Credit where Credit is Due

In the interest of giving credit where it's due, let's put a little shout out to Jim Zorn and the Washington Redskins. As a fan of another team living in the DC area, I tend to dread the summer months, because once training camp time comes around, the local Redskins conglomerate comes up with 13,482 reasons why the Redskins are going to the Super Bowl that season. The Redskins last Super Bowl appearance was following the 1991 season. Here's a small sample of what's been heard about why the Redskins are going to the Super Bowl in any given year. Some real, some fictional. Try to guess which is which, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

- We're going back to back baby!!
- Richie Pettibon is the best assistant of all time. He'll be a GREAT head coach, we're goin to the Super Bowl!
- This Shuler kid looks amazing. He's the next Jurgenson! Super Bowl here we come!!
- We're closing out RFK with a bang! Super bowl Bound!
- This new place holds 90,000 plus! No one will come in hear and beat us. See you in San Diego!
- This is NORV'S year!!
- THIS is Norv's year!!
- This is Norv's YEAR!!
- This IS Norv's Year!!
- NORV IS GONE!!! GO GET EM MARTY!!!
- MARTY SUCKS!! (Repeat drunkenly 31x) SPURRIER IS GOD!!
- SPURRIER IS TERRIBLE!!
- G!!!!!!
- I!!!!!!!
- B!!!!!!!!!!!
- B!!!!!!!!!!
- S!!!!!!!!!
- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (notice the sublte regression)
- Man, that Funky 4 really gets the crowd and team going.
- Man, that Patrick Ramsey is so Phony!!
- Arrington and Samuels! Book your flights!
- Choose one of the Following stud QB's: (Heath Shuler, John Friesz, Tony Banks, Gus Frerotte, Jeff George, Mark Brunell, Patrick Ramsey, Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerrfel, Brad Johnson, Trent Green, you get the idea...)
- Choose one of the following Draft Picks (Tom Carter, Reggie Brooks, Heath Shuler, Michael Westbrook, Kenard Lang, Champ Bailey, Rod Gardner, Carlos Rogers, etc.)
- Choose one of the following impact offseason acquisitions: (Dana Stubblefield, Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Jesse Armstead, Dan Wilkinson, Laveraneus Coles, Adam Archuleta, Clinton Portis)

So as you can see, more often than not, delusion typically reigns supreme amongst the Skins faithful heading into the Regular Season.

So as July turned to August, the city was still buzzing over the Hall of Fame inductions of Darrell Green, and the long overdue entry of Art Monk. They were in the midst of their first training camp under Jim Zorn, an average, at best, quarterback from the 80's Seattle Seahawks teams turned QB coach, given an opportunity to become the head coach and offensive coordinator after the Redskins (yeah, I'll say it) shafted Gregg Williams, then were rebuffed by Bill Cowher, Steve Spagnuolo, and whatever happened with Jim Fassel, among others.

When the attention turned from the Hall of Fame ceremonies to the product on the fields of Redskins park, a subdued hush fell across the Washington faithful. If not for the Pirates annual trade deadline sell off, it would have been hard for me to tell what month it was. There wasn't a whole lot of excitement over the Jim Zorn hire. No one looked at him, or the way that the replacement of Joe Gibbs was handled and said, man, we did it RIGHT! We got OUR guy. Despite that the Redskins were a playoff team last year, there were questions marks heading into this season. With the way Todd Collins played last year, is there a QB controversey now between him and Jason Campbell? What are we going to do about the defensive line? We finally drafted some receivers, will they be able to contribute right away? Amongst others. No one looked at Jim Zorn, Devin Thomas, or Malcolm Kelly as keys to a Super Bowl run. Colt Brennan and Durant Brooks however….

So the season starts, and the chatter picks up a little bit. "Strahan retired, Umenyiora is out, we can beat the Giants!" was a popular saying as the preseason merged into the regular season. The Skins proceeded to look about as bad as you can look for a half, and trailed the Giants 16-0 early. They showed poor play calling, poor clock management, and the talk quickly turned into "I KNEW this guy wasn't ready to be a head coach!"

Enter the past three weeks. The Redskins come home from New York, get a few extra days to prepare, and while I can't say they shut down two of the leagues better offenses in New Orleans and Arizona, they did subdue them. Most of that can be attributed to the play of the defensive backfield. Much maligned Carlos Rogers has finally looked like an NFL caliber player, much less a first round pick, Chris Horton has stepped in and played rookie of the year type ball, and even old men Shawn Springs and Fred Smoot have been solid contributers. On the offensive side, Clinton Portis is in the top 5 in the league in rushing yards, Jason Campbell is in the top 5 in QB rating, and Santana Moss is making DB's look, well, like Carlos Rogers looked up until this season.

Even still, the excitement level that typifies this time of year in the area still seemed strained to me. "Eh, New Orleans had a few injuries, Arizona is Arizona, we still have to go TO Dallas and TO Philly over the next two weeks." Into Dallas they went, as an 11 POINT DOG somehow, and they proved that they should be entered into the conversation as a contender in the division and the conference. T.O. was blanketed by Shawn Springs, the Cowboys had no running attack, and the offense had more than one sustained drive that resulted in points. It's well documented that the NFC East is the strongest division in the league, so whoever comes out of there will be a Super Bowl favorite to represent the NFC. If the Redskins continue to play the way they have, they have just as good a shot as anyone. The Eagles are struggling with injuries and inconsistancy, Dallas is absolutely still a favorite, but, it's combustible with Tank Johnson starting to speak up again, Terrell Owens complaining despite being targeted 17 times, and them telling Pac Man Jones to keep a low profile. Some of the luster may be fading off of the Giants as well, as they needed overtime to beat Cincinnati, who has looked terrible, at home. The Giants lead the division at 3-0, but even they have their problems, with Plaxico Burress being suspended, appealing the suspension, and dragging out the process rather than admitting his mistake. Something I'm sure Coach Coughlin loves.

Now, the Redskisn take their turn against the Eagles in Philadelphia. They may be catching them at a great time, as the Eagles are coming off back to back games against extra-physical opponents in Pittsburgh and Chicago. McNabb is banged up, Brian Westbrook still may be unable to go, and they are still having trouble keping receivers on the field. Who knows what you're likely to get from the Philadelphia defense, as in their 4 games, they've given up 3 points, then 41, 6, and 24 (but factoring in the conversion rate for the Bears offense, counts as about 60). Based on that, the pattern would be that this is an "on" week for the D. Seeing as the Redskins have legitimate threats at all skill positions, it will be interesting to see what Philadelphia targets to stop first.

The chatter is back around DC. The Redskins haven't just played a few good games, they've been one of the top teams in the league for all but one half. They've showed multiple ways to attack a defense, and while the run defense (which was untested against Dallas, remember) is still probably their weakest link, if they get that right, they'll have a chance to make a run for the division and conference championships.

If the Redskins are victorious Sunday in Philadelphia, watch out. A win over Philly would put them at 4-1, and launch them into a three game set against the Rams (0-4), Browns (1-3) and Lions (0-3) with two of those three games being at FedEx Field. With the way the NFL season has gone, by no means is anything guaranteed, but you can't help but look at that and this that anything less than 6-2 at the halfway point in the season would be a huge disappointment. The second half schedule is pretty brutal, including games against the Steelers, and two west coast trips (@ Seattle, @ San Francisco) along with all the division opponents coming into FedEx, but again, as difficult as it is for me to admit, the way they've played thus far, the past 17 years of preseason hype, regular season hope, and postseason disappointment may finally result in the Redskins 6th Super Bowl appearance.