Well I was right on several things in the Green Bay game, and almost completely right on the biggest play to win it. We needed Landry to neutralize Finley, which he did on the first play from scrimmage by knocking him out for the year. We needed to get pressure on Rodgers, and did rather effectively, with Jarmon ultimately knocking him from the game as well on his last play. And I really wanted Carlos Rodgers to redeem himself with the big interception, but the defensive player of the week (and thus far year) Landry stepped up with the big interception. We knew bringing Haslett in would net us more turnovers in exchange for giving up more yards, but the unintended effect is that the Skins whole team and attitude is vicious. Not only were Finley and Rodgers among the wounded, Clay Matthews joined the list as the Skins rolled another tough opponent.
The reason the Skins have not succeeded in so long is that they had plenty of talent at skill positions, but no grittiness at the key parts of a football team, especially a NFC East football team. Now, the defense and offensive line on the Skins are literally something to be feared. Thus far Trent Williams, while battling injuries of his own, has beaten down both DeMarcus Ware and Clay Matthews, and both have made an early exit against the Skins. Hopefully the O-line can keep it up tonight as the Head Hog Russ Grimm goes into the ring of fame. I said Rodgers needed to be nervous, but apparently Finley needed to be too. Manning better hope he makes the right reads tonight, or his health could be in peril as well.
He will. I think without a doubt Manning is the best QB to ever play in the NFL. He had an off performance last week and seldom does he make it two in a row. The Colts can't fall to 3-3 while the Skins can and probably will. Some Skins fans are already talking about the team not getting enough respect and its a bit too early for that. If they somehow beat the Colts on Sunday night they will get plenty of it, if not they are just a 3-3 team headed to Soldier Field next week. Furthermore, the injury bug is going to turn around to bite us at one point or another, and then our lack of depth could kill this season.
Maybe McNabb can pick apart the cover 2 that he could not beat in his Super Bowl against the Patriots. (And that the Skins employed against Reid this year to defeat Vick and Kolb.) Maybe Haslett can pull another bend but don't break gem to shut down another potent offense. However, if the Shanahans have some new trick plays up there sleeves, this is the week to use them. Hopefully the crowd at Fedex is earsplitting and the noise can shut down Manning's check-down offense, because defensive formations usually don't do it. Playing against Manning must be similar to playing against Ovechkin. You just have to hope the guy has a bad game, otherwise you are in trouble.
Even if we lose, at least we can root for the Cowboys to fall to 1-4. The Girls really should win, but if they don't, Skins fans can laugh at them if we lose. I predicted the Cowgirls would be in the NFC East cellar, but I didn't think they would fail this spectacularly. I think it is hilarious that they are complaining about the rules after their loss. They know not to complain about the refs, they get more calls than any team in professional sports other than the Penguins, so they have to go after an "unfair rule." Talk to Calvin Johnson and the Lions, and don't celebrate tying a game in the future and you might not be such losers. I honestly thought Romo was a hair away from crying after the Cowboys loss to the Titans. If he throws three picks again en route to another loss, I expect a complete emotional breakdown and I can't wait. Aikman has done the last two Skins games and that has been unfortunate. I didn't hear him during the Green Bay game, but I heard his anti-Skins bias shone as brightly as it did in the Eagles game. The guy is slowly unraveling as the Cowboys fail and the Skins win, and is becoming even more intolerable. I hope he cries too.
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