[sportscurmudgeon]

Folks:

The Skins' FO supposedly chased CJ to the point where they supposedly offered a really big price for him.

That's conjecture. Here's a fact:


That deal never happened. I would not have been happy with a deal of the kind that was widely reported but I don't have to get my knickers in a knot over it because - - It ... never ... happened.


By the way, the Skins' FO may also have considered moving training camp this year to the Xygork Nebula. That would have been a bad idea. But they didn't to that either...

Will the off-season restraint shown by Danny Boy and Vinnie Boombatz assure the Skins of a Super Bowl slot? Of course not.

But I like the idea that there are so many players showing up at the beginning of training camp who have shown that they can actually perform on the field at the level of an NFL playoff team.

If you want to look at this from a negative perspective, the new coaching staff can obviously f*ck this up with incompetence or irrationality. The Redskins COULD be 6-10 this year; and if they are, you can point the finger at the guys on the sideline and in the coaches' booth - - because the players have shown they can perform at a higher level that that.

The Skins can also go 4-12 this year if the football gods decide to heap injuries on the team and make the ball bounce away from the Skins all season long.

But as the team goes into training camp with everyone as healthy and fit as one can expect them to be at this point in the calendar, the Skins' FO has done well by the players on the team. They have a legitmate shot at the playoffs and a legitimate shot at playing in the NFC title game. This isn't "fanboy talk"; the Skins can make this happen with a relatively injury-free season and some breaks along the way. I do NOT think the Skins are the best team in the NFC, but they are one of the teams "in the mix" to make it deep into the playoffs where anything can happen.

Are the Skins my pick for the NFC rep to the Super Bowl as of July 2008? No, they are not. But they are closer to being in the Super Bowl than they are to having a pick in the top five of the draft in 2009...