I'm gonna make this short, since they isn't much to say. The team looked bad. Yeah, there was a pass interference call at the end that was missed, but it would have only led to getting the Skins within 10 points.

The picture says it all. (Image from here.)

Yeah, the Giants are good, defending champs and all that. But they didn't play their best game today. Eli looked good, not great. Jacobs looked human. Ward had a good day. The defense looked good (man, Tuck is something else) but there were dropped balls and missed chances. JC wasn't very good.

The Skins defense held the Giants to only 23. They averaged 29.9 coming in (Fox did a great job pointing out that the most the Skins have scored all year was 29.) Rogers had another bad day and Hall had another INT.

Yeah, Portis was in and out all game. He probably should've taken the end of the game off. There wasn't much running to be done after the Giants got up 2 (and then 3) scores late. But that's not his style. Especially on Sean Taylor day.

Which brings me to my final point: this was Sean Taylor day. Say what you will about his play, his passion, his skill... the guy never gave up. He never went half speed or coasted. He never gave up an extra yard without a fight. He never let a team come in to FedEx and have their way.

And I'm not saying... I'm just saying.

This team is 7-5, 3rd in the division and all the momentum they might have gained early in the season is gone. It's a dog fight just to make the playoffs from this point until the end. I just hope I still have a dog in the fight.

First off, sorry for my absence. I work. A lot. But, like General MacArthur said and Arnold paraphrased, I shall be back. Err, something like that.

Anyway, Training Camp is the place where we finally get to see the team that was put together in the offseason. Draft picks, veteran signings and trade-brought players (word up, Jason Taylor) alike will be together. And, hopefully, everyone remembered their alarm clocks.

So, without further ado... the three biggest camp battles as I see them:

#3. The Cornerback Position. This is going to be interesting. Springs and Smoot are set. Rogers is out for a while. Leigh Torrence filled in pretty well last year (as long as he wasn't covering Randy Moss... apparently that's a bad matchup.) Rookie Justin Tryon is in a great position to step in a be the #3 guy. This could be an important position, especially with Jason Taylor putting pressure on the opposing QB, because there might be more than a few balls thrown early and up for grabs. Tryon is younger and more athletic, Torrence has no learning curve.

Advantage: Torrence early, Tryon before the end of the year.

via media.scout.com

via cache.daylife.com

#2. The Wide Reciever Position. This seems kinda weird to be in the top 3, but the new West Coast offense, especially the variety that new Head Pooba Jim Zorn came from in Seattle, employs 3 and 4 WR sets frequently. If heathy, Moss and ARE are #1 and #2... for now. The interesting part come after those two. Rookies Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas are both the prototypical WR bodies that NFL GMs drool over. They are fighting for the 3rd and 4th spots. Anthony Mix has the 5th spot locked up so no need to even discuss the others (sorry Burl Toler, Billy McMullen, Maurice Mann, Horace Gant, and (regretfully) James Thrash.) James Thrash was a Gibbs guy, through and through. I just don't see him being a Zorn guy.

Advantage: Thomas over Kelly, Mix over the others, Thrash as the #6 guy, if Zorn keeps 6.

via www.nfldraftdog.com

via cache.viewimages.com

#1. The Safety Position. Newcomer Stuart Schweigert and old hand (despite going into his 3rd year) Reed Doughty are fighting it out to see who gets to line up next to LaRon Landry. Schweigert was a part of some very good Oakland defenses under Rex Ryan and has plenty of experience. Doughty stepped up big last year after the death of Sean Taylor and became a fan favorite... at least around these parts.

Advantage: Doughty.

via media3.washingtonpost.com

As I stated in SP's earlier post, the punting "competition" isn't a battle at all. Durant Brooks is the new punter. Get used to it (and better field position.)

As always, hit up the comments. What's your biggest position battle?

Mike Florio, of PFT fame, recently picked six teams he didn't think would return to the playoffs in '08 after successful seasons in 2007 (hat tip: Behind the Steel Curtain).
Your Washington Redskins made the cut, so to speak:

3. Washington Redskins The Redskins rallied late in ‘07, coming together as a cohesive unit after the tragic death of safety Sean Taylor. They unexpectedly qualified for the playoffs, sneaking in as the sixth seed and nearly shocking the Seahawks in the wild-card round.

But then came the unexpected retirement of coach Joe Gibbs, followed by the curious decision to hire Seattle quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn as the offensive coordinator, and then to promote him to head coach. Zorn very well might become a great head coach, but it’s a tall order to expect him to navigate a competitive NFC East and get back to the postseason.

The Redskins would have been wise to give the gig to defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who is now with the Jaguars. In a league where continuity means more than ever before, making the next coach a guy with whom the players were familiar would have been the best way to get a roster that hasn’t seen much offseason overhaul (for a change) back into the playoffs.

Before you react, I think Florio makes his best point earlier on when he said:

So the challenge for those of us who pretend we know more about how a given NFL season will turn out than the average fan is to try to identify the half-dozen teams from the 2007 postseason field that won’t return, and the half-dozen teams that will replace them.

Florio knows a lot more about football than I do, but that doesn't mean he -- or anyone else -- is a prophet when it comes to these kinds of things. The makeup of the league's good and bad teams is a crapshoot, annually. No one can predict with any great certainty what teams will or won't return to the postseason, although it is generally true that around half the field returns.

My initial reaction was to get all angry and dispute the pick but, then again, why should this surprise whatsoever? If the premise of the article is to try and guess which six of twelve '07 playoff teams won't make the '08 playoffs then it shouldn't really surprise that the Redskins are picked. He had to pick 50% of the field for this article and, honestly, the Redskins are an uncontroversial pick. We were, afterall, the last team to limp into the 2007 playoffs. We were wildcard in the NFC with the Giants. We lost to Seattle and they won the NFC West which remains, until the four teams prove differently, a pretty soft division. I wouldn't have picked the Giants not to return (Florio did) as they just won the Super Bowl. Dallas won the division last year. Ditto on Green Bay. We also have a brand new head coach which, correctly or not, casts doubt in the minds of many over whether we can carry over the success of last season into the next one.

Obviously I wouldn't have picked Washington to miss the postseason, but no one should be surprised by my partisan predictions for the Redskins.

I was a Gregg Williams supporter and so I found myself nodding over the last portion of Florio's Redskins' section, but I've since been won over by Jim Zorn. I may feel differently if we go 3-12 next season, but have been sufficiently impressed by the manner he's run the team thus far to give him the benefit of the doubt. For now.

But Florio makes all the points I'd be making if I was arguing similarly; Zorn may be a great head coach (which Florio acknowledges) but he's a brand new one regardless, and facing the toughest division in the NFL. A lucrative NFL Head Coaching gig is an enviable job, but if I had to choose a division to start my career in, it wouldn't necessarily pick the NFC East.

Anyways, opinions are like noses. Here are my six non-returning postseason contenders (note: it won't necessarily be three NFC teams and three AFC teams, as I may or may not think that either conference will return more of the same) and reader(s) are encouraged to post their own list, with explanation, below:

1. New England Patriots - Are you crazy? Yea, and a little bitter after the drubbing the Pats put on the good guys last season. We got embarrassed by the Patriots and I'm not happy about it. But is that reason enough to pick a 16-0 regular season team that went to the Super Bowl? No, but remember there is a historical precedent here. Sandwiched between Super Bowl winning seasons were the 2002 Patriots who went 9-7 but failed to make the postseason. Same coach, same quarterback. I also think their division improves substantially over the next year, especially with Bill Parcells playing a big role in Miami. Regression towards the mean alone tells me that the Dolphins win more than one game next season and the Pats win less than 16 games next season. I think they're an aging team with a giant bullseye on their back.

2. San Diego Charger - Another crazy pick, but my answer is Norv Turner. I didn't believe they'd make the postseason last year as a result of his coaching, and so I'm just trying to be consistent. It is just such a phenomenally talented team that I think they've got a good shot at 10 wins in spite of coaching, but I think Norv Turner, as he did so often while a Redskins coach, will find ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory enough to keep them out.

3. Tennessee Titans - Many of my closest friends are Titans/Vince Young fans so I say this carefully: I'm not yet sold on VY as a pro quarterback. I think he's shown signs of a productive future career as a professional quarterback, but I haven't seen him yet convince me that he's ready... right now. I think the defense has really bailed that team out in the Vince Era and I think it is worse next season than it was last season. The Titans' failure to really address the offensive side of the ball and give Young some options will prove to be a very consequential error, in my opinion. I also think the Colts remain consistently strong along with the Jags, and the Texans are looking much, much better. I think this is a very good team that ends up getting lost in the shuffle in a tough division.

4. Green Bay Packers - It almost smells like a CFB quarterback controversy in Green Bay, though that's not necessarily the reason they'll miss the postseason. I think Brett Favre will be sorely missed and I also think the Vikings win that division. I don't see them going 4-2 in the division next year, as they did in the last one, which puts them in the wild card range. I think they just miss out; middle of the pack.

5. Tampa Bay Bucs - This isn't a team I've spent much time following in the offseason, certainly less than the ones above. I've heard of some stat sneaking its way around the web where the NFC South produces a new division champion annually, and I think the Bucs got theirs in virtue exclusively of a 5-1 division record. They won't repeat that, thus they'll be stuck battling for a wild card spot and I really don't think the NFC South produces a WC in 2008. They finished last year on a 2 game losing streak and I think that momentum carries into this coming regular season.

6. I'm spent, I can't pick a sixth, I'm a coward, I quit.

[Note by Skin Patrol, 05/15/08 2:58 PM EDT ] Redskin Report has an update:

Just after the new arrest was made, it was announced that one suspect has pled guilty.  Venjah Hunte pled guilty to 2nd degree murder and burglary.  Hunte was sentenced to 29 years in jail and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the cases of the other suspects.

My prediction is that the others will follow shortly with plea bargains, assuming prosecutors put those offers on the table, though the admission of Venjah Hunte could close off such an option, since they won't need much more evidence to convict the others.

[Note by Skin Patrol, 05/14/08 4:16 PM EDT ] Here is the video from AP news, I believe:

 

 

Per Redskins Insider:

A fifth person has been charged in connection with the shooting death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, a spokesman in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office said Wednesday.

Timothy Brown, 16, of Fort Myers, Fla., has been charged with first-degree felony murder and armed burglary of an occupied dwelling, according the spokesman, Ed Griffith. Brown was arrested Tuesday and booked into a Lee County jail. It is unclear when he will arrive in Miami. No initial court appearance has yet been set...

...in a sworn statement to the police, one of the defendents, Rivera, said there were five, rather than four, people who drove together from Fort Myers to Taylor's house in Miami on the night of the break in.

This comes after the recent news that the prosecutors in the case will not seek the death penalty for any of the defendants. Ostensibly this applies to the newest defendant, Timothy Brown, as he is the youngest of the group. Acknowledging that his innocence is presumed until a guilty verdict is handed down, if young Brown did participate one can only imagine the sweat he's lost over the course of the past months. If Rivera (and others?) are willing to take the stand and testify to Brown's participation in the act, I wonder how juries will respond to this defendant's refusal to come forward before compelled to do so by investigators.

First degree murders in Florida amount to Capital Felonies, although the state won't seek the death penalty. Florida Statute § 782.04 (1)(a)2(d) reads:

The unlawful killing of a human being:

When committed by a person engaged in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any:

d. Robbery

Other predicate offenses for felony murder include burglary and home-invasion robbery, so there are actually a few theories the prosecution could proceed on under felony murder. Armed only with the extremely limited legal knowledge attainable by watching Law & Order or taking a 1st year Criminal Law course in Law School, felony murder is a legal concept used to increase the severity of punishment for murders committed (even without premeditation) in the course of some other felonies, precluding assault in some jurisdictions such as Florida (since assault is pretty much always a predicate felony in a murder -- you don't murder people with harsh language).

Felony murder does ratchet up the seriousness of the crime in many places to a capital felony, which carries with it the possibility of a death sentence. The preceding statute lists the punishment as a first degree murder under the capital felony statute § 775.082. That statute reads, in part:

(1) A person who has been convicted of a capital felony shall be punished by death if the proceeding held to determine sentence according to the procedure set forth in s. 921.141 results in findings by the court that such person shall be punished by death, otherwise such person shall be punished by life imprisonment and shall be ineligible for parole.

Since the death penalty is off the books in this case, the minimum sentence available for the defendants (presuming they are all charged with first degree felony murder) is a life in prison with no possibility for parole.

I have nothing invested in a death penalty verdict for any of them, as I think justice prevails under a life sentence. Reasonable minds are free to disagree on that point. I am not a legal expert whatsoever (I'm actually not even a very good law student) but I have to think that the reason the state withdrew the death penalty is because of a lack of aggravating circumstances that would necessitate the death penalty along with the existence of mitigating circumstances that militate against such a verdict. § 921.141 lists those circumstances, which include, aggravating first, though not an exhaustive list:

1. Prior felonies by defendant and they're on probation
   
2. Previously convicted of a capital felony (which seems unlikely, since that means the current felony would need to be committed in prison or after escape) or of felony involving use or threat of violence against others
3. Defendant knowingly created a risk against a great number of people
4. Capital felony committed while in the course of a number of felonies, including robbery or burglary (this seems odd, since it would mean the existence of aggravating circumstances in all or virtually all felony murders)
5. Murder committed in the course of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest
6. Especial heinousness, atrociousness, or cruelty of crime
7. Victim was under 12 years of age or disabled
8. Murder was cold, calculated, and premeditated with no pretense of moral justification

Etc. you get the picture. Mitigating circumstances, again not an exhaustive list:

1. Defendant has no significant criminal history
2. Defendant was under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance at time of crime (legal concept, think crime of passion)
3. Victim consented
4. Defendant was accomplice to the person who committed capital felony and defendant's participation was relatively minor
5. Defendant's age
6. Other circumstances in the victim's history

I guess the previously reported assertion that the prosecution would have to prove premeditation to get the death penalty relates to that particular aggravating circumstance. Some mitigating circumstances exist, notably the age of the main defendant (Rivera, who was 17 at the time of the murder) and the tangential participation of some or all of the others, as they weren't the trigger men.

In any event, the above legal analysis is probably wrong, unhelpful, and certainly miles away from professionally done. It is explicitly amateur, so please don't hold me responsible when some or all of this turns out to be wrong, but that's the best I could do. Hope that clears up felony murder in Florida.