Musical Perfection

Bob Dylan's newest entry in his bootleg series, Tell Tale Signs, was released today. It's as brilliant as had been rumoured. (And yeah, I went with the British spelling. It just felt right.) My favourite Dylan song of all-time, Mississippi, gets two versions on the double-disc set and another on the special deluxe album. (I love me some Dylan, but I'm not dropping $100 for another 12 songs.) I can't imagine I'll be listening to anything else on my iPod for the next two months. Well, other than this.
And just so this isn't completely non-sports related, new post up on Shutdown Corner, complete with the requisite Dylan reference. If you come to this site and aren't visiting me and MJD over at Y! Sports, for shame. For shame.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Screw the Bandwagon, it's time to start-up the 3H Club.

Back story: after last week's game, Jim Zorn led the Redskins in a "hip, hip hooray" cheer, which is so cheesy that it could be subversively brilliant if it came from anyone but JZ. This week, Antwaan Randle El took over the post-game cheer duties and, unable to think of anything on the spot (what, the sky opening didn't work -- I taught my niece that yesterday, by the way) he solicited Chris Cooley's redux of the previous week's chant.
And yes, I realize I'm getting way too excited here.

Info via DC Sports Bog, video courtesy Mr. Irrelevant via Redskins.com

You Know, They Did Make The Playoffs Last Year

I'll admit, after the opening night debacle in New Jersey, I was the last person who thought the Redskins would be 4-1 right now. That being said, why is everyone acting as if the team's early season success is some sort of miracle? ESPN actually had this subhead today: "After back-to-back wins, the Redskins are no longer cellar dwellers in the NFC."
Umm, cellar dwellers? The Redskins were a playoff team last year. (You know who wasn't; Philadelphia.) They weres a missed FG away from going to the divisional round. So who's this cellar dweller they're referring to?
And it's not like the 'Skins snuck into the playoffs with a mediocre team. They weren't great, of course, but they were in a position to win every game but one last year (vs. the Patriots) and put together a four-game winning streak over some of the NFC's top teams (Bears, Giants, Vikings, Cowboys) to earn a berth.
Sure, they turned over a lot of the coaching staff, but the personnel is largely the same as it was during last season's playoff run. The team's quick start is surprising, yes, but it's not as if it was as out of the blue as many commenters would have you believe.

* I try not to post too much Redskins stuff on Shutdown Corner, but when you see an outfit like this, it's hard not to.
As always, we'll be live blogging there tonight for the Monday Night game. Join me, MJD, Andy Behrens and Scott Pianowski for what could be the greatest Yahoo!-based live pro football blog of all-time.

Shocker: Redskins work over Eagles in 23-17 win

* It wasn't the best statistical day for Jason Campbell, but hopefully he'll realize that it's OK to put up 16-29 for 176 as long as it's in a win. Campbell looked off receivers again, looked more mobile in the pocket and made a clutch third-down run to move the chains. Campbell knew exactly where he was on the field while making that run, turned to protect the ball and then fell down to avoid taking a hit and/or opening up the possibility of a turnover. He still had some mistakes (the third down kneel, a mix-up with Clinton Portis on a later third down), but Campbell looks more and more like he's going to be the real deal Holyfield. Shoot, he already may be.

* The refs in this game were beyond atrocious. They were made miserableness look like a goal to be reached. The officials GAVE Philly a touchdown today -- just gave it to 'em -- picking up the flag on Desean Jackson's punt return TD, which made sense on exactly zero levels. The Philly player (#50) blocked the Redskins player (#50) directly in the back. The side judge saw this and threw a flag. After the TD, the refs then got together (never a good sign) and somehow determined that the actual block in the back occurred from a Redskins player, not the Eagles player as they had originally determined. The explanation was something like, "the block by #50 was done by the kicking team". The refs must have failed to realize that there can be, you know, two guys on the field with the number 50 and that white is not burgundy and burgundy is not white. Ridiculous. Handed them a touchdown. And they still couldn't do bunk without it. Egregiously bad officiating errors have been the hallmark of this season, something that can't make Roger Goodell happy.

* Speaking of bad calls, I don't know if Antwaan Randle-El was touched on that play in the fourth quarter. (Or where his hands went.) But it looked close and no whistle blew, so Twan ran down field to try and score a TD. The only thing was, a whistel was blown 5 seconds after the play had ended! What the f---?!!!! Let the play go. Call a TD. Then, confer (you know those refs were going to anyway) and decide on a ruling. Give that ruling. Then wait for the inevitable challenge. But come on, don't end the play prematurely just because you think he might have been tackled. There are safeguards in place to ensure that rulings like that can be made. It just takes competant officials who realize that not blowing a whistle is an allowable, effective tool.

* Shaun Suisham: Today, we are good. (We'll forget the inexplicable out of bounds kickoff that almost sailed into the sideline stands.)

* It's time for Durant Brooks to go. And on his way out, he can take Reed Doughty and Marcus Washington with them. They are officially worthless. Marcus isn't healthy, but at least he's providing to the team by having somebody else play in his stead. Reed Doughty gets beat more than the Eagles in big games. And Durant Brooks? Oh, where to begin. How about the net punting average of 17.5. The Eagles' net punting average? 42.8. There was one point during the game where the Redskins punted to the Eagles who then went three and out and punted back. So, in theory, it was the definition of a field position battle. No team advanced the ball at all, so with two good punters that ball shouldn't have moved too far. But when Durant Brooks is part of the equation, things change:
Skins punt from PHI 43
Eagles catch punt at PHI 20 (23 yard punt)
Three plays later... Eagles punt at PHI 22
Redskins catch punt at WAS 25 (53 yard punt)
Essentially, the Eagles won a field position battle of 32 yards SOLELY based on the crappiness of Durant Brooks. He's gotta go. Like, on the train back from Philly.

* It can be said every week, but London Fletcher is the most valuable player on the team's defense. There were two plays today in which Brian Westbrook looked like he was going to burst free for big gains, but London closed the gap and stopped Westbrook before the chain. The plays didn't get much hype, but they're the sorts of plays the Redskins never seem to make in those situations. Translation: I love London Fletcher.

* Chris Horton is still a monster. He has the natural instincts to be a star in this league, but is quite raw and undisciplined in this, his rookie year. The fact that the coaching staff isn't letting Horton get a big head (in a post-game interview Greg Blache was playfully doggin' on Horton by saying that "he needs a lot of work") is a great sign.

* Devin Thomas had a Devinian day today: nice first down catch, crippling penalty that brought back a first down.

* To do all that without Shawn Springs is fantastic. He's the best member of the secondary on the team so hopefully his uterus will be healed before next week's game.

* Another game highlight: Donovan McNabb audibling out of a pass play on a crucial 3rd and goal from the 1 and changing it to a rush that was stuffed two yards behind the line of scrimmage. Donovan's one who's not so good with the improv.

* Case in point: In his post-game press conference Donovan said:

"I was embarrassed these last two weeks. I mean [to lose] to two teams we shouldn't have lost to. There is no way that you can look at this game and say that, and not taking anything away from them, but there is no way that this team is better than us."

Donovan the Delusional. Donners, your team was hit in the mouth by a superior opponent today. That doesn't mean the Redskins will be better next time the teams play, but on this Sunday, the Washington Redskins were clearly better than the Philadelphia Eagles.
That's what I've always hated about McNabb. He's a phony. I don't think he believes his team was better today, I think he believes that he's expected to say that his team is better today. So he says it half-heartedly and then gets ripped by the local and national media for saying something so absurd.
The Eagles are 2-3 and aren't bad. They could end the season 11-5 or 7-9 and most of that rests on the shoulders of Donovan McNabb. But if he deludes himself into thinking that his team should be 15-1, he might lose support all over the Philadelphia area.

* The Giants are 4-0 on the strength of one good win (week 1 against a listless Washington team that couldn't move the ball). If you wanna crown 'em, go ahead and crown 'em, but I think 'Skins fans are quite happy with our team right now.

* Beating Phillly on the road, while awesome, means nothing if you don't come back home and TCB against St. Louis.

Yikes! Redskins 23 -- Eagles 17

I'm way too high on life to post anything at the moment, but wow. I thought the Redskins would go into Dallas and beat the Cowboys. And I fully expected them to lose to the Eagles today in Philly. But even after spotting the Eagles 14 points (seven of which were a gift from the officials for incorrectly picking up a flag), the Redskins came back and thoroughly dominated the home team for the final 50 minutes of the game. The Giants are 4-0, but have only one good win (home against Washington). The Redskins, on the other hand, are 4-1 and have won road games at Dallas and Philly. Now, an easy stretch: vs. St. Louis, vs. Cleveland and at Detroit before welcoming Pittsburgh on a Monday night before the bye. I'm not penciling the Redskins in for anything, but anyone who thought the team would be 4-1 at this point in the season (especially after the week 1 egg the team laid in New Jersey), could have been labeled certifiable.
Wow.

More to come: Monday afternoon

Don't Call It An Upset: Redskins 26 -- Cowboys 24

Today's victory by the Washington Redskins in Dallas was big on so many levels. First, the Redskins earned an NFC East road victory during a brutal stretch where they face New York, Dallas and Philly away from home during three of the first five weeks of the season. Emerging from this stretch at 3-2 was always the goal and now the 'Skins are assured of that, regardless of what happens next week against the Eagles.
Secondly, for the third consecutive week, Jason Campbell looked strong and confident in the pocket and, more importantly, played the fourth quarter with a coolness he never has exhibited during his career. The reason I was high on JC this offseason when many in the DC area were unsure was that Campbell always seemed to possess the qualities that quarterbacks can't learn. He was poised (other than late in games), had the arm, had the touch and managed games very well. His two main problems is that he tends to focus on one receiver, not searching the field, and his late-game meltdowns. Today, Campbell showed massive improvement in both areas.

* The Redskins only won by two, but the score wasn't indicative of how they outplayed the Cowboys. Granted, the team needs to get in the endzone more when they're in the red zone, but if that's the only problem they have after today, it's an OK one to have.

* Clinton Portis continues to fly under the radar nationally, but he's arguably been the most consistent back in the league over his career. Others are more flashy, get more points and have more pub, but Clinton brings it every week and always plays a vital role in Redskins' wins.

* It's no coincidence that the revival of the Washington D has coincided with the arrival of safety Chris Horton. The dreadlocked seventh-round pick out of UCLA is the epitome of a ball hawk; his interception of a Tony Romo floater today was caused by Horton's sprinting out to the sideline, only picking up the flight of the ball at the last second. Many will give Vinny Cerrato credit for finding Horton in the final round of the draft, but I can't agree. (And it's not because I can't stand Cerrato and am loathe to give him credit for anything. He once had a very nice tie on. So there's a compliment.) It's just tough for me to praise NFL teams for finding guys in the sixth or seventh rounds. Yes, scouting plays a big role in finding undiscovered gems, but luck plays a much bigger one. Sure, Cerrato liked Horton. But if he liked him so much, why wait so long to take him? It's not like anybody would have been ripping Vinny for reaching with a sixth-round pick for him. This reminds me of when people lavish praise upon the Patriots for drafting Tom Brady. If the Patriots were so enamored with Brady, why didn't they take him in the fourth or the fifth round? Why risk letting him go somewhere else. The Patriots liked Tom Brady enough to select him in the draft and for that they deserve credit. But if they thought he was going to be one-fourth as good as he is now, they wouldn't have let him stay on the board so long.

* Troy Aikman is the best color analyst in football. He said two things today during the game that no other analyst would have mentioned. First, he eviscerated Danny Smith for calling a pop-up kickoff to start the second half. 'Skins K Shaun Suisham pooched the ball to the 20 and Dallas promptly returned it to the 42. The Cowboys hadn't returned a ball more than 22 yards all game, and Smith was popping it up? It made no sense and gave the Cowboys momentum to start the half. Aikman noticed this and ripped the kick immediately after it happened and then after Dallas scored a game-tying TD on that drive.
The ex-Cowboys QB also called out Marcus Washington for being completely worthless, which is something that most Redskins fans have noticed, but is rarely discussed in the media. Marcus is awful, by the way. He and Fred Smoot are liabilities when they step on the field.

* Durant Brooks had a much better day at punter, and Shaun Suisham was great at kicker. Too bad Danny Smith had to mess that all up by ordering that kickoff.

* Seriously, I have a man-crush on Chris Horton.

* It can be said enough how huge this victory was. And it just goes to show that NFL "experts" have as much of an idea what is going to happen as you or I. Nobody on ESPN picked the Redskins to win and the Cowboys were 11.5 point favorites. Although, one downside of the win is that now people will be hyping up the 'Skins, when I was quite content to have everyone sleeping on them. Depending on what happens in this Philly game tonight, next week's showdown will easily be the most-anticipated of the weekend.

* As for other NFL action; I told you about the Browns back in April. Good thing they're on in primetime four more times this season. Nothing like showcasing a team that couldn't beat out Tennessee for a playoff spot last year. And, for real, why can Brandon Lloyd catch the ball now that he's out of a Redskins uniform? He just made a catch while falling backwards, which is one more catch than he could make while standing upright while in Washington.

* I'd be remiss if I didn't congratulate the Washington Nationals today. They earned their 102nd loss on the season, thus clinching the #1 draft choice in next June's MLB amateur draft. Thanks to the Seattle Mariners for winning three straight to end the year, thus letting the Nats sneak into the top spot.

Why Jason La Canfora Needs To Go

It was really only a matter of time: FireJLC.com
While I agree with the general outlook of the site, I don't agree that Jason La Canfora should be fired, per se. A reassignment would be in the best interests of everyone. With circulation plunging at the Post, does the newspaper really want to alienate those who subscribe mainly for the Sports page by continuing to give inches to a writer with an axe to grind against the city's most popular team?
It's impossible to read a La Canfora-bylined story in the Post without questioning whether the information that's given is being used to drive the author's anti-Cerrato agenda. I wrote this a few weeks back, but as it was a decent point and I make so few of them, I'll repeat it: The Post would never allow John McCain's beat reporter to pen a blog entry discussing how much he hates John McCain. Once a reporter's objectivity is called into question, readers immediately begin to question that reporter. So why does the Post allow La Canfora to write such things on Redskins Insider? The newspaper has been the best major publication at working in blogs to their news site. Dan Steinberg's DC Sports Bog is one of the best blogs there is. And if he had beef with Vinny Cerrato, I'd be all for it. That would be OK, because there isn't a conflict of interest.
In political coverage reporters often let their leanings come through in their articles, but it's not as big an issue because half the people tend to side with the reporter (and the other half are Republicans who already accept that unless they want to read The Washington Times, there's no use complaining about it.) But those who read the Post's Redskins coverage are fans of the team. Redskins haters aren't reading Redskins notebooks and game stories, it's safe to assume. So why piss off all those fans who read the paper to get their 'Skins news?
This isn't to say that the Post can't be critical of the team or needs to become an outlet for the propaganda spouted by the front office (as Daniel Synder would like). They need to, however, realize that those who subscribe to the paper predominantly for the Sports page (like me; I don't mind reading the other sections online, I like having the Sports page in my hands though) are doing so for Redskins coverage. And it's expected that the news coverage of the team be unbiased and informative. Jason La Canfora can't provide the former. It's time for him to go.

The Clashin' in Ashburn: Cerrato vs. La Canfora

Every day is a soap opera at Redskins Park. Today's involves my two least favorite people associated with the team: Jefe-for-life Vinny Cerrato and Washington Post Redskins beat writer (emphasis on beat) Jason La Canfora. The story is, well, it's actually unbelievable. Here's as quick and unbiased a recap as can be given:
Vinny Cerrato began his radio show last Friday. I had distinct opinions on the subject. One of my questions was what Cerrato would discuss on the show, considering that many topics would be off-limits because of NFL tampering rules (personnel moves, and such). Jason La Canfora thought the same thing, only he just didn't wonder. He wanted to find out what constitutes tampering. Now, a little back-story. (I told you it's a bit confusing.)
On the debut show, Cerrato interviewed Adam Schefter of the NFL Network. Cerrato asked a question about Raiders coach Lane Kiffin, which Schefter responded to by saying that if the Raiders had lost last week's game, Kiffin would have been fired.
After hearing that clip, La Canfora called the NFL League office to see whether Cerrato had violated any tampering rules by discussing Lane Kiffin's job status. La Canfora was told that there was no restrictions on publicly talking about another team's players or coaches.
And that's the end of the story. Only, it was actually just the beginning.
The Redskins don't get along with The Washington Post. They never have going back to the days of Jack Kent Cooke. That's a story in its own right, but it will suffice here to say that there has long been animosity between two of Washington's three most important institutions. (The third, of course, being Ben's Chili Bowl.)
Jason La Canfora fits right into the Post/Redskins battle. He has a personal enmity for Vinny Cerrato that makes me think, "yo, bro, you need to relax". He seems petty and resentful, likely because the Post doesn't get the access it thinks it deserves. (In their defense, the Redskins probably could stand to be more accomodating to the city's newspaper of record that provides free publicity for the team year-round. However, guys like La Canfora also need to understand that it's not the Redskins job to do your job for you. If you want a story, get it. There's a reason Sportsline's Jay Glazer broke the story about Gibbs coming back to Washington, while all the local guys were left wondering how the got scooped. Glazer had sources, the beat guys didn't.) Now, La Canfora takes all his frustrations out on Cerrato by trying to narc on him to the league office. The whole "tampering tip-toe" could be looked at in one of two ways:
1) La Canfora was doing his journalistic duty by inquiring about the tampering. It's a legitimate story and one that would have been interesting and informative.
2) La Canfora was doing his dirty work under the guise of journalistic duty by inquiring about the tampering.
The second option seems far more likely.
The Post defended La Canfora today (more on that in a second) by writing:

Jason did not make any sort of complaint whatsoever. (In fact, reporters cannot charge teams with violations of NFL rules. Only other teams can file charges like tampering.) He referred to Cerrato's questions about Raiders coach Lane Kiffin only to provide context for the question he was asking. He did not write about the issue.

That might technically be true, but it belies the point. La Canfora wanted Cerrato to get stuck with a tampering charge, so he played narc and figured if there was a violation, he could get a story out of it. The Post notes that he didn't write about the issue. Of course he didn't. There was no story. Once La Canfora found out that there was no tampering, the story was dead. You can be guaranteed that there would have been a story had the NFL said, "yeah, that's probably tampering."
I'll also take issue with the "he referred to Cerratos questions about Raiders coach Lane Kiffin only to provide context..." quote. That's crap. La Canfora could have used any sort of hypothetical to ask his question about what constituted tampering. Instead, he chose a very specific example, which shows that it was used to see whether that specific statement was a violation of the tampering rules.
La Canfora tried to create a story. He failed. La Canfora probably did what he did with a smirk on his face, hoping that something would stick against Cerrato. Maybe it wouldn't have resulted in any penalty, but a public rebuke or any embarrassment that La Canfora could have provided for his arch-nemesis would have probably been viewed as a victory.
We've established La Canfora's pettiness and complete lack of professionalism (I once described how he goes to work dressed like a frat guy who's late for a 10:00 a.m. class), but to shift blame back to the Redskins for a bit, this is exactly why you don't give a live radio show to your sitting general manager. Everyone saw something like this coming, it was inevitable. Jason La Canfora is an idiot, but so are Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato for fostering an environment that led to Jason La Canfora's idiocy to ever become a big story.
So what should happen to La Canfora? I can't imagine his Post editors are happy about this, despite their public show of support. It might not be a fire-able offense, but a move off the Redskins beat is probably the best thing the newspaper can do at this point. Might the paper's editors resist that so as not to lose face in their never-ending battle with the team?
As for the Redskins, they have to be even more furious with La Canfora and the Post than they already were. What can be done? Could the Redskins ban Jason La Canfora from the grounds? I'm not even sure if that's possible. But the punishing of one petty act with another petty act doesn't make any sense. (Which is why Vinny Cerrato is probably considering that very option.)
It's just all a mess. And it should never have happened in the first place. Vinny Cerrato never should have gotten that radio show. It was a bad idea when it was announced and it's even worse now that there have been two shows. He should have stuck to his office, scouting every college WR in order to take 7 of them next draft, getting excited about every over-the-hill free agent and feeding grapes to Dan Snyder while he gets his pedicures. Just like old times.