1) Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I was wrong about the Jason Campbell pick – after sitting him for the better part of two years, he’s now at the controls with a reasonably sound line (at least until tonight completed the collapse of the right side), three talented receivers at once, two solid backs, and an offense committed to keeping it simple. And Jason Scramble (as he will inevitably be known after tonight) did just about everything you could hope for from a QB who is still in his first ten NFL starts.
2) I still think the Skins need a prototype pass-rusher. That said, the Gregg Williams system seems to work from the secondary forward: shut down the receivers and get coverage sacks, use mixed blitzing and hard-hitting safeties to make up for the lack of a standard front-four push, and keep enough guys moving in space to shut down screens, sweeps and outside runs. Last year it was a bust. This year? So far so good, it seems. Donovan McNabb was getting hit almost constantly. However, the most gratifying part was 4th and 6 inside the red zone with the game on the line: no blitz, tight coverage along the down line, and when the pass came over the middle into the arms of a receiver, LaRon Landry was there to de-cleat him (and knock the ball free) before one foot even touched the turf.
3) It’s not time to get cised yet (although God knows Bickel will be crowing about the Upersay Owlbay in the morning on 106.7), but this is an extremely promising start. Wins on the road at Philly have been hard to come by in the last decade-plus, and if we can beat the Eagles at their house, we can sure as hell beat Eli “White TO” Manning and his band of morons in New York. Hold serve at home, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t win the division. The fact of the matter is that any horrible NFL team who makes one good off-season of improvement should be able to contend for a playoff berth, thanks to parity scheduling.
4) Charles Barkley should be in the booth EVERY week.