It’s the time of year to be thankful. We have much to be thankful for as Redskins fans: we’ve outscored our opponents by a grand total of 2 points, and we’re 7-4. That’s amazing.

I’ll tell you what would make me truly grateful: a win over the G-men. It seems every season the Redskins pull off some wild upset to keep hope alive a few more weeks.

That’s what we’re in for this weekend, Santana Clause coming with Portis and friends and winning a game they have no business winning.

Are you ready to be thankful? Listen for the early sleighbells this Sunday, as Christmas comes to D.C. early with a pleasant Noveber surprise.

It really doesn’t matter how ugly it is. A win is a win. It’s better to win ugly than lose pretty. And a million other cliches.

By beating the Seahawks 20-17, we keep in the post season hunt. We would be in and go to Arizona if the season ended today. The only problem is we get the Giants next week, and Dallas gets the ‘Hawks.

We have a chance against G-men if Portis runs for 100-plus. It’s a great time of year to be a football fan.?

1. New York Giants (6-1): The New York Football Giants would win first place in the NFC East and get a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs if the season ended today.

2. Carolina Panthers (6-2): The Panthers would win the NFC South and win a first round bye if the season ended today.

3. Arizona Cardinals (4-3): the Cards win the NFC West. They are ranked third over the Bears because of the strength of victory tie breaker if the season ended today.

4. Chicago Bears (4-3): the Bears would win the NFC North by virtue of a strength of victory margin over the Packers if the season ended today.

5. Washington Redskins (6-2): the ‘Skins win the first wild card spot, finishing second place in the NFC East if the season ended today.

6. Dallas Cowboys (5-3): the ‘Boys win the second wild card spot based on defeating Tampa Bay, who is also 5-3, if the season ended today.

It’s better to complain about how we’re winning than to be complaining about how we’re losing. That seems to be the characteristic of this season. We’re winning games, but finding it easy to raise concerns about how those victories are being achieved.

The most stunning mark of this season has been how dominant we have been in every statistical category for almost every game. Except for the Giants game, the Redskins have dominated both sides of the ball in every game they’ve played. If you were to look at the stats alone without examining the final scores of these games, you’d have to conclude that the Redskins are like the New England Patriots last year, crushing everybody.

It makes no sense how we have scored a grand total of 20 more points than our opponents this year, dispite having Cambell and Portis having career days virtually every week, and our defense stuffing the opponents offenses like offense is going out of style.

Here’s the stats from yesterday’s game:

If the Redskins season illustrates one point at the mid-point, it’s this: Yards don’t equal points. Points win games, not yards. Dispite the weekly statistical domination, if the Redskins don’t figure out how to score points that more accurately reflect the yardage totals, they will never achieve the sort of domination that they are on the brink of achieving.

This is a good team right now, which has all the makings of a great team. What will determine whether or not the Redskins ultimately become an elite, Super Bowl contender, is their ability to start scoring touchdowns instead of settling for field goals, or fumbling inside opponents territory.

We’re close, folks. Real close to being great. Although our wins are a bit closer than we would like, and the ‘Skins have made life tough on nervous fans, the comfort we can take is that we do have a record that reflects our domination. 6-2 isn’t bad at the mid-point. A 12-4 pace isn’t bad for the season.

Today’s daily wagon is dedicated to the crumblin’ fumblin’ Cowboys. As I’ve said before, there are two goals for ‘Skins fans every Sunday: the Redskins must win, and Dallas must lose. And the priority is not necessarily in that order.

This is why the Cowboys current soap opera is so very tantalizing. They had the arrogance to assume they would inherit the SuperBowl this season. Why even play the games, when we can just crown them champs now?

Not only do they arrogantly claim to be America’s team, but they ignore the mounting evidence of their historic ineptitude and the reality that they have not won a playoff game this decade. What other losing franchise gets away with that?

My advice to Cowboys fans: open your eyes, your team is pedestrian at best, cellar-dwelling at worst. It will save you disappointment, and give you something attainable to work for this year, a high draft pick.

The Daily Bandwagon, Monday October 20.

• Cowboys lose: There’s nothing better than seeing the Cowboys lose, especially to the Rams. And it’s not even like it was a fluke loss like the Redskins loss last week, which included an offensive lineman fumbling and having it returned for 6. That’s right, an offensive lineman fumbled. Talk about a fluke. The Cowboys, on the other hand, were beat straight up by the St. Louis Rams. Seeing “America’s Team” imploding, after their being the self-proclaimed and presumptive heirs of this year’s Super Bowl, is making this season all the more enjoyable for Redskin Nation. There are two goals for every Redskin fan on Sundays: see the Redskins win and the Cowboys lose, perhaps not even in that order. These days, we’ve been seeing a lot of both.
• Portis for MVP: The man is on a mission. He has 818 yards (on pace for 1,800+), 120 yards 4 straight games, 5.0 average yard per rush and 7 TD. You heard that right. He’s on pace for 1,800 yards and 16 touchdowns. Those are not mere rushing title numbers. Those are league MVP numbers.
• Campbell’s no INT streak: He’s up to 202 passes without a pick. I think that commentators keep trying to jinx him. The CBS broadcasting crew must have mentioned the fact that he didn’t throw a pick at least 27 times yesterday. Those are not official numbers, of course, but Campbell came out pick free for another week.
• Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers: Life is simple in the NFL. If you turn the ball over, you will lose. If you don’t turn it over, you’ll win. And if you turn it over only once at a very critical point in the game like Portis did yesterday, you might still win, but it’s going to be more stressful than it had to be. The Redskins are learning a lesson this year. They have been able to maintain an excellent turnover ratio. But the quickest way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is to cough up the ball. They did that to the Rams, and almost again to the Browns. If they can reverse the trend and start causing more turnovers by their defense, we just might be playing in Tampa this February.
• Giants lost to this team last week: The Redskins did what the Giants couldn’t do by beating the Browns. This is how dominant the Redskins defense is. They held the Browns to 11 points. The Browns offense scored 28 last week, and their team scored 35. Without the turnover, the Browns might have only scored 3 versus our defense this week. Although I liked Gregg Williams, Blache is making it easy not to miss him. Captain Fletcher has his team rallying around him and playing superb.
• Where did the old Carlos Rogers go? Does anybody else miss the days when Carlos Rogers was bad and we could make fun of him and blame him for losses? He used to be one of the most overrated corners in the league. Now, I’m having trouble finding anything wrong with him as he shuts down receivers virtually every week. Braylon Edwards had 154 receiving yards and a touchdown last week versus the Giants. Against Rogers he was a non-factor. Even when he did catch the ball, it was only because of an amazing throw into perfect coverage. If Rogers continues this level of dominant, physical play, he might join Clinton Portis in Hawaii. Of course this is kind of disappointing. He was so much fun to make fun of.
• Playoff picture updated: I have updated the if the season ended today playoff picture. Not much changed. The Bears replaced the Packers in the picture. The Redskins still sit as the top Wild Card, as they have since the first edition. In short we have: 1) NY Football Giants (5-1) 2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-2) 3) Arizona Cardinals (4-2) 4) Chicago Bears (4-3) 5) Washington Redskins (5-2) 6) Carolina Panthers (5-2). The Redskins have consistently held the top Wild Card spot. They missed a chance to take home field advantage and first place in the NFC East by losing to the Rams last week. It’s looking more and more like we’re going to have Wild Card teams with a better record than the division winners. The NFC South and East seem to have better 2nd place teams (Carolina, Washington) than the NFC North and West division winners (Chicago, Arizona).

You heard it first here: Clinton Portis is going to win the league MVP and rushing title. I’m not just saying that out of blind faith and optimism. After a game where not a lot went right, the one things we can all be grateful for is #26. The man is a machine, in the prime of his career, singularly responsible for making a formerly mediocre team elite.

More on that later. Now for some thoughts on the game…

I certainly would have taken such an ugly win last week against the Rams. Let’s make a long story short.  Portis had an unbelivable game, carrying our offense on his back. If he could have hung on to the ball and not fumbled in the fourth quarter, we would have probably scored on that drive and won 17-3 or 21-3. Instead, a turnover and subsequent touch down makes it interesting, 14-11. Thank God that field goal was pushed wide right.

We’ve now played 7 games, almost at the half way point in the season, I can see some trends that have developed over many weeks.

1. Our statistical domination doesn’t always lead to points. When you look at the stats, we outgain teams by a long shot every week. Yet, for some reason, we cannot convert that advantage in yardage to an advantage in scoring. All we needed was to finish a couple drives in the first half, and this would have been a blowout. Our defense was playing out of their minds, with an amazing, in-your-face goal line stand. Carlos Rogers is beginning to play like a real man. Horton is earning himself a Pro Bowl spot. London Fletcher came up huge on that goal line stand, jumping over the line to stuff the run up the middle, and then stuffing the 3rd down pass out into the flat.

Yet, despite the dominating defense performance, and the significant advantage in yardage due to Clinton Portis’ league-leading heroics, we cannot seem to find a way to put teams away and build significant leads. This, my friends, is what we have to look forward to. Great teams figure out how to gain real advantages on the scoreboard as well as the yardage meter. As the Redskins continue their climb to glory, you will see games like this one over in the first half. If there’s ever a time to blow someone out, it will be next week in Detroit, against the awful Lion cubs.

2. Jason Cambell is a the consumate game-manager. The Redskins have set a team record for the number of passes without an interception before today’s game. Jason Campbell has still not thrown a pick. He picks up the third down we need. He hits Moss and gets the team down the field when we need him to. Remember last season when he could do everything right except get the scores when they were needed most? Well, this year he seems to be able to convert those scores and put our team in a position to do enough to win, if nothing more. It’s going to be fun to continue to see him progress toward superstardom.

3. Portis is the MVP of the league. How can you argue that Clinton Portis is not the NFL MVP? He is leading the league in rushing. Without him, the Redskins offense would not be half of what it is, and you might argue that the Redskins would be a .500 club at best if he were not running the way he is. Teams stack up against him, and he makes them pay anyway. He sticks in a blocks when Campbell is passing. He single-handedly has been carrying the Skins to a 5-2 record and will probably carry us to the playoffs for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. Only this time, he could carry us deep into the playoffs.

Just remember, when Clinton Portis is voted MVP, you heard it first here.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen. I will not be detered by a pathetic showing against the league’s cellar dwelling Rams. I have gazed into the future through my burgundy crystal ball and I see that the Redskins will return with a strong performance and a win.

	13	Scoreboard of the future Tomorrow’s headlines delivered today.
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More specifics about the game, as it has become so crystal clear to me through my visions of the future.

• The Redskins will score a defensive touchdown
• The Redskins will have a defensive touchdown
• The Browns will not have an offensive touchdown. They will be limited to field goals and a special teams return for 6
• Clinton Portis will rush for more than 100 yards, and Jason Campbell will get Moss involved in the offense again, throwing one touchdown to him, and 6+ catches.
• The score will be 14-6 Redskins at half, and then we will go up 21-6 late in the third quarter. The Browns will return the kick to make it interesting, 21-13, but we will settle down and put the game away with a touchdown to make the final score.

Folks, I call it like I see it, and I see it like it will be. That’s just my gift.

Here’s how things would shake down

1. The Giants would still be in first place in the NFC East and win home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

2. Tampa Bay would win the NFC South by virtue of beating both Atlanta and Carolina. They would also get a bye because they have a better conference record (4-1) than Arizona (2-1).

3. Arizona would win the NFC West and would be seeded #3

4. Green Bay would win the NFC North at 3-3 and be ranked #4

5. The Redskins would win the Wild Card race by virtue of beating Dallas head-to-head (top ranked non-division winner in each division is eligable for Wild Card if multiple teams from two or more divisions are tied) and also by virtue of a better conference record (4-2) than the Panthers (2-2).

6. The Panthers would win the last Wild Card because they beat the Falcons head-to-head.

In the Wild Card Weekend, the Redskins would travel up to Green Bay while the Panthers travel out to Arizona.

First of all, I apologize for the typoes in the two posts during the Rams game. I was upset and probably not thinking very clearly. I was remote blogging using my iPhone and the app I was using has no ability to edit posts. Once they’re saved, you cannot change the content until you get back to your computer and manually login and make the changes that way.

As for the game, my general feeling is that something’s got to give. Either our wins on the road versus Dallas and Philly were a fluke, and we’re really not that good, or this loss to the Rams was a fluke, and we’re really not that bad. One thing we know in the NFL is that you can’t predict what’s going to happen on any given Sunday.

Fortunately for us, since the Giants and Cowboys also lost, it didn’t hurt us as much as it could have. It still hurts, make no mistake. Had we we won, we would be 5-1 and sitting in first place in the entire NFC. As it is, we’re in the middle of a huge pack of teams that are all hunting for the playoffs, and probably will remain hunting until the last game of the regular season.

The one lesson we can take away from this game is that no team is good enough to win while repeatedly turning the ball over, and no team is bad enough to lose when the other team gift wraps touchdowns for them. We handed them the ball game on a silver platter, and even the lowly Rams were able to convert our gift into a win. The Giants did something similar in Cleveland, giving away free points to teams in a league that punishes offenses for turnovers.

The best advice we can give to Zorn and his crew is to forget about this one and come ready to play against the Browns next week. You have to expect a good Brown team to come to town. They’re hungry, and they’re confident after last week’s big win. If we don’t come out fast, it might get ugly fast. Hopefully they won’t look past the Browns like they might have looked past the Rams. If we can get back to what we did before, protecting the ball and running it well, we should win against Cleveland and improve to 5-2.

COMING THIS WEEK:

A preview of coming attractions this week:

1. Playoff picture updates: the playoff picture just got more confusing, but I’ll parse through the tie-breakers and tell you who would be in and out if the season ended today. That update will come tomorrow.

2. Predictions for the game versus Cleveland

3. Skins bandwagon petition: I am going to solicit your help in getting Mr. Kornheiser’s attention, pleading a case to get him to speak about the return of the Bandwagon. Stay tuned for those details.