Spartan Times

Redskins still playing for respect

By Mark Smith

Reporter
   The Washington Redskins are not having the season they would have hoped for. They were having a rough start to the beginning of the season after losing to one of the worst teams in the NFL, the  Detroit Lions. The final score was 14 – 19 Lions.
   Redskins fans knew with a 1 – 2 start to their season and losing to one of the worst teams, they could be in for a long season. But have the Washington Redskins impressed anyone else these last couple of weeks? They look like a premium team, and they should not be taken lightly by any NFL team.  Even though they are already out of the playoffs, they are still fighting for some respect.
   In the beginning of the season, the Redskins started out horribly, and the media jumped all over them. But in the long run, this helped the Redskins get their act together.
   As one of the first changes, they took head coach Jim Zorn’s play calling away from him, with Zorn only making suggestions. But the funny thing is, it seemed to work.
   For instance, the Skins recently played the New Orleans Saints. The Saints were 11-0 coming into this game, and the week before they played the Skins, the Saints played the New England Patriots and demolished them in all aspects of football.
   Whether the Saints took the Skins too lightly or the Skins have just as much talent as the Saints, both teams were in a dog fight a couple of Sundays ago, and neither team                                                                                                                                                                                                                    gave up.  The Redskins were either tied with the Saints or beating them the entire game.
   But in the last minutes of the game, the Redskins were up by 7 and were going for a 23-yard field goal to wrap up the game. But Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham missed the field goal and gave the ball back the Saints, who drove all the way down the field and scored and scored on the 2-point conversion.
   So now the score was 30-30 with the game going into overtime.
   “It was a great game; the Redskins held their own,” said Jake Bailey, associate of liberal arts major.
   In overtime, the Saints called tails but lost the coin toss, so the Redskins got the kickoff (in the NFL, whoever scores first in overtime wins the game). The Skins got the ball and started their drive down the field, but on 2nd Jason Campbell threw a pass to fullback Mike Sellers. He got chopped and flew in the air upside down. When he went to land, the ball came loose and fell out. The Saints recovered the ball.
   The Saints made it look easy: they drove the ball all the way down to the Redskins’ 1-yard line and went for the field goal to end the game, and the Saints kicker nailed it.
   The Saints won a nail biting game and were relieved to get out of Washington still undefeated at 12-0.
   This is not the only close game the Redskins have lost. In the last few minutes of the game, they lost to the Cowboys 6-7, and they also lost to the Eagles 24-27. But the one game they did win was against the undefeated Broncos at the time. The Redskins won 27-17.
   “The Redskins really look like a good quality team, but their record doesn’t back them up on it, so it’s hard to say,” said Taylor Wyatt, associate of liberal arts major.
   Although the Redskins are 3-9 going into the 14th week of the season, they are a team to be reckoned with, and if any team takes them too lightly the Redskins will make it a game and give them a run for their money.
   Decide for yourself if the Redskins are still playing for respect, and tune into them for the rest of the season.

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