What was Washington thinking?

Like with most of the politicians in Washington, the football team is making some puzzling decisions.  They didn’t let Albert Haynesworth go when it was clearly apparent that he didn’t want to play for the Redskins.  Then benching Donovan McNabb in favor of Rex Grossman when they’re down by only one touchdown.  Does anyone honestly think that Rex Grossman is a better quarterback than McNabb?  That’s what Mike Shanahan said.  Now after that, the Redskins went for it and gave McNabb a five year extension.  Amazing indeed.  I’m a firm believer that McNabb is a great quarterback.  Not many can say they led their team to five straight NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl appearance.  With that aside, why did the Redskins give him an extension in the middle of the season?  Someone I know said that it was “shut up” money.  I don’t think that was the reason, but rule number one for me on giving contract extensions is you don’t do it in the middle of the season.  Just ask the New York Knicks how it worked for them giving Isiah Thomas a contract extension in the middle of the season when he was the head coach.  What happened to the Redskins during McNabb’s first game with a new contract?  They fell flat on their face to McNabb’s former team losing 59-28.  Not a wise move in an already lost season.

Jacksonville’s prayers are answered

It’s probably the most exciting play in football, the Hail Mary pass.  It doesn’t happen very often, but it brings everyone to their feet.  I can’t say that I agreed with the move at the time, but I did think, “what the heck, why not try it” if you’re Jacksonville head coach Jack Del Rio.  It works, you win.  If it doesn’t, it’s overtime.  Houston came into the game with the worst pass defense in the league and Del Rio figured that it was worth a shot on their home turf.  Houston cornerback Glover Quinn did the right thing by batting the ball towards the ground.  That’s what you’re told to do in that situation.  The problem was that no one, and i mean no one was covering Jaguars receivers Mike Thomas or Marcedes Lewis who were two yards away from the endzone when Thomas caught the ball.  It was definitely the most exciting play of the year so far.  The Jaguars and Texans seasons will be marred by that one play.  Jacksonville is moving up while Houston is on the way down. 

Whose the best team?  I don’t know, quit asking.

It’s being asked every single week and frankly I’m tired of hearing it asked.  This week it’s New England turn to be called the best team in the NFL.  Sure they beat a pretty good Pittsburgh Steelers team in Pittsburgh, but they seem to always stiffen up when they play New England for some reason.  The Giants were considered the best team in the NFC.  That is until they laid down against the lowly Dallas Cowboys.  Sure, the stadium had a couple of delays due to the stadium lights being out, but you shouldn’t have been blown out at home by a division rival.  Here’s how it will setup for next week.  Will Indianapolis or New England be the best team after they play each other?  Will Philadelphia be the best team in the NFC if they beat the Giants?  Mark my words that will be the topic of discussion in another episode of, “Whose the beast team?”  Ask me when it’s January 3, 2011.