Just the ticket to the new age...perspective my butt

[MarkPSkins]

The thing I noticed about the game and what will ultimately turn the tide for the year was the night and day transition the entire team had after the Arrington interception.

Before the interception, the defense was more than a little frustrated with the offense. Tackles were being missed, Biakbhoweveryouspellit was running at will and the heart was just not in it. I don't want to say they had given up, but it was close. The shroud of evil darkness and mirk was still encompassing the team.

If Arrington had not gotten the interception Carolina would have punted. Let's face it Arrington was on a kill and destroy mission had that guy caught that ball and not tipped it to Lavar he would have gone no where but down and hard. Then the offense would have come onto the field with ten minutes left and done nothing and we would not be discussing anything good right now.

However, Lavar made the interception, the Football Gods smiled and that in itself turned the tide and, IMO, singlehandedly lifted the shroud of funkness from the big city of Funkdome on the continent of Funktopia. Did you see the bench? It was amazing, one could almost see that dark cloud rising out of FedEx and drifting away in the Maryland fall air.

As soon as that happened, I said to myself, since my wife chooses to not watch the games with me this year(gee, I wonder why), "we're gonna win this game". The defense came back on and Carolina had no chance, none, nada to do anything, they should have punted on first down for all that it mattered. Then bing-bang-Boom it was tied. I was not even worried about the extra points. When Conway missed the field goal I said, again to myself, "that was a fluke, that should have been good", I was still not worried. Last week, or the week before, or week before, I would have called the miss, expected it, but this week after the fog had lifted, I knew it was a fluke and we would still win.

I knew we would get the OT coin toss. I did not expect that kind of magic from the passing game in OT, but I did expect us to go down the field and end it without Carolina ever getting a chance. The pass plays were just icing on my theory cake.

I think light has invaded the darkness before the dawn of the Washington Redskins. I said before it would take a big play here or there to rid us of this quagmire of ineptitude and we got a boat load of them. More to come, I know it, I can feel it, I actually trust it.

All the missed passes early, and I still hate the fact that Westbrook get's the o'le double standard when it comes to his misses. The first "miss" would have been a hell of a catch. The second miss would have been even harder. We have not seen the last of Mr. Westbrook this year, he will make a mark, he will now start making those catches. Anyway, all the missed catches will now go away. The Redskins will walk taller and be more competetive just because that evil wieght has been lifted. It has nothing to do with the coaching or the plays.

The Redskins being so bad was not because the Redskins ARE bad, but because they were cursed, almost doomed to the point of no return. But the veil has been removed, the energy and enthusiam tapped, the evil defeated, and the ebb of real football will flow for at least awhile.

I'm not saying the Redskins will run off 10 in a row, but it will not surprize me if they did. We will see a different team from here on out. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.

[bulldog]

the Panthers rushing yards came not because the Redskins were playing poor defense (although there were mistackles in the secondary on passes in the open field, but because the offense wasn't giving the defense a chance to get off the field and get some rest between drives.

The three and outs take a huge toll on the defensive line and linebackers over the course of a game.

The same thing happened in the opener when Tomlinson got 130 yards but only a 3.1 average. The Redskins offense only ran 42 plays!

I agree with you the Arrington interception was important because it was the culmination of his becoming a full blown leader on the team.

He had been playing well and playing hurt, but yesterday he delivered the kind of clutch play LT and other great defensive players do when their team is in trouble.

For a turnaround to happen the younger players are going to have to take over the team from veterans such as Bruce Smith that are too old and too comfortable to put themselves on the front lines anymore.

[Ignatius J.]

Correct me if i'm wrong cause i didn't catch the game until about halftime, but it sure seemed to me that the defense was doing their fare share in that time of possession battle. The arrington interception caused a couple of three and outs in a row. If the offense goes three and out. The defense has some responsiblity to make the other team go three and out too.

That said the defense is the character of the team right now. If we win again it will be because the D keeps us in it and the offense comes up with one or two big plays. I just think it should be noted that the D is ultimately responsible for the number of plays run by the opposition.

-DB