Leave it in the Oven a Little Longer

In 1999, the Skins went to New York taking heat about not scoring enough. 

I remember Michael Westbrook saying after the game: "How about 50 points?"

That team had a new QB, a good one, in Brad Johnson. But for the meddling of the Boy Then Owner, Brad Johnson would have loved working with Marty and Joe Gibbs. What a career he might have had here. He soon took a team to the Super Bowl but sadly not our team.

Brad Johnson won a playoff game and lost to a team he would win a Championship with, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The '99 Game was a memorable one as we didn't beat the Giants all that often period and least of all in New York where we lost the '86 NFC Championship Game. 

About the only similarity between '99 and '24 is both teams lost their first games. 

This is a raw Washington team that will take time to gel. The '99 team had a new QB but a lot of the roster were familiar with each other. It was smart of AP to use free agency to collect savvy vets. But even said vets need time under tension to get bigger, stronger, faster, i.e., better than they were before.

I guess one key to this year's opening match-up with the G-Men will be Jayden Daniels' ability to complete passes in the scramble drill. He missed some open receivers in the scramble game. Some critics have noticed in JD5 a penchant for choosing himself over his receivers in the scramble game.

Daniel Jones is said by the cognoscenti to have lost his confidence. He has no reason as of yet to lack confidence in games against Washington. New York fans are out for his head. That usually means a player plays good football. Put more stock in his career performance against Washington. Some of the players he has beaten like a drum still start on defense for the Commanders.

Positives for Washington are Jayden's ability to learn his lessons, Dan Quinn's record defending Daniel Jones, and finally possession of live game tape to better themselves with.

There is a rumor up-tempo is scheduled for Washington. That could leave the shiny new Commander defense on the field too long, exacerbating a familiarity problem by multi-tasking while exhausted. Everybody on defense will have to play. Well-crafted platooning is a must.

Maybe they pull it off. But it doesn't matter.

We're likelier to see this team's best play mid-to-late season. We should hope for a few thefts before that era arrives.

Whamsical Thoughts: How to Run the Football

Both the existence of the running game as an aspect of Pro Football and the question of whether the Washington Football Commanders CAN run the football are reviewed in these Whammy Videos preparing the Magic Mojo for the upcoming Philadelphia Eagles football contest. 

From an archaeological standpoint, this bibliography features proof of the existence of the running game in the game of American Football and proof that members of the 2023 Washington Commanders squad are aware of and have indeed dared to show their faces in running the football at the NFL Level:

2005: Washington at Philadelphia, Box, featuring Clinton Portis

1983: Philadelphia at Washington, Box, featuring John Riggins and Joe Washington. 

1985: Washington at Philadelphia, Box, featuring George Rogers

1996: Eric Bieniemy verus Pittsburgh featuring Eric Bieniemy

2022: B-Rob versus the Schedule, featuring Brian Robinson Jr.

2022-2023: Antonio Gibson, featuring Antonio Gibson

Running the Ball, featuring A.P. and E.B.

After checking with the League Office in New York, replay confirms it is still LEGAL to run the football in the NFL.

Escape From New York

I think the New York Football Giants will be a big, no pun intended, challenge for our Washington Football Commanders. The Oddsmakers have no clue regarding the Giants. The G-Men should be favored based on their whamsical domination of Washington recently and throughout football history. 

They just have had Washington's number. There's only one game I remember where that wasn't the case. A Washington team goes to New York and wins despite being mired in a losing streak to the Giants.

We'll call that game Escape From New York.

Carl Banks, Giants Linebacker, went on to play for Richie Petitbon's 4-12 Redskin Squad that gave way to the Norv Turner Era which featured among others Quarterback Jeff Hostetler, the Giants QB in this game.

Whammsical Thoughts

The Falcons don't have a whammy game posted on their Channel. It doesn't look like the whammies are working much anyway.

I don't really think Thursday Night Games tell you much about NFL Teams. For too many reasons to list. They are kind of sleazy rip-offs. Like showing up to an NBA Game and they're playing three-man basketball.

In the old days, the way you ended losing streaks was you concentrated on fundamentals. Blocking. Tackling. Route running. Watching film. Going to your bread and butters. Doing plain and simple measurable hard work. 

In the old days, they didn't know how to rest. They didn't think much about CNS overload. These days you have to REST hard. The mental aspect of the game has come front and center. If you are psychologically burned out, your CNS is shot, you most likely are beaten before you take the field. 

Who wants to play football with a shot CNS? It makes you stupid. You do stupid things. You suffer what they call in therapy land "overwhelm". I'm thinking of early Kirk Cousins here. 

Cousins had a lot of brains.

And the more brains you have the more you overthink and every stinking thought weighs two tons and you carry that weight and they expect you to cover a guy who runs a 4.3 forty and outweighs you by forty pounds.

That's another thing they did in the old days. We have old guys coaching in Washington. That's why I'm talking about the old days. They would, the geezers, because they're so much smarter than you, SIMPLIFY things for YOU SIMPLETONS, so you would play faster.

It is like your potted plant when it becomes root-bound. The scheme, which is supposed to be your support structure, starts eating your brain. Paralysis sinks in.

It is also called Brainlock or Brainfreeze. Like Mitch McConnell or Joe Biden. The Brain freezes. Because there is too much in it. Too much multi-tasking. You're juggling too many things on the honey-do lists Geezer Coaches have given you.

This is the type mentality that makes you forget your drills. You forget your second nature tasks. Tackling. Blocking. Ball security. Creating turnovers. Tip drills. Mental reps. You can't imagine yourself picking off a pass, sacking the QB, or making that TD grab. So you don't.

It's mental reps where you can do some refueling of your passion for the game. This is where remedial reading comes in. Things like retrocognition, retrocausation, memory reconsolidation. The rewind technique. You give up a TD where you went for the pick and the other guy beats you for the ball. You rewind and see yourself making the play. You know what you should have done. Rewind right away and do it right. Over and over. Preferably to inspirational music.

Or put your greatest football hits on the TV and watch and rewatch. 

You study film you see a guy on the other team beating guys all over the league. See yourself while you study disrupting the guy. You take the ball away. You make the tackle. You go in for six. See yourself making something happen. Get your feel for the game back. 

Now it could be the Geezer Coaches for the Washington Commanders are past their primes. To the point even football viagra can't revive them. Old dogs who refuse to learn new tricks. They feel their past accomplishments entitles them to their positions. Even if they are not aware of it, they feel they have nothing to prove to you. In denial about whether the game has passed them by.

It could be. Jack Del Rio and Ron Rivera were great coaches and players. They have nothing to apologize for and everything to be proud of. They both look fit and healthy. But it is the mental portion of the game that becomes too much for aging coaches. 

Not coincidentally, their team seems to be suffering losses on the football field that are primarily mental in nature.

Losing to the Bears Thursday Night sure looked like a mental loss to me, even given the fact Thursday Night Games are the NFL equivalent to full frontal lobotomies.

Have Rivera and Del Rio been lobomized by CNS Overload and the aging process?

I guess we see what they do in Atlanta.

Whammy Game

In the annals of football time, no rivalry has produced more material for football science fiction than Washington versus Chicago. There are whammy games galore for both sides that would produce superstitional hexing of profound proportions.

The Bears favorite whammy game is of course the 73-0 game from the NFL's Prehistoric era. That game was strangely enough evoked by the Bears Owner in 1985 in an interview on Football Television shortly before the Bears annihilated Joey T and the Redskins, 45-10.

Jackass.

The second most hexed game is the 1984 playoff game as the Chicago Cubs (the not yet mature 1985 Bears) upset Joey T's Skins in the Playoffs.

Washington has had a few magical games to its credit. The 1986 Skins upset the heavily favored Bears at Soldier's Field in the Playoffs. The 1987 Skins did the same thing behind Doug Williams and Darrell Green.

I'm going to pick a 1999 Game featuring Norv Turner's Brad Johnson squad as it seems analogous to the present predicament, so to speak. The year 1999 was the year Eric Bieniemy and Ron Rivera crossed paths. 

Skins versus Bears 1999

Commanders Receivers Coach Bobby Engram played in that game. Shane Matthews, future QB for the Skins, started the game for the Bears. The game featured iconic performances from Dan Wilkinson, Darrell Green, and Stephen Davis. The game also featured future Skin Walt Harris who played for Joe Gibbs and Gregg Williams on that gritty 2005 Washington team.

The 2005 squad, which went 10-6, beat the Bears 9-7 in the season opener going without a touchdown. They would not score a TD until the fourth quarter of the game the next week, a miraculous 14-13 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. 

The Defensive Coordinator for that Lovie Smith Coached Bears Squad was none other than Ron Rivera.

Whammy Wednesday

The last time the Washington Redskins played at Philly in the 1990 regular season they were destroyed in a Monday Night zombification known in infamy as "The Body Bag Game".

As fate would have it, Washington would be favored with a rematch with the chest-thumping Eagles in an NFC Wild Card game. The Eagles brash Rooster Cogburn chewtabackie coach Buddy Ryan was under some heat with speculation circulating his job was on the line and he had to win the game to retain his position.

Mark Rypien and Gerald Riggs were back. The Redskins played two tight ends. Riggs and mainstay Earnest Byner combined for 32 carries for 94 hard-earned yards against the great Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, Eric Allen and the rest of the dogged Eagle defense.

The Skins Offensive line held that legendary defense without a sack. 

The Redskin Defense sacked Randall Cunningham 5 times. They held Philadelphia without a touchdown.

The Redskins won 20-6, defeating the same team that had humiliated them on Monday Night in the same Stadium the disgrace had taken place. 

Joe Gibbs was vindicated. Buddy Ryan was released.

Washington at Philadelphia, January 5th, 1991

Whammy Wednesday

This week's opponent is the 2023 Buffalo Bills therefore the whammy game seeding a Washington victory in the football ether is Super Bowl XXVI, featuring the 1991 Buffalo Bills.

The 1991 Bills were 7 point underdogs. The 2023 Bills are favored by essentially the same amount, 6.5 points. It will be tempting to take Washington and the points if you are betting the game. The Game is in Landover.

Two of their 3 losses in 2022 were road games. Those were losses to the Jets and Phins, division teams very familiar with Bills Behavior. They were 6-2 overall on the road. Including a victory over perennial Bills Nemesis and Eric Bieniemy's former team Kansas City IN Kansas City. Mental toughness.

 

Arrowhead Stadium is the most raucous arena in the NFL. Winning there has always been tough no matter how good the Kansas City Chiefs were. They were eventual Super Bowl Champs and the Bills beat said Super Bowl Champs in their stadium. They are not likely to be bothered by going to Landover where Fed-Ex has been a popular vacation spot for opposing fans.

 

Unless Josh Harris buys out Bills Mafia tickets and scalps them on Gameday, Bills butts may outnumber Commanders Butts. Unless Commanders Butts eat Mexican, Bills Butts may make the most noise.

The Bills are familiar with the Commanders Coaching staff, having battled Bieniemy in Kansas City and whatwith Sean McDermott having been the Defensive Coordinator in Carolina under Commanders Coach Ron Rivera. Of course the reverse is true as Rivera and Bieniemy are quite familiar with the Bills as the last times they played Bieniemy was beaten 24-20 (last year) and Rivera was beaten 43-21 (2021).

 

The Bills seem to like EPICs. They must read Dostoevsky. Watch Cecil B. DeMille flicks. Binge watch Game of Thrones. I say this in review of their Thrilla in Manilla slugfests with the Chiefs. Those games are required reading if you are interested in what EB might cook up in Sunday's playcalling. Highlights were posted earlier.

The possibility exists this could be an EPIC slugfest type ball game with 60 plus points scored. 

The Running Game and Turnovers will be important for both NFL squads.

 

 

Whammy Game for the Broncos

I think the Washington Commanders should run against the Denver Broncos. I don't know if that's likely considering Eric Bieniemy and the Chiefs threw the ball all over the place against them last year. Yet the Broncos were 1-7 against people running the ball for over 100 yards and 0-2 against the Chiefs who could care less about running on them.

Of course, that means if Washington runs AND passes against the Broncos, they are guaranteed a win, right?

And do you bruise and then wind or wind and then bruise? Do you run Antonio Gibson or some other fleet wheeler and then cap the punishment off with bruiser Brian Robinson? Or do you bruise and wind at the same time? 

I prefer using the scatback first because he's a bigger threat in the passing game and a bigger threat to take it to the house. This would open up the playbook. Then you use the Bruiser the last ten to fifteen or so runs. Run them out of gas and then do high intensity weight training on them, platooning the O-Line, getting some experience for those fresh young guys and some rest for the geezers presently holding down the fort. 

You can platoon run blocking. Irritating as hell trying to defend some twenty-two year old fresh off the bench. He's got no arthritis. No bursitis. No broken bones and is still getting dates.

I know with the media/Bronco Fans/betting public none of that will matter because the Broncos are scheduled in the Akashic Records to pound the Commanders without mercy, giving Denver fans an emotional band-aid for psychological wounds suffered in losing to the hated Raiders.

And there is the fact Sean Payton has dominated Ron Rivera in their head-to-heads. These two are very familiar with each other. Their assistant coaches are familiar with each other. There may be a few surprises. But I doubt it. Payton whammed Jack Del Rio for 33 points the last time he faced Washington. He's going to want to pump a few long ones up on Jack once again.

So a good whammy game would be where in franchise history have we beaten Sean Payton in a road game before a National TV Audience where we were big underdogs? And I expect by the time the Media finishes giving us the Arizona treatment, we will be big underdogs Sunday.

Where have we beaten somebody who usually beat our Head Coach habitually? 

If you remember, Sean Payton's mentor, Bill Parcells, dominated Joe Gibbs once upon a time like Sean Payton has dominated Ron Rivera. 

However, something changed in 2005. 

Who do the Dallas Cowboys of 2005 and the Denver Broncos of 2023 have in common?

Sean Payton.

So let it be whammied. So let it be done.

The Whammy Game: Response to Cardinals Voodoo Video

The Arizona Cardinals, looking to Chaminade the Commanders, posted this video commemorating a Boomer Esaison bombing raid as a hex. Here's a response:

                                                      Source: RetroSkins

There was a lot at stake in this 1999 match-up. The Skins were looking to take sole possession of first place in the NFC East which then included the Arizona Cardinals who were one game behind Brad Johnson and Company.

It was a good day for the Skins Defense in a year they didn't knock people's socks off. 

A similar defensive effort is needed in this upcoming bout with the Cardinals in the which all the Mojos, Magics, and Hexes are with the Red Birds. The Cardinals are getting so much disrespect it has given them a huge motivational edge over the Commanders.

Other similarities: Brad Johnson and Sam Howell have similar demeanors. The year 1999 was the year of the Greatest Show on Turf where the St. Louis Rams, featuring a QB that, like Washington this year, nobody had ever heard of, and an ex-Redskin Quarterbacks Coach in Mike Martz serving as Offensive Coordinator, rolled to the Super Bowl after going 4-12 the year before.

London Fletcher, legendary Skins middle linebacker, WON that Super Bowl with a game saving tackle for the Rams. 

Hopefully, the Commanders Defense, a big MOTIVATIONAL underdog in this game, will funnel some of Fletch's magic and come up with the vic before a capacity crowd.

Dick Vermeil left the Rams after that year and ended up with Eric Bieniemy's Chiefs and a had a playoff year with former Redskin QB Trent Green.

Mike Martz succeeded Vermeil as Head Coach of the Rams. Some see EB succeeding Ron Rivera as Commanders Coach.