Redskins: The start of a home winning streak!

Despite a slow first-quarter start, the Redskins snapped their eight-game home losing streak with a win over the Vikings. HAIL!

October 16, 2012; 7:02 AM • by Beth Petty

A few years ago, Santa brought my nephews football jerseys. I was a little disappointed that Santa didn’t bring them Redskins jerseys, but evidently the Redskins weren’t the bandwagon that little kids wanted to jump on. But when I asked my oldest nephew why he wanted a Vikings jersey, he proceeded to inform me that the Vikings weren’t even his favorite team. The Chargers were his favorite, then the Vikings, then the Falcons. Wait, what?! Child, you have THREE favorite NFL teams?

This I could not fathom. I was brought up that it was the Redskins or nothing. I don’t have a second favorite team or a third favorite team, unless of course, you count whoever is playing Dallas (go Ravens!). For better or for worse, it has been and always will be the Redskins. I care about the Redskins and how they are performing in the NFC East. Apart from that, you can usually find me watching whatever trashy reality television show is on Sunday or Monday night. Maybe my nephews are a lot smarter than I am. I mean, having numerous favorite teams could mean I get to celebrate a Super Bowl victory every once in a while. But it’s only been the Redskins for me–which has meant that Monday mornings are usually pretty sad.

Not this week, people! Finally, we are the team that everyone is talking about (well, finally we are the team that everyone is talking about in a good way). We took down the 4-1 Vikings on Sunday, 38-26, snapping our eight-game home losing streaking and snapping my negative attitude, at least for now.

Minnesota took an early 9-0 lead, but shockingly, we were able to stop them in the red zone, keeping them to field goals. After a slow first quarter, we gained momentum after a nice little 1-yard touchdown run from RB Alfred Morris. Then Lorenzo Alexander (who had an awesome game, btw) recovered a fumble from Vikings QB Christian Ponder, setting up a short 6-yard pass from RGIII to FB Darrel Young for a touchdown. Yup, that’s right. 14 points in 11 seconds.

With a comfortable 19-point lead, I’m sure some people were all “maybe I’ll go mow the grass.” Others probably even flirted with the idea of bringing in Kirk Cousins and his beautiful hair. These would both have been terrible decisions. The Redskins being, well, the Redskins almost blew our nice lead in the 4th, allowing the Vikings to come back to within five points. By the time the Vikings were attempting their second two-point conversion, I figured it would be another typical Skins game; only the Redskins could blow this. And it really looked like they were trying hard to do so. Then Fox commentators compared the Vikings to the St. Louis Cardinals (who came back to knock the Nats out of the playoffs in heart aching fashion), and every D.C. sports fan was all “too soon, guys.”

But wait, Redskins fans! RGIII refused to let that happen! The awe-inspiring play of the game decade came with 2:56 left on the clock on 3rd-and-6 when RGIII broke through the Vikings defensive line and ran for a 76-yard touchdown. He was all “WHAT CONCUSSION, GUYS?” and just took off, aided by some fantastic blocking. I mean, the guy had 138 rushing yards on Sunday. RUSHING YARDS. His touchdown iced the game for us, and for the first time in a very long time, I watched a Redskins quarterback take a knee as the clock ran out.

— ∮∮∮ —

Positives

• RGIII slid! And got out of bounds! And ran 76 yards for a touchdown! And didn’t get a concussion! Success, I say!
• Kai Forbath, aka “The Guy who is Totally Not Billy Cundiff.” We finally have a kicker who can make a 50-yard field goal. We will love him for a few weeks until he misses a field goal and then we will hate him forever and plan his demise.
• I love Santana Moss. He doesn’t get a ton of action, but he had that nice 4th down reception and a sweet 30-yard catch, which both helped set up scoring plays (Forbath field goal and Morris TD run). I was totally excited about Pierre Garçon, but he’s been a bit of a buzzkill. I know, I know, he’s injured, but I can’t be the only one thinking we should have stuck with what we had. But that’s such a Redskins thing to do—pay a ton of money for an underperforming player (dare I say it? Haynesw—no, nope, nevermind, even I won’t go there).

Negatives

• The Redskins retweeted Deion Sanders, who congratulated RGIII after his epic run. Get outta here, Deion. You will always be a Cowboy to us (even if you were a Redskin for a minute).

U down with RG3?Yeah u know me!— DeionSanders (@DeionSanders) October 14, 2012

• Guys, DHall totally denies that he slapped Vikings RB Adrian Peterson in the face. He actually called the accusation “asinine.” SAT word alert! But seriously, dude, don’t go around slapping people.
• So we’re really going with the “Landover Leap?” Really, guys? Am I the only one who thinks that is super lame?

— ∮∮∮ —

Next week, things get really real. We’ve made it six weeks without playing a division rival, but we have to face New York on Sunday. The Giants are sitting alone at the top of the NFC East with a 4-2 record, after easily blowing away San Francisco last week. We did beat the Giants twice last year. The Giants went on to win the Super Bowl. I seem to recall from, like, 10th grade math that by the transitive property or something we basically won the Super Bowl. No? Fine.

But seriously, a division victory against a team that has already lost to the Cowboys and Eagles would be huge. Like maybe-we-could-win-the-division huge.

HAIL!

October 16, 2012 7:02 AM 1