"Deservin' Ain't Got Nuthin' To Do With It!"

God bless dumb luck.

Or maybe, we “made our own luck” last night against the Cowboys. I could care less. It felt, G-R-E-A-T! Just to see Bill Parcells’ dyspeptic look as Santana Moss ran free for the second time in just 3 plays (THREE PLAYS!) against his shellshocked secondary is a look that will be burned in my gleeful Redskin memory.

It will be hard to find a more improbably Redskin win in history, and one that was less “deserved.” But as Clint Eastwood once said in some movie (I think): “Deservin’ ain’t got nothing to do with it.”

Here’s something to chew on. Until 4th and 15 with 3:55 left in the game, the Redskins were doomed to a 13-0 shutout, with an offense that teetered between shameful and pathetic. Without Brunell’s two miracle throws (essentially, they were “double hail-mary’s”) he would have finished 18-32, with 181 yards and 1 INT. The critics would have feasted like crows on roadkill. All the questions about Brunell’s arm would be in play. But not now.

So, in essence, two plays have turned Redskinland from misery to joy. This not logical, and we know it. Our football team is literally no better – on a rational level – than it was prior to 3:55 on the clock last night.

But football – and sports – can have a funny way of hinging on certain moments, certain plays, certain rips in the fabric of the time-space-continuum. Could this win, allow Joe Gibbs to finally open up the offense, throw it deep to our two burners more often, and seize the moment of an improbable – yes, lucky – 2-0 start?

Maybe. Maybe not. That’s what will be fun to watch. As a reference point, the Redskins were well on their way to an 0-6 start under Marty Schottenheimer when Levar Arrington returned an INT some 50+ yards for a TD. The Skins rallied to win that day. They went 5-5 after being 0-5. They finished winning 8 of their last 11. That was a glimpse of season changing mojo in football. It could happen again.

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Here’s why I would be utterly outraged as a Cowboy fan today. Go back and watch the three biggest plays of this game for the Skins (hell, the ONLY three plays we actually made on offense). They are the a) Brunell scramble on third and 27 for 24 yards. B) Moss TD #1 on 4th and 15. C) Moss TD #2 on 2nd and 10. Notice anything similar about all three plays? Yep. The Cowboys only rushed four men. That’s it. Not a single blitz on any of those plays. That’s the prevent boys and girls, and it almost never fails to PREVENT a team from closing out games with authority. How the hell is 3rd and 27 and 4th and 15 NOT blitzing downs? Oh yeah, Parcells, like most coaches, fell for the false security blanked of a nice soft triple-deep zone. And Moss ran right through it. Twice. It won’t be the last time you see it this year in the NFL. It will happen many times. Just watch.

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Ten Things I KNOW, I Know About the NFL

1. Chad Pennington’s career as a front-line NFL starter will be in serious trouble if his current velocity on passes does not improve. I know he didn’t come into the league wit a gun, but right now it is a pea-shooter. Just watching the throws on TV this week, and you could see it. Sure, he was 7-7 on the game winning drive. But he was ordinary at best the rest of the day. Having a gun does not make you a great QB by default (see Leaf, Ryan) but there is a certain league minimum that you need to have in order for even simple 7-yard out routes to work. I’d be very concerned if I’m a Jet fan.

2. Sterling Sharpe was actually pretty good with Tirico on Sunday night, which shocked me because he’s a legendary dickhead according to those who have worked with him in television. What was great to hear, was the ESPN broadcast BREATHE just a bit, with unused air between plays. Patrick, Thiesmann, Maguire just ASSAULT the viewer with babble from the end of the tackle, to the following snap.

3. That being said, Suzy Kolber is getting worse, which I did not think was possible. Her pinched-vocal-cord semi-monologues have never served up any real info to sports fans, but her forced hype is now totally insufferable. She ain’t getting any better looking either.

4. The Saints had a false start and had to call timeout in the opening drive of their “home” game against the Giants on Monday night due to noise. Remember, the Commissioner said that “any advantage is inconsequential” in this circumstance. Sure.

5. No matter how hard some in the media might try, the Saints are NOT the new “America’s Team.” They are the same group of knuckleheaded underachievers with a slightly unhinged head coach as they were before. They just don’t have a home stadium at the moment. Insensitive, I know.

6. The Broncos had the most idiotic penalty of recent memory, when a punt return for a TD was taken off the board, because players danced off the sideline well behind the play as he was running to paydirt. On the one hand, you say: “come, ON!” On the other hand, it IS a rule. Either take the rule out, write a clause that says “judgement of ref” or stay on the chalk.

7. I might be wrong about Randy Moss NOT being missed by the Vikes. Might. But right now the o-line is so dysfunctional, it’s hard to make a real judgement. If they can at least get some running game going, things could look a helluvalot better for Culpepper in the pocket.

8. Whatever play the Chargers used to score LT on, should be used more often by more teams. It’s where the QB pitch-flips with his off-hand to the tailback who runs to the weak or “naked” side of a run formation. Usually, it’s all open space.

9. CBS has done a great job putting the “out of town” on-screen scores along the bottom, with a rolling script that shows lots-o-lots of fantasy numbers. How come when all networks show what are called “highlight panels” in the TV biz (you know, score screens that cover the entire screen) they only show like ONE TD detail for each team, even though they might have scored 38 points. How hard is it for these “panels” to be mini-box scores that at least show ALL TD’s per team? We’ll figure out FG’s on our own.

10. Best line of the week came from Jim Haslett, when an ESPN reporter asked him how he “felt” looking at the painted “Saints” logo in the Meadowlands end zone. Said Haslett, trying to contain his disdain for such a stupid set-up question simply deadpanned: “They should have saved their money.” Priceless. What I WISH Haslett had said? “It makes me feel like Tagliabue is a two-faced, insincere, fraud.” Oh well.

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Interesting angle from John Hinderaker of the Orlando Sentinel…

We are conducting an experiment never before seen, as far as I know, in the history of the human race. We are trying to fight a war under the auspices of a media establishment that is determined -- to put the most charitable face on it -- to emphasize American casualties over all other information about the war.

That's right: All through the years when hardly anyone was paying attention, soldiers, sailors and Marines were dying in accidents, training and otherwise, at nearly twice the rate of combat deaths in Iraq from the start of the war in 2003 to the present.

REACT: This needs to further comment I think. It makes the point quite well. Being a soldier is indeed, a dangerous service to our country. I thank God for everyone in our armed forces no matter where they are, or what they do. Thank you. God bless. Stay safe. America is proud of you.

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What’s up with Sam Ryan? She had too much warpaint on last night, and seemed very nervous to be on the big stage, instead of the WAC over-nighter on ESPN4. Not ready for Primetime, maybe not ever. Give me Erin Andrews, any day of the week.