Things that lead me to believe I could be a professional football writer...

[BrudLee]

Found on ESPN.com's site this week:

• X-factor: For a second consecutive week, Washington's regular cycle will be disrupted, since the Redskins play a second straight Saturday contest. Plus, the Redskins will have to make a long flight to the Pacific Northwest, never an easy trip. Seattle won all eight games this season at Qwest Field and the Seahawks are now 24-10 at home since the stadium opened in 2002. The home field, from a scoring standout, has been worth about a touchdown more per game for the Seahawks. Seattle lost its only playoff game at Qwest Field, losing last year to the Rams.

First of all, the cycle will actually be back to normal. After playing on Saturday, the team will have seven days until its next game. Not a short week, not a long week, a week.

Secondly, trips west have nothing on trips east. When the Redskins take the field on Saturday, they'll be playing at 1:30 pm Eastern time - approximately when they played most of their games this year. However, the Seahawks played their game in FedEx at 10:00 am Pacific time, and that's disruptive.

The vaunted Seahawks home field advantage is a little tricky as well. They played 6 of their eight home games against non-playoff teams (Houston, Atlanta, and Dallas being the non-division games), with the two playoff contenders being the Giants and the Colts (who were playing a meaningless game just after their head coach's son had killed himself, which micht be distracting). In contrast, they lost meaningful games away to the Jaguars, and the (bum, bum, BUM!) Redskins while away.

• Rx factor (health): Washington -- Lost starting left defensive end Renaldo Wynn to a broken right forearm on Saturday and his steadiness as an excellent two-way player will be missed. Cornerback Shawn Springs missed the wild-card game with a hamstring strain and might still be gimpy. The Redskins, of course, will be without right guard Randy Thomas, who suffered a broken leg last month.
Seattle -- A pair of cornerbacks, Marcus Trufant (back) and Andre Dyson (ankle), have been slowed by nagging injuries. And linebacker D.D. Lewis (knee) is also less than 100 percent.

"Two-way player"? Renaldo Wynn didn't take any snaps on the offense, so perhaps there's another definition for that phrase that I don't know about. As for the Seahawks, if "slowed by nagging injuries" means "out", then yes, Trufant and Dyson have been slowed by nagging injuries. They both missed the final game of the season.

[Redskins_P]

No one is giving us a chance this weekend, and I love it.

If we beat the Seahawks, then we won't have a chance against Carolina/Chicago. Thats fine with me. Let everyone sleep on us.

[FRPLG]

Just about everything Pastabelly, Peter King and Dr. Z write lead me to think I could be major syndicated sports journalist. In fact their worthy prose makes me think a retarded monkey with feces in his hair could do the job pretty well. What I wonder sometimes is how Nunyo DeMasio breathes without a brain. Don't you need one to function? I am pretty sure I learned that in Biology class.

[Carnage]

I think by two-way player he means pass rush and run stuffing, but still,, pretty weak. I feel like a lot of the guys writing about us haven't gotten to know us very well.

[hurrykaine]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

Just about everything Pastabelly, Peter King and Dr. Z write lead me to think I could be major syndicated sports journalist. In fact their worthy prose makes me think a retarded monkey with feces in his hair could do the job pretty well. What I wonder sometimes is how Nunyo DeMasio breathes without a brain. Don't you need one to function? I am pretty sure I learned that in Biology class.

Surprisingly, Peter King and Dr Z have actually come around, with King predicting a tough match for Seattle next week. That leaves Pasta, Don Banks, and almost every other analyst in the country against us.

It'll be interesting to see what Maske picks. He's got a decent "pick em" record for the year.

[FRPLG]

Yeah because Wynn had all those crazy stat numbers this year! He is a big time pass rushing threat like I am a threat to take an INT to the house. Wynn was an emotional leader and a good run stopper. We'll miss the emotional leader part and Williams will do his best to replace the run stopper but we didn't lose much in the pass rushing dept.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by hurrykaine

Surprisingly, Peter King and Dr Z have actually come around, with King predicting a tough match for Seattle next week. That leaves Pasta, Don Banks, and almost every other analyst in the country against us.

It'll be interesting to see what Maske picks. He's got a decent "pick em" record for the year.

They get no credit for "coming around" after we make the playoffs and win a bit. They suck in general. King writes the most vapid ridiculous crap in history and he keeps Art Monk out of the HoF. He is shameful and an embarassment to writers the world over.

[scowan]

These guys are all a joke! No body knows our Skins like those of us who come to this website know our Skins. We are the ones that have watched every game from beginning to end and know the playcalling tendences, the end the outs, the emotion the comradary and so forth of our team. I care a lot more about the opinions of the guys on this site more than any so called national sports writer! It will be a tough game, yes, but the Skins have a shot against any opponent left in my opinion, and these guys that don't understand how the Skins got where they are, don't know our team!

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Originally Posted by BrudLee

"Two-way player"? Renaldo Wynn didn't take any snaps on the offense, so perhaps there's another definition for that phrase that I don't know about.

I used to call myself a two-way player in high school and they wouldn't let me back in the showers anymore.

[dmek25]

ha ha the old front door back door trick.heh?

[irish]

So go ahead and become one. Whats stopping you?

[BrudLee]

Originally Posted by irish

So go ahead and become one. Whats stopping you?

Apparently, in order to get paid, someone has to pay you.

[steveo395]

Originally Posted by BrudLee

Secondly, trips west have nothing on trips east. When the Redskins take the field on Saturday, they'll be playing at 1:30 pm Eastern time - approximately when they played most of their games this year. However, the Seahawks played their game in FedEx at 10:00 am Pacific time, and that's disruptive.

they're playing at 4:30 eastern, 1:30 pacific on saturday

[BrudLee]

Originally Posted by steveo395

they're playing at 4:30 eastern, 1:30 pacific on saturday

Yet another reason I can't get paid.

Still, the point is that it's easier to play three hours later than normal than three hours earlier.

[Master4Caster]

These guys might illuminate rather than regurgitate easy numbers.

They COULD point out that:

• Washington, Chicago and Seattle are all 10-2 in the NFC
• Washington and Chicago were 5-1 in their division, while Seattle was 6-0
• the Redskins of the last five regular season games are different than of the first twelve games and then run the numbers to show why.
• The Redskins are on a mission having won its last six. At some point, this ceases to be a fluke.
• The Redskins don't need no offense, apparently. Mark Brunell throws for 41 yards and wins. Tiki Barber rushes for 41 yards and loses. The Bucs held the Redskins to 120 yards offense and still lost. The Bucs offense out gained the Redskins and still lost. By themselves, stats don't mean anything.

Does Joe Gibbs have to win the Super Bowl again before someone suspects his influence? :frusty: