In a Funk After a Funky Effort

How can you conclude anything other than that? Were the Giants, a team with (again) the 31st-ranked defense in the NFL, 36 points better than Washington coming into the game? Of course not. Yes, it hurt the Redskins that their best defensive lineman, Cornelius Griffin, who might just be the best interior lineman in the league against the run, could participate for only a couple of plays because of a flexor injury. And without him, the Giants' offensive line helped Barber to a career-high 206 rushing yards.

But let's not make Griffin into Reggie White, okay? Griffin, by the way, doesn't play along the offensive line, so we can't blame his absence for the gang tackling of Clinton Portis who only had the worst running day of his career!

The Redskins, as compared with the Giants, lacked determination Sunday.

They lacked resolve. "I don't think we matched them in anything," Gibbs said.

Yep, that's about right. The Redskins had one rushing first down for the entire game. The Giants had eight. The Redskins gained 125 yards of total offense (did I mention the Giants were 31st in defense coming into the game?) while the Giants had 386. The Redskins passed for 87 net yards. No doubt, Antonio Pierce helped his new team with as much intel as possible on his old team during the week. The Giants felt from the first defensive series they knew what the Redskins were going to run. In fact, at times they were calling out the plays as the Redskins were about to snap the ball. Good for Pierce. The Redskins ought to be hurt in a tangible way by always adoring somebody else's players and not recognizing when they've got The Man already on their roster. What sweet revenge for him.

But this wasn't exclusively about sound spy work and Giants preparation; I counted eight dropped passes by the Redskins.

Of course, the Redskins have to turn their attention to next week. Mark Brunell, who has had nary a bad quarter this season, much less a bad game, said afterward: "We'll find out what we're made of next week. The character, the work ethic, all that you look for on a good football team, I believe it's here. This, obviously, was a big game. And they were far better than we were today. We all took part in that one. [But] I believe in this team. I believe we've got a group of guys committed to making this a special year."

No doubt Brunell is one of many Redskins who believe that. No doubt the Redskins have precious little time to pull themselves together by Sunday to prove it.