Sunday Smorgasbord 10-8

• There's no equivocating when the Head Coach is concerned and D.C. United Head Coach Peter Nowak is after D.C. United lost 2-1 to New England last night. For the first time this season, D.C. United has lost two games in a row and are now 15-6-10 with one game left in the regular season. D.C. United will face either Kansas City or New York in the first round of the playoffs. Personally, I don't trust Bruce Arena in a playoff situation so I'm hoping for Kansas City.
• Well, it looks like the Terps just don't have it again this season. Yesterday they were outscored 13-0 in the fourth quarter giving up two turnovers and lost 27-23 at Georgia Tech. The Terps just don't seem to be getting the breaks that they did when they were running up 10 win seasons 3 years ago now. The Terps had first and goal with under a minute left and couldn't get in the end zone. By all accounts, red shirting quarterback Josh Portis is the real deal and next year will able to mesh with the young wide receivers. However, I am afraid that next season won't come soon enough for some people.
• The Redskins reverted to form today as they lost to the Jints 19-3. As far as I know, Clinton Portis is healthy so the only thing I could figure was a lack of imagination in the offensive game plan. The Skins ran little in the way of counters, misdirection, and reverse plays. The Jints defense was over pursuing and the Skins did nothing to counter it. Once behind, the Skins had to abandon Portis and the running game and the Jints just sat back and teed off on Mark Brunell.
• Tomas Fleishchmann, who was called up for the Caps home opener last night, was sent back to Hershey right after the game.
• It was a thin week folks and this week shapes up like this. The Caps will travel to Minnesota for a game against the Wild on Thursday night at 8 pm. The Caps then return home on Saturday the 14th to face the Atlanta Thrashers at 7 pm. The Caps will honor A.O. for winning the Calder Trophy before the game Saturday night and the Caps Fan Club will be holding their first meeting of the year before the game; Ted Leonsis will be addressing the membership. D.C. United is at home on Sunday at 5 pm to close out the regular season against the Chicago Fire in what should be an Eastern Conference Finals preview on ESPN2. The Skins are also at home next Sunday facing the Tennessee Titans at 1 pm. The Terps travel to Charlottesville to face UVA on Saturday at 3:30 pm. That game will be on ESPN 360 if anybody has that channel.
• As always, please send all comments, criticisms, complaints, suggestions, questions, and bribes to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com. If I ever get around to it, I might just read your e-mail, and if you're lucky, you could get a response out of me.