R.I.P. #21 = #4

I will be the first to admit that after that double timeout bullshit by Joe Gibbs against Buffalo, I was thinking he was a better personnel guy than head coach in 2007. And I gave him credit for the personnel part though, because Gibbs has always showed he can pull together wackily competent characters, whether it was the likes of Riggins and Manley back in his heyday, or the Nascar fruitcakes he put together. Looking at this 2007 team from a lifelong Redskins fan's perspective, this was one of the greatest cast of characters a team could achieve, especially in the era of free agency. But I thought maybe ol' Joe was better served taking a Vice President role and letting Gregg Williams carry on the battle on the sidelines. But man, did Joe Gibbs prove me fucking wrong.
This four-game run has been one of the greatest runs I've ever seen out of this team, where they not only won, but they stifled motherfuckers. The defense has been ridiculously evil, and this after losing three starters from week one, including two in the secondary. Even though the Cowboys rested starters the second half, they looked lost the first half, and gained ONE FUCKING YARD rushing, the whole game. And on offense, which the media is all abuzz about it being led by Todd Collins, the whole shape of this shit is led by Clinton Portis. The Collins story is great enough, but there are two fool's gold aspects to this. First off, he, more than anybody, knows Al Saunders' system, having done this shit in Kansas City off the bench for years. So another team dropping wheelbarrows full of cash on Collins' ass in the off-season is gonna be a mistake, I would bet. But also, Jason Campbell looked much better this year, as a young quarterback, and if he had the experience to not make late game forced throws (meaning interceptions), they wouldn't have had to fight their way into the playoffs. That is not to knock Campbell, because there is no controversy - he is the future at that position. But Todd Collins should ride this thing out this season, as far as they can make it go. If he wins the Super Bowl, then there's a controversy, but otherwise, let it ride while we're on a roll.
But Clinton Portis... he was already one of my favorite players on the team, being a fuck-up and him having all those stupid characters and quotables. But after the Sean Taylor thing, he just took over, behind-the-scenes, calling motherfuckers, keeping people calm but focused, and on the field feeling as if he is possessed by Sean Taylor's spirit, having the strength of two men. No shit, he's been saying that shit regularly, that he is two men and no one can stop him. And that's what gets me about this team this year during this run - they do feel possessed by Sean Taylor, even considering the win over the Cowboys by 21 as a sign from above, and it makes sense to me. Sports, life, everything, is momentum and chance and we all have things we buy into that carry us through things, whether it's Jesus or science or checking accounts or Rerun's head of cabbage or whatever, and this has been that catalyst for the Skins. And it's worked. Shit, we fans have believed it. I buy it completely that Sean Taylor is looking over this whole ordeal. In fact, them making the playoffs reminded me of my dad, whose been dead for five years, because for like two years, I would set an open beer on the table during Redskins games for him. And I'll probably resurrect that this weekend now that they're in the playoffs and crack an Old Milwaukee for the old man. But the thing about beliefs like that is they're best kept to yourself, as part of the insiders who believe, because once it is outed, there are all sorts of people to question it, or just the possibility of that and having to face your own primitive ass nonsense beliefs against the outside world can create doubt.
That's why I think this weekend will be tough for the Redskins (and they're lucky to be playing the piece of shit Seahawks), because now their belief system is out there, and it's been exposed. Sean Taylor's hard-hitting spirit carried them through the past four weeks. But is there more? When the playoffs have been reached already, which seemed impossible, and you are in front of a bunch of digitized Pacific northwesterners this weekend, who think your belief system is full of backwards nonsense and they want to have Mike Holmgren force evolution all down your fucking retarded throat, how easy will it be to buy into all this for another week? I mean, it's already obvious there are two levels of teams in the playoff - those that belong (who were resting starters and getting themselves right for this second season) and those that are happy just to make it (who celebrated like they won Lombardi trophies by finishing 9-7). The true test of Joe Gibbs and whether he still has it or not is whether he can get these guys re-fired up after that climax of emotional conquest last week in simply making the playoffs, and have them ready to kick a motherfucking Seahawk ass this Saturday.
I'm gonna be sitting right there motherfucker, getting drunk. The whole family's been sick the past week, everybody throwing up, me getting over it first so that I could concentrate on making sure the vomit bucket in front of my wife and two kids was always clean enough to keep them happy for the past few days, and I'm ready to celebrate. Shit, I might not actually work the rest of the week in preparation. And Saturday, the wife and eldest kid will be gone, so me and the 4-year-old are gonna make some food and sit tight, I'll drink beer and she can have some limeade, and we're gonna fucking watch a football game that matters. I'm gonna believe in destiny too, because they will make this game easy, and they will stomp Dallas and then Green Bay and go to the Super Bowl. A few years back, it was a Monday night game when that still came on regular TV, and the Cowboys were dominating the Skins all night long, and Mark Brunell was looking like, well, Mark Brunell. But I held faith, believing that the psychic energy of fans makes the difference, and if we as Redskins fans hold onto the negative hope of like a Saints fan or someone jaded by Norv Turner and Dan Snyder's free-spending nonsense early on, we will help cause this team to lose. But if we stay high, and believe, shit will happen, like Santana Moss catching two touchdowns late in that game and the Redskins beating the Cowboys 14-13. That proved my beliefs to me. So fuck your outsider bullshit where you go, "Man, they ain't gonna do shit. And you rooting for them doesn't do shit." Fuck you and your rigid sciences. This is football, not genetics, and Sean Taylor's murder, as stupid and unnecessary as it was, is gonna end up in a fourth Lombardi Trophy for the Redskins.