Posted on September 19th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Fans of the Washington NFL team can breathe a bit easier with 0-16 off the table.
Joyful outcomes might be few this year, but at least the Skins prevailed in their first “must-win” game. Thoughts of whiffing against the Los Angeles Rams, with Oakland and Kansas City up next, cast a pall over the season entering Week 2.
Instead, Washington proved it can win (27-20) by running the ball and playing defense. The Rams were gouged for 229 rushing yards while Kirk Cousins passed for a meager 179. Coach Jay Gruden channeled former Rams coach “Ground Chuck” Knox, calling for 36 handoffs.
“It’s important,” Gruden told reporters about pounding the football. “It keeps your defense fresh, you’re possessing the ball and the linemen love it. They have more fun doing that than pass protecting all day against Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn and those guys. We had a lot of success and the backs liked it. The receivers will eventually get to like it because it’ll open up a lot of play action and shock plays for us.”
So we learned something new about this team. But looking around the country, we learned something else in the season’s second week:
If the Skins are destined to produce mostly bad football, they’re going to have lots of company.
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Posted on September 15th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin was determined to represent Russia in the 2018 Winter Olympics, despite the NHL’s decision to prohibit players from participating. Capitals owner Ted Leonsis had indicated he would support his superstar’s desire, even at the risk of being punished by the league.
But Ovechkin has resigned himself to staying put in February as the PyeongChang Games proceed without NHL players, ending a streak of five consecutive Olympiads. After complaining in a statement Thursday that “it sucks we will not be there to play,” Ovechkin had soothing words for the man who writes his checks and the fans who support his team.
“My focus as it always is this time of year is on my other dream as a kid, to try to win the Stanley Cup,” he said. “I am excited training camp has started in Washington and the time for talking is done. … I will try my hardest to help my teammates win like I do every year since I came to the NHL.”
He’s right; the situation does suck. For the players who love lacing up for country. For the youngsters who look up to the stars. For the hockey fans who want their sport’s best on the Olympic stage.
It also sucks for the NHL and the International Olympic Committee, but they brought it on themselves. Finding two organizations less worthy of sympathy would be difficult.
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Posted on September 14th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
His name is Ezekiel Elliott. Her name is Tiffany Thompson.
One might have victimized the other, through heinous deeds or defamatory words.
But both have been victimized by the NFL.
While many fans are ready for some football, the league can’t get out of its way. Once again, commissioner Roger Goodell has performed more like a henchman and the NFL is being dragged as a result. His interpretation of “protect the shield” seems to be “test the shield,” seeing how much outrage it can invoke and withstand.
In the Cowboys’ season-opening victory against the Giants, Elliott rushed for 104 yards and caught a career-high five passes for 36 yards. He clearly will be the focal point for as long as he’s available. His image will flash across TV screens hundreds of times per week.
If his denials are true and he really didn’t commit domestic abuse against Thompson in July 2016, many viewers still view him as guilty based on the NFL’s attempted six-game suspension. The damage to his reputation, wobbly already, won’t be repaired easily or quickly.
But if Thompson is telling the truth – which the NFL apparently believes – she probably dies a little whenever she sees him. And a little bit more every time folks in the court of public opinion call her a liar.
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Posted on September 12th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Oakland’s long goodbye begins Sunday with the Raiders’ home-opener against the New York Jets.
Fans of the Silver and Black who grew up admiring the wild owner, Al “Just Win, Baby” Davis, are counting down the home games until their team departs for Las Vegas. After next season, the rabid followers with their spikes, skulls and garish face paint no longer will flock to the Black Hole. The Oakland Alameda Coliseum, a dump that rivals RFK Stadium in decrepitness, will go dark on NFL Sundays.
Raiders fans might mourn but the city of Oakland should rejoice.
Residents of Clark County (Nev.) are the folks who should be crying. They’re contributing $750 million to the Raiders new arena, a record amount for a sports facility. The funds, which amount to about $354 per resident, will be taken from an increased tax on hotel rooms that currently pays for schools and transportation, among other things.
We can be selfish as sports fans, closing our eyes to the absurdity of giving millions to fund billionaires’ playpens. We can buy into the inflated malarkey about stadiums’ economic impact, even though NFL facilities have the weakest argument with a measly 10 games per season. We can talk about the sense of community that sports teams spark in a unique way.
But you know what they can’t do in Clark County now that the Raiders are coming?
They can’t improve their schools and transportation, among other things, with the $750 million that’s going toward a $2 billion stadium.
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Posted on September 11th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
LANDOVER – The 2017 NFL season has begun and Washington’s fans at FedEx Field witnessed a time warp. Fifteen games remain but Sunday felt like 2016 all over again.
Plagued by the same problems. Irritated by the same issues. Contorted by the same concerns.
There were new faces and new names, but too much of the same-old, same-old.
Get on the good foot by winning your season opener? Nope. Get in the end zone when points are there for the taking? Uh-uh. Get off the field when you need crucial stops on third down? Negative.
The Philadelphia Eagles were demonstrably better than Washington in a 30-17 victory, but the game was closer than the score indicates. This was another case of woulda-coulda-shoulda, which the Skins do better than anyone.
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Posted on September 8th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
One side of the ball must be considered the weak link, the group that deceases your odds of victory each week. It’s a natural law of football. Even teams with a middle-of-the-pack offense and defense are perceived to have one that’s worse than the other.
There was no confusion in Washington last season. The unit with the NFL’s sixth-best quarterback (ESPN rating), two 1,000-yard receivers and a Pro Bowl-tight end wasn’t the side that opponents preferred facing.
Makes sense. Foes would much rather confront a defense that was ranked 28th overall and allowed a league-worst third-down conversion rate (46.6). Third-and-short, third-and-long, third-and-forever … it didn’t matter. Move the chains!
Washington’s defenders really, really loved to play football; they didn’t want to get off the field.
The scales haven’t shifted entering this season. Quarterback Kirk Cousins & Co. are expected to do the heavy lifting again. Their success or lack thereof will go a long way in determining the team’s fortune.
The Skins don’t have to go wild like the St. Louis “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams of 1999-2001. But the offense can’t afford to mirror the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, either. They won the Super Bowl but ranked 18th in points and 24th in yards.
If the Skins produce at a similar subpar rate, we’re in for a long season and low win total.
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Posted on September 7th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
“I think he has got four weeks really to try to get his life in order, on and off the field, and figure out where his priorities are and what he wants to do” – Skins coach Jay Gruden on safety Su’a Cravens.
It’s down to three weeks now. That’s how much time remains before Cravens must decide whether he has another season of football in him.
Does he really want to put his body through all that pain and suffering? Does he honestly want to subject his brain to more of those jarring collisions with his skull? Is he truly at peace with the inherent risk of debilitating conditions later in life?
We don’t know for certain what led to Cravens’ attempted retirement. Maybe it’s something physical. But it also could be something mental or emotional, just as real. Whatever the case, the Skins didn’t accept his resignation. Whether the team was sensitive or self-centered is debatable, though I lean toward my colleague Thom Loverro in concluding it was the latter.
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Posted on September 5th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Sacrificial lambs’ odds of survival are better than those Maryland and Howard faced Saturday when they ventured to Texas and Las Vegas, respectively.
The Longhorns were unveiling hotshot new coach, Tom Herman, hired to lead Texas back to its presumed rightful place among college football royalty. Herman’s scintillating two seasons at Houston (22-4) made him the sport’s most sought-after up-and-comer before he departed for Austin.
The Rebels were kicking off the second year of a deal with the Las Vegas visitors bureau, in which the season opens against an HBCU foe. Opponents are encouraged to bring the band and cheerleaders for in-town promotional activities. Last year’s arrangement worked out swell, as UNLV routed Jackson State, 63-13.
Maryland and Howard were expected to play their dutiful roles as subservient dance partners – always following, never leading – providing little resistance and less of a threat before returning home with a loss (and in Howard’s case, a check for $600,000). Texas was favored by 18-1/2 points, UNLV by a whopping 45.
Who knew?
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Posted on September 1st, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
We’ll never know how the 2017 Washington Nationals would’ve fared with the fortune of good health.
Their big offseason acquisition, Adam Eaton, failed to survive April before going down with a season-ending knee injury, a sign of things to come. Key cogs Trea Turner and Jayson Werth returned this week after being out since June. Emerging outfielder Michael Taylor was unavailable from early July through mid-August. Various relievers have spent time on the disabled list (though the bullpen often seemed disabled when fully healthy).
Yet, here we are, with Washington enjoying a 15-game lead in the National League East as the calendar flips to September.
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Posted on August 31st, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Maybe you’ve heard the expression. Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.
The NFL version has a slight twist.
Quarterbacks get paid and … end of story.
Team president Bruce Allen last month insulted everyone’s intelligence – including his QB – by insisting that Washington offered Kirk Cousins “the highest fully guaranteed amount upon signing for a quarterback in NFL history ($53 million). Allen went on say the terms Cousins rejected “would have made him at least the second highest-paid player by average per year in NFL history.”
Allen’s statement wasn’t simply in poor taste, revealing specifics of a failed negotiation for a player still under contract. It was misleading, too, passing off money already committed to Cousins as part of the $53 million. Essentially, the Skins gave him an opportunity to sign for significantly less than he’ll likely command next year. What a deal!
Elsewhere, quarterback Matthew Stafford signed a five-year extension to remain with the Lions and Derek Carr re-upped for five years with the Raiders.
Your team is officially pathetic when Detroit and Oakland provide better examples of how to conduct business.
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