Six points, not seven. I mean, the Washington Redskins did score a touchdown, and they essentially earned seven, but the extra point was blocked. Just to be clear here, the extra point in football is so easy, so routine, that the NFL has been seriously considering a rule change that would eliminate it altogether. In fact, last year, over an entire season, NFL kickers made all but five of their 1,267 attempts for a success rate of 99.6% Yet, somehow, this football team from D.C. managed to screw up their first, and thus far, only try at it last Sunday. (There is the fact that the extra point has been moved back to about a 33-yarder from its previous 19-yard spot ,but still…) D.C. fans are well-versed in interpreting this kind of symbology, and this is a rather ominous sign. Scoring only six points in their season debut is another bad sign. Washington didn’t lose the game because of that extra point malfunction, of course. Other head-shaking mistakes accounted for that. First of all, they committed three turnovers. Indeed, their offense fumbled and lost the ball not once but twice when they were inside their opponent’s 10-yard line. Blown coverage in the secondary and a missed tackle by second year safety, Bacarri Rambo (All Name Team), led to a 74-yard Texan’s touchdown. Besides the extra point, Houston also blocked a Washington punt, recovered it, and ran it into the end zone for their second TD.
The good news – it appears that none of this was directly the fault of RGIII, their defense seems to have played well, and they outgained Houston in both passing and rushing yards. I write “appears” and “seems” because I’ll confess that I didn’t actually watch the game. It was a gorgeous afternoon here last Sunday in New England, and I couldn’t allow myself to spend it in some dark, noisy, godforsaken Buffalo Wild Wings watching football. There are plenty dreary months ahead for that. Instead, I figured I’d watch the NFL Network’s Game Rewind replay on DVR and get some indication of how the players fared. Guess which one of the sixteen Week One replay broadcasts was almost completely interrupted by a live Baltimore Ravens/Ray Rice fiasco news conference. That’s right. The Washington broadcast. Ominous signs, I’m telling you.
