Sweep

Cowboys 7
Skins 35

Wow, that was fun, wasn't it? The lopsided victory gave the Redskins their first season sweep of Dallas since 1995. The win lifts them to 8-6, ties them for second in the East with the 'Boys (actually puts them ahead since they win the tie-breaker), and if Atlanta goes on to lose tonight (they're presently trailing Da Bears 6-3), makes them the sixth and last playoff team from the NFC. Just about everything that could go right, went right today. They sacked Bledsoe 7 times, generated several turnovers, and for the most part, stopped the run, and ran the ball effectively themselves. Dallas got most of the penalties, and Brunell made several great throws to Moss, or rather, Moss made several great catches.

Once again, we were treated to a doomsday prediction by former Skin, Mark May, on ESPN before the game, predicting Dallas would win easily, with Bledsoe picking the Carlos Rogers-less secondary apart. But that didn't happen. The Skins played their best defensive game of the season. Their points were aided greatly by the turnovers and a short playing field, but still, they excecuted when and where they needed to. Bring on the Giants.

Chargers 26
Colts 17

As I was beginning to put my faith in these Colts and Manning, I was disappointed they lost, but figured it was going to happen this week or next. So yes the Colts are not invulnerable. Cincinnati and a resurgent New England look like their main rivals for the AFC title. Maybe Denver, too.

Niners 9
Jags 10

Just who or what is this Jacksonville team? Can't figure them out. The Niners are pretty much playing for the Reggie Bush Bowl, they were in Jacksonville, and still, the Jags couldn't put them away. I don't see them going far in the playoffs.

Arizona 19
Houston 30

The other contestant in the Reggie Bush Bowl, Houston, played to win today, setting up a season finale between themselves and the Niners for the rights to next year's first round pick. I suspect the Niners would go for Reggie Bush, but the Texans are another story. They may want to trade down to get more picks to fill more needs.

Steelers 18
Vikings 3

Minnesota was going for their seventh straight but couldn't pull it off against an angry Steelers team, still licking its wounds from last week's loss to Cincy. Despite the win, the Steelers finish behind the Bengals in the AFC North.

Bengals 41
Lions 17

The Bengals, meanwhile, win their first division crown since 1990. Hey, may be that Marvin Lewis can coach. And finally, after all their first round draft pick busts, they got one that looks like he's going to stick--Carson Palmer.

If you didn't watch any of the Saturday games, you didn't miss much. The middle game, between the Giants and the Chiefs was the only mildly interesting one.

As you can probably gather, I've taken a sabbatical from political commentary. Not much new is happening, what is happening seems to be the recycling of the same kind of events (another election in Iraq, President gives a speech, Democrats struggling to present a message, blah blah blah).

I am, however, doing a lot of reading, much of it in the realm of religion from which I can't seem to extract myself. Maybe I'll have some things to say about all of that later. But for now, much peace, much love.