Can We Please Stop Comparing the Pre-season Win Over the Steelers to Osaka?

It's a rare occurrence when I decide to challenge a prominent Washington D.C. columnist. I did it once before when Tom Boswell tried predicting the Redskins 2010 record off past statistics, and I will do it again today versus Thom Loverro. For those living under a rock, Thom Loverro is a columnist for the Washington Examiner and a radio host on ESPN 980's The Sports Fix. He's won many accolades as a writer and has penned 11 books over his impressive career.

In his Washington Examiner column yesterday, Loverro is hell-bent on reminding the Redskins fans about Osaka and how much it compares to the Redskins joyous win over the Steelers:

Osaka -- where quarterback Danny Wuerffel completed 16 of 25 passes for 269 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Osaka -- where quarterback Sage Rosenfels joined Wuerffel in combining to put up 434 yards and five touchdowns. Osaka -- where Redskins wide receiver Darnerien McCants -- yes, Darnerien McCants -- caught two touchdown passes and declared, "Once you know the system, the system's going to work. Everybody believes in this offense. It works." No, it didn't.

The problem with Loverro's logic is that this unlike Steve Spurrier, this is not Shanahan's first pre-season game for the Burgundy and Gold. A 6-10 record last year is not good by any means, but of the Redskins ten losses last year, seven of them were by 6 points or less (five of them by 3 points or less). In Spurrier's first year, six of his nine losses were by 10 points or more.

Fellow SB Nation writer, Scott Jackson, also highlights that after the win Shanahan said "we still have a long way to go" whereas Spurrier reacted as if he just aced the 12th hole at Augusta. Furthermore, Spurrier and Zorn share a special bond in that their offense is so simplistic, it was doomed to fail.

The better comparison would be reminding Redskins fans about our win Week 1 versus Dallas last year. I remember every single person I high-fived on the way out of Fedex that night (alcohol may have been involved) talking playoffs. This fan base is desperate to win again. We know what we're doing when we get our hopes every year early, but comparing Shanahan to Spurrier is down right silly.