Redskins 2006 Preview Coming Soon

Pre-: A prefix from the Latin "prae" which means "in front of, before."

View: From the French root "veu" which means "to see."


Hold the phone! If "pre" means "before" then preseason must mean before the season! That must mean that the Redskins' season hasn't started yet. And, THAT must mean that the Redskins are not 0 - 4, but are in fact 0 - 0 like everybody else.

Whew! After reading and hearing the recent NY area media accounts of the Redskins, I thought their season was over already. What a relief.

Update: I just checked the NFL tie breaker rules and verified that preseason record is never used as a playoff tie-breaker. Whew!

So, let me get this straight. A team of veterans who have had success in the past, and who have suffered little turnover this year, is joined by a veteran coaching staff that has had tremendous success in the NFL...Hall of Fame success...and Redskins fans are supposed to question the leaders' collective judgment about whether they are properly preparing to win in the NFL?

One host on WFAN radio in NY, Kevin Burkhardt, actually said that before the preseason, he thought the Redskins were a playoff team, but he has now changed his mind. If I recall correctly, he had them wining the NFC East. Then, he went down the Redskins schedule assigning his predictions for wins and losses on a game-by-game basis. He had the Redskins losing their opener at home against the Vikings and after nine games had them at 3 - 6...because of the preseason.

Then "Colonel Burghalter" invited Redskin hater Peter King on his show to talk football. King is the man who thinks it is solely his job to keep Art Monk out of the NFL Hall of Fame. Burkhardt asked King if he was wrong for knocking the Redskins down because of the preseason. King said that if there is one team in the NFL who you SHOULD judge by their preseason results, it is the Redskins. Why? Because Brunell and Saunders had to prove something this preseason. Really? Brunell, who took his team farther in the playoffs than Peter King's Giants, and Al Saunders, who has had the number one offense in the NFL several times, have something to prove? What?

Last year the Redskins won eleven games, including a road win in the playoffs, after going 1 - 3 in the preseason. Gibbs won the Super Bowl in 1982 after going 0 - 4 in the preseason. The Colts were 0 - 5 in last year's preseason before winning thirteen regular season games. After the Colts winless preseason they were still most people's favorite to win the Super Bowl. The Colts are 1 - 3 this year. Don't they have something to prove since they couldn't win the "Big One" last year? It is hard to even write that about the Colts because it is all so ridiculous. To think that preseason wins mean anything is absurd.

And, now we know why some people talk about football for a living and others coach football for a living. Now we know why some coaches are inducted in the NFL Hall of Fame, and some radio talk show hosts and sportswriters need to buy a ticket to get in.

Stay tuned for the Regular Season Preview.