If I can turn to my wife and say “This is going to be an onside kick” before the “surprise” onside kick, you’d think that seasoned coaches would have known that (I’m not talking about the later, totally botched attempt; I’m talking about the one the Vikings recovered). Time-Momentum-Score-Defensive fatigue dictated that the Vikings were >80% likely to call an onside kick; I would have. How could the coaches have not warned of the kick?

This week, in practice, Casey Rabach and Todd Collins need to spend some high quality time getting to know each other much, much better. I realize that Todd had a great game; however, the single most important event in any offensive play is getting the ball from the center to the QB or other playmaker; the Redskins failed to do that 5% of the time.

Coverage of the game: I never did see a clear shot of whether or not Moss was in on the 23 yard reception; this isn’t a ‘Skins gripe; this is a TV gripe. Vikings fans are going to complain about that sequence for years (*Childress was whining about it last night in the press conference*), so it would have been nice to know the answer (all that can be said is “Officially, he was in”. Also, the unanswered question is, did the Redskins make any substitutions? If they did, Childress is right; the Vikings have the right to substitute. If not, then it’s all his fault. Since I work with a few Vikings fans, I need that info to bring happiness to the workplace.

Did Saunders consider making Portis the hot read for a TD pass? He would have then passed, caught, and run a TD in in one game. Nice.

The late decision not to kick a reasonable field goal: I can see the logic, but I’d still rather have a 21 point lead with <5 minutes left, than the 18 point lead. Yes, three scores is three scores, but one scenario has us LOSING if they make three scores, the other just puts us in Overtime.

The killer instinct: I know, it’s just three games, but where was this killer instinct the Redskins have suddenly gotten when it could have been in use much earlier? Of the games we’ve lost this season, if the Redskins had played this well late all year, we could easily be a 12-3 team, or perhaps better (we’ve been in EVERY game except the Patriots until the final 2 minutes, and only one, the Eagles, where we couldn’t have won in the last minute (because we gave up a late, long TD pass in the last two minutes…))

Injury bug: Only one Redskin season in my memory has had anywhere close to as many key injuries as this year; with all respect to the esteemed writers at WaPo, Washington DOES have full ability to complain about the injury situation this year. But the last time Washington had injuries like this, a relatively young team with a Rookie Head Coach, the ‘Skins mananged to go 8-8, earning a lot of valuable playing time for the young players, after an 0-5 start. The experience helped propel that young squad to their first Superbowl victory the following years, as Joe Jackson Gibbs earned Coach of the Year honors, followed up by another Superbowl appearance the following year. We aren’t going to be Super this year (I hope I’m wrong, though…); we probably won’t be Super next year, having already lost three of the young stud starters either permanently or for most or all of next season (Taylor, Rodgers, and McIntosh, respectively). Gibbs WILL be back next season (he said, at the very start, he would complete the five year contract, period). How long we have him, no one can predict, but I’m still glad as can be we’ve got him. And with Gibbs at the helm, and finally fully “Getting” his own team, and the team rallying around him incredibly these past few weeks, you have to look at a DIFFERENT team this year, with an embattled coach embarrassed by an on-field incident, who’s team (while very good), is not 15-0 good on paper, but rallyed to perform at a much higher level (both than what they SHOULD be, and by rest of the league). If Gibbs can keep the team in this same emotional frameset, he can make next season about the sins, travails, and tragedies of this one; do that, and our ‘Skins (looking to be a natural 9-7 or 10-6 team next year) could easily be the class of the NFC for 2008.