[mooby]

I just read another article about NFC team previews, where the guy gives his own preview of each NFC squad. The part he wrote on the Redskins is a six paragraph bash fest, there isn't a positive word in the whole damn thing. Read this:
Washington: The Redskins' third-place finish on defense last season was, for the tastefully named Gregg Williams, one of the top coaching feats of 2004 -- considering Washington's awful offense meant the defense was on the field a lot, and star linebacker LaVar Arrington was injured most of the year. Many have suggested the defensive performance sans Arrington shows this gentleman is overrated. But the tastefully named Williams has a history of getting peak defensive output from little-known players, so working without Arrington was just par for the course. This offseason, Washington lost defensive stars Fred Smoot and Antonio Pierce. Don't be surprised if Williams plugs in a couple who-dats and his unit continues to play well.

Defense is the only good news for this cartographically challenged franchise, which calls itself the "Washington" Redskins, though the team practices in Virginia and performs in Maryland. Offensive performance declined from 23rd during Steve Spurrier's final year to a not-funny 30th last season. The team's offseason was about the fifth consecutive offseason of disarray. In the two winters since Joe Gibbs returned, draft choices and big bonuses have been expended mostly on skinny glory boys -- quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, cornerbacks -- leaving question marks in the trenches. During the 2004 offseason, in the euphoria over Gibbs' homecoming, the Redskins signed free agents to contracts with a combined paper value of $302 million, about four times that year's cap, while also trading 2005 draft picks for lesser choices in 2004. 'Skins officials declared the contracts had been artfully worded to avoid a cap crash. But yours truly warned, "As early as next winter, Gibbs may find his roster top heavy in cap terms, and already 2005 draft picks have been expended."

So what happened "next winter" -- that is, this offseason? The Redskins hit a sal-cap wall. Smoot had to be let go because there was no cap room to re-sign him, forcing Washington to expend the ninth overall choice in this year's draft on a replacement corner. Pierce, one of the league's best defenders in 2004, had to be let go because there was no cap room to re-sign him. To top things off, the 'Skins again borrowed against the future, trading away their No. 1 choice in 2006. Between dead weight on the salary cap and the mortgaging of next year's picks, the future better be now for Washington, as the winter of 2006 may see a wholesale cap-caused roster purge, plus no top draft pick to replenish the ranks.

This leads to the coaching quandary Gibbs faces. The Redskins' core problem is inept quarterbacking. Last season, neither Patrick Ramsey nor Mark Brunell threw accurately and neither ever asserted command of the offense. There's a case for Gibbs handing the job to rookie quarterback Jason Campbell, acquired in the trade that mortgaged the future picks. Letting Campbell have his learning year as the starter might prepare him to be a top quarterback in subsequent seasons, though all but assuring no playoffs this year. Gibbs' complication: If a cap crash is coming in the winter of 2006, this may be his last chance for several years to field a winning team. So should he start erratic veterans at quarterback, or hand the ball to Campbell?

Draft note: Washington has become a bottomless pit for high-draft choice wide receivers. In 1992, the 'Skins used the fourth overall selection on receiver Desmond Howard; in 1995 they used the fourth overall selection on receiver Michael Westbrook; in 2001 they used the 15th overall selection on receiver Rod Gardner. All were huge disappointments. You have to go back a quarter century, to Art Monk in 1980, for a high-drafted Washington receiver who played well.

Cheer-babes note: The Washington Redskins Cheerleaders, no longer the Redskinettes, also are threatening to break into the league's aesthetic elite. Depending on how the team's season goes, this could be the most important developing story at FedExField.

ouch.