[sportscurmudgeon]

Instead of hatred for the teams playing, I just watched with a feeling ofawe because I saw four teams play hard and solid football without every player trying to make a tackle that would be on a highlight reel. Tacklers hit people hard with the purpose of "knocking them down" and not with the purpose of making the his so spectacular that they could be interviewed after the game so that they could say that it was "making a statement".

I saw Atlanta's tight end catch balls in traffic and break tackles and block effectively on run plays. He also ran deep patterns. I don't see a lot of that with the Redskins.

I saw every team have a lead back (fullback, H-back) take linemen and linebvackers to the ground on running plays. That doesn't happen reliably in Redskin games.

I saw Dorsey Levens give second and third and fourth effort to get a TD. He makes less than $1M per year and plays only in special situations. He does not have a $50M contract and go down with initial contact.

I saw safeties for Philly, New England and Pitts actually close on open receivers and knock the ball away instead of trying to take their heads off.

I saw all four teams generate a rush on the passer from the interior of the defensive line formation and not have to rely on outside blitzes to make the QB squirm.

And I saw offensive lines - all four of them - who were very effective. Not what I was used to seeing all season.

And that is why I was watching four teams play today that were not wearing burgandy and gold. Until the Skins close that "performance gap" - as opposed to the publicity gap - I'm afraid I will continue to spend my January and February weekends watching other NFL teams.