REDSKINS 101

Well Skins fans I survived a week in the Caribbean with tropical storm Isaac, did you miss me? Of course you did.

While I was gone the Skins trounced the Colts and Bucs in two meaningless games which is good I guess. Also some familiar faces were said farewell to. 

Chris Cooley, Tim Hightower, and Graham Gano were all cut on the final roster cut. Cooley being cut makes sense. He's getting up there in age, and he commanded a 3.5 million dollar salary cap hit. I had hoped Tim Hightower would make the team but his injury was too much of a question mark for the coaching staff.

And now we come to the surprise of training camp. The Redskins, after already releasing Neil Rackers, cut Graham Gano in favor of Billy "I blew a chance at the Super Bowl" Cundiff. I know kicking in the NFL is a pressure packed job. You rarely get any credit for a game winner, but if you miss that kick you get all the blame, but brining in a guy who blew a chance to tie the AFC Championship game is suicidal for a team that have five losses decided by less then a touchdown last season.

However, I'm not here to lament over a cut kicker, I'm here to make my season predictions. So without further adieu here they are.

Week One at New Orleans:

This game will be a tough pill to swallow for Skins fans with all the hype around rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III. However, the Skins are going to fall short in this one. I think the Saints are going to come out fired up with bounty gate still hanging over their heads and the Super Dome is going to be rocking. Do the Skins have a chance? Of course they do but with a rookie under center I think the noise and pressure will be too much for him.

Week Two at St. Louis:

Because both the Skins and Rams have sucked for so long we seem to play each other a lot. In those games the Skins are almost always the favorite but tend to play their worst football of the season against the Rams and find new and interesting ways to lose. However, that's not going to happen this time. The Skins defense is going to be all over Sam Bradford and RG3 will have a Pro Bowl esq game here. This is a big win for the Skins.

Week Three home against the Bengals:

I honestly think this one will be a toss-up but I'm going to give it to the Skins because it's the home opener and this will probably be the loudest crowd of the season unless we're playing for a play-off spot in week 17 against Dallas. The Bengals are an up and coming team in the AFC North but they still have a young quarterback who gets rattled by the blitz and Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan are going to pin their ears back and come after him. The Skins eck this one out with a Graham Billy Cundiff field goal (I'm going to be sick).

Week Four at Tampa Bay:

If we can judge the preseason by anything (and we can't) this should be a cake-walk and well it will. The Bucs are going to be terrible this season and with their offensive line Josh Freeman might not survive this game.

Week Five against the Falcons:

Much like the game against the Saints this one is going to be tough for the Skins to come out on top of. Unless the Falcons turn the ball over a lot I don't think the Skins will have a chance.

Week Six against the Vikings:

Luckily for us we get to stay above .500 because the Vikings come to town and like the Bucs they're just going to be terrible. Christian Ponder isn't anything close to elite and Adrian Peterson is coming back from his torn ACL (from last season at Fed Ex) too soon and won't be the AP we know and love this season. The Skins go to 4-2 and mouth breathers start talking Super Bowl.

Week Seven at the New York Giants:

Well week seven in the Medowlands will bring the hysterical fans back down to Earth. Don't think for a moment the Giants have forgotten about us sweeping them last year, and in spite of winning the Super Bowl I'm going to bet that blemish really pisses them off or to quote comedian Daniel Tosh, "I find it hard to believe the best team in the NFL got beaten by the Redskins, twice." It hurt to right that. Also lets not forget for almost 20 years the Giants have owned us. We lose, and probably by at least two touchdowns.

Week Eight at Pittsburgh:

Fans, you have no idea how much I want us to win this game and the Steelers are ripe for an ass-whooping, however, we won't get it done and I'll probably throw my remote through my television because we're going to lose on a missed field goal by Cundiff. Seriously why the hell did we sign him?

Week Nine against the Panthers:

I'm willing to bet this game has been circled by several defensive veterans on the the schedules because of how badly Cam Newton embarrassed them last season. That's a game the Skins should have won last season and that's with John Beck at quarterback, but the defense let Newton run rough-shot all over them. The Redskins front seven won't let that happen again and the Skins get a big win at home and go into the bye-week at 5-4.

Week Eleven against The Eagles:

I'm predicting Mike Vick won't be available for this game, I'm sure by week nine he'll probably break and rib or something that will keep him out three to four weeks and the Skins will dare the Eagles to pass with Nick Foles (who?) and the Skins will improve to 6-4 and because it's a big win over the Eagles once again people will start talking Super Bowl.

Week Twelve at Dallas:

This game won't help silence the Super Bowl talkers either because we're going to Big-D and we're burning Jerry-World to the ground. This won't be because we're that great or anything it's because the wheels are going to fall off of the Cowboy bandwagon this season and the team is going to crash and burn to maybe five wins (yeah I said it five wins, write it down). We'll be at 7-4 and the Beltway is going to to come unglued.

Week Thirteen against The Giants:

Our division hopes get dashed here as the G-Men roll into town and return the favor from last season by sweeping us. Now this game won't be a blow out and maybe we'll squeak it out, but as of now I'm marking this one as a close loss with a Cundiff miss somewhere in the game just to anger me even more and maybe break a second television.

Week Fourteen against Baltimore:

I'm picking the Ravens to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl and we're not going to be a speedbump on their way so we lose this one probably by multiple touchdowns.

Week Fifteen at Cleveland:

So with two straight losses the Super Bowl talk has subsided and the team travels to Cleveland where we spank the hapless Browns who might get to draft a quarterback in consecutive drafts and like the Panthers before them might get it right on the second try. They'll find out why they should have ponnied up more picks to move up for RG3.

Week Sixteen at Philly:

We're not going to sweep the Eagles, it just isn't going to happen. Vick will be back for this game and probably run all over us on their way to an easy win.

Week Seventeen against the Cowboys:

The Skins are sitting at 8-7 and the Boys are at a lowly 5-11 (I could pitty them if they didn't hate them so much) and the stadium will be rocking with the chance at a winning season and the possibility of a play-off birth at stake. I doubt a straight up 9-7 record will get us in, it will probably be some complicated, if this team losses by 3 and that team wins by at least 8 and Rex Grossman is elected mayor of Chicago then the Skins get in at 9-7, but hey weirder things have happened. Either way, when we've had good seasons and close-out with the Cowboys we usually win and this will be no different. The Skins win, go to 9-7 and maybe get a wild card. I say maybe because it's a heck of a lot easier picking division winners then it is with wild cards. So even though I have both the Saints and Falcons beating the Skins, an upset in one of those two games could go a long way to making the post season.

Tags: Chris Cooley, Football, Graham Gano, NFL, Robert Griffin III, Washington, Washington Redskins

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