A. The players did have to deal with a tremendous tragedy, but they did not miss any practice time because of it. Sean passed on Tuesday, which is the player's off day, and unfortunately NFL players do not get bereavement leave. I agree that they were admittedly distracted this week, however unfortunately this is not even a new phenomena for '07.
ESPN - Memphis' campus closed after lineman shot to death - College Football
The lack of preparation time would mean something if they hadn't moved the ball so well for the majority of the game. They were emotionally spent after the week they had. I wished they would have taken out their pain on the Bills, but as Doc Walker said today the same things that have plagued them all season bit them yesterday. That is, short yardage and red zone situations.
We are 5-7 because when we need someone to step and make a play we don't have anyone we can depend on to do it. I think the one thing missing from the Skins in Gibbs 2.0 is accountability.
B. The team will only get one practice day in before the Bears game, but at this point in the season don't the players pretty much know what's going on anyway? Sure, the coaches will miss some time preparing the game plan, but what you hope is that the memorial service allows the Skins to begin to move forward. The reality is that Sean is gone and we've got four games left to make something of our season. I would say that its not going to happen, but then again I didn't think there was a chance we'd lose four straight when we made it to 5-3. So its possible, I'd give it a low possibility of happening just because of how things have broken for us thus far, but stranger things have happened.