Winning Ugly

[12thMan]

Two days removed from what will go down in Redskin's lore as possibly one of the top five greatest victories in the team's history, there are still some questions that coach Gibbs and his staff must and will address during the bye week.

For one the pass rush or lack there of. The seemingly inability of the offensive line to handle the blitz and keep pressure off Brunell for most of the game. And signs, until the last four minutes of the game, of an anemic offense that finally got revitalized and going just enough to pull it out. Which brings me to the reason for my post.

I believe something that came out of this victory and shouldn't be overlooked is that the Redskins could be learning how to win games. Is it possible that this team is learning how to win as opposed to last year where we found ways to lose, and lost several by just a few points? To me this is the one thing that separates the New Englands of the NFL from the rest of the pack. Similarily an interesting thing could be happening in Indy as well. Maybe Peyton won't have to throw for a million touchdowns this year to make a trip to the Super Bowl.

Now, I don't want to get carried away and suggest that talent and upgrades at key positions don't play a vital role and could take a team from one level to the next, or good play calling as opposed to bad play calling doesn't make a difference because it does. Those things I understand. As a fan and an evolving student of the game I'm learning and realizing one thing more and more that stats don't tell the whole story.

Which of us would have thought that the imobile, cement feet, easy to sack, Drew Bledsoe wouldn't have been sacked once by our much vaunted, blitz happy defense? And what about week one v. Kyle Orton? Whom we all predicted would be sacked and hurried multiple times. Who would have thought that when Clinton Portis doesn't go over 100 yds in a game that the Redskins still win? When it's in the back of eveyone's mind, especially the defensive coordinator of the other team, the Redskins only win when Portis rushes for over 100 yds. Yet Portis didn't even come close to the century mark. Man, I would have loved to come out of Dallas with seven or eight sacks on Bledsoe, Portis rushing for 150 yds on their defense, LaVar making bone crunching hits to show he's finally back in the groove, and a 14 point lead on top of all of that. But you know what, it didn't happen! Sometimes we put too much stock in the power rankings, avg. yd. per rush, total yds allowed, sacks and other so called telling statistics. And we miss the main one - winning. I'm of the opinion that this team may have found a way to win games, ugly I might add, instead of finding ways to lose them!

Our defense "looked" more impressive in the first two games of '04 than the first two of '05. But so far, and granted it's still early, very early, this year's version of Washington Redskins may have more heart, more grit, and more fight. Are there things for us to work on this week defensively and offensively, you betcha! But I'll bet you this much, winning cures a lot of things and confidence is contagious!!

I hope this year's team will continue to refuse to be typecast into any particular formula or statistical category, good or bad, that has engendered a culture of losing for the past decade and just keep doing what they do - just win baby!! Winning ugly may be the way we get it done in 2005. Stay tuned!