1. These Sixpacks are like the fishbowl margaritas they serve at chain restaurants--due to their overall strength and hard-hitting nature, we are unable to serve them on consecutive days (in this case, Friday and Monday). In addition to the naturally intoxicating mix of analysis and depression, Sixpacks this time of year in Washington are also very heavy on "looking to the future." We have to be very careful not to bum everyone out I guess.
2. This all just feels so weird to me. At 3-6 and with San Francisco and Kansas City both still on the schedule along with four more huge divisional games, isn't there at least a tiny part of us that thinks the humane thing to do is to put this season out of its misery and move on? If it wasn't for the 2012 miracle, we would all be talking about the draft and free agency. I know because we WERE JUST HERE LAST SEASON. Instead, we are talking about a seven-game winning streak as if it is as easy to accomplish as getting your name right on the SAT. It's just like the Redskins to condition their fans to expect greatness after unbelievably unacceptable starts. It's bad enough that over the years we have bought into free agent signings and preseason performances as bona fide answers to horrid records in previous seasons. Now, we actually believe that at 3-6, we might be right where we want to be!
3. If there is anyone out there that should be more hopeful at 3-6 than us, I have not met them. Although the Redskins rattled off seven wins to make the playoffs in 2012, I can assure you that doing it two years in a row is as likely as Kevin getting someone from Antarctica to participate in his engagement proposal video.
4. Just when I was ready to abandon all hope that the NFC East was out of our reach, the Dallas Cowboys lose not only the game against the Saints, but also their second-best defensive player in Sean Lee. If I am not mistaken, losing him in the past has been the key to their opponents' success. Even though the Eagles are on a bit of a roll, they seem to be hitting teams at precisely the right time, like facing a Packers team that is without Aaron Rodgers. They won't be playing a Redskins team without Robert Griffin III (though to be fair, we had RG3 the first time around). As for the Giants, after going 0-6, they find themselves tied for last place in the division with last year's division champ--us. I suppose that somebody is going to accidentally win the NFC East, and if that is true, it could be us!
5. No, the season is not over and the Redskins will be playing to win this week just as they did last year when they took the field with a 3-6 record. Still, part of me needed to hear Mike Shanahan give his season-ending press conference like he did last season just before the bye week and the subsequent winning streak. Something about it being time to start evaluating players to see who was going to still be around in future years is all I wanted. Maybe he could have just pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a '9' and a '1' before pausing and suggesting that he was preparing to dial the last '1' depending on what he saw from his locker room.
6. There comes a time every year when we as a Redskins fanbase officially usher in the offseason. This moment can occur anywhere from the fifth or sixth week of the season all the way to sometime in January. I'll tip my hat to my favorite team. They finally figured out a way to ensure that even with a .333 winning percentage ten weeks into the season, all is not perceived as lost.
How about this: why don't we just beat Philadelphia because beating Philadelphia is its own reward?!?!