The 5 o’clock club aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.
So, I had to watch 27 2nd year engineering students give 3 minute presentations on a variety of topics starting at 9 a.m. on Friday morning. The Redskins-Cowboys game was scheduled to start at 8:25 a.m.
I brought my laptop, and set it up so that no one could see what I had on the screen. I managed to watch the first quarter before the presentations started, and followed the progress of the game out of the corner of my eye after that.
I had a crap internet connection, so the screen froze about every 22 seconds as the video buffered, but that worked okay for me since I wasn’t watching it full time anyway. I just pressed the “Watch Live” button every time I got to a commercial.
The point is, I saw the Redskins get off to a good start... 3 & out on the Cowboys first possession. Redskins drive stalled across midfield. Punt and trap the Cowboys deep. The good guys were winning field position, and it felt like it was gonna be slow domination by Washington.
Then, the Redskins lose an interception in the red zone.
Okay, shit happens. Stop the Cowboys again and we’ll just pretend we punted on our second drive.
I had a little glitch with game pass, and in the minute or so that it took to correct it, the Cowboys, who had just been stopped on third & long near their own goal line, had the ball 1st & 10 across midfield. I saw a long camera shot of Crowder and guessed what happened. A moment later I saw the replay that confirmed my guess. Two turnovers already!
I didn’t see the third turnover live, but when I saw the replay, I thought: “Oh, shit!”
Losing three turnovers is the Redskins curse. Pile that on top of a prime time game that we had to win to stay in the playoff race, and it equaled a sure loss. It was only the second quarter, but the game was over.
Break out the player profiles, rev up the mock drafts. Schedule surgery for Trent Williams. Playoffs are out of the question. With the Redskins visiting a playoff-relevant Chargers on Sunday, I’m not sure the team will even finish with a winning season.
And, frankly, if they take on Arizona and Denver following a 2-game losing streak, I’m not sure this team wins another game this season. We could be looking at 5-11.
Well, that’s good for the draft position anyway.
I saw something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before... a 1:45 post game press conference by Jay Gruden. He didn’t cut it short, the reporters simply had mercy on him and stopped asking him questions.
Kirk came the closest I’ve ever seen him to being “testy” in the post-game presser, when he almost snapped: “If you think it’s a lack of effort, you just don’t know football....” I did like the fact that Kirk was still talking about what comes after the season ends, sounding like he still expects to be here.
This was an ugly loss to — effectively — bring the Redskins 2017 season to an end. They’re just dead men walking at this point.
The really disappointing part is that this season started out very well. I wasn’t very confident in this team in preseason, but by Week 4 I was feeling like we had something special.
But It seemed like the injuries started to pile up in the game at Arrowhead Stadium — a game where the Redskins played hard but lost — and it just escalated quickly from there. It eventually reached the tipping point, where the team just couldn’t keep enough front line players healthy and on the field. The Redskins join other teams like the Giants, Cardinals, Packers and Texans that saw their season derailed by injury.
It already feels like a season of might’ve beens.
Poll
Predict the Redskins record for the final quarter of the season (Chargers, Cardinals, Broncos, GIants)
This poll is closed
-
2%
4-0
-
11%
3-1
-
42%
2-2
-
28%
1-3
-
14%
0 ‘fer