Of course I want a 'Skins victory on Sunday. 

But I'm actually glad we barely got by the Rams. And I'm hoping we do only slightly better against Detroit.

Why? 

Because the alternative would have hamstrung this team. 

If the 'Skins had won by three touchdowns this past week, all would be rosy in DC. Headlines would read, SKINS ARE BACK or OFFENSE SHINES—ZORN OFF THE HOT SEAT. 

Which would be a mistake. 

Two things that are always true in the NFL:

1. Preseason doesn't really allow you to truly prepare for regular season games; and
2. Non-elite teams that make the playoffs historically do so by getting some momentum going mid-season and then peak in December.

We have been blessed with a soft schedule for the next month. Don't get me wrong, on "any given Sunday" as it is said, any team in the NFL can win, even the Lions; the 'Skins can't cakewalk through this month. 

But they can afford to make a few mistakes against the Lions, Bucs, Panthers, and Chiefs. These are four teams that are currently winless, all of them giving up around 30 points per game.

I'm really not worried about our D. They're looking like they'll be top-5 again, and there are no major questions there (although the cornerback situation, as mentioned by KevinE, is cause for concern).  

I, like Redskins fans everyhwere, am worried about the offense. When will all these superior parts be assembled and tweaked to make a Ferrari instead of a Ford Pinto?

That's Zorn's task this next month—to develop the offense into a major threat. And this is important—as long as he gets the Ws, I don't care how crappy the team looks. I only care about one thing: that they progress from week to week. That they improve. That they get the kinks out. Say what you want, but in a team with as much offseason BS as the 'Skins have had this year, a team in only its second year with an innovative coach, a team that has to polish up its 2nd-year receivers and find a way to take make its O-Line productive, there will be many kinks to work out. 

And it is far, far better that they be worked out now—that Zorn be taking a long look in the mirror, that certain plays be starred as "go-to" plays, and that parts of the playbook get shredded because they are ill-suited to this team—it is far better for all that to happen now than for it to happen in November. Because when we start playing the good teams, we need to have our act together. 

This can be a talented team. There is enough on the roster to make it one. But they aren't yet. And I'd rather they discover how to be one and develop an identity slowly over a period of weeks rather than get all fired up because they just beat St. Louis by 30 points. If that had happened, or if they cream the Lions this week, there's a chance that either Zorn, or the players, will get complacent and think it's "fixed". I don't want them to think it's fixed after one game. I want them to stay hungry until they know, they know from the pains of 3 or 4 difficult weeks, that they have truly jelled. 

So media, and Danny Boy: STFU. Don't fire coaches, don't offer seven different ways to "fix it"; just get the fuck out of the kitchen. You're the reason Zorn is calling option passes to Portis: because he feels he needs to show you some razzle-dazzle in Week 2 instead of finding out, against an inferior team, how well Kelly can run a fade route. 

Here's to four weeks of Redskins victories that I hope will result in them hosting Philadelphia at the end of October with a 5-1 record, but more importantly with a real sense of what they can do.