Ode to Negative Nancy

I don't know if you saw but NFL.COM has the Commanders going 5-12 this season.

Why the NFL would sanction won-loss predictions at all is beyond me. Are they in business with the Teams at all? Shouldn't the League sponsor giddy optimism in all 32 venues? No, they want to discourage team spirit wherever they smell it. It's all about keeping it real. 

Really? How's your attendance levels, NFL? Where are you getting your money? It isn't from fan participation is it? Do you now not need the fans? Who is your customer? A.I.? 

Well, why not? You have rigged income from the Networks. Why not have rigged robot fans? Yay! We want to be 5-12! We lose Dan Snyder but we don't lose our doormat status? How does that make Jerrah any money?

I mean, I hope NFL.COM is not a League organization. With business partners like that, who needs market crashes.

They base their decision on Sam Howell. Good defense. Good skill players on Offense. But they don't have Flash Gordon at Quarterback. They're bums.

If they had said the Offensive Line is a question mark and based 5-12 on that assessment, I wouldn't have had as much a problem with it. But even there, it is the center of the offensive line that must hold. I worry about Nick Gates staying healthy. But if he is, there is reason for cautious optimism about the offensive line.

The Giants felt Nick held his own against Jon Allen last year. Jon Allen is as good as it gets. This means Nick Gates to me will hold his own against the entire NFC East, up to and including the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Setting the QB aside, which I know irritates the Negative Ninnies because that is their only punchline, the Commanders will still be able to run the football. You have to pound NFC East defensive lines with the run. The Commanders can beat people just with the running game. The Commander Defense loves that because they come in rested.

I'm saying that even with the purported Boob all the Negative Ninnies say we have at QB, Washington can challenge for the playoffs just with the running game alone. So if you insist we are absent a QB and that will keep us from challenging, I say at the baseline you're wrong.

That said, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict we will have better Quarterbacking and more production from the passing game. There will be more scoring. From offense and defense. You can pick your QB. The Commanders can win with both. But I see Sam lasting the season. If Jacoby has to play, he will win.

Could that be a tempo shock to our defense? I guess so. They're not used to leads. Or quick TDs from the offense. So their depth has got to be on point. Everybody has got to think I'm playing every game this year because it probably is going to be true.

I think the two NFC East teams with running games will eventually surge to the top. I think the two teams with Flash Gordons are too dependent on said superheroes. Jalen Hurts won't crack mentally but if he's the Eagle running game he will crack physically. In Dallas, there's too much riding on Dak. He needs team participation. I don't think it is there. 

In those two towns, it is all on Jalen and Dak. 

Not gonna be enough.