There is no need for another 1,500 words on how frightening it is to relive this "feeling" early in the season. Don't think for a second I have taken the train to Negativetown on you, either. As I have said before, if the same team that showed up in New Orleans last week shows up in St. Louis this week, the Redskins will win handily. Ay, there's the rub.

There's something inherently insane about the Redskins being favored on the road this early in the season against a team that--at least a few months ago--many were predicting would make a leap forward in 2012.

We simply must force ourselves to remember the way this team marched into more than a few stadiums over the last decade with an ostensible air of unsubstantiated arrogance. The games that we watched on those Sundays were the television equivalent of swallowing an entire bottle of crazy pills.

On one hand, I am extremely willing to believe that this roster is capable of navigating past the Scylla and Charybdis of the early NFL season: Entitlement and Hubris. After all, what better lesson is there for the Redskins that good teams can lose unexpectedly than the New Orleans Saints getting toppled in Week One?

Robert Griffin III appears to be a level-headed player with natural leadership abilities. On defense, I don't think London Fletcher will tolerate anything less than full effort. I can't fathom seeing a guy like Ryan Kerrigan giving anything less than everything he's got. In short, nobody wants to lose.

What past Washington teams seemed to fail at was recreating that hunger on a week-to-week basis. In today's NFL, you have to be ravenous every single play or you will be eaten alive. Lesser teams have dined on burgundy and gold buffets in recent memory.

It is fair to ask ourselves which team is going to show up in Week Two of the 2012 campaign because the answer to that question at varying times throughout our recent history continues to haunt our dreams, like Jane Lynch's character from "The 40-Year Old Virgin."

It is also fair, however, to speculate that there is something different about this team; that there is something that makes this group of guys less susceptible to the failings of past squads; that they understand that past performance does not guarantee future results.

My money continues to be on the Ghost of the Redskins Future. My expectations are set high for the tilt against the Rams. My sanity depends on the fulfillment of those expectations.