Kill The Kicker

Well, then. That sure felt great!

We cut our stupid, bootlicking, chippie-shanking, idiot of a kicker.

Then, promptly got another one.

Aren't we smart?

Look, I don't want to sound like Shaun Suisham's personal defense attorney. I know that he missed a short one in Dallas, along with a 51 yarder after that. And the 23 yard GACK! against the Saints was truly horrific.

But let's just look at this rationally. Did we upgrade at that position with this move?

No.

Simply, no. We took out a guy who had been perfect this year until the Dallas game, and replaced him with a dude fresh out of the 4-team punchline league UFL.

Here's a better question. If the Redskins were 6-6 right now, would you really cut Suisham out of spite?

I wouldn't.

Even if this guy Graham Gano proves perfect in the short term, I would feel much better with a 3 year NFL veteran who has missed a few as of late.

Plus, how come nobody wants to hang the bulk of the blame on Jim Zorn's constant and inexplicable timidity? Or the fact that LaRon Landry made TWO mistakes of roughly the same egregiousness, and it cost the Skins 14 POINTS!

Zorn runs Rock Cartwright three times on 1st and goal at the 4 yard line. He only manages to force the Saints to call ONE of their final two timeouts, and he STILL doesn't center the football between the hashes.

But screw all that! Let's FIRE THE KICKER! Yeaaahhhhhhh!!!!

Anybody can do this. It takes no particular skill. And it feels good for about an hour. But does it make sense?

Not to me.

Like A Lion Taking Down A Wildebeast!

I mentioned a while back, a few totally "awwwwsssoommmeeeee" highlights. Well, I got many requests for posted video, and I finally got off my lazy ass to find them. So enjoy.

From the NFL, I was all Lady Ga-Ga over a sack by the Chiefs Derrick Johnson of Big Ben. Johnson hurdles Mwelde Moore, and then latches on without letting go like a lion on the back of a wildebeast. Sadly, I believe the play was called back due to a penalty. Boo.

Click here for the NFL Films video of the whole game, then fast forward to 4:55 in. You'll see it there. If somebody has a YouTube embeddable hi-lite of this play, shoot it my way.

Then this one is super-frosh-stud Ryan Williams of Virginia Tech. This kid racked up 1,538 yards on the ground with 19 - NINETEEN! - touchdowns. All that, plus check out him dogsledding a hapless defender almost 10 yards into the end zone.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The NFL Pro Bowl allows fans to vote. This is a good thing. Because even though many fans are just as biased and myopic as writers, at least you can make a ballot of guys who you think deserve the nod.

That said, let's once and for all stop putting so much stock into making the Pro Bowl as any kind of "indicator" of a player's talent. "Oh, well, he's a 3-time Pro Bowler!" Well, la-di-da! Here's why.

London Fletcher is a one-man wrecking crew for my Redskins. He's awesome. A sideline to sideline, hole-crushing middle linebacker. He leads the DECADE in the NFL in tackling, can run with not just TE's downfield, but even WR's, and he hasn't missed a start in 188 consecutive games! Aside from kickers and specialists, it's the 3rd longest current streak in the league!

London Fletcher has never made the Pro Bowl.

Yeah, makes sense. So let's not throw around "Pro Bowls" as any kind of metric for excellence. It's a nice bonus for the player. But that's about it.

Turn Out the Lights....

To all of my listeners at Fox Sports Radio, I wanted to let you know that come the end of the month I will be parting on good terms with the network. I have had a great 7 year run and appreciate the opportunity to have been such a part of everyone's radio life.

If anybody would like to listen to my local show here in DC, you may do so at www.espn980.com. As always, you can get plenty of daily thoughts and musings from me and the boys at www.czabe.com.

And yeah, I've broken down and actually started a Facebook page where I will live and breathe and update from time to time. ("Steve's current mood is 'Grumpy.'")

To everyone that has reached out to express your thoughts and best wishes, thank you very much. It means the world to us.

To Scott and Solly, my faithful radio warriors, it has been a distinct privilege to work with you guys for all these years. I will have you on any radio show I ever host, from now until eternity.

Here's to a great 2010 and beyond.

Sincerely,
Steve