The Debriefing: The Seven Deadly Sins of Sunday ... Week 17

The Debriefing is a column that runs every weekday at 9:00 a.m. here on FanHouse. It goes deep into one issue and then bounces around to a plethora of smaller ones ... and does it all in a way that will make you feel like the prettiest girl at the cotillion. Bookmark this page, and visit daily.



For the group who played with, gained, or displayed some dignity on Sunday ...

The Sinner: The Washington Redskins



Four weeks ago, the Washington Redskins were 5-7. They still had road games at the Giants and Vikings, as well a home game against Dallas. They had players openly crying on the field when they looked over at the safety position and did not see #21. And they had a head coach who outright cost his team a game because he either didn't know or couldn't remember a rule.

I did not have them pegged as a safe playoff bet.

But here they are, ready to travel to Seattle for a playoff game on Saturday afternoon. It's not Minnesota and their power in the trenches, it's not New Orleans and their aerial assault, and it's not Philadelphia and their playoff pedigree ... it's the Redskins and their endless grief.

I credit two things for the Redskins turnaround: Todd Collins ... and that same endless grief.

Emotion can be everything in football. Even if it's brought about by tragic circumstances, if you've got a team that feels a little closer to each other, will work a little harder for one another, will stay committed a little longer on each play ... that can make all the difference.

I assumed that the Sean Taylor tragedy would weigh on the Redskins until they eventually sank. I guess I just based that on my own experience with personal loss, which consists of feelings of sadness and anger, and results in pathetic moping. But then again, I'm not a professional athlete, and I've never been in a position where, after such a loss, I've had to challenge myself because other people were depending on me to be great under the most trying of circumstances. I can get away with just laying around and crying.

And certainly, everyone would have understood if that was the route the Redskins took, but they didn't. They chose -- and Joe Gibbs deserves all the praise in the world for this -- to come together, to work while grieving, and to honor their friend by playing their asses off.

The other factor: Todd Collins. I'd hate to call any injury fortunate, but let's not kid ourselves ... if Jason Campbell's left knee remains healthy, we're probably not having this conversation. Collins was magnificent as Campbell's replacement, posting a 106.4 QB rating over that period. That's nearly a 30-point improvement over what Campbell had been able to do through the first 12 games of the season, which, for the purposes of this season, equates roughly to the difference between Tony Romo and Brodie Croyle, or Peyton Manning and Cleo Lemon.

The Redskins open as 4-point underdogs against Seattle on Saturday ... but the odds against them winning that game won't be anywhere near as overwhelming as they were four weeks ago against the Redskins making the playoffs.



For those who were unable to overcome their own slovenly inertia ...

The Sinner: The New Orleans Saints

As it relates to playoff qualification, the Redskins win turned out to make the Saints loss irrelevant. If the Saints had soiled themselves after learning that they couldn't make the playoffs, it would be one thing ... but at kickoff time, for all they knew, they had everything in the world to play for, and they still came out and made themselves a big stinky brown mess.

It caps a disappointing season for the Saints, finishing 7-9 this year after playing in the NFC Championship game last year. Drawing a very weird parallel to the Redskins, the team that made the playoffs at the Saints expense, last year, it seemed like the Saints were the team drawn together by a tragedy ... and this year, it was the Redskins. Grief looks like it can be a pretty reliable playoff predictor.

What has to kill Saints fans is that they were not beaten by a superior team ... they lost because they killed themselves with mistakes. They racked up personal fouls like they were the Raiders, punter Steve Weatherford seemed unaware of the existence of "sidelines," Drew Brees turned the ball over four times, and the lesser Adrian Peterson punished them on the ground.

If a team's going to lose a meaningful game like that, it would be much easier to live with being outplayed ... that the Saints buried themselves in mental errors in a game that at least seemed meaningful tells me that they didn't deserve to be near the playoffs to begin with.



For those who were left in a position to be jealous on Sunday ...

The Sinner: The Pittsburgh Steelers

Certain teams, like the Redskins, Patriots, Titans, and Chargers, go storming into the playoffs with multiple-game win streaks. Other teams, like the Bucs, go limping in with a 2-game losing streak.

And then there are the Steelers, who aren't even limping in ... they're dragging their own limp, bloated, blood-soaked carcass into the playoffs.

They've lost three of their last four, but that's not the worst of it. The worst of it is that they just gave up 180 rushing yards to fellows named Musa Smith and Cory Ross, and in the process, earned themselves the right to play the Jacksonville Jaguars, who will come to Pittsburgh with fellows named Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew.

Statistically, the Jags have the 2nd-best running game in the league, while the Ravens are quite average. If Cory Ross is gashing them on the ground, it's hard to imagine what the Jaguars will do -- wait, scratch that ... it's actually not difficult at all to imagine. It will probably look a lot like this.

That's the Week 15 game, in which Fred Taylor averaged 5.9 yards-per-carry against the Steelers, and Maurice Jones-Drew averaged 5.8. Certainly, things can change over a period of three weeks, but the Steelers have done nothing to indicate that they will. There's no magical gameplanning solution for getting the sugar beaten out of you along the line of scrimmage.

It doesn't seem like a playoff game, between two teams that are both supposed to be among the NFL's best, should be so simple ... but it was that simple in Week 15, and again, the Steelers haven't shown that they've fixed anything in the time since. If anything, it's gotten worse.



For the player or team who unleashed their hellish fury on Sunday ...

The Sinner: The New England Patriots

They went 16-0. They're very good. Blah Blah Blah. If you haven't gotten enough Patriot worship as of Monday morning, there's really not much I can do to help you.





That's about as square and clean a hit as can possibly happen on a football field. Two large men, running full steam ahead into one another, with one guy winning and one guy losing. John Madden called it the biggest hit he's ever seen, and John Madden ... well, that guy's seen a few hits.



For those who gorged themselves on big, beautiful numbers yesterday ...

The Sinner: Matt Jones: 8 receptions, 138 yards, 1 TD. His previous high this season for receptions was 3, and his previous high for yardage this year was 37. I think it's fair to say that Matt Jones having any kind of a productive day is a surprise. I'm open to any theories you have as to why this may have happened ... Quinn Gray stepped in for David Garrard at quarterback, but Jones has played before with Gray and didn't have these results. I just watched True Romance and checked with Drexl, and yesterday wasn't White Boy Day (naughty language there).

Chris Redman: 17-of-27, 251 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs.
Quinn Gray: 25-of-39, 302 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs.
Carson Palmer: 23-of-32, 316 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT.
Eli Manning: 22-of-32, 251 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT.
Tom Brady: 32-of-42, 356 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs.

Jamal Lewis: 26 carries, 128 yards.
Dominic Rhodes: 29 carries, 122 yards, 1 TD.
DeAngelo Williams: 20 carries, 121 yards, 2 TDs.
Brandon Jackson: 20 carries, 113 yards.
Clinton Portis: 25 carries, 104 yards, 2 TDs.
Pierre Thomas: 20 carries, 105 yards; 12 receptions, 121 yards, 1 TD.

Larry Fitzgerald: 11 receptions, 171 yards, 2 TDs.
Chad Johnson: 4 receptions, 131 yards, 2 TDs.
Wes Welker: 11 receptions, 122 yards.
Nate Burleson: 7 receptions, 119 yards, 2 TDs.
Santana Moss: 8 receptions, 115 yards, 1 TD.
Brandon Marshall: 10 receptions, 114 yards, 1 TD.
Justin Gage: 7 receptions, 104 yards.



For those who just couldn't stop burying themselves in hopelessness ...

The Sinner: Marion Barber: 6 carries, -6 yards. It's not that big of a deal for the Cowboys to lose a game in which they sat out some starters and didn't mean much to begin with ... but it becomes something else when you get outright dominated. That's not good. First downs were 22-7 in favor of the Redskins, and rushing yards were 131-1.

Tony Romo: 7-of-16, 86 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT.
Jon Kitna: 22-of-48, 246 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs.
Marc Bulger: 13-of-25, 176 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs.
Trent Edwards: 16-of-30, 133 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs.

Chris Henry (TEN): 9 carries, 15 yards.
Correll Buckhalter: 9 carries, 18 yards.
TJ Duckett: 13 carries, 29 yards.
Najeh Davenport: 12 carries, 27 yards, 1 TD.
Steven Jackson: 18 carries, 55 yards.
Adrian Peterson (MIN): 11 carries, 36 yards.

Lee Evans: 1 reception, 2 yards.
Ronald Curry: 1 reception, 16 yards.
Jason Witten: 2 receptions, 24 yards.
Bryant Johnson: 2 receptions, 10 yards.
Patrick Crayton: 2 receptions, 8 yards.



The best in photos from Sunday's NFL action, hopefully focusing on cheerleaders more than anything else ...