Sunday, September 14, 2014: Washington 41, Jacksonville 10
So much controversy. Yes, we need to pay attention to running back Ray Rice’s (and now the Cardinals’ RB Jonathan Dwyer’s) domestic violence issue because it is a clear window into a widespread cultural problem. The same is true about the Vikings’ RB Adrian Peterson allegedly ‘disciplining’ a four-year-old boy with a stick. In an unusual defense, Lion’s RB Reggie Bush has stepped in on Peterson’s side, saying he himself “will try not to obviously leave bruises” on his own one-year-old daughter when disciplining her. What is up with all these running backs losing their minds, by the way? Too many concussions? As a matter of fact, all of this violence outside of the game has finally distracted attention from all the violence inside the game – the multiple concussions leading to CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). Was this the NFL’s secret plan this season all along?
Somehow lost in the public relations nightmare that is the current National Football League is the fact that the team from DC won a football game last Sunday. It was their first victory in their last ten games. That’s right. They snapped their second longest losing streak ever. What could be more important than that? True, it was played at home against perhaps the worst team in the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars, but you have to start somewhere. In an odd twist, so to speak, franchise quarterback, Robert Griffen III, dislocated his left ankle on a completed pass five minutes into the game and was replaced by backup Kirk Cousins. Two plays later, Cousins throws a touchdown pass and Washington leads 7-0 (they converted the extra point!) Cousins completed his first twelve throws, and the DC defense held the woeful Jaguars to less than 150 yards of total offense. RGIII, with no breaks found in the ankle, is expected back sometime this season. In the meantime, Washington fans will find out if Kirk Cousins can start a controversy of his own, albeit a less significant one than those listed above, a quarterback controversy. He’ll have to start it in Philadelphia: the Redskins are a 7-point underdog against the unbeaten Eagles in Philly on Sunday. 1pm, Fox.
