Greetings from The Booth!
Well, it only took one short sequence for the season to go off the rails. In a matter of minutes, the Washington Commanders saw a 2026 full of high hopes go right into the dumpster of disaster, and it only took 2 games. Trailing 17-10 against the Dallas Cowboys with just 3 seconds left in the half, and faced with a 4th and goal from the Dallas 1-yard line, the Commanders made the decision to give up a sure field goal and go for the touchdown.
If you’re a long-suffering fan of Washington football, you just knew it wouldn’t go well in a hostile environment. And it didn’t. Under center, quarterback Jayden Daniels had his foot stepped on by one of his linemen, and trying to brace his subsequent fall, dislocated his left elbow in grotesque fashion, and left the game on a cart. Oh, and by the way, the play ended with a desperation incomplete pass, and the score remained 17-10 Cowboys.
Any momentum the Commanders were gathering was snuffed out, points were left on the table, and the team once again lost it’s franchise quarterback–again. For how long, no one knows, but this feels like another lost season, just like 2025.
I think I’m done with Dan Quinn. The greatest coach in Redskins history–Joe Gibbs–always took the points. And my scorecard reads: Gibbs-3 rings, Quinn-0. Taking the sure 3 points at the end of the half makes it a 17-13 game, AND Washington gets the ball to start the second half, AND they still have a healthy Daniels, who was playing lights-out until the injury. Is all of this Quinn’s fault? No, but his bad decision created a domino effect that has most likely sent the season off the rails. At 0-2, a team has just an 11% chance of making the playoffs.
I hope Josh Harris has Mike Tomlin on speed-dial.
On to happier things. Today (9-22) is the anniversary of the NFLPA Players Strike in 1987. Why happy? Because for the 3 weeks of the strike, NFL teams had to field replacement teams, and no one took that more seriously than the Washington Redskins. Working with GM Bobby Beathard, Joe Gibbs molded a team of castoffs, wannabes, ex-cons, and underdogs into a team that won all 3 of their replacement games, including an improbable 13-7 Monday Night win against a Dallas team that included Danny White and Tony Dorsett, who had crossed the picket lines to play.
That 3-0 record by the replacement Redskins was instrumental in Washington winning the Super Bowl that year. When the strike ended on October 15 and the real ‘Skins returned to the field, they were out of sync, and were booed by many of the fans at RFK. A quarterback controversy between Jay Schroeder and Doug Williams hung over the team. The Redskins would eventually gather momentum and the rest is history, as Williams would put on one of the greatest offensive displays in Super Bowl history in a 42-10 win over Denver.
That would have never happened without the “Scabskins.”
Until the next visit from The Booth…HTTC, HTTR!
RW
