Wheelchair assistance to gate all: The Tampa Blog - The end.

[Art]

Inactives: Brunell, Taylor, Macklin, Sellers, Wade,Boschetti, Thomas, Thrash

Man, our list is good.

Bucs Inactives: McCown, Pittman, Ratliff, Trotter, Buenning, Heinrich, Spires, Peterson.

Tampa Bay.

Where everything seems so familiar and easy. Same people. Same hotel. Same Bennigans. So wonderful. To begin.

The week -- Fly in from Dallas on Monday. Youngest still seems to be suffering from an ear infection so from the airport to the wife to the doctor where we confirm MASSIVE and growing ear infection. On the plane Wednesday. The government needs to make a law that there is no air travel with children to save poor father's who despise it . Have Thanksgiving with the family in D.C.

Friday, 7 p.m. -- Checking my flight info. For some reason I hadn't caught I'm the first flight out in the morning. Kind of sucks. Wife is made none too happy by my coordination as there was Catch Phrase to play and I was too selfish and too into my own needs to care about anyone else in the family. It went something like that. Nodding apparently was not an acceptable response I guess.

Saturday, 7 a.m. -- At Reagan in the new part for the first time. Pretty fancy little setup. A few fans are in the area hamming it up, talking about how much they too hate Cowboy fans. Good men these. See one of the Washington Times reporters taking the flight down as well. U.S. Air stews were very nice and made it an enjoyable flight for me, compared to the grumpy Northwest folks.

Saturday, 11 a.m. -- Tampa, Florida. Home away from home. Coming out of the gate I hear a call for wheelchair assistance to my gate. I kept walking and there's a row of -- I kid you not -- 80 wheelchairs just stacked up. I had not noticed this in the past, but, look around at each gate. They are all the same. Apparently they must get a lot of old folks who can't walk down here, huh?

Saturday, 11:45 a.m. -- Hit the hotel which is so familiar. There's something going on there as well as everyone seems to be Indian (with a dot) and wicked dressed up. Wedding I discover. I tell the receptionist that I'm here to check in and she immediately tells me no way, I can pre-check in and then sit in the lobby. And then, the magic of being with "the group". "Oh, sir, yes, your room is ready." I thought as much. These people must not know who I am. That was for Murphy.

Saturday, 3 p.m. -- Bored but rested, I head down for a workout, finishing up mere moments after Pete arrives, tries to check in at 4:30 p.m. but told he's not staying there. Team had hotel in Murphy's name. No one tell him less he thinks he can show up tonight to cuddle.

Saturday, 6 p.m. -- Finally neatly dressed and ready for action. Larry calls to say he's on standby for an evening out with the boss. Pete had been down and tells me he's tired of talking to Kevin. I have no idea what he's talking about. He stays up for a few as I head down and...BANG...Kevin. You remember him, don't you?

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181258

Yes, Kevin is back. He thinks we should throw to McCardell.

Saturday, 6:30 p.m. -- Catch my creds from the front, and say hello to a couple folks. Head back up and down seeing Gibbs on the elevator signing the testimonials he gives out for someone he met on the elevator. On way down stopping on the second floor, thinking it's the lobby. Stepping off, I see Jason Campbell sitting in a chair looking positively sullen, furious, sad, focused, whatever. I rethought the idea of saying hello.

Saturday, 7 p.m. -- Place is the standard mad house it always is down here. Skins fans are in force out here. The bar is packed tight. Larry comes down and sees Kevin. Eddie is now here. In the, "It's a small world," category, I run into Chip Hamner, a former rugby buddy at VCU who's here for the game and had no idea the team would be here. He fills me in that the rugby site I've not had time to make for the team has been the content of many old boys e-mails as I have it parked at my home site. Apparently the team is impressed with my careful, thoughtful parenting. And I get to, it seems, break Aaron Brown's back for him in April . These are inside comments, please ignore.

Saturday, 7:30 p.m. -- Run over to say hello to Karl Swanson who's with his wife. He's in his standard sweater setup. I tell him I'm disappointed as I thought his Hollywood after party last week for the American Music Awards with Snyder would have him wearing a Mumu and an earring. His wife absolutely loves the imagery . Chris Cooley is hovering in the bar area with Kozlowski. Last of the players we see as they have meetings and eating to attend to.

Saturday, 8 p.m. -- Head out with the crew to Champps (that's how they spell it) at International Plaza. Larry goes up with Sonny for dinner on the top floor. With Mr. Clean, hailredskins *****, intern boy (who later experienced a critical first in life event which shall be spoken of no further) and Pete. The bar is packed. Philly, who's already there, is talking to a mother/daughter pair, who dare root openly against the Redskins. Everyone's there watching Florida dismantle Florida State. We're there for the Missouri game against Kansas. Wind up eating at the bar tables. At the time of dessert, Pete and I order completely independent cookies with no sharing possible. hailredskins ***** actually seems disappointed and expresses his hope I'd have fed him off my spoon. Ok, he didn't, but I told him I was going to say it and I have to deliver. But, I'm pretty sure he was thinking it . Larry shows up late and we start making plans for the night with Missouri up 21-0.

Saturday, 10:30 p.m. -- Now this is familiar. I gleefully pay the $7 ATM charge at the local Bennigans to buy three cigars and have some pocket change for tips and such. Our most frequent waitress was named Amber who will forever be emblazoned in the memories of all in attendance. That is all. In bed at 2.

Sunday, 7:50 a.m. -- Call the wife but my mom answers. My oldest got sick twice on Saturday, throwing up. But she apparently felt better after the last one. My young one starts to wake as I hang up with the mom and start the process of getting ready.

Sunday 9 a.m. -- Head out taking Philly, Mr. Clean and hailredskins ***** with Pete and I to the stadium to drop them off. Pete and I circle back and are parked in the RV lot approximately 7 miles from the stadium. It's freaky warm and uncomfortable. I do not like it at all. It's not natural.

Sunday, 9:40 a.m. -- In the press box. Nothing is set up yet, but, it's still the nicest, easiest setup for any stadium getting out, to the field, to the locker rooms, etc. Redskins Radio guy is just up from the field. Says it's soaking wet. Hasn't been raining, but that's something to watch for. This stadium gets water out quick. Looks like the redid some sod. Footwork could be a little off. Good for a power running game I imagine.

Sunday, 10:30 a.m. -- They finally get our row set up and seats where they are going to be. Omelette station is coming on line. Yes, yes, TK, I KNOW to get you a cookie dammit. And there they are. This is a great press box. I feel good about today. Last night was food for the soul. It just feels like we're going to win. I tried to force the Patriots win with some fake bravado. We'll see about today .

Sunday, 11 a.m. -- In line for my omlette. Talk to sports bogger Dan Steinberg of the Post. Larry Michael walks by and says, "Don't be mean to him Art. He's ok." Larry always is prepared for me to verbally abuse someone up here and gave Dan a pass. Dan wonders if there are a lot of fans down here for the game. I tell him yes. He's on the way out to check.

Sunday, Noon -- Say hello to Casey Husband of Redskins.com. He double checks to assure he has my name right. I'm very well known here. Dan is back from the lot and he confirms I am right about the number of Skins fans. We own this town. We've gone over that in this blog before, haven't we?

KICKOFF -- LET'S GO BABY. WE NEED THIS PLEASE!!!!!

Tampa ball -- Single high safety look. Landry in the Taylor roll on that play. Garcia wanted to go to Galloway, but Smoot had under and over was Landry. Clean blitz pressure on the second first down. Very important third down play here. We've been getting whipped on third. Pain the first down line and make them throw under you, or, well, rush him and make him run short . Thank you.

Sigh -- Moss, Moss, baby. Mojo back and then, THAT. Nice opening play. Everyone thought it would be a run.

Tampa two -- Big hole up the middle. This is not pretty from the angle in the box I'm at. They are doing a nice job on those runs. Well blocked. Wide open runs. 7-0 bad guys, and not a way to start.

Self destruction -- The Redskins were fired up last week. This week they have two fumbles in three plays. This team will kill itself. These aren't hard hits or amazing plays by the Bucs. It's sloppy, unprofessional, killer stuff by us. Damn shame they can't ever figure out that to win in this league they have to be good every week.

Tampa three -- Tampa right back into scoring position. Nice coverage but nice execution regardless. Real nice plays three in a row by Carter who took over that series. Nice stop on the run. Good recognition and stop on the screen. Great sack. This is a sloppy game right now with the penalties. Good job by the defense to make this something other than a chip shot for points. 10-0 bad guys.

Skins response -- Nice play action, throw, route and catch. Cooley with a little outside jab and quickly down the stem. Reverse doesn't work. Surprisingly we go big on second and 9, and the Campbell on the edge play. Portis gets nothing. Too cute for our own good. A reverse and that play back to back seems like we're just trying to show what we have in a playbook whether it'll work or not. Overload blitz on Heyer's side. Heyer went inside. Portis picked up one. Second guy untouched. FUMBLE........Sigh. Bucs ball.

Tampa four -- Quick inside run for 8 more. Really doing a nice job running on us. Nice mixing up of plays keeping us off balance. Design hole on that shotgun run. Going to need someone to make a stop before this one gets out of hand. Nice pressure again. Intentional grounding. Whew. Defensive line getting whipped on runs but doing well on passes. That's different. Another stop. Offense is going to need to get points here. Defense is tired. Need a nice drive of several minutes here to keep them fresh.

Offense, hello -- Anyone home? Deep design, short dump, incomplete. Second down quick throw to Portis, covered, incomplete. Third down, strip fumble. This is an nightmare folks.

Tampa five -- Bucs will get this ball. It's a good challenge only to assure the defense has a break to breathe a little. This game is going to steam roll on us if we don't do something to stem the tide. Defense is doing what it can. Tampa Bay gets three turnovers and we're only down 13. It's as much as you can hope. 13-0 Bucs.

Skins ball -- Hey, we ran a play for positive yards and no fumble. Amazing. Second down incompletion. This is as big a third down as there is going to be this YEAR. YES. First down. Unbelievable. FOUR fumbles. This is insane. Hard to win a game when you decide to end each drive by giving the opposition the ball in your territory.

Tampa 6 -- Fourth possession to start in our territory. Now it's third down. The defense is playing amazingly well to keep us in this, if 16 points down is IN this.

No huddle -- Portis run, no huddle, pass to Cooley. Huddle. Third and 1. First down. Campbell keeper. No huddle. Positive yards. No huddle. Screen. First do.....HOLDING, Rabach. Amazing really. Sharp pass on second. Great pass on third, effort by Cools. That's the kind of play that turns a game around. Moss drop. Seriously, it's kind of funny. You have to admit it. No worries. Second down, great play. McCardell drop. This game must be harder than I think. Third down, Heyer loses to Adams. Campbell saves position but that's it. On the board. 16-3.

Tampa seven -- Defense is stiffening up against the run it appears. The in route to Hillard seemed obvious up here, but Springs didn't jump the route, likely protecting an outside release in man coverage. Completion. Defense needs to hold. Bootleg, nice call. Come on. Third down. Great matchup. Whew. Bullet dodged.

Skins at the 2 minute -- Second and 7 or so after the two-minute warning. Offense down to one timeout. Going to need to get a first down here reasonably conservatively so the time of this is on our side instead of theirs if we throw two incompletions. Screen, nicely developed, but, of course, no. McCardell completion, but, of course, yard short. It's amazing how many little things we just don't do. Giving them good field position.

Tampa eight -- Notice how nothing has going at Smoot really in a couple of weeks. But, they are going at Springs. Springs is taking the tougher assignment, but Smoot is either owning his man, or just making it tougher there than elsewhere. When Smoot first came in they went after him time and time again. Less and less each week. That can't be a bad sign. Unfortunately, they'll be down at the 29 with time and the ability to largely put this game away if they score a touchdown. Too much to ask the defense to make another stop? And, again, pressure. The defensive line deserves praise in this one. Every time we've needed something they have come up with pressure and made it happen for us. Field goal position and a spike. Pretty conservative play if you ask me. Now, can we catch a break and have this guy miss. Please? Uh.....no. 19-3.

Halftime review -- Maybe we should have known. The Redskins played fairly well last week, especially on offense. They tend to respond to such performances with duds. Hello Tampa. Dud of epic proportions. Four fumbles. Four dropped passes. Key, crushing, largely self inflicted setbacks. Defense stepping up time and again. Campbell really playing pretty well. Offensive design isn't even that bad, but it's hard to tell with the fumbles. Just not a game you expected but maybe we should have. Everything is now lined up for a terribly disappointing trip home and a season teetering on the edge of oblivion. Halftime adjustments need to be made. Will they be? Will they be enough?

Opening drive -- Nice run. So-so pass, but complete. Will there be a fire. Nice disciplined defense on the third play. Flip 90 and again, well played. This defense isn't one you can do misdirection against. It's just not. Go at it, downhill in both the pass and running game. Cooley fights. Fourth and short. Gotta go. We are going. Is this the season? RUN AT THEM. YES. That's all we have to do. First down. Big call. Big execution. We go big on second. The Bucs are playing a base cover 2. If we run we'll be fine. We pass deep. No where to go on that. That's one I'd think by look you check out of because there's no pass open in that spot. Third down. No one is open. Nothing to do. No where to go. TOUCHDOWN. I don't even know where that came from. The route was empty bback there. You saw Cooley running but he always looked so covered, then, suddenly they seemed to stop. That's an amazing play for us. A second time Cooley can turn this game in our favor. 19-10.

Tampa one -- We're starting over in the second half. Our touchdown was actually pretty design. We put the corner in a bad spot by flashing in front of him in the out and behind him in the dead spot. That's an amazing play that just seemed to come out of no where still. Defense holds these guys to three and out and it's our game. Nine. Ok. Just stop them now :0. Generous spot I think, but, now it's interesting. We're playing pass. Shoot. Three and out. Something's cooking folks.

Ours again -- Third and nine. Not good on the first two. Great on third. That play was open so long. I wish Campbell would throw that earlier as it's just so obviously going to be there against that defense. It worked. Confidence will grow on this. Double move by Moss. Buchanan knew it before Moss ran it. He was in a pure backpedal the whole way. Cooley had it across the middle though, single covered. No help. Loft that to him and it's over. CLUTCH third. Suddenly we're great on third. Campbell is making some monster throws now. The game's turning. Quick throws. Sweeps. Deep. Timing routes in the middle. There's a lot right now for the Bucs to cover up. Timing play to the outside. THIS is how you attack these guys. You don't need to get cute. You just go downhill on YOUR time. You need 9 points. Touchdown here is nice but not critical. Campbell is in control right now. Turnaround to Cooley in the end zone please. Damn. Caldwell is short. You NEED to scores. You have to kick here. But, clearly Gibbs has decided it's time to throw caution to the wind. This is a weird, beautiful scary call. It's about who wants this more. And the answer is they did. That's a call you can question later but, for the first time in a long while you believe Gibbs felt trusted his team, either by desperation or not, who knows. What I know is it is terrible we didn't get it, and I know it was smarter to kick, but I actually think we NEEDED to make a call like that at some point.

Tampa two -- We're on these guys. They don't know where we're coming from or how to move right now. The game is in our hands.

Redskins -- We apparently suck on first and second, but are somewhat efficient on third and long right now. A third fourth-down call. Smacks of desperation and it largely is, but OTHER teams do this to US all the time. The Bucs have to be sucking wind wondering what they have to do to make it stop. We MUST get points on this drive. Eleven yards and a first down. That sweep is getting traction right now. WOW. Stick throw, catch, wonderful. Three weeks now when the offense isn't fumbling like it was in the first half, you just feel like it has a clue. GREAT play call on the Moss bobble. That is the thing we've not seen yet. The offense looks efficient. In sync. Like it understands the system and where to go and where to go with the ball. All of a sudden. Big play for their defense. They've come up big when they've had to as well. Of course, they've been the one's who've allowed us to make them have to. 19-13.

Tampa three - Defense is dialed in right now. Tampa should just take three knees and punt because that would actually slow things down for them. Offense has 90 yards to go to put us up, or 60 to go to make it a WEE closer. Let's go 90.

Move it baby -- Offense just looks amazing. You should see the plays develop. So many are so open I don't know what to say. It's like a switch came on. Great runs by Betts. Quick passes again. Deep in. The playbook is open. The risk is they will jump something and take the game from us. And, THAT is what they did. Give them credit. You don't win a lot of games with 5 turnovers unfortunately. So, now you have one last chance to keep the game in our hands. Go defense.

Defense -- Defense does its job again. This is a terrible game to lose if we lose it. Five turnovers and one series we were on the three and got no points (which I'm kind of ok with). A normal game against the Bucs and we win by 20 or more given these circumstances.

Plenty of time -- Campbell looks generally good. He can play. You can win with the way he plays. But, he's not magical. You never get the play from him that makes him the "special" player. The super scramble and TD. The clutch win. The magical drive. He's not shown that. Maybe he's not that. This is his chance again. Again, it's ok if he doesn't have it. Favre has it. Elway had it. Romo sits to pee even has it. Brady has it. The type of game that just leads you to think this game is over IN YOUR FAVOR. Campbell hasn't led those. He's not won games like this. So far, moving steady, but, we can't mess around. Dink. Dunk. Crossing. Painful because we can do it. You want to believe. And then it ends the way you most prayed it would not. INT. Six turnovers. Campbell so good, yet, not quite THE man you can give the ball to and win it for you. This is going to sting for a while.

Postgame -- This game probably sums up what the Redskins are more than any other. A team capable of such incredible dominance and while doing it, LOSING. It's the strangest thing to watch. It happens frequently to us. We blow a team around and the game is tight and we win close or lose in a dispiriting fashion. The players see how good they can be, so they continue to believe. They never realize that until the win those games, the definition of who they are is the mistake prone pack of losing players the team generally has been. Get back to basics? Can't, we fumble. Be a dynamic passing team? Can't, we throw interceptions or drop the ball.

There's so much RIGHT about this team that you keep waiting for it to arrive. You keep waiting for the things wrong with it to no longer be what it is. At 5-6 the Redskins have two seasons ago to know they CAN still make a run. Hell, they may even be confident about it, especially if the Giants go into a tailspin. The magic then was Portis and running. The magic now would have to be Campbell to me. Campbell strikes me as the kind of QB who will have one or two Pro Bowls in his career in the magical year his team carries him, but he'll not reach the TOP tier of elite player because in the end, when it most matters, when clutch gets defined, he has not shown he can come through. Close, yes. So, to me, you make the rest of this year about Campbell. You make him the sole, central going forward rallying point for all things this team is. You put the team in his hands and say "Take us to the playoffs," as Portis did. Or go home on New Years.

Pete's back up so we'll see if we have the stomach to go into the locker room. It's just a sickening feeling losing like this all the time, but it always leaves you with just enough promise to think it could be next week it starts to be special again. Until next week folks.

MORE TO COME.

[skinfan2k]

I like Heyer much more than Wade.

[Aireskoi]

I like Heyer much more than Wade.

Heyer has stepped up huge for an undrafted guy. He has been ready for whatever they have asked of him so far. I can't wait to see him after he gets to be around all offseason, he seems like the type of guy that will put in the time to just keep getting smarter and stronger. He looks a little stiff at times, but I'm a big Heyer fan.

[Art]

Heyer will get a good veteran test in Carter today and probably a bit of Adams too. We need him to hold up huge for us.

[TK]

As long as you know. Cause knowing is half the battle.

Go Joe!

[zoony]

Can you find out if the team cares? Maybe someone in the press box would know

[Art]

Zoony, the team cares. It didn't play dispirited at all even while fumbling the game away. It is a strange team that is very frustrating to follow. The Bucs didn't make game changing, killing mistakes. We made six or seven if you count the Gibbs call. Would you be happier being a Bucs fan with no mistakes, but, four straight three and outs? Probably, because of the win, but, you'd feel like you snuck one you didn't deserve.

Gruden is doing his postgame and is basically on his knees talking about how good Washington was offensively. Said what we all saw. Used all receivers, all players, all routes. And we lost. Would we prefer to play like we did today or like we did against the Jets? To me, we've lost three games in a row playing a way that FEELS like we could be a great offense and we won a game that made you feel like you could never win again.

I don't know how to feel. I think I PREFER this team to the Jets team, because to me, this team seems like it can correct the problems and win, where the Jets team needed the other team to win it for us. We won it for the Bucs. No doubt.

[boozeman3]

Hi Art.

Nice year.

[Footballplayer1]

Can you find out if the team cares? Maybe someone in the press box would know

Seems to me you fans care more than the team.

[bubba9497]

Art have you attended a win yet?

you're a jinx

[Skinsinparadise]

Art:

Love the game blog stuff. Agree with your general assessment of the team. I disagree though that after 18 starts we can make definitive conclusions about what kind of QB Campbell will be in terms of coming through in the clutch.

Right now I argue Campbell isn't a disaster in the clutch in that he seems decent at moving the ball in the last drive or two. He has just been a play short. If this was his 4th season as a starter I'd think yeah it isn't his thing.

In my book since he seems to move the ball and do decently when they fall behind and need a comeback --its conceivable to me that Campbell learns how to make that last play to get over the hump. I don't think the book is written and closed yet on Campbell as to him being a clutch guy or not.

Edit: I know you are saying that it "strikes" you so and aren't making a definitive conclusion -- my point is for me I am not sure if I've seen enough to reach a conclusion especially since for the most part its not as if he is choking in the whole series, he makes big plays and then it screeches to a halt right at the end. He also doesn't have a Burress or Owens type of tall WR where he can lob the ball and expect the WR to make a play by out leaping the CB in the end zone. I assume they find a tall WR in the off season.

[D'KanSkinFan]

Seems to me you fans care more than the team.

Our Player care - Our fans care

'Nuff said -

[fansince62]

Our Player care - Our fans care

'Nuff said -

hmmm...given the repeated mistakes by the players we have stood witness to all season I can only come to one of two conclusions:

- they don't care enough to focus themselves every game

- they care but they just aren't all that bright

which is it?

[turbodiesel#44]

Let's not write off young Jason and his potential until he has a WR or 2 and is behind a starting line. I'm not saying he will be great. Not saying he won't yet either.

[themurf]

Team had hotel in Murphy's name. No one tell him less he thinks he can show up tonight to cuddle.

That's what I'm talking about. People dread Art covering the games, but they openly root for me to show up. Even when I'm hundreds of miles away the team has a hotel room in my name ... just in case.