Fans to Redskins: we deserve better
By author
I never like to pen my thoughts immediately after a Redskins loss. I think part of the reason for this is that it is unfair to the Redskins. I cannot be objective when my emotions are running high. The fact that the previous losses have been so bewildering has not helped much at all. Emotions have been running high indeed; among players and fans alike.
After a loss I like to sit back. By doing this I can let post game analysis and everything else run its course. I find that I don’t need to analyze a game inside and out to determine things such as “the Redskins defense needs to step it up,” or “the Receivers are dropping too many passes.” People that are a lot more famous than a lone blogger get paid a lot to decipher the mysteries of the games that are won and loss.
No. I like to sit and wait. Usually it doesn’t take long for something noteworthy to come along. You see players, just as fans, have emotions as well. Their emotions run much deeper than that of any Redskins fan. Most of them do at least. Those that truly love the team they play for can provide better insight than any statistician or talking head
So this brings us to the most poignant event to happen after the Redskins embarrassing but none too surprising loss to the Giants, and possibly to happen all season long. Phillip Daniels unwittingly summed up every fan’s plea to the Redskins when he was calling out his teammate Albert Haynesworth as reported by the associated press. Daniels choked up during the event in which he said “I’ve been through 15 seasons and I ain’t won (anything).” Daniels, a Redskin since 2004 goes on to say, “That’s my point. I’m tired of going through season after season where we lose games that we should win, guys not doing the right thing, guys not putting the best effort in, whatever it may be. I’m tried [sic] of that, man. We deserve better.” Daniels of course was railing about Haynesworth, who apparently was too sick to practice but well enough to stand on the sidelines for four hours in frigid cold temperatures. The Haynesworth saga has once again reared its ugly head.
What Daniels did not realize though was he made a very important observation and declaration for both players and fans alike. We deserve more. Just as Daniels, for what seems like eons,we have watched and toiled over frustrating losses and subpar performance. The Redskins have become akin to knee-jerk reactions, firing coaches at a whim and being a reactive team; not the proactive team that they need to be.
We do deserve more. Players like Phillip Daniels, who loves his team enough to choke up during a press conference when describing a slob of a teammate, deserve more. The Redskins are at the crossroads right now. They have two options. They can do what they always do and fire their coach, hire a big name and hope memories of last season go away. Or they can do what they need to. They can build. They can use their draft picks wisely and start planning for a slow and painful building process to mould a real team; a return to glory. I would prefer the latter, as I am sure many of the Redskins would. I can suffer through another season of mediocrity knowing that in a few years we will have something special. It must be done and done now. If not for the fact the long time veterans and Redskins alumni deserve it, the fans demand it.