Besides that Hall of Fame Game tickets went on sale today, there isn't much a happenin'.

I'd go except for the inconvenient fact that I have no actual income, that my debt is constantly increasing; and tickets cost $40-50. Or I could take the pretend moral high ground by claiming the real reason is because I'm boycotting the entire city of Canton or some shit like that.

Or I could tell you that two mock drafts I think are reasonable have the Redskins selecting Malcolm Kelly. Football Outsiders says:

Sportz Assassin says: Seems reasonable enough that he'll drop, as his combine results and subsequent blaming of Oklahoma will probably drop his stock just enough for us to get him later in the 1st round.

Beyond that I've really got nothing but a busy week in front of me that will demand more time away from this space. In the meantime, here's my shamelessly self-interested poll question because I need your input for the Redskins upcoming 2nd round pick in the SB Nation Mock Draft: Presuming the Redskins selected a cornerback in the first round, say like an Aqib Talib type player (or they actually selected Aqib Talib) what position would you address... in the second round? Reader(s) are encouraged to write in player names.

Also, this is Whiplash; I've seen him live and he is every bit as awesome there as he is in Taco John commercials.

Poll

Assuming Redskins addressed CB in the 1st round, what should they address in the 2nd?

• Another CB, because I'm crazy
• Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey
• DT
• Safety
• DE
• LB
• OL
• Get that extra QB early on
• WR
• TE/FB/H-Back even though Pete Schmitt obviously fills all these depth needs

  74 votes | Results

None of this is scientifically done. The last place I'd start is here, with the majority of an insignificant sampling size saying: I still don't know what the shit is going on. I've now read more than one media commenter proclaim without hesitation that Zorn's hiring to head coach will be met by Redskins fans with a majority of apprehension -- and that has certainly been the reaction by most bloggers -- but perhaps that simply reflects the general perception of Redskins fans as overwhelmingly grumpy types that like to shoot Dr. Z emails about how much of a giant asshole he is for taking so long to vote Art Monk into the Hall of Fame. I don't know if that perception is justified whatsoever, but there's reason to doubt the conclusion; the polls I'd pay attention to to gauge the typical Redskins fan response have showed approval as the norm. Per Extreme Skins for instance:

That's still just around 2500 votes in as of this moment, and just of Extreme Skins members, but whatever anyone thinks of ES, I'd say it is a fairly representative sampling of what a large portion of the Redskins fanship feels. And nothing about those figures is contradicted by this poll at the Official Site: Reading the results into the ES poll, it would appear that at least some of the people who want to wait and see (not an option there) are still marginally supportive of the move whereas some smaller number of wait and see folks are negative about it. In any event, we see a majority of deciders still reaching the conclusion that Zorn is better than not-Zorn. With a hat tipped to Dan Steinberg, I pause now to honor Deuce of Davenport's majestic shirt design skillz as it seems an appropriate time. Buy them while they're still available:

Finally, this Adam Schein article at Fox Sports is loaded with polls, though we'll get to them after we flesh out his thoughts on our newest Head Coach. His position cannot be characterized as "wait and see":

Yowza.

The polls on that same site leap out at me, at least as of this moment, in the somewhat inconsistency of their results. Who will be the best new coach (out of John Harbaugh, Mike Smith, Tony Sparano, and Jim Zorn)? Zorn is 3rd with 22% of the vote. Who inherits the best situation? Zorn is 2nd with 34%. The evidence shows that there's at least one guy who that poll thinks will be a worse new coach (Mike Smith, Atlanta) and at least two that inherit worse situations than Zorn (Smith and Tony Sparano, Miami). And they ask: Who will be the first coach out of a job? Surely either Sparano, who has a worse situation, or especially Smith, who has a worse situation and a smaller percentage of voters thinks will succeed, should be more likely to win on this question. And they answer: Jim Zorn, 66% of respondents, more than all the other three coaches combined.

Which says something about the general state of our front office, at least in the minds of NFL fans that frequent Fox Sports. We're a more favorable coaching situation to inherit than Miami and Atlanta. Jim Zorn is considered to have a more promising future than Mike Smith. Yet there is very little doubt that in spite of these two things, Jim Zorn will be the first shown the door.

For the record, though I found the results inconsistent, and though I think Jim Zorn could very well make a fine head coach and agree that he's entering a more favorable situation than at least Miami and Atlanta and maybe even Baltimore, I ended up voting for him being the first ousted. My general prediction for Zorn's tenure tends to coincide with that of Fox Sports readers: This is not an easy city owner to work for (that's not entirely true, he pays well). I would love to be wrong.

Convention demands I address the prior poll's results, ignoring that the damn thing went up on the 31st of last month. Here are your cribnotes: Todd Collins won as the people's choice for starter against Seattle, and then promptly lost us the game. That last bit isn't entirely fair to the Todd, but two picks is two picks.

The obvious question to ask is who you'd prefer as the next head coach of Your Washington Redskins. New names are dropped daily, so it should not take much time for the question to become stale -- for instance, Rex Ryan might be our defensive coordinator? -- but we'll try anyways. I assure you that the order I've placed the coaching candidates is completely randon and not at all an attempt by yours truly to influence you whatsoever. That Gregg Williams is first is merely coincedental. I'm way above that kind of thing, as I'm sure you all know. Also, Ben has really been all over every candidate that gets mentioned, so get wise by heading to his space (he endorses Russ Grimm, which I think is an unlikely pick but one I could certainly get behind) (Mr. Irrelevant wants more Russ Grimm). Here comes the poll:

Who do you want as the next Head Coach of the Redskins?

Consider the thing below, no longer a cookie monster, but still very credible in my opinion:

Poll

Who do you want as the next Head Coach of the Redskins?

• Marty Schottenheimer
• Other
• Gregg Williams
• Russ Grimm
• Jim Fassel
• Bill Cowher
• Jim Schwartz
• Any Colts coordinator
• Al Saunders
• Cookie Monster!

  388 votes | Results

First, the old news:
Who has pleasently surprised you most thus far in the young season?
Defense       45 votes - 34 %
Jason Campbell       45 votes - 34 %
Antwaan Randle El       25 votes - 19 %
Offensive Line       6 votes - 4 %
Derrick Frost       5 votes - 3 %
Mike Sellers       5 votes - 3 %
Other       0 votes - 0 %

A split decision on top with both Jason Campbell and the Defense earning your praise. I think they're both deserving as JC looks much more polished than he did last year and the defense looks, well, like an actual defense. Given our general woes on the offensive side of the ball, and also that JC wasn't one of the worst QBs in the league last year but our D was one of the worst at their job, I'll split the tie with another vote for the Fense of D.

Antwaan came in at 3rd below those two unsurprisingly. He's played outstanding football and has more than earned the #2 receiver spot. I was very skeptical of his ability to do so at the end of last season and going into this season. The offensive line got votes prior to being absolutely decimated to injuries, I'm assuming. Mike Sellers surprises no one because we all know what a monster he is, and Derrick Frost looked good up until very recently. No others?

New Poll: What are the odds of us beating the New England Patriots this week? Everyone and their mother's mother has us getting squished by the Pats. Honestly, this is the least confident I've been of an impending win since ever, although I'll still pick the 'Skins because nothing I do depends on credibility or objectivity. Also feel free to use the comments section as your own sounding board on how we can make lightning strike with a W. Poll below.

Poll

What are the odds of us beating the New England Patriots this week?

• I am less than positive we will win this game
• Seriously? The line is 16 points. Get a grip
• Count it! Guaranteed.
• Slim
• I feel very confident about this win. I'm also in the business of purchasing bridges, do you know of any for sale?
• None
• Coin flip
• Slim just left town

  99 votes | Results

Per the Official Site:

Won't bore you with the rest of the details, as you either saw the game or heard enough about it to make the fair, reasonable, and moral decision to vote for Jason Campbell. This is where it gets done. He's up against Phillip Rivers and Tom Brady, both of whom had big weeks: Rivers was 13 of 18 for 270 yards and 2 touchdowns, Brady was 22 of 38 for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns.

As an added bonus, make sure you support Your Washington Redskins at NFL.com which dares to ask: Who is the best one-loss team? The Redskins, of course. As of this moment the good guys are in third with 9% of the vote, behind the Steelers and Packers. We'll answer the question regarding the latter team this weekend.

Seems like forever since we've had a new poll. Results from the last:

I'm going to get all dangerous on you and make some assumptions about these votes. I think you guys probably split on whether Portis deserves more or less money, likely felt that Golston deserved more, and that Springs and Lloyd both deserved less. If I pegged you wrong, let me have it in the comments.

Question was asked ages ago so I'm not so sure how topical it is now. Kedric Golston is still every bit as good as the 2nd day draft pick we spent on him, and better, but has given ground to Anthony Montgomery. Since I don't really know where you stood individually on Clinton Portis, no point addressing whether hindsight made more sense of your views. Brandon Lloyd continues to underwhelm with 1 catch for 9 yards, despite getting more than ample opportunities to shine in the absence of Moss and Antwaan Randle El last week. The team was so confident in him that they brought in Reche Caldwell and Keenan McCardell.

Dwelling on the bad is defeatist bullshit, especially after a 34-3 win. So here comes the next softball question: Who has pleasently surprised you most thus far in the young season?

Defense - Obviously playing at a much higher level than they were in 2006.
Jason Campbell - Has he been better than you anticipated?
Antwaan Randle El - No comment necessary.
Derrick Frost - Because punters are people too.
Mike Sellers - I'm not surprised, I already crowned his ass.
Offensive Line - In spite of injuries, still playing at a high level.
Other

If you select Defense, Other, or Offensive Line, make sure you enlighten us with the benefit of your specific view(s).

Poll

Who has pleasently surprised you most thus far in the young season?

• Defense
• Offensive Line
• Jason Campbell
• Other
• Antwaan Randle El
• Derrick Frost
• Mike Sellers

  131 votes | Results

There's still plenty to celebrate over our win against the Eagles, on the road, on Monday Night Football, etc. and I encourage reader(s) to celebrate in ways reasonable and... uh, enthusiastic?  [The brothers Mottram love them some Redskins football, Hail to that.]

In the interim, I've got to submit my Power Ranking for this week by tomorrow night and am soliciting reader(s) advice on it. Here's how I'm thinking about doing it: I'm going to rank all the 2-0 teams against one another, all the 1-1 teams against one another, and all the 0-2 teams against one another. That task completed, we're going to open debate on which 1-1 should move up to the 2-0 bracket (pushing another team down) and which 1-1 team should move down to the 0-2 bracket (pushing someone else up). As a matter of consistency in an inherently inconsistent and subjective system, I'd like to rely on resume rating as much as possible. That means teams should be ranked according to what they've done (this year) as opposed to what you might have projected them to do at the beginning of the year. Emphasis is placed on games won, considering strength of opponent (which should primarily be ranked by what the opponents have done). Margins of victory matter. I know that it's difficult to rank teams this way since we all had an imbedded sense of how the NFL universe should unfold coming into the season, though hopefully as we collect data we can get past that. Here goes:

2-0 teams
Pittsburgh Steelers - Net point differential is first in the league and they've decimated opponents, never yet having a game in doubt. I'd feel better about them here if they had 2 wins over 1-1 teams, but they did hold a Cleveland Browns team to 7 points a week before it was inexplicably able to score 50+ points. They also dominated Buffalo, who nearly beat the Broncos.
New England Patriots - Effective cheaters, they are. As with the Steelers they've stormed opponents, a 1-1 Chargers team and an 0-2 Jets team. I'll probably have some people claim the Pats should be #1, though I think I'm comfortable defending my position and will likely not budge.
Houston Texans - Controversial pick, here. The Texans might have beaten one of the worst teams in the NFL currently in the Chiefs, but they also beat a team that has done something neither the Jets, Browns, Chargers, nor Bills have managed; more points scored than points allowed. The Carolina Panthers are currently a better 1-1 team than any of the teams beaten by the two behemoths, and I think the Texans deserve credit for what they've done thus far.
Indy Colts - I don't want to give them more credit than necessary for handling the Saints, who are not looking scary whatsoever, though Tennessee is a solid 1-1 team with a win over another 1-1 team.
Detroit Lions - see below.
San Fransisco 49ers - I can't intelligibly distinguish resumes between them and the Lions. Both have beaten a winless team and an even team. Lions get the nod in virtue of having truly handled their shit, whereas the 49ers have played close.
Your Washington Redskins - Call me biased, I give not a steaming poop. The remaining 2-0 teams have all won against 0-2 opponents and have mixed opponents excepting the Broncos; and they have a 4 point margin of victory on their wins combined, sitting them at the bottom of this list.  They destroyed the Giants, though we're claiming that as the least impressive adversary among the common opponents in virtue of their -32 point differential, 2nd worst in the league. Cowboys deserve praise for dominating both opponents, and doing better against a common opponent than the Redskins, but this space thinks beating the Eagles on the road by 8 points is that much more impressive than the incomparable score between the Cowboys v. Dolphins and the Redskins v. Dolphins. Beating the Giants at home? Pfft. (Hope this doesn't come back to haunt me next week.)
Dallas Cowboys - See above.
Green Bay Packers - Less impressive home win over the Eagles gives me enough justification to rank them below the Redskins, though kudos on beating up the Giants.
Denver Broncos - Explained above.

1-1 Teams
Cleveland Browns - GUTSY PICK SKIN PATROL. Allow me to twist myself into a pretzel defending this, though let me have it in the comments. Some teams in the 1-1 bracket have made my life easier by beating each other. Of note, the Browns beat the Bengals, who beat the Ravens, who haven't beatan anyone of consequence. So it stands to reason that Cleveland>Cincy>Baltimore. As far as I can tell as of this moment, the Browns are the only team on the receiving end of a 3 team chain in the 1-1 bracket (besides the Cardinals, below), and thus provide me enough justification to place them here. Their loss is also to the team I've ranked numero uno, and they scored more points in one week than we might in three or four.
Arizona Cardinals - Beat Seattle (1-1) who beat Tampa Bay (1-1).
San Diego Chargers - Using much of the logic from above. They've beaten a 1-1 Bears team, and they lost to the team currently ranked #2 overall. Before you argue a case for them to move up into the 2-0, consider that you might be doing so based more on expectations of their talent rather than what they've done this year, and you almost might be placing too low an emphasis on coaching. Norv Turner.
Tennessee Titans - Beaten a 1-1 Jacksonville team that has yet to lose convincingly, and only loss is to a 2-0 Colts team that is ranked well above. This team, moreso than some of its co-defendants in the 1-1 pack, could very easily have been 2-0 at this point.
Cincinnati Bengals - Lost to the highest ranked 1-1 team, beat another 1-1 team. I'll fill the next spot with a similarly disposed franchise that didn't score nearly as many points.
Seattle Seahawks - Field Gulls is one of my favorite SBNation blogs. To the ranking, they lost to Arizona, who I've ranked high here, and beat a 1-1 team in Tampa Bay.
Minnesota Vikings - Crap shoot from here on out as the remainder of the 1-1 teams have beaten up on very weak competition. The question becomes how much they've beaten down, and how weak are those opponents. The Vikings have an 18 net point differential, best in this bracket (better than my 'Skins even) in virtue of beating up on the Falcons.
Jacksonville Jaguars - Lost to a highly ranked Titans though beat up on just a lowly Atlanta. Following rankings close out pretty much how I'm ranking the beaten teams...
Carolina Panthers - St. Louis Rams (I think) are better than...
Baltimore Ravens - the New York Jets, who are better than...
Chicago Bears - the Kansas City Chiefs, better than...
Tampa Bay Bucs - the New Orleans Saints. Did I miss anyone?

0-2 Teams
Philadelphia Eagles - Mostly self serving at the top of the 0-2 ranks as I don't think it's that important. We're giving props to teams first that have only lost to 2-0 opponents, and especially to those ones that have been beaten by Washington, because we're like so awesome.
Buffalo Bills - Lost to the Steelers. Who wouldn't, right now?
Miami Dolphins - Lost to the Redskins and the Cowboys.
New York Giants - Trying to be consistent here with competing principles. Their margins of loss tell me that they are too high, but the margins have been against the 2-0 Cowboys and the 2-0 Packers. Perhaps an NFC East bias is operating.
Oakland Raiders - Lost to 2-0 Broncos and 2-0 Detroit Lions.
St. Louis Rams - I'm trusting my heirarchy listed in the 1-1 bracket of Rams>Jets>Chiefs>Saints and I'll slide the Falcons after the Saints in virtue of the latter at least losing dramatically to a 2-0 team. Below are the rest:
New York Jets
Kansas City Chiefs
New Orleans Saints
Atlanta Falcons

I am sure there is much tortured logic in there with plenty of inconsistencies, though 32 teams is a lot to keep track of all at once. Let me have it in the comments section and help me get my official power ranking submission ready for next week. I need submissions for which teams should jump brackets, though be very convincing. If you don't like my rankings, there are much smarter, funnier ones elsewhere.

As the results from our last poll are now obsolete as the team has cut Casey Bramlet, I figured that we needed a new poll. I'm not feeling especially creative, so we'll stick with training camp battles, this time focusing on wide receiver. But first, results from the last poll:

Casey Bramlet    26 votes - 52 %  
Jordan Palmer    16 votes - 32 %  
Todd Collins    6 votes - 12 %
Other    2 votes - 4 %

Poor Casey Bramlet was a favorite to reader(s) but not to the organization, though admittedly this is one of the smaller sampling sizes worked with lately. We were overcome by events, I'm afraid. Jordan Palmer pulls in at two and his chances look bright as ever, as Bramlet was cut in order to give Jordan more reps (or so they alleged). Todd Collins did not get much love, and neither of you just-have-to-be-different folks cared to justify your "other" vote in the comments section.

The new poll question will be: Who do you think should be the #2 wide receiver on the Washington Redskins? Obvious answers are Antwaan Randle-El and Brandon Lloyd, who are vying for that spot as we speak. I will include an "Other" option with a caveat; it needs to be reasonable. You can select anyone currently on the Redskins roster or some NFL player the team has a legitimate and foreseeable shot at getting in free agency. No trades unless they are, at a minimum, rumored. If you are really feeling down on both Antwaan and Brandon you can select "Other" as a placeholder for "Neither" though let's try to think happy thoughts. Poll is below and will be on the right sidebar momentarily.

Poll

Who should be the Redskins #2 WR?

• Antwaan Randle-El
• Brandon Lloyd
• Other

  138 votes | Results

Curtain call is coming soon for our army of quarterbacks, that includes Jordan Palmer, Todd Collins, and Casey Bramlet all battling for the ever crucial #3 clipboard holder extraordinaire. I neglect to mention Mark Brunell here because Covering the Redskins spoke positively of Mark and I am compelled by his pronouncement:

But don't take my word for it, as I'm going to give reader(s) a chance to voice their dissent with that shortly. See below.

Redskins Gab tells us that Campbell then Brunell will see the lion's share of snaps in this Saturday's scrimmage -- no surprise there -- though that could mean earlier than usual cuts at quarterback, as there simply won't be a need to keep on roster players who won't get a chance to prove themselves. This theory is supported by Jason La Canfora at the Post:

Because: Jason goes on to say that Todd Collins has a better shot than Jordan Palmer, given his experience. This directly contradicts an earlier WaPo piece by Steve Yanda, that said, per a "source close to the matter", the team would not keep both Brunell and Collins. Interesting note on Bramlet: I'd upgrade the wording from "strong" to "outstanding"; he was one of the best players in NFL Europa, winning World Bowl MVP honors. If that isn't enough to get an honest look from scouts, then NFL Europa's recent dispansion is totally justified. What a waste of time. Final word from the Post on this matter: Hogs Haven is calling it as JC starter, Brunell backup, Casey Bramlet 3rd string, Jordan Palmer practice squad, and happy trails to Todd Collins. That is perhaps placing too much faith in Yanda's unnamed source, but I've got no credibility to lose anyways.

We haven't done a poll in a while, so I'm putting the matter to reader(s). First, results from our last poll:

Fairly cut and dry. Eagles are the clear favorites, Giants provide little reason for trepidation. My own feelings mirror those of voters, so thanks for that guys.

Civil duty accomplishable below; Who should be the 3rd QB on the Redskins? This presumes JC as starter and Mark Brunell as 2nd string, so I'm including an option of "Other" that should capture any and all voters who disagree with that assumption, as well as those who think we will or should pursue a veteran in the offseason. If you do select other, or anything really, I'd be pickled tink if you would bless the rest of us with your thoughts on the who/what/why in the comments section below.

Poll

Who should be the 3rd QB on the Redskins?

• Todd Collins
• Casey Bramlet
• Jordan Palmer
• Other

  53 votes | Results

The aptly named Pacman Jonesin' blog, the newest addition of the Fan Sided Blog network (which also hosts Riggo's Rag), is running one of those Best NFL fan bases polls. We made the final cut of 10. First, his metrics (or maybe not?):

Credentials established, he leaps in. His inclusion of the Redskins alone is enough for me to reference him credibly: Whenever someone insults our Hogettes I tend to respond aggressively, typically something along the lines of: Those crossdressers happen to support 23 charities. Or as they point out, "Since 1983, we have donated thousands of hours and helped raise millions of dollars for the care of sick children." So when you dog those crossdressing men, you might as well just admit that you hate children. Assholes. But I digress(ed already).

But that's not Pacman Jonesin's fault, as he probably did not know. What he did know was that You are fans worthy of praise, and for that we appreciate Adam's efforts. Now I'd appreciate your efforts in keeping us respectably placed; as of this moment my vote represents 100% of those cast in favor of the Washington Redskins fans. We are currently beating the Cowboys, but are a vote (50%) down on the Eagles. You know what to do.