My thoughts on the Burgundy and Gold

Wow... that was awful.

Entering the game with a top-5 defense is irrelevant, evidently, as the Patriots had no trouble -- literally -- dissecting everything that Gregg Williams threw at them. The running game couldn’t be stopped. The passing game couldn’t be stopped. Tom Brady was rarely, if ever, pressured. Plays were being called so methodically on the New England side of the ball that it made the Redskins look like an ill-prepared pee wee team.

Brandon Lloyd spoke to the Junkies this morning and had the quote of the day: "it’s almost as if Bill Belichick is playing chess and everyone else is playing checkers.”

Indeed.

Let’s be honest -- the Burgundy and Gold’s chances of leaving the Boston area with a win were lower than they were high. Anyone thinking they had a shot -- including myself -- was being overly optimistic. A fan has to think their team has a chance in every game, though, right?

I thought, if the Redskins played their absolute best, that they could make it interesting. I laughed at the fact that the point spread was somewhere around 16, as that’s what Miami (who was 0-7 entering the game) got when they hosted New England last week. There was no way in hell that the Redskins would be absolutely, historically destroyed.

But they were. From the opening drive, it was a lopsided affair. An embarrassment.

I couldn’t watch more than 5 plays in a row during the second half, because somewhere in those 5 plays, the ball would either be punted by the Redskins or taken into the endzone by the Patriots.

When asked if anyone in the locker room got fired up after yesterday’s loss, Brandon Lloyd said no. I’m not sure how to take that revelation. On one hand, I think it’s great that the Redskins view yesterday’s loss as one against a superior opponent; a game that simply wasn’t theirs for the taking.

On the other hand, though, I continue to think that the passion simply isn’t there. Not with regard to the players, mind you, but the coaching staff. If Mike Tomlin, Lane Kiffin or any of the other young coaches in the NFL were in that locker room, do you think they’d roll over and say “our guys fought their guts out and I’m not upset with the way things went today”?

Not a chance.

They’d be livid, and they’d be lighting a fire under their player’s asses to try and motivate them to play up to their potential. Numerous guys on this Redskins team have said repeatedly that the group they are surrounded by has the talent to get things done. So what’s the problem?

I think the playcalling sucks. I think the preparation for games is seriously lacking. I think the Head Coach, “Associate” Head Coaches and everyone else that doesn’t wear a numbered uniform is dragging this organization down.

You know what, though?

The Washington Redskins need to get over it. The players in that locker room need to look at themselves, completely disregard what anyone -- including their coaching staff -- says about the Patriots game and focus on the New York Jets. They need to unite as a football team and formulate a game plan. I will even go so far as to suggest a players-only meeting, one in which the guys who actually make the plays can talk about the fact that they are better than this.

It’s the only way things will change. The guys wearing the collared shirts with the script R on them obviously feel no need to panic, but I respectfully disagree. Getting your ass handed to you, when you could’ve at least tried to make it respectable, is panic city.

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OK, with that out of the way...

I could go on and on about yesterday’s game, but it’s not going to do anyone any good. I could offer my two cents about how I think Bill Belichick is as classless as it gets, but all it’s going to do is make me sound unnecessarily bitter. I could comment on the lack of an offensive pass interference call in the endzone on Randy Moss, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. I could comment on Wes Welker celebrating his 4th quarter touchdown catch as if his score just clinched a Super Bowl title, but that would be childish.

I could do a lot of things, but the New England Patriots aren’t worth it.

Are they one of the best teams ever assembled? Yes. Are they destroying teams in a way that has never been seen before? Pretty much. Are they doing all of this while observing the unwritten rules of sportsmanship, class and dignity?

Absolutely not.

The way the Patriots are handling themselves this season, I think, is an embarrassment to professional sports. The NFL doesn’t owe them anything. The other 31 teams in the league don’t owe them anything. Bill Belichick got caught red-handed doing something he shouldn’t have been doing, and he’s acting as though the rest of the league is at fault. I don’t care if stealing signals has been going on since the days of Bill Walsh and Tom Landry, as they aren’t the ones who were forced to hand over illegally-obtained tapes.

A bigger man would’ve taken the high road. A team with so much talent and history -- in the past 6 seasons, at least -- could’ve taken the accusations, admitted that they made a colossal mistake and played the rest of the season as cleanly and controversy-free as possible.

That’s not what they chose to do, though. The New England Patriots approached the situation with a third-grade mentality and made it a point of telling everyone else in the school to suck it.

Of course I’m upset that the Redskins were on the receiving end of such a debacle, and I’d be lying if I said otherwise. I just wish the organization on the other side of the field treated the game with the respect it deserves.

Teams that win Super Bowls should be looked at as examples. If and when Tom Brady raises the Lombardi Trophy in February, I’m afraid that everyone outside of New England is going to view him and his organization as the most selfish and disrespectful “champion” the NFL has ever seen...