Sean Taylor, We Loved You and Already Miss You

I cannot believe that Sean is dead. He was my favorite Redskin, with Mike Sellers coming in a close second. Sean was so young and strong and seemed to have found his happiness and stability with his 18 month old daughter and fiancee.

Sean was exactly what you want a Redskins defender to be: smart, hard hitting and extremely quick on the ball. He went to the Pro Bowl last season, despite the Skins D being ranked 31st overall and Sean having to operate in that dysfunctional D environment.

My favorite Sean moment was in 2005 when we were playing the Cowboys at home in December and I was there and Bledsoe tossed a long pass to Terry Glenn. It was an easy catch and could have been a touchdown. But when Glenn saw the Grim Reaper bearing down on him he put his arms behind his back and let the pass go incomplete to avoid the Taylor tackle. We won that game and went on to the playoffs.

Next season again against Dallas Taylor picked up a field goal block and ran it back far enough that we won that game.

This season Sean was nothing short of brilliant. With the added strength of Landry he caught 5 interceptions, which makes him still #2 in the NFL despite the fact that he missed the past two games.

Sean is leading on the pro bowl selections. Fans, please vote him in. That is the least we can do for this awesome Redskin who fought so hard for out team.

And, also, it is upsetting to hear those media reports,like on NPR this morning, that barely tell you he is dead before linking it to his past behavior. Sean was killed in his bedroom defending his fiancee and infant. He was not at a strip club with an entourage shooting people. We do not know who killed him, or why. I plead for media restraint as we fans and his family and team are devastated by this loss. As the investigation proceeds it might make sense to connect Sean's murder to his past deeds but at this point it is just a tragedy for all of Washington and we will miss you baby.

Another Second Half Meltdown at Green Bay

One has to question to play calling of Al Saunders. The Skins were up and Santana Moss was dropping everything that came his way. Yet Saunders called a gadget play that put Moss, who weighs 185 on a good day, behind the line of scrimmage. A 350 lb GB defensive player knocked him to the ground and Charles Woodson reignited his career by returning the fumble for a TD and winning the game.

Thus ocurred another second half meltdown under Coach Gibbs II. As J la C of the Wash Post has reported: Since ending his retirement in 2004, no NFL coach has lost more times when leading at the half.

Is conditioning an issue for the Skins? Between the second half collapses and endemic groin problems I am wondering.

Pat's Scandal Erased to Save the League

The Pat's won three of the past four Super Bowls by three points or fewer. Their wins were all gained by last-minute field goals. None of those wins were decisive, like the Colts cleaning the clock of the Bears last season.

So it is appropriate to ask whether the Pats' illegal filming of D signals helped them win those Super Bowls. It is obvious that it did, as why on Earth would they videotape, and risk sanctions, if it did not help them win games?

I had hoped that Goodell would have investigated this more fiercely, but he decided to destroy the tapes that Belichick had compiled.

Goodell is being a good businessman, as the revelation that three of the past four Super Bowl wins might have been tainted would potentially destroy the Golden Goose.

Still, I am with Easterbrook:

The situation with the National Football League is a lot worse than people realize, and the only one who seems to grasp this fully is commissioner Roger Goodell. You don't issue emergency orders backed by threats on Sunday morning of a game day, as Goodell just did regarding the New England Patriots' files of cheating information, unless the situation is a lot worse than people realize.

Why is the situation worse than people think? Because the NFL is on the precipice of blowing its status as the country's favorite sport. The whole NFL enterprise is in jeopardy from that single word: cheating. It's the most distasteful word in sports. And now the Patriots have brought the word into the NFL.

Winning Is Not Everything

I never thought I would say that winning is not everything. But in the wake of the Michael Vick dog fighting guilty plea, the Patriots' cheating scandal and the chain-gang that the Cincinnati Bengals are fielding I feel proud to be a Skins fan.

Since Sean Taylor's incidents a couple of years ago we have been scandal-free.

This means a lot to me, honestly. Even if we don't win we are fielding a character team with character coaches.

Philly Fans Don't Deserve Donovan McNabb

Since the 1999 season the Redskins have started eight different quarterbacks and made the playoffs twice. In that same time-frame, Donovan McNabb, whose first season was in 1999, led the Eagles to six playoff appearances, five division championships, four conference championship games and the Super Bowl.

In addition, McNabb is a classy guy and a good role model. What franchise would not want him as their leader?

Philly.

Philly fans boo him the minute he is not perfect. My jaw dropped in amazement last season when McNabb threw a bad pass and the stands at the Linc erupted in boos. At that point, the Skins were still starting Brunell and I thought how wonderful it would be to have McNabb at QB and why on Earth are they booing him.

McNabb was booed by fans when he was picked 2nd overall by the Eagles, which had to be incredibly difficult personally as he was only 21. Yet he retained his dignity and produced big time for the franchise.

Today he is being pilloried for his comments on an HBO show in which he said that African-American quarterbacks are more scrutinized than White ones. There is even talk on ESPN.com that this will be his last season in Philly post those comments.

What McNabb said was not at all confrontational. He honestly answered a question that was posed to him. The reactions of Jason Campbell and Vince Young (and Young took a big Wilbon hit for being honest) countered McNabb's view. But those QB's don't play in Philly. I am not alleging that Philly is racist. To the contrary, I think they are very quick to turn on their quarterbacks and team in general. If McNabb were White they would probably be doing to same stuff. But he is not, and there is a history, however long ago, about football fans not loving African-American QB's and Donovan probably can't get those draft day boos out of his head. If I were Donovan McNabb and shouldered a winning franchise for eight years and heard boos and sensed no fan loyalty that matched my effort and performance I would much more pissed than he is. I am not so classy.

Here in DC we have an awesome new QB we are all behind and he is African-American. He is like the coming of the Messiah. What is sad is that Donovan should have been welcomed equally, or more so, in Philly as his talent and character are excellent. Philly fans did not give Donovan what he deserved. I don't know that it is racial or just bad Philly temperment. If the Skins had a QB who delivered as much as McNabb did I think, and hope, that we would give him respect and the benefit of the doubt.

Here We Go Again

The Skins just traded a draft pick for a disgruntled left guard from the Jets. While this is good in the immediate sense, as Jason Campbell was almost out for season because of an amateur breakdown on his blind side, this trade is one more troubling episode in the Skins' ongoing personelle debacle.

The fact is that the Skins, who have paid so much money in the free agency market, have no back-ups that can play NFL football. So if a starter goes down, the whole cycle starts again:

We traded away another draft pick for another disgruntled player past his prime to patch up another position with no depth because last year we traded away another draft pick for another disgruntled player past his prime to patch up another position with no depth because last year we (repeat this for nine years)

The O-Line last year was great, enabling Ladell Betts to run and catch about 1,600 yards last year. But the Skins let Derrick Dockery go to the Bills as a free agent. This is the latest example of the Skins letting proven veterans go while they pay non Redskins free agents a fortune. I cannot imagine how demoralizing that is to the locker room.

Oh, Already We Have Seen Something Really Ugly

J la C of the Wa Post first alarmed me with his article that pointed out that undrafted free agent Stephon Heyer was the next in line for LT Chris Samuels' position and that Samuels was hurting. OMG.

On the first possession on their preseason debut tonight, with undrafted Heyer playing LT, Campbell was sacked so hard it created a turnover.

If the Redskins general management, oh I forgot they do not have general management, do not appreciate the importance of the LT position then perhaps they should read The Blind Side. Oy vay I think the lack of depth kills this team.

We are only down 3 zip as I sign off and hope for the best.