The Raiders? Geez, How Could You?

The Cowboys, playing at home, smacked down the Lions.

Tampa Bay went on the road and out-dueled Michael Vick. The Falcons, though they lost at home, played like they knew what was on the line.

The Chicago Bears, heavy underdogs at home, beat the team most people presumed to be the best in the conference, Carolina. Carolina didn't play well but the Panthers can be forgiven since they had won six straight.

The Redskins hadn't won anything straight.

Still, Clinton Portis fumbled twice. The offensive line couldn't protect Brunell long enough to get off a pass on fourth and two in the final seconds to keep hope alive. And the play-callers kept going deep down the field unsuccessfully instead of letting the medium-range passing game control the Raiders. The Redskins looked about equal to, oh, the Vikings, with whom they could be tied in the NFC by late tonight. And that's not good news.

Neither is this: In the race for two wild-card spots, the Redskins trail the Falcons by one game and Carolina and/or Tampa Bay by two games, the Giants and/or Dallas by two games, depending on who wins those divisions. That means they can't afford many more losses. That makes next week's game against San Diego critical, but the Chargers are a whole lot better than the Redskins. And the Chargers (6-4) have the same incentive because their slow start has put them in jeopardy of missing the playoffs. Actually, one of the Chargers will have some added incentive.

Turner, one of the nicest men you'll ever meet in any walk of life, was shaking with emotion yesterday after beating the team he used to coach and the owner who fired him. It was a huge win, personally, for Norv. If it wasn't, why would the Raiders' players give him the game ball? Remember, the last time Norv left the building -- five years ago next month -- he pretty much knew he was about to be fired. You think Schottenheimer, fired by Dan Snyder after winning five of his final eight games as coach of the Redskins, won't feel similarly about wanting to beat his old team? Forget all that nice-nice he'll make during the week about his time here; Schottenheimer will burn to beat the Redskins. And from what we've seen of both teams lately, he will.

The Chargers are as hot as any team in the NFL. The Redskins are stone cold, and even worse, lost. Joe Gibbs said of his team, "We've got to find a way to play our way out of this." Brunell said: "Now is the time. All we can control is the next week. That's going to be our attitude; it has to be."

Trying to fix attitude and turnover problems would be precious time better spent than wasting one second listening to more whining from Gibbs about how the referees took the game from the Redskins because LaMont Jordan shouldn't have been ruled down before fumbling the ball at the goal line, blah, blah, blah. That would be an enormous mistake for Gibbs to make, given the officials had a whole lot better game than he and his players. Maybe the NFL director of officials should send Gibbs a tape of how stinky his offense was against the Raiders.

When your offense can't score a touchdown against the 24th-ranked defense in the league, the only people who need to review mistakes on film are your own players and coaches.