't mind him sticking around until LEE-dell gets healthy. Alexander should be able to provide some relief when he comes in to spell CP. He also knows the system and the coaches so that is a benefit. It's also in his best interest to play very well so he can get a more permanent spot on a team. We'll see how he does. The good thing is that he is not a threat to CP and everyone seems comfortable with him joining the team.

Durant Brooks is cut!

Thank God!!!

How 'Bout Dem Cowboys?

So Romo has a broken pinkie and is out for a month. Pacman violated the terms of his agreement with the NFL and is out indefinitely. Felix Jones is hurt and they bring in malcontent Roy Williams. T.O. hasn't gotten the ball as much as he would like.

They have been going through a lot of substantial change recently. With all of the volatility they have on that team, they seem close to imploding if they lose a couple of games. I imagine T.O. will get even more ticked off because Brad Johnson won't get him the ball enough and they will lose a game or two and then T.O. will just sound off.

Strange how quickly they went from being the most talented team to one of potential implosion.

Skins Disappoint!

I know it's been several days since their loss but I have been too upset to write about it. I'm kidding -- just been busy. Still, the Skins blew it against the Rams. They had a chance to make another statement by winning big against that team but we didn't.

I actually missed the game so I can't comment too much. I saw some of the highlights and just seemed like we weren't meant to win that game. The Kendall fumble for a TD right before the half was a killer. If Kendall just bats the ball down or if he just catches it and falls down, maybe it's a different story. Also, Brooks became a liability (probably a good thing that we cut him). He was consistently bad. He is directly responsible for giving up points in that game and others. Seriously, I think I could punt just about as good as him. We outgained them in yards and CP had another outstanding game. Still, we didn't win and that is the only stat that counts.

It was nice to see us come back and take a lead near the end of the game but then we gave up the bomb at the end. Not sure where Landry was but we needed him to help. As the free safety, you cannot let anyone get behind you especially in that situation at the end of the game when you know they are going to have to throw the ball deep. Maybe Holt was running deep on the other sideline. Not sure but it's just too bad that the game ended the way it did.

If there is a bright spot it's that both the Cowboys and Giants lost so we didn't lose any ground in the division. However, with the Iggles winning, it only muddles the division even more. We have a must win game against the Browns this week who are coming off of a HUGE win against the previously undefeated Giants on Monday night. Hopefully we learned our lesson against the Rams and come out with a whole lot more intensity. We'll see.

CP - NFC Offensive Player of the Week

Congratulations to CP for being named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. He had a great performance and really showed his leadership both with his play and leading the team on that critical fourth down play at the end of the game.

NFL's Hottest Team? More Redskin Thoughts

As a Skin fan, you have to feel good about the 4-1 record but you have to feel even better that we did it against the type of competition we have faced.

Every team we have played has an offense ranked in the top 10.

4 of the 5 teams we have played have defenses ranked 14 or better (2 or in the top 6).

Washington has the 6th ranked offense and the 13th ranked defense.

JC is the 8th ranked QB in the league and has a 96.7 QB rating.

CP is the second leading rusher in the league.

Despite not catching a ball yesterday, Moss is one of the top 10 WRs in the league.

Again, you have to look at the competition to really appreciate that 4-1 record. The NFC East continues to be the best division in football. The combined records of the various divisions are as follows:

NFC East: 14-5
NFC North: 6-12
NFC South: 12-7
NFC West: 6-12

AFC East: 11-6
AFC North: 7-11
AFC South: 9-9
AFC West: 8-11

Again, out of the 5 losses of those East teams only one game was lost to a team outside of their division (Chicago over Philly).

A week after gashing the Cowboys for 144 rushing yards, the Redskins picked up 203 against the Eagles. Philadelphia came into the game giving up 53.8 yards per game, but Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts combined for 70 in the first half alone. Portis finished with 29 carries for 145 yards and a touchdown.

What game was McNabb watching? In training camp, I listened to McNabb review last season's 8-8 record and talk about the NFC East games the Eagles should've won. He boldly stated that the Eagles were the best team in the NFC. But at some point, even McNabb's bravado can't cover up the fact that the Eagles are a mediocre team right now. And after observing Sunday's loss, maybe I'm being generous.

McNabb's comments after the game rang hollow to me, and I'm pretty sure they'll have the same effect on Eagles fans. "I was embarrassed these last two weeks," he said. "I mean [to lose] to two teams we shouldn't have lost to. There is no way that you can look at this game and say that, and not taking anything away from them, but there is no way that this team is better than us."

With that statement, the only person embarrassing himself is McNabb. The Eagles lost to a superior football team Sunday. This wasn't some nip-and-tuck game where the last team with the ball won. This was the Redskins scoring 23 unanswered points and running down the Eagles' throats.

The Redskins have to be considered the one of the hottest teams (if not THE hottest team) in football. Tennessee might have a case given they are undefeated. However, you also have to look at the difference in competition. The teams the Redskins have played have a combined record of 15-8. The Titans opponents have a combined record of 5-17.

I'm sure there are doubters and haters out there but again, as a Skins fan you have to feel real good with where they are right now.

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!!

4-1, BABYYYYYY!!!!!!!

Much to Robs chagrin, the Skins are 4-1 and have looked very impressive over the last several weeks. Honestly, I don't think many people would have thought we would be 4-1 but I'll take it.

Great win yesterday against divisional opponent Philly. We started out terrible. We got down early 14-0 (even though Jackson's punt return for a TD should have been called back for an illegal block in the back) and the offense looked terrible in the first quarter. We knew we would be facing a blitzing/attacking type of defense and we didn't seem to be able to figure it out early on. However, what I really liked about this game is that we did learn and we did end up doing a great job against that defense. Honestly, after the first quarter, we dominated that game. It was another impressive game by the offense and JC. We have yet to commit an offensive turnover which is amazing. Here are my general observations:

1. Zorn and the coaching staff are doing an unbelievable job. I have to give credit to Danny boy and Vinny for selecting this guy because Zorn gets the guys prepared and put in the right position to win games. Not only does he get these guys in position but equally important, he gets these guys pumped up to play and that has been key. He has gotten these guys to believe that we can play and we can win. Winning is contagious and I certainly believe after winning the games that we have, that this team is believing and know that we are capable of competing against any team we play.

2. JC had another solid performance. He is making sound decisions and even bigger, not making critical mistakes.

3. Portis was huge. I think we are giving him more opportunities to run to the outside and make plays. He has really taken on his role as a leader on this team.

4. The defense came up big and basically shut down the Eagles from the second quarter on. The Eagles went nearly 30 minutes without getting a first down and had four straight three-and-outs until finally putting together a long drive where we stuffed them at the one yard line. London Fletcher is the backbone of this defense and it really begins and ends with him.

5. Keeping with the defense, the secondary has been stellar. Rogers has actually been much better. We have been playing a lot more man to man as Blache trusts the secondary and that opens more things up in terms of blitzing or disguising different packages. You really don't hear the names of our players in the secondary called out that much or the opposing WRs and that is a good thing because they are being shut down. Smoot and Springs have also been impressive and it is comforting to have Landry back there for insurance.

6. Didn't like McNabb's comments after the game saying that basically it was the second game in a row that they should have won. The Skins dominated the Eagles. It wasn't a fluke play or that we were lucky. We dominated the game.

Bottom line, is that this team has grown a ton this season and there is still plenty of room to grow. The great thing is that the team seems to be rallying around Zorn and each other and really believing in themselves. Again, we take big steps each week and I am impressed at how we adapt to the different teams that we play.

Everyone talked about how difficult the first 5 games were for us. We came through that with a very impressive 4-1 record. The main thing now is that we go into the next 3 weeks against teams with a combined 1-11 record. We cannot be satisfied with getting through that tough stretch and thinking things will all of a sudden get easy. We have to continue to grow and learn and play each week as if we are playing the toughest team in the league.

Again, I like the make up of this team. For the first time in a long time, we seem to be building on something and not just trying to find short cuts or patch things together. Hopefully we can keep this thing going.

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!

JMU ROLLS!!!

56-0 nothing! JMU stomps over Hofstra and keeps their #1 national ranking. This team has many different ways to beat you and hopefully we can keep this thing rolling.

GO DUKES!!!

UVA Wins

UVA gets a much needed conference win against a decent MD team. It was a big win and might turn things around for them. We'll see which UVA team shows up next week.

Redskins vs. Eagles - Pregame thoughts

So another tough NFC East game for the Redskins. This time they go on the road (again!) to face the Eagles. I'm sure it will be a raucous crowd and they always talk about how physical these games are (remember the body bag game?). What I also find interesting is that every game the Skins play it is always another type of challenge that we haven't seen before. With the Cards it was the preciseness of Warner and their big WRs. With the Cowboys it was their superior talent and that they ran a complex 3-4 defense - something the Skins line had struggled with. Now, with the Eagles, it is their tough defense and complicated blitzing schemes so JC will have to watch out.

What I love is that we have managed to take on all of these challenges so far and perform well. Credit must go to the coaching for preparing the players for what is to come. We'll see how well we match up against the Eagles on Sunday. They may be without Westbrook their most exciting player but we will probably be without Jason Taylor and Shawn Springs. Injuries are part of the game and teams have to deal with that.

I must admit that I never thought we would be 3-1 at this point in the season. However, we are and we need to keep this thing going. We can't have a let down against this Eagle team. If we can pull of this win, not only will we be right there at or near the top of the division but we will have a ton of confidence and really would have served warning to the entire league that we are a legitimate contender. I think we have done that to some degree but this win would be huge. We would have already played all three divisional opponents on their home turf so we wouldn't have to worry about that and we would be in great position near the top of the division.

I expect a physical game. I expect JC to perform well again. He, along with the team and coaches, seem to be gaining confidence in each other and believing that we are a quality team. I expect short, quick passes to help JC avoid the variety of blitz packages but I still believe we will take one or two shots deep downfield. As always, we will need to keep giving it to Portis to keep the defense on their toes and lighten the load on JC.

On the defensive side it really all depends on if Westbrook plays. He single handedly hurt us last year. We will need to contain him. We did a great job on Bush when we played New Orleans and we didn't allow Barber much of anything when we played Dallas. However, Westbrook is a different type of back and we will need to make sure we can contain him. Also, we need to be aware of the deeper balls to the speedy DeSean Jackson. I like Landry back there so hopefully he doesn't allow anyone to get behind him.

I think we will do well and I like the Skins winning 27-16.

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!!