Washington Redskins: P.R.I.D.E.

A post by "Blake the Megalomaniac" To see more posts click here

As a senior in high school, I might have had the worst position coach to ever have set foot on a high school practice field.  All jokes aside, he didn’t teach me anything as far as technique or scheme goes but quite possibly the only thing he ever said that resonated with me was the acronym P.R.I.D.E.. It stands for Pass Run I Defend Everything.

Yesterday, the much maligned 2009 Washington Redskins defense embodied exactly those sentiments P.R.I.D.E. holding the Dallas Cowboys offense to just 158 passing yards and a lone 4th quarter touchdown.

While the Skins ultimately lost the game, the defense did their job and did it well.  Not only did we ask them to hold the Cowboys to one touchdown, some are maintaining that London Fletcher and Rocky McIntosh should have caught those potential INTs that bricked off their chests and hands (and ran them back for TDs) or that DeAngelo Hall shouldn’t have gotten tackled by Tony Romo after he scooped that fumble, like that’s not asking too, too much. I beg your pardons.

Granted, championship defenses (and those are few and far between) can completely stifle opposing offenses while forcing them to commit turnovers by which the defense can swing into points (think the Steelers defense of last year and the Ravens of 2002) but our defense is not that defense.  We’ve never been particularly adept at forcing TO’s and when we do we can’t turn those into points.  Regardless, the point is, as Jerry Gray said, when your defense holds the opposing team to 7 pts then you expect to win the game.  Barring two missed field goals we would have won.

The last two games have shown that while we’re obviously not a playoff team especially with the rash of injuries, the players we do have are willing to step up and play this emotional game with just that; emotion.  They could have packed it in which is what we thought they’d do and what many fans have done but they’re not. They’re representing the history and tradition of the Redskins as well as they can, being physical, running the ball, and putting themselves in a position to win.  They’re competitive.  They’re showing signs of life.

I’m not going to hold my head down because we lost.  Washington may be a town that values championships over all else but at this point in our 3-7 season I’ll take this moral victory. To some it may not be enough to play the Cowboys close but considering where we were at the beginning of the year and how uninspired our team had played I’ll take this.  I don’t normally believe in moral victories but when true Redskins like Rock Cartwright are out there fighting for every inch (b/c as you know football is a game of inches) and a banged-up O-line is doing an adequate job and Jason Campbell is buying time while keeping his eyes downfield then I won’t hang my head. I have PRIDE and I’m proud to be a Redskins fan.

…now the fact that I can’t seem to find a true Redskins bar in the city is troubling but we’ll save that for another day – Food for thought: udothedishes

Related posts:

1. The Washington Redskins: America’s Team
2. Sunday’s Food for Thought: Washington Redskins
3. Washington Redskins 2009 Outlook
4. Zornst*r and the Washington Redskins
5. Washington Redskins
6. The 2008 Washington Redskins (19-0)
7. ESPN: Washington Redskins will finish last in the NFC East
8. The Dallas Team vs. The Washington Redskins: Prayer (11/16/08)
9. Washington Redskins: 1st Quarter Thoughts and Beyond
10. Washington Redskins’ Game Tailgate

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