During another Jason Campbell kneel down drill, this time in Philadelphia, putting the final snaps on another victory against another NFC East rival in another team’s city, Dan Snyder hooted in the tunnel leading to the locker room, "Yeah. 4-1. In Dallas. In Philly." Clapping. Happy.
I was a few feet away. Nodding. Happy. Those two wins are monumental building blocks to a team poised on the brink of becoming a contender.
Simply being able to say we are 4-1 with wins against Dallas and Philly would be astoundingly wonderful. Being able to add the "in" part makes it this surreal, splendid, awesomeness that is fun to watch.
Believability was the theme of a high number of conversations among Redskin fans after beating the Cowboys. Assurances that it was okay to believe. Wondering if it was okay to believe. Instruction to believe now. Cautioning to be careful how much to allow yourself to believe. Oddly, while the Dallas win in Dallas seemed to immediately compel the media to express sweet somethings about the surprising ability of the Washington Redskins, fans, for the most part, remained partially reserved and unsure how hard to squeeze in our embrace of fan love.
That’s done.
We’d long suspected the Redskins could achieve more than they seemed capable of doing consistently. We now know, without doubt, we were right.
We now have a home game against St. Louis where all reserve can be cast away. All our energy and pent-up anger at past failings can be let out in a throbbing chorus of cheers and adoration destined to aid the team in crossing the last serious hurdle that stands before it and legitimacy.
Complacency.
The Redskins return home at 4-1. Return home having played the No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 offenses in the NFL (entering the games at least). Return home having played all divisional road games. Return home with a schedule laid out like stepping stones across the bay to Tampa.
After the game Clinton Portis said the Redskins always play their best when they feel their backs are against the wall. Under adversity, with doubters, with anguish, with injury, with disrespect, the Redskins often find themselves capable of playing well. The Redskins can do the unexpected. The Redskins haven’t done the expected.
The Rams are expected.
The Rams represent the next step in the evolution of a team sitting at 4-1 that is now consistently spoken about as if it is 7-1 already. For many forward thinkers the Rams are already marked down as the fifth win of the seven consecutive wins this team is assured of.
This is dangerous, rare territory for the Washington Redskins, who for quite some time represented the team other teams marked down as a winnable game on their schedules. Portis is dead-on in his assessment the Redskins love being the disrespected underdog. By definition that means as front runners there’s a little something to be desired.
It is natural for the Redskins to feel good about themselves right now. They did something no one expected. That accomplishment took a great deal of energy and fight. The satisfaction of sending Cowboy and Eagle fans home demoralized gives room for a body to exhale. Whew. That’s over. We did it. The focus and attention to detail allowing this team to go five straight games without an offensive turnover may flag, at least slightly, no matter how well and correctly the team recites the cliche words of taking things one game at a time and restates how there are no easy games in the NFL.
This is where the fans come in.
After years of average or worse play, complacency is the least of our concerns. We’re rabidly in need of a winner. We weren’t able to cheer the team on against Dallas and Philly because those games were in Dallas and in Philly.
The Rams game now lines up as a classic example of a trap game for a team coming off an emotional high and falling a little flat.
For the players.
For the fans, the Rams game lines up as our chance to thank the team for winning in Dallas and in Philly. One of the last players off the field in Philadelphia was Chris Samuels. As he came through the tunnel he shouted up to the stands, "It ain’t too late to be a Redskins fan."
It’s also not too late to cheer for their last two victories this weekend. The Rams will face a crowd as enthused and appreciative as any FedExField crowd since that wonderful destruction given to the Cowboys in 2005. When a fan refers to his favorite football team using "we" or "us" it is a sign of our conviction that games like this is when we are a part of the team’s success.
Human nature may dictate that the players take a deep breath this week against a team the whole world expects it to beat.
Human nature for a Redskins fan dictates we use every bit of our breath to feed our emotion and enthusiasm into this team.
Because they’ve earned it.
In case they need it.
So WE can win.
