As the Lions demonstrate weekly, having 11 guys on the field while the other team has the ball is not equivalent to having a defense. That’s how.
Coaching gaffes this week:
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Dickie J in CHI - kneel on 4th with time on the clock? What is that about?
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Siefert - Look, once and for all, stop looking at the little chart that says when to go for 2. You look at that chart with 2 minutes left, otherwise you kick the PAT. Up by 5 and go for 2 - miss it - kick a FG later and you’re up by 8, still within one score to tie. Kick the PAT, hit a FG and you’re up by 9. Game over. (This guy must have gone to the Gunther Cunningham school of two-point conversion calls.)
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Mora - If you’re going to run a play that is intended to fake everyone out, let the refs know ahead of time. Don’t be surprised if it fakes them out too.
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Sherman in GB - When the opposing team is on 4th down with 40 seconds left in the half and their options are punt, a 57 yard FG try, or a hail mary - use one of your timeouts so you get the ball back with 30 seconds and a time out no matter the outcome. Also, tell your QB that geting into FG position when the score is 20-23 is good enough for now.
Other notes-
-If Peerless Price has to be tried by a jury, who do you get?
-Which QB will be the Texans starter next year? VanPelt, Rob Johnson, Brady, Bledsoe, Flutie? Fiedler?
-How does a QB break pretty much every single game passing record for a team as old as the Lions and they lose?
-I swear I could hear a collective fantasy football sigh when Faulk went back in the game after grabbing his knee.
-Randy Moss is a punk, plain and simple. I hope Culpepper tosses him into the stands with a flick of the wrist at some point.
-Jamal Lewis gets a 4-game suspension while injured. How does that hurt him or the team? He’s on IR, it should be 4 games after he’s activated.
-The Steelers will see how important Bruener is to the running game now that he’s out for the season.
-Jay Fiedler threw 2 TD passes, I think I should get the points. So what if he threw them to the Jets!
BTW, Pathon is out for the year too, and with Reggie Wayne hurt, Wilkins makes a nice pickup if you’re looking for a WR.
Why not Dilfer?
Coming soon: “NFL Predictions - Week 11: The Redskins return to Earth. :)”
‘return to Earth’??
Have you seen the Redskins’ last three wins? There wasn’t anything flukey about any of them. Especially not the Denver game. I only got back into town in time to see the second half, but for those last thirty minutes, in the rain and snow of Mile High Stadium, the Redskins owned the Broncos.
The Redskins may have sucked early on, but that’s history now. Right now, they’re one of the more fundamentally sound teams in the game. A team built around Stephen Davis on offense, and LaVar Arrington on defense, will win games in a way that would make Vince Lombardi happy. They can’t ‘return to earth’, because, to paraphrase the Eagles, they’re already standing on the ground.
I’m as surprised by the completeness of their turnaround as anyone - but it’s the real thing.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll win next week in Philadelphia - the Eagles are a pretty fair team themselves, and the Redskins are rightly underdogs against your Eagles on their field - but, Michael, if you’re interested in a small wager on the game, let me know. 
Just wanted to jump in and say its glad to be back to read this stuff again. I’ve been in Europe for the last 3 weekends and made all my picks in a rush without any real research of weather and injuries. Oddly enough, I didn’t really get worse going either 2-3 or 3-2 each time.
Not that anyone is really hanging on my words or anything, but I’ll be kicking back in with my cocky prognosication and subsequent bitching about not winning the pick-5 pool for the remainder of the season.
A brief sidenote, the Fantasy Team I’m playing with (I won’t call it “mine” since I didn’t get to draft my players due to a schedule conflict, and the computer did a pretty crappy job of it. I’ve got exactly 4 of my draft choices left on my roster, everything else was a early season free agent move.) has rattled off 5 straight wins, mostly without any roster moves on my part. All I did was bench guys with bye weeks and let it run on autopilot. I’d say thats pretty good coming of a 4 game losing streak and playing the top half of the league.
Are we doing Week 11 tommorrow considering the two Turkey Day games. (how apt, given that Detroit and Dallas are hosting)
I plan on doing my thing tomorrow. I usually wait until Gazoo gets the thread going. If I don’t see one by around midday tomorrow I’ll start with my thoughts.
Query by Gazoo:
I’m leaning on Bledsoe after the news that Brady will start for the season, and that he would have to re-earn the starting job this summer. I can’t imagine any GM in his right mind drafting Fielder. Who wants a guy who gives opposing teams a 14 point headstart?
Omniscient I’m mostly done now. I’m waiting to see if any of the spreads are gonna change overnight, but I’ll be ready when you are Gazoo starts it.
I’ll post Week 11 around noon central time Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll keep the chicken salad off the keyboard.
stuffinb - Bledsoe is an interesting one for the Texans. It helps the Patriots tons as they get out from his contract, but it weighs the Texans down right away with a huge piece of the cap.
Dilfer’s not a bad guess. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the fans finally win over in Buffalo and run Rob Johnson out of town. Jeff Blake’s another possible one.
I’d rank it:
1- Rob Johnson
2- Jeff Blake
3- Trent Dilfer
4- Drew Bledsoe
5- Doug Flutie
Can I play?
If so what are the basics?
GreatKingRat, later today I’ll post my picks for all this week’s games, then my 5 best against the spread and my one “sure thing” straight up. Then everyone pipes in with their picks and commentary. It’s a blast. Feel free to join us.
Yes, I’ve seen some/most of them. IIRC, they beat the Giants, Seahawks, and Denver. The Giants are very hit and miss, fortunately they’re missing when I want them to; the Seahawks are an average team, at best, and the game Alexander had against the Raiders was a fluke; finally, the wheels are coming off in Denver, if Griese has no one to throw it to, they have no way to win (especially with TD out hurt, Anderson’s not enough). So, yes, the Redskins are better, right now, than the Cowboys, the Lions, the Panthers, and maybe even the Cardinals, too. But, they’re not in the same class as Oakland, St. Louis, Green Bay, Chicago (although I expect those wheels to fall off any week now), and especially Philadelphia.
I don’t think so. The veterans still hate Marty, and I bet they’re winning to spite him, not because of him. That sort of relationship can’t last long.
I guess we’ll find out Sunday, eh?
I’m always interested in making an Eagles/Skins game more interesting. How about a beverage, of the winner’s choice, at the next publically held Dopefest?
Too bad I’ve already used the Eagles as my “sure win” here; I’d gladly do it again.
RT, whatever you do, don’t bet Montfort to use a lower case “M” in his name for a week if he loses. He welches on that one.
Hee, hee. [Big-ass grinny face here.]
IOW, the Redskins are convincingly beating the average teams; that indicates that they’re, well, above average.
You mean the same Anderson who gained 1500 yards last year? Whatever. At any rate, due to the altitude if nothing else, the Broncos have always had one of the biggest home field advantages in the league, which the Redskins overcame. The Broncos were 4-1 at home before Sunday.
You’re right, the Redskins can’t lay claim to being one of the half-dozen best teams in the NFL. BFD. My point was, they hadn’t been playing above their heads in beating the teams they’d beaten; they are every bit as good as those wins indicate. That isn’t a claim that they’re on a par with the Packers, Rams, Steelers, or Raiders. But I don’t think they’ll embarrass themselves against the Eagles, Bears, and Saints.
Are they one of the dozen best teams in football right now? Yeppers. Are they getting better? Affirmative to that, too.
You think? My observation and experience has been that athletes tend to buy in to success.
We will indeed. This is, IMO, the toughest game remaining on the Redskins’ schedule - I think you’re right about the Bears - because the Eagles have an outstanding pass rush/defense, and McNabb is a very intelligent and talented QB. This game, win or lose, will be a good benchmark of their progress.
You’re on. 
Montfort, you owe me a drink.
Damn, that was absolutely brutal football!
Humble pie humbly eaten.
Brutal, as in “god, this is ugly?” or as in “damn, these Redskins are really for real?”; or, perhaps as in “the Eagles had an off-day, again?”
Brutal, as in “both those defenses hit.” I mean, it may have been overlooked in the aftermath, but the Eagles’ defense shut the Redskins’ offense down for most of the second half, and they weren’t exactly AWOL the rest of the game, either.
My team won, but I’m sure glad they get a couple weeks of R&R against the Cowboys and Cardinals before they play the Eagles again. If the 'Skins and Iggles played each other in consecutive weeks, nobody on either team would be able to get out of bed the week after, everyone would be so sore.