To quote the late great Vince Lombardi, “Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” The losing habit that infected our beloved Washington Redskins since Gibbs’ departure in 1992 is the ailment that Coach Gibbs and company are trying to cure. Signs of improvement are evident, but to say that we are completely healed would be a monumental overstatement.
Fifteen years of mediocrity would challenge even the average fan of any team in any sport and is particularly gut-wrenching and difficult to witness for those of us that bleed burgundy and gold and have experienced the winning habit. But as Lombardi also said, “The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.” Keep the faith!
Baltimore at Cleveland
The Raisin defense might not be as strong as in seasons past, but is strong enough to shut down the Brownies. It doesn’t appear that Winslow will play and Jamal Lewis won’t run all over his former team, who will get their third straight victory over Cleveland.
Pick – Raisins
Chicago at Detroit
Did Archuleta look terrible against the Pukes or what? He got lit up by Sam Hurd and run over by Marion Barber. The change to Griese could be the spark that reignites the Bears on both sides of the ball.
Pick – Bears
Green Bay at Minnesota
The Pack won’t be concerned about whoever is quarterbacking for the Vikings and will load up to stop potential offensive rookie of the year, Adrian Peterson.
Pick – Packers
Houston at Atlanta
Prayers for a speedy and full recovery to Cedric Killings. The Texans have mixed blessings for being in the toughest division in football. They continue to improve, as a result, but will have a hard time keeping second place pace in their division.
Pick – Texans
New York Jets at Buffalo
Pennington’s in, Losman’s out. Rookie third-round pick, Trent Edwards, out of Stanford, will get the start for the Bills. Buffalo’s defense has also been hit hard by injuries.
Pick – Jets
Oakland at Miami
Trent Green knows the Faiders well and will play well enough to get his first win as a Dolphin. Look for Culpepper to start and try too hard to get back at Fish management.
Pick – Dolphins
St. Louis at Dallas
The Sheep were in deep trouble before Steven Jackson’s injury.
Pick – Pukes
Seattle at San Francisco
The 49ers return home after getting thumped last week in Pittsburgh. This one should be close. San Fran’s defense plays well at home and matches up well against Seattle.
Pick – 49ers
Tampa Bay at Carolina
The Bucs are a much improved team with Garcia on offense and their defense starting to gel. The Panthers on the other hand have a banged-up quarterback in Delhomme, who usually plays well against Tampa, and will probably start David Carr. The Panther defense also continues to struggle.
Pick – Bucs
Denver at Indianapolis
Cutler’s ankle is bothering him and John Lynch is dinged, not that the Broncos would be the pick if they were healthy.
Pick – Colts
Kansas City at San Diego
The Chargers are going to take out what seems like a full season of frustration on the hapless Chiefs.
Pick – Chargers
Pittsburgh at Arizona
Pittsburgh appears on paper to be one of the most balanced teams in the league. The Cardinals on the other hand benched Leinart last week in favor of Kurt Warner. That would be like benching Campbell for Brunell. Crazy!
Pick – Steelers
Philadelphia at New York Giants
The only good thing about this game is one team will walk away with a divisional loss and have a 1-3 record. Look for Philthy’s offense to continue to roll over the inconsistent Gnat defense.
Pick – Eagles
New England at Cincinnati
This would have been a good week for a Monday night double-header.
Pick – Patriots
Last Week: 14-2
Season: 35-13
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Frank Hastings