Hoping Is The Worst: Josh Morgan Pulls A Michael Westbrook

Hope for the best, expect the worst.

Back in the 1997, the Redskins hosted the Giants for a primetime game late in the season. A win would have put Washington in prime position for a playoff berth. The game was as bizarre as it was tightly played. A Gus Frerotte self-imposed neck injury on a post-touchdown celebratory wall headbutt forced backup Jeff Hostetler into the game. Neither team was able to generate much offense, and so you can argue that Frerotte’s, ummm, momentary lapse into insanity singlehandedly offset a great game by Ken Harvey (4 sacks on the night) and the Skins’ D (Hostetler himself threw 3 picks and lost a fumble). As if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, a Michael Westbrook 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taking his helmet off and slamming it down in front of an official pushed Washington out of field goal range with time winding down in overtime. The Redskins got a 50+ yard desperation field goal attempt off as the clock ran down (a kick that head no chance), and the game ended in a tie. You can add statistical improbability to the maddening stupidity, as it was the 1st NFL tie in 8 years. I was only 12 years old at the time, but I don’t have to do any fact-checking to tell you that the ’97 Redskins finished the year 8-7-1, which was good enough to finish just outside of the playoff picture (9-7 would have been good enough to earn a Wild Card that particular season).

RG3 might be the 1st true beacon of hope for Washington in 20 years, but I guess we can’t expect him to erase 2 decades of disappointment in 2 weeks either. In an ugly, penalty-filled, poorly defended game by the Skins, London Fletcher and Griffin still seemed like they were going to have done enough to at least give the Redskins the chance to win in overtime. The Rams played chippy and borderline dirty all afternoon long, seemingly trying to bait Washington into penalties, but the Redskins appeared to keep their cool for the most part. No more evident was this than on the pivotal Washington defensive possession: on 1 play, a St. Louis lineman appeared to cheapshot Fletcher at the tail end of a play. Fletcher complained to the refs to no avail, but instead of doing something stupid, he got the best kind of revenge in forcing a fumble the very next play. Running the 2 minute drill, RG3 appeared to do enough to at least get Washington in position for a game-tying field goal...that is, until 1 Redskin finally did take the Rams' bait. A 3rd down completion to Josh Morgan was a yard short of the 1st down marker, but it would have set up a tough but makeable 48 yard try…until after getting shoved in the face by the Rams’ Cortland Finnegan, Morgan chucked the ball back at Finnegan, which of course drew a flag. Any longtime Washington Redskins’ fan will tell you that throwing a ball at another player is as automatic a 15 yard penalty as, well, ripping your helmet off and slamming it on the field of play, and this forced that once makeable field goal into an almost impossible 62 yard prayer, resulting in 3 point Redskins' loss. Hope is a wonderful thing, but this franchise has shown it still has an uphill battle against history.