The Win That Wasn't

Skins Lose To Saints. Dreadful. Just Dreadful.

All that hard work for nil.

The Skins had everything going for them, and had everyone thinking the were going to pull off an upset over the then 11-0 New Orleans Saints.

The Skins started off on the good foot, with Fred Davis scoring the first touchdown of the game on a five yard pass from Jason Campbell just minutes into the first quarter.

With the field goal kick the Skins were off to an early ten point lead. A ten point margin that remained for most of three quarters.

Devin Thomas was on fire during the game scoring a 78 yard touchdown, his first of two on the day, making today's game his best of the season. (Thomas rushed for 100 yards on the game).

Surely, the Skins had this game in the bag.

Then the game somehow went terribly wrong.

For starters, Kareem Moore's intercepted a New Orleans pass but was somehow taken away from him by the Saints' Robert Meachem who took it in for a 53 yard touchdown.

After playing exceptionally well for most of the game (passing for 367 yards, 3 TDs) Jason Campbell threw for an interception that resulted in another TD for New Orleans.

Fast forward to what the Skins have had trouble doing all season long. Scoring in the red zone on a 3rd down. The Skins couldn't score the TD which resulted in kicker Shawn Suisham having to come in to score the point.

It's worked in the past. It should work now.

Not.

That was the missed kick -- heard around the NFL -- just 23 yards out that could have sealed the win for Washington with 1:56 to go in regulation.

It wasn't to be.

What was to be was Garrett Hartley's 18-yard field goal that sealed the 33-30 overtime win for the Saints.

Accepting the win (and the sweet revenge)former Redskins’ coordinator Greg Williams, said of his former team, “They played well, isolating our corners; the Redskins have nothing to hang their heads about."

While Williams is giving praise, fans and the Skins themselves, are still trying to figure out what went wrong.

“This season has been absolutely crazy”, blogs Rocky McIntosh.

“ Looking on the bright side, our team has looked more complete these last couple of weeks. It is the worst feeling in the world to play your guts out and then get to the end of the game and not be able to finish. Riding back from playing the Saints I just couldn't figure out why we didn't win that game. It almost feels like we have a two-minute curse. And the music at the stadium sure didn't help either.”

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The long and short of it. The Saints go marching in, or rather back to New Orleans with a win; and the Redskins go in to that dark night - losing, yet again.
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The remaining four. Redskins (3-9) vs Raiders (12/13), Giants (12/21), Cowboys (12/27), Charges (1/3).

Vick scored 2 TDs, too.

Poll: Portis and Cooley out. Are the Skins playing better? Leave a comment.

London Fletcher selected to USA Football/NFLPA "All Fundamentals Team", was named the Washington Redskins Man of the Year, which also makes him eligible for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. Go London!