[sportscurmudgeon]

Let me try this a different way...

Starting next week, the Redskins will play three meaningless games - - to them not necessarily to their opponents. I have never believed in "Suck for Luck" and do not think that draft position in April 2012 is so important that the team should just toss in their jockstraps for these last three games. Nonetheless, the games do not mean anything at all. Finishing 4-12 and home for January is not all that much worse than finishing 7-9 and home for January. The key constant here is "home for January"...

Ergo, what horrible outcome might befall the Redskins' franchise if they played someone like Brandyn Thompson at defensive back for an entire defensive series? The absolute worst he could do would be to stink out the joint and give up a TD. In the context of the Redskins' 2011 season, tell me how that is unspeakably horrid...

What the coaches might find out is how ready this guy is to play DB in a real NFL football game? Is he someone to keep as one of the pieces for a successful team in 2012 or 2013 or 2014? Or is he so over-matched that maybe the best contribution he can make in the future is as cannon-fodder in training camp next year? One series against Eli Manning and the Giants will not make that determination all by itself, but it will give the coaches more to consider than just practice tapes...

Maybe Markus White could play a defensive series also - - not the same one that Brandyn Thompson plays; I'm not trying to suggest putting a JV squad on the field against the Giants. Suppose London Fletcher "takes his talents somewhere else" next season as a free agent. Would it be worth having some real game tape on Markus White to see what he can do against NFL players who are playing for keeps?

I'd take another look at Erik Cook for an offensive series. I would want to see what Chris Baker, Niles Paul and Kentwan Balmer bring to the table.

And just because tight end MIGHT become an issue for this team (Davis is a free-agent and is staring down the barrel of a season-long suspension and Cooley has been hurt in each of the last two seasons), I might even think of activating Rob Myers for a game and giving him some time on the field. I would not expect to see "greatness" there; what I would be looking for is "promise"...

My problem is that what I have seen from this coaching staff for the past two years says that they will keep playing the same guys and seeing the same guys on tape that they have seen since September. From now until New Year's Day, they should be coaching for 2012/2013 and not for 2011.