Archive for August, 2010

Beltway Bloggers Fantasy Football League

Some of your favorite Redskins bloggers have combined to start a fantasy football league named the Beltway Bloggers. The first annual draft was held Sunday evening and we all had a great time drafting our teams and talking a little smack.

I can’t speak on behalf of my competitors but I for one have a definite admiration and respect for the work that they do…and I also want to kick their ass in this league. Here’s a list of the teams competing in the league along with a team recap from the draft:

Hogs Haven - Kevin and Ken

Definitely stole the crown of “Homer” from Murf. HH drafted Moss, Portis, Cooley, Gano and the Skins D. They also drafted each one of those guys a couple of rounds earlier than they should have.

106.7 The Fan - Grant Paulsen

I guess someone had to do it, but GP is the guy who drafted Romo…he caught a little shit for that. GP also managed to somehow get both DeAngelo Williams and Michael Turner…he might go on Letterman again for that one.

Real Redskins/CSN - Rich Tandler

I love RT and I was glad he joined our league until he went and drafted perhaps the best team in the league. He was the king of “value picks” and on paper may be the early favorite…but the games aren’t played on paper, the games are played on the Internet.

Homer McFanBoy - Brian Murphy

Murf is very proud of his team and tweeted afterwards that his team is “stacked”. He also bragged about drinking a Fat Tire which pissed me off. I was warned beforehand that Murf would be a formidable opponent and yes he will be.

Redskins Blog - Matt Terl

Terl was the last pick in our snake draft and spent the better part of the draft complaining about how much his team sucked. I think he went to the Joe Gibbs school of describing his team because it’s actually pretty good. Who said we’re good, Playboy?

The Cooley Zone - Tanner Cooley

I’m not even convinced this pretty boy is better looking than me, let alone better than me in fantasy football. Our recent Twitter exchanges:

TC: are you in fantasy life? I’m going to destroy you in our league.
FP: my team pisses on yours
TC: false. You’re fucked
FP: your team looks like it’s a couple of wine coolers away from sucking a dick.

Can’t you just feel the love?

D.C. Sports Bog - Dan Steinberg

Steinz had the first pick in our draft and provided all of us with the best moment in our draft by doing something I’ve never seen in 15 years of fantasy football drafting. With the 40th and 41st picks in the draft Steinz picked Clark and Gates, back to back TE’s!

Mr. Irrelevant - Jamie Mottram

Mottram was somehow able to draft a very solid team while also watching a J-Lo movie with his wife, impressive. Also impressive was Jamie’s ability to change the black out times for the draft on Yahoo. His team is loaded with good/great players on average/bad teams which is usually a good recipe.

106.7 The Fan - Danny Rouhier

Danny definitely talked more than anyone else…he talked smack, he kissed ass and he did a lot of pre-draft talking about not drafting Cowboys. Danny then went out and drafted a couple Cowboys and a bunch of Giants.

Best of luck to everyone involved, good times.

Cheers and Hail

Hazing At A Medium Pace

Part of being a rookie in the NFL is going thru your rookie “hazing” and earning your stripes with the veterans. The term “hazing” is more associated with the old school way of initiating players into the NFL, such as the Saints did with Cam Cleeland. Today’s rookie initiations are much easier.

Nowadays rookies have it pretty tame, well as far as we know. They may have to carry the veterans shoulder pads, something Dez Bryant was not down with. They may also find themselves taped to a goalpost or they may have to perform skits imitating coaches…or a $100 million dollar defensive tackle hurting his knee taking a dump. Another popular choice is to have a rookie stand up and sing a song in front of the team. While covering the aforementioned knee injury while dumping, D.C. Sports Bog unearthed this gem of Chris Cooley’s initiation by song.

“I sang Adam Sandler’s ‘At a Medium Pace,’ ” he told me. “I got a lot of blank stares. From anyone who knew it, roars of laughter, which was mostly the white guys. And then most of the black guys on the team were like don’t haze him any more. He’s done. He did his part.”

I’m not going to link the song, even for this blog which is not politically correct and a little on the edgy side, the song is not for everyone’s ears. Either you know it or you don’t. I love the song and I’ve been listening to it for 15 years. I love Sandler’s stuff from that era, included but not limited to The Goat, Toll Booth Willie and Joining the Cult.

What I really want to know and what I would have paid to have seen was Joe Gibbs reaction to the song. What was the look on his face after the line “I’m about to begin…loving you?” How long did he let the song go on for? There are questions that need to be answered and follow up that needs to be done on this matter. Perhaps between the Bog and myself we can get answers to some of these questions and bring closure on this matter.

Cheers and Hail

A Bad McNabb Is Still Good

photo via Redskins.com

I saw the player I loved to hate for so many years play like the player I loved to hate in the Redskins-Ravens pre-season match up. All the things I used to make fun of Donovan McNabb for were on display. He missed receivers high and low, he missed them left and right…he even threw a couple of his patented 20 yard knuckleballs. And you know what? I loved him.

I now realize what I didn’t see all those years, a Quarterback who makes plays and is a leader on the field. I saw a QB that is going to make a handful of plays each and every game that may be the difference between winning and losing. I saw the difference between Campbell and McNabb and that difference is like night a day.

McNabb throws the ball downfield and he looks to make a play past the first down marker on 3rd and long, instead of pulling a JC and dumping it off to the running back. A perfect example was the 3rd and 7 on the Redskins first drive. McNabb delivered a perfect strike with a lot of heat on it to a double-covered Moss 13 yards downfield. JC would have dumped it off to Portis, who always seems to fall down we he catches the ball.

McNabb senses pressure and he steps up in the pocket or he rolls away from it. JC would clam up, wind up and eventually take a sack which 50% of the time would result in fumble. A perfect example are two plays to Cooley. On the first drive on 3rd and 14 McNabb had several guys blitzing up the middle and he casually rolled to his right and hit Colley for a 14 yard gain and a 1st down. Later, from his own end zone McNabb faced a heavy blitz from his blindside and was able to step up and hit a wide open Cooley on a post pattern for a big gain. That play had sack, fumble and 6 points for the Ravens written all over it if JC is at QB.

McNabb makes throws JC would never dream of making. Besides the aforementioned Moss 3rd down throw, the dropped touchdown by Fred Davis was a great play by McNabb. Back of the end zone in traffic, should have been a TD. JC doesn’t attempt that pass, he throws it to the back of the end zone, but it’s 20 yards into the seats.

I didn’t mean for this to be a bash Campbell post, but it’s clear to me now that McNabb is a difference maker and a much better QB than JC. Things clearly aren’t always measured on stat sheets. Checking off to RB’s is a good thing for your completion % and keeping your interceptions down, but that doesn’t win football games. And Philly fans knocked McNabb for a lack of emotion? Wow, imagine what they what have thought about JC, guy had the same look on his face for 4 years. I guess you don’t know what you got till it’s gone…and for the Redskins that’s a good thing.

Cheers and Hail

Breaking News: Haynesworth Visits Mayo Clinic

Who would have thought that this little piss ant blog would be the first to get a huge news breaking story like this one, but I’ve found out thru several sources that I consider to be very solid that Albert Haynesworth is at the Mayo Clinic undergoing a battery of tests. Initial tests have revealed no confirmation that Haynseworth is suffering from rhabdomyolysis, as previous reports have indicated.

The Redskins earlier today denied reports that Haynesworth suffered from rhabdomyolysis, and asked Haynesworth’s agent to provide them with medical data confirming such a condition. Redskins team doctor Kenneth Noisewater examined Haynesworth and found nothing wrong with him, although I’m sure it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The Redskins then asked Haynesworth to be examined by an independent doctor from the Mayo Clinic. The independent examination found that Haynesworth is indeed suffering from an ailment, although it is not rhabdomyolysis, as initially reported. Haynesworth was found to be suffering from this ailment, which could lead to him being placed on the IR or his outright release.

Seriously though, it’s time shit or get off the pot with with this situation. Every relationship you have in life is based off of communication, whether it be a personal relationship or a business relationship. Without good communication, the relationship will not be healthy. The Redskins and Albert are obviously in a bad place in their relationship…they need to sit down and work things out, or move on. One way or another it needs to be decided, so everyone (including the fans) can just move forward.

Cheers and Hail

Redskins/Bills: Random Thoughts…Winning is Like Better Than Losing

photo via Wapo

1. Impressed. Yes it’s preseason but winning and looking good is a lot better than losing 23-0 and looking horrible like the Skins looked in last years pre-season opener against the Ravens. The players were prepared and ready to play, and it showed on the field and on the scoreboard. Remember the 47-3 loss to Carolina 2 years ago in the pre-season? We all said it was preseason and it didn’t matter, but it kind of did.

2. After a slow start the starting defense looked good. I liked the way Adam Carriker played at defensive end and I like Laron Landry playing up to support the run, instead of 30 yards downfield where he struggles in coverage. I have serious questions about Andre Carter fitting in as a linebacker. I love the guy, but he can’t cover me let alone Boss, Celek or Witten. That could be a problem that gets exploited down the road.

3. Say what you want about Albert Haynesworth but his presence was felt immediately. In his first series the Bills had a false start and his Redskin teammates were enjoying clean shots at the QB. He is a difference maker when on the field.

4. FedEx field had energy, even for a pre-season game. The new scoreboards looked impressive and the crowd was pumped up. The Dallas game is going to be crazy and we should hold a tremendous home field advantage for that game, providing Skins fans don’t sell their tickets on Stub Hub to Cowboys fans.

5. I think that Chris Cooley and Fred Davis are riding on a gravy train with biscuit wheels. They have to love this offense and #5.

6. Trent Williams played very well and looks like the real deal.

7. I liked the way Ryan Torain and Keiland Williams played at running back. Torain is definitely on the team and I believe Williams is a keeper as well. Your 4th running back has got to be a special teams contributor and Williams fits that bill, Willie Parker does not.

8. I was happy with the play of the backup wide receivers. Roydell Williams looked good on special teams, had a nice catch and run and a couple of nice downfield blocks. Devin Thomas shrugged off an early drop and caught 3 balls including the nice TD. Anthony Armstrong made a great play on the TD. Malcolm Kelly needs to get healthy and on the field…fast.

9. Brandon Banks is freaking fast. Wow. No question he makes the team. Devin Thomas looked horrible at kick returner. If the Skins do sign Brian Westbrook, I’d like to see Westbrook returning kicks.

10. Remember Osaka.

11. I’m so glad we have Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan.

12. I know he’s only been here a week or two but John Beck looked horrible, I would have preferred to have seen how Colt Brennan would have performed in this offense.

Cheers and Hail

Redskins HOF Speeches

I love the HOF speeches, here’s a few I found on YouTube. I want to find Riggo’s so if anyone knows of a link please let me know.

Gibbs Part 1 (He has to set a record for the most times saying “I gotta tell you” in a 10 minute period)

I gotta tell you Part 2

4 minute standing O for Art

Art’s speech highlights

Darrell Green

Grimm

Cheers and Hail