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My first home game, how sweet -- Skins crush the Jags (updated 11:30 with MORE AUDIO)

Art

By Art
in The Stadium

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Art

Art

Posted
Posted

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So the title is a bit of wishful thinking, sue me.

I've not covered a home game since starting this little adventure, so it's going to be fun to see how loud everyone is at a real stadium. If you can't beat Seattle I shall taunt you much. The blog this week will be a little different than the past as I was at home playing Madden with a buddy and talking Jesus with my mom and I'll be on the sideline most of today, so, the blog will be updated a little later than normal.

themurf and I are in the house holding it down. We'll chat soon.

2:00 p.m. -- Find the press entrance. First trip here so it's not all that easy since it's under where the Tailgate club is. Get my stuff and am recognized by team employee who says hey. I'm getting big in this town baby :).

2:05 p.m. -- Enter press box after walking through opulant area thinking, "Wow, this is a nice press box." But, it's not in that area. It's further down and, well, not as nice. I am, nowever, tucked nicely in the end zone. See Jason La Canfora as I enter and I give him a thumbs up and wave. He barely acknowledges me. Must not be professional to wave or something in the press box. Hard for a fan like me to know.

Random Observation 2:44, Gameday -- There's something new called Kangaroo tv that they are giving out to try. It's a little yellow box that is tied to NFL Sunday Ticket in the stadium. You can watch games, get stats and follow everything from one little 4 inch or so screen. It's a hell of a good idea if you ask me. Now, unfortunately, it is supposed to run $40 for a game, so, my guess is it'll be big on the club seat level :).

3:01 p.m. -- Inactives are Doughty, Springs, Duckett, Pucillo, Molinaro, Boschetti, Salave'a, Campbell. Does this mean the sky is falling again cause Duckett is out? :). Heading down to the field to enjoy a little of the atmosphere. See you soon.

Pre-game from the field -- Uploading photos now and going to grab a bite to eat, so, I'll be brief for the moment. I love the Redskins, but COME on people. Not every sole on earth needs to have pre-game sideline passes. That sideline is a mad house before the game. Both teams have dancers who like the constant beat that passes for rap today. Reggie Williams was breaking it down during warm ups at the sole exclusion of warming up. Not to be outdone, Brandon Lloyd was in a circle of Portis, Taylor and Washington putting on his own dance show. I'm fairly certain neither can actually dance, but, they are not shy about not dancing well.

Just before kickoff -- Disappointed in the number of fans in the stands. We are a lazy crowd and have been for too long. People, arrive early or stay home and let people who care show up. Even prepared for the fireworks when we enter you shake a little. It's loud that close to those fireworks.

Game crowd -- We're a good crowd when we arrive. From a loud factor Seattle has us beat and Kansas City for the last two minutes. From a consistent noise factor, Seattle in the playoffs was louder. I would love to do a game from the sidelines against Dallas like last year. I'm betting nothing can touch it when we get hyped up.

Jones-Drew touchdown general defensive observations -- Took real energy out of the crowd. You just have the feeling we can kind of do something against them, but they need broken plays in return. The defense holds together on the corner of the bench after every series. They are very supportive and chatty. Golston really appears to be something of a leader. After the first series of the game he was yapping into Samuels ear to go out there and score. Samuels was laughing as he entered the game. The team was very loose throughout the half. The defense really seems like they are just buddies.

Late Jacksonville fumble -- I was heading up to the press box where I would unprofessionally eat hot dogs with chili while the media toiled away at their burdensome job, but they fumble and I run down to the area we're heading. Bram Weinstein is hearing on his ear piece that they were saying he was down. I'm crushed. But, minutes later, he says they are saying it's hard to tell. I'm elated. Our ball.

Halftime -- Back on the way to the press box I'm treated with the fact they do not let the riff-raff media ride the elevator up or down during the game. That's reserved for the elite paying customers or something. Or, maybe that's just down. All I know is, either way, that sucks. Food here is worse even that Dallas, though the chili for the halftime dogs are better :).

Third quarter -- Chris Cooley is an element in the offense that most teams just don't have. He's versatile and strong. Where Portis is the inspirational leader and Sellers is the man molester, Cooley is the blue collar fighter who makes this team a great one when he's involved. Get him involved.

20-17 us -- Before the kickoff, Mike Sellers is down at the 10 throwing his hands up to the crowd to get them fired up. The rest of the kickoff coverage team is on the sidelines doing their House of Pain, Jump Around litty routine. Apparently Sellers has simple responsibilities on coverage which include assaulting someone most angrily. That makes me smile.

27-17 -- Ok, the crowd has a little extra juice when it needs. The rumbling vibration that you can feel on your face very common in Seattle and for the last two minutes against Kansas City arrived in force. Of course, they scored in four plays, but, this is the type of noise I thought I'd hear from that stadium.

27-27 -- On the sidelines with Kangaroo TV so when Betts gets robbed on a bad spot, I can show everyone how bad a spot it was. FedEx is very tight on sideline space so the cheerleaders are right up against the photographers line. This worked to my favor as they were interested in the Kangaroo.

30-27 -- Tell beefy security if we stop them on fourth and eight that I'm going to slap him on the back. He says, "Not if I hug you first." Then a timing pass for 12-yards or whatever. DAMN. AGAIN. DAMN. That's not really Rogers fault as we were bringing pressure and he had to defend deep, but it's just frustrating. Also, Burns was in as safety, so, I think Archuleta was not at the end of the game. Sign of things to come perhaps. Archuleta had a better game, but he's not a coverage guy as we've been told and know.

30-30 -- Coin flip. Moss doing muscle man pose. Team is excited. When we score everyone rushes the field. It's a great feeling. Then the moron officials review the play to kill the joy on what was an obvious call according to my Kangaroo. What on earth could they even have been thinking to review any of that.

Post-game on field -- A short haired Chris Cooley with his mojo back was pretty excited about the offense and things to come from it. Hard to argue. This team has weapons and it has physicality. It's a hard thing to stop when it starts to feel what it's doing like it was tonight. Though the question of whether more should have been done in the preseason is more valid than before perhaps. Also got Daniels on the field. I think he wanted to have some fun with me but there were other media members around so he answered it straight.

Lockerroom -- Tell Murphy that I try to avoid the same questions every media member would ask and try to have a little fun with the guys as they get to know me. This was a happy room. It just felt good. I was about to run into Larry Michael's arms and make him catch me but he was still on the air and potentially annoyed. That unprofessional thing gets me every time :).

I have to get up at 5 a.m. for a flight so I am crashing now and will add more in the morning when I get home. And I'll fly feeling super good.

themurf's take

First and foremost, this is dedicated to my father – who told me yesterday that “Brunell sucks.” So much so, that he bet a friend if Brunell could finish today’s game with 250 yards passing, a completion percentage over 50 percent and not lose the game single-handedly dad would purchase a #8 jersey. Needless to say the first person I called after the game was my old man to ensure he knew I wanted to be there to take photos of him supporting his new favorite player.

And if it wasn’t dedicated to my dad, it would be in honor of Dennis Haysbert, who I spotted on the Redskins sideline during warm-ups. You may know him as President David Palmer from “24,” or Jonas Blane on “The Unit.” This is one of my favorite people on television, so naturally I had to say something to him. I had a few options:

- “You no help me now, I say **** you Jobu – I do it myself.”

- “You’re not kidding, I am in good hands with All State.”

- “I loved you in Growing Pains.”

But I decided to go a different route. I tapped him on the back and leaned in to say, “When are you gonna go ahead and run for president? You’ve got to be better than what we’ve got now.” He smiled and said “When I do you’ll be the first to know.” Very nice guy, who seemed to be having a good time on the sidelines. First Tom Cruise, now Pedro Cerrano. How do you top that?

As Art mentioned, I checked us out the Kangaroo mobile Direct TV device. They were letting all of the media types (and us) play with these things in hopes we’d say good things and convince other fans to check it out. The price is going to be $40 per game or $200 for the season. I will tell you I was less than impressed in the press box. Every time someone walked in front of us the picture crapped out. But Art and others said it was better down on the field, which would mean it should be better when you’re in your seats. Personally, I think the price is a little steep for what you’re getting right now, but I like the idea of it and think it’ll be solid in the not-too-distant future.

Onto the game. I was standing on the Redskins sideline of the 10-yard line when Santana Moss faked Deon Grant out of his shoes for his first touchdown of the game. When asked about Moss, Mark Brunell said “He's the best after the catch I've played with.” I’ve decided that Moss is so quick in the open field that no defender is going to make that play one-on-one.

After that touchdown I got a good laugh from special team coach Danny Smith, who was “motivating” safety Vernon Fox before the ‘Skins kicked off back to Jacksonville. Smith was screaming at the top of his lungs, “They don’t know who you are, Vernon. They’ve never heard of you. What are you gonna do about it?” That’s one way to fire up your players.

Marcus Washington and Joe Salave’a were two of the loudest guys on the sideline, especially after the Maurice Jones-Drew touchdown. They were telling the defense not to get down, that they were going to bounce back. Speaking of Jones-Drew, it is absolutely unacceptable for a grown man to have a hyphenated name. seriously, no explanation is going to make me stop mocking a man with a hyphen. Women shouldn’t have them – guys should even think about having them.

There was definitely plenty of confusion on the Redskins sideline when there was no penalty called, but the team was forced to replay the down (and punt again) because the Jags didn’t get a chance to substitute their players. I turned to Art and said “Isn’t that why teams run no huddle – to keep the other team from subbing players?” Naturally, Derrick Frost flubbed the do-over. Thankfully, that series of events didn’t come back to cost the team.

When the defense forced the Jaguars to go three and out to start the second half they were pretty fired up. As they were dancing off the field, Gregg Williams looked to keep them in check. He screamed “Everyone knew it was going to be Hi-Lo. Even that cheerleader over there knew it was going to be Hi-Lo.” Leave it to Williams to confuse the hell out of the cute gal and ruin any fun his defense was having in the process.

Speaking of that defense, I truly believe this was their best effort of the season. Sure, there were several big plays given up, but overall I was happy with how they performed today. The Jags offense only rushed for 33 yards total – with Fred Taylor gaining 2.3 yards per carry. The defense also forced the Jaguars offense to go two for 13 (15 percent) on third downs. That’s a lot better than the 45 percent they were giving up after the first two games of the year. Throw in four sacks and the Phillip Daniels interception and you really should be happy. And I have to say - Kedric Golston is the real deal. This is not up for debate.

And let’s not forget the offense, and their 481 yards today. When they put up 495 yards of offense last week everyone said “The Texans suck – let’s see you do it against Jacksonville.” Well, now this offense looks like things are falling into place. And Clint Portis was the first person in 13 games to rush for more than 100 yards against what I was told was the best defense in the NFL. There were a lot of positives in this game that they can take and continue to build on.

But for all the positives, there is one glaring negative. And that’s you – 12th Man. What is it going to take for you to stop chanting “Lets go Redskins!” when the offense has the ball? And The Wave when the game is on the line?!? Come on now, you’re better than that. This was the loudest FedEx Field has been since the Dallas game last year – just knock it off with the chanting when our offense has the ball. Got it? I want you all to practice sitting quietly in front of your TV during the Giants game next week so you can get your collective act together in time for Tennessee. Don’t do it for me – do it for President David Palmer.

murf.

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murf's take from the sidelines

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Click HERE to hear Art with Chris Cooley following the team's dramatic win!

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by Phillip Daniels

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by John Hall

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by Rock Cartwright

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by Kenny Wright

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by Kedric Golston

Click HEREto hear post-game comments by Demetric Evans

Click HEREto hear post-game comments by David Patten

Click HEREto hear post-game comments by Antwaan Randle El

Click HERE to hear more post-game comments by Kenny Wright

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Click HERE to read post-game comments by Head Coaches Joe Gibbs and Jack Del Rio

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Redskins vs. Jags Photos #1

Skins vs. Jags Photos #2

Skins vs. Jags Photos #3

Skins vs. Jags Photos #4

Skins vs. Jags Photos #5

Skins vs. Jags Photos #6

Skins vs. Jags Photos #7

Skins vs. Jags Photos #8

Skins vs. Jags Pics #9

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jsevier

jsevier

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2:05 p.m. -- Enter press box after walking through opulant area thinking, "Wow, this is a nice press box." But, it's not in that area. It's further down and, well, not as nice. I am, nowever, tucked nicely in the end zone. See Jason La Canfora as I enter and I give him a thumbs up and wave. He barely acknowledges me. Must not be professional to wave or something in the press box. Hard for a fan like me to know.

:laugh: Come on Art if you are going to be there make sure that you know how to properly wave and be reconized. Is Michael W there? Ask him, he probably can school you up. :laugh: I am sure Jason was just busy reading Extremeskins and didn't realize you were there. :laugh:

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Tarhog

Tarhog

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Just spoke to Murphy who's on the field getting ready for kickoff. He says the team looks extremely 'loose', which is a good sign in my book. Also said he spotted Dennis Haysbert

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who played the President on '24' and is currently starring on 'The Unit' on the Redskin's sidelines shaking hands.

Must be a Skins fan :)

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TK

TK

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Click HERE to hear Art with an unidentified Redskin following the team's dramatic win!

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by Phillip Daniels

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by John Hall

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by Rock Cartwright

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by Kenny Wright

Click HERE to hear post-game comments by Kedric Golston

Click HERE to read post-game comments by Head Coaches Joe Gibbs and Jack Del Rio

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themurf

themurf

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Mods... Can we get Art to go to every home game? He brought us good luck!! :fingersx:

I take exception to anyone who says Art was the good luck charm today. I have covered two regular season games - last Christmas eve and today. Santana Moss has caught three touchdowns in each game I've gotten the call for. So call it the luck of the irish, at least for Santana. If he goes to the Pro Bowl this year the least he can do is buy me a ticket to Hawaii.

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praise_gibbs

praise_gibbs

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I take exception to anyone who says Art was the good luck charm today. I have covered two regular season games - last Christmas eve and today. Santana Moss has caught three touchdowns in each game I've gotten the call for. So call it the luck of the irish, at least for Santana. If he goes to the Pro Bowl this year the least he can do is buy me a ticket to Hawaii.

Ok..

Can we get Art and themurf to do every game from here on out? :fingersx:

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