Bring On The Turkey: Romp Against Philly Was Nice, But Now The Skins Are Fighting Against Thanksgiving History

Better late than never, but can I just say that it was nice to not have to sweat out a Redskins’ win for once? If they’re not trying to put together a drive to tie or win the game late in the 4th quarter, they are testing their fans’ nerves by forcing them to watch a porous defense keep the other team out of the end zone late in the game. Even if you look at a game like the one against the Vikings earlier this year, the final score makes it look like they won comfortably. Truth be told, Washington had the game in control most of the afternoon until they began their 2nd half collapse. If RG3 doesn’t put on his cape and score on that long 4th quarter run, who knows what happens?

So when the Skins beat down the tanking Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday, it was a rare source of joy for me. According to the team’s official website, they hadn’t outscored an opponent by 25 or more since 2007! That’s 5 seasons worth of either wanting to vomit because they were getting beat so bad or at least not being able to have a comfortable heart rate every time the Skins are playing. Thank you, Washington Redskins…you have probably knocked 3 or 4 years off my life expectancy.

It certainly helped that the Eagles look like an absolute mess right now…blowing coverages, not generating any pass rush, turning the ball over, and, maybe more than anything, throwing the ball seemingly every down (despite having a rookie quarterback making his 1st NFL start). This would stink of the head coach begging for someone to fire him, but anyone who has watched Philly games over the last decade and a half knows this is Andy Reid’s MO. He wants to throw the ball every play. It doesn’t matter that usually the best player he has on the field, whether that’s Brian Westbrook or Shady McCoy, is his running back. He can’t help himself. Last Sunday, with rookie Nick Foles under center and a decimated offensive line, the Eagles dropped back to throw 51 times by my count from looking at the box score.

The worst part is that McCoy and backup Bryce Brown averaged 4 yards a carry between them for the game. But that doesn’t seem to ever matter with Reid, who if he is faced with a 2nd 3 after a 7 yard run on 1st down will gladly call plays to chuck it somewhere on the next 2 downs (and then usually punt on 4th down). His record will prove that he has mostly been a very good coach, but I’m not sure he could ever be reasoned with on this subject.

Ironically and to the bewilderment of many, McCoy was out there running the ball (and getting concussed) late in the 4th quarter though.

As for my Skins, they travel to Dallas tomorrow for the dreaded Thanksgiving afternoon game with the Cowboys. Most football fans would probably find this to be a good thing. You stuff your face with turkey and plop down in front of the TV to watch football every Thanksgiving anyway. Why wouldn’t you want your team to have the spotlight, the good announcers, and the timeslot all to themselves? Well, the Redskins have never beaten the Cowboys on Turkey Day in 6 tries. Most of my Redskins-Thanksgiving memories revolve around Emmitt Smith running rampant on Washington’s D (twice) and Danny Wuerffel checking down to his backs and tight ends for 3 yard gains on 3rd and 8 all afternoon long. No doubt I will be watching from the comfort of the elastic drawstring of my sweatpants regardless…it’s probably wishful thinking of me to hope that I won’t have to sweat this one out too.

Even the old, brittle version of Smith could bust out for 100-plus against Washington on Thanksgiving.