Let the Real Games Begin!

The first thing to remember is that the Redskins open the season on a Monday night, at home, against a Minnesota Vikings franchise that is essentially starting from scratch. There's no Randy Moss, no Daunte Culpepper, no Dennis Green or Mike Tice. Other than Brad Johnson and Fred Smoot, the Vikings are new all the way around, right down to new uniforms.

The Vikings are going to go on the road and beat the Redskins in the season opener, on Monday night, when the Redskins have heard nothing for four weeks but how bad they are? I think probably not.

Gibbs, who admitted he is relieved this whole preseason ordeal is over, said the question is, "Can we get that turned around between now and next Monday night?"

And while Gibbs has a bronze bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he readily admitted: "I have a tough time seeing [going into every season] how we're going to play. I certainly can't do it."

Gibbs didn't want to resort to anything that sounds like an excuse for losing. But he did say he took precautions with certain players. Antwaan Randle El did not play. Think they'll find a way to get him on the field Monday night? Gibbs said that while he and his staff played it as vanilla as possible, he felt certain other coaches did as well in preseason.

"This," he said, "certainly is not the way we wanted to play."

But fretting aside, his team's record is still 0-0 and a whole lot of teams in the NFL would trade rosters with Gibbs right this minute.

"Everything points toward Monday night," Gibbs said. "The next eight days we've got a lot of straightening out to do."