Redskins Rehash-- Playoff picture developing...for others.

"It's the most wonderful time of year". Andy Williams aside, December is a fantastic final lap in the NFL regular season where destiny is determined... and pretenders are separated from contenders. Sadly for the Redskins, the last three weeks of the season will do little else except determine the Redskins' draft order (more on that later). Great time to start winning!


A few questions about Sunday--who are these people? What was this team that we saw play their best 60 minutes of the Shanahan era? And why can't they play the Giants all the time?


Defense the difference-- Jim Haslett's D earns an A for shutting down Eli Manning in the first half: two three and outs... an interception... and two drives not crossing midfield the first five times they had the ball. Even after heating up after halftime-- the Skins intercepted two passes and forced the Giants to settle for a field goal attempt. The last possession that allowed a touchdown but chewed up clock was simply moot.


Turnoverasaurus Rex-- at least he got the miscues out of the way early in this one. Two interceptions on the first three drives meant that for the first quarter Grossman had more completions to the Giants than Eli Manning. Thankfully he settled down to post a workman-like 15 of 24 for 185 yards and a touchdown.


Helu held in check-- after three consecutive 100 yard efforts the Rookie Roy was limited to 53 yards rushing on 23 carries. The Giants D made things tough all day-- his longest gain was 8 yards. But Helu helped the team in the passing game--notching 3 receptions for 16 yards.

Ground Game quality from quantity-- at first glance it's not that impressive. Forty carries for 123 yards... just over 3 yards a pop. But FORTY clock-killing plays are huge when you have a lead. The key drive was their 11th possession-- 9 plays for 34 yards but 3 minutes and 50 seconds worth of clock... making the Giants TD too little too late.

Gaffney gets it done-- quietly the Skins have found their go-to guy in the passing game. Six catches for 85 yards give the 31 year old 58 for the season--a career high-- and 842 yards for the year-- 33 off his career best. While this is his third team in four years... can this be his final stop?

ILB not MIA-- London Fletcher and Perry Riley combined for 20 tackles... 13 of them solo stops. Fletcher forced a fumble. One key to the 3-4 is setting up your inside linebackers in space to make plays-- and that's been the case the last few weeks.

Gano gettin' it done-- the Skins kicker of the moment made all three attempts-- including a 43 yarder. Which means he'll be shaky against Minnesota.

Dissecting the Division-- Dallas' win over Tampa Bay propels the Cowboys into first place and the #4 seed... as the Giants fall to 10th in the NFC. With a 4-7 conference record a wildcard is out of the question; they need to beat the NY Jets Saturday and then defeat Dallas in week 17 to win the division. Philadelphia remains in the hunt at 11th in the conference... but division champs if the following occurs: 1-- wins over Dallas and Washington...2-- a Giants loss to the Jets...3-- a Giants win over Dallas. All are possible to set up the worst ever NFC East Champion. The Redskins can actually finish tied for second with wins over Minnesota and Philadelphia-- although tiebreakers keep the ceiling at 3rd place. There's always next year.

Playoff picture still fuzzy-- 22 of 32 teams are alive with two weeks remaining: 3 NFC and 4 AFC berths are already locked up though. In the NFC the race between San Francisco and New Orleans for the #2 seed currently reads advantage 49ers as SF has a better conference record; the wildcard jumble has Atlanta and Detroit within wins of locking up spots while Chicago, Seattle and Arizona all look to finish strong and get help. The AFC race reminds one of 1980 when all 5 playoff teams finished 11-5 and tiebreakers sorted out division winners in the Central and West... as well as home field for the wildcard game and the rest of the playoffs. Losses by Houston and Baltimore placed Pittsburgh in position to move into first-- but the Steelers loss on MNF means New England is in the driver's seat. While Baltimore owns tiebreakers with Houston and Pittsburgh... the wild AFC West has all four teams in contention. The second wildcard? The NY Jets and Cincinnati... with plenty of drama from Rex in the Big Apple.

No more perfection... or pure imperfection-- on the same day unbeaten Green Bay lost at Kansas City, winless Indianapolis topped Tennessee. I know, any given Sunday...

Feeling the draft-- the Skins win keeps them tied for the 7th worst record in the league with three other clubs. So a marquee quarterback isn't out of the question... especially with St. Louis and Minnesota likely not looking to draft a QB two years in a row. Stranger things have happened though.

Division Duels and Conference Contests-- the AFC North has a one game edge over the NFC North at 32-22. Even a win by Indianapolis couldn't lift the AFC South-- still the division of depression at 22-34. A 3-1 week by the NFC East brought some respectability... but at 26-30 they're assured of a composite losing season. Meanwhile, the NFC leads the AFC 31-29 with four games remaining in interconference play... and could win the annual challenge for the first time since the 90's.