Sunday Smorgasbord 10-12

• Well, once again a trap was set for a local team and they fell right in as the Redskins gacked big time today 19-17 to the previously winnless St. Louis Rams. We shouldn't be too surprised, the Redskins had played two very physical and emotional games and the Rams were coming off a bye week where their coach had gotten fired. Take a look at the stat sheet and you'll notice that the Redskins did pretty well. 368 yards of offense to 200, 22 first downs to 8 for St. Louis, and 181 yards rushing with Clinton Portis having 121 of those yards. You'd think the Redskins would come out winners, but the offense finally turned the ball over and boy did they made up for lost time. Four times today the Skins fumbled the ball and three of them were lost including the one that was returned for St. Louis' only touchdown of the day. Two interceptions were dropped and the five drives that ended in punts were because of penalties or other mental errors. Let's not forget, there's only one team in the history of the NFL to go undefeated in the modern era and winning seven straight (which is what many were predicting after last week's win in Philly) is very difficult if no other reason than the parity in the NFL. What should worry Redskins fans the most however is the severity of Ladell Betts' sprained knee. Without him, the Redskins really don't have anybody to give Portis a break and he becomes more vulnerable.
• The Redskins weren't alone in "shocking" losses today. The Cowgirls also dropped to 4-2 with a loss in Arizona to the Cardinals. After some poor play on the part of Arizona to get the Cowgirls back into the game late, the Cards pulled off an OT shocker by blocking a punt and returning it for a touchdown. (T.O. meltdown in 3, 2, 1...) We've said before and we'll say again, we aren't sold on Tony Romo and the allegedly best team in the NFC now sits two games back of the Jints which translates to, solid Wild Card position. Though this loss to the Cardinals could be a tiebreaker that goes against the Cowgirls where the Skins loss to the Rams and the Iggles loss to the Bears aren't as likely to be tiebreaking factors.
• Just when you think D.C. United is left for dead, they spring a 0-0 tie tonight in Houston. The winless streak has grown to 10 games now, but considering the state of United's lineup, we can't complain too much about the two ties this week. The only bad thing is that United could still sneak into the playoffs which would not be a good thing.
• When the Caps were auditioning their Ice Girls...er...Spirit Squad, they mentioned an ability to dance, but clearly an ability to throw a T-Shirt over the glass and the use of a slingshot weren't on the list. Maybe they should have been...

• We wonder what Slapshot is thinking looking at this display...
• This week, the Caps host the Canucks at the Phone Booth tomorrow night then head up the Pittsburgh to face the Penguin Scum on Thursday night before hosting the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. This could be a rough week for the Caps because they'll need to get some points at home before heading out on their annual October road trip to make way for the Horse Show. The Terps will host Wake Forest at noon on Saturday on local syndication (It is cruel and unusual punishment to inflict Rick "Doc" Walker on the rest of the country, just the ACC viewers). The Redskins have a 4:15 kickoff next Sunday at home against the Cleveland Browns.
• As always, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and captions for the above picture to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.