Sunday Smorgasbord 10-19

• We rocked the red like no other this weekend with the Cadets, Terps, Caps, and Redskins all playing this weekend and have to say, we could live to 150 and never understand High School Football playcalling. Why you run an option on Fourth and Inches is beyond us but even more amazing is throwing the ball on third down with a seven point lead late in a game where you've been running all over your opponent. But we digress...
• About the Caps first because we missed last night's Post-Mortem; we are willing to admit that Sergei #3 Fedorov has by far the best breakout pass of any Caps defenseman, when he's playing as a defenseman (which is sad), but there's more to being a defenseman than moving the puck and Fedorov seemed to be trying to play both ends of the ice last night which will only wear him down more as the season goes on. Some of the lesser lights on the blueline had "tough" games last night and Brent Johnson didn't do much to create a goaltender controversy. Otherwise, it was pretty much a typical Caps-Devils game that was a little more high scoring than normal because Brodeur is clearing slowing down. He was beaten cleanly on a couple of occasions but the Caps were missing with their shots (so what else is new?). We're interested to see how this plays out later in the year.
• So two weeks after being shutout 31-0 by Virginia, the Terps respond by shutting out Wake Forest 26-0. First we'll say that the Terps were greatly aided by the absence of Sam Swank who gave way to Shane Popham who missed from 40 and 47 yards. Those misses were huge because both allowed the Terps to escape two Da'Rel Scott fumbles without allowing any points. But the Terps still played a good game against a solid opponent and came away with the win. The good news for Maryland is that they currently have only two unranked teams remaining on their schedule. The bad news is that one of them, N.C. State plays in College Park next week for Homecoming which means, everybody knew the Wolfpack would be bad this season.
• After what had to have been the most maddening loss in many years last week; the Redskins came back earlier tonight to down Cleveland 14-11. An untimely turnover by Clinton Portis (who otherwise had an outstanding game with 175 yards rushing) made the game a little more interesting (and trust us, it was needed after that first half...). Combined with Jim Zorn's late game play calling luck running out (couldn't get the first down needed to ice the game so it was turned back over to the defense), the Redskins showed today the signs of a good team emerging. We have to say that we're impressed with the play of both the defense and offensive lines but still remain concerned about when they will fall back to earth as they are relatively thin and have turned in some real clunkers in the past, even this season. But for now, the Skins are 5-2 and should be 6-2 after next week's glorified scrimmage against a Detroit team that is in total disarray right now. The Rams were a trap that gave the Skins a wake-up call, the Lions however are as bad as their 0-6 record indicates.
• BTW, that loss last week to the Rams doesn't look as bad now that the Cowgirls got spanked 34-14 in St. Louis. The Rams had a pretty tough schedule having to play two NFC East teams to start the season and had a coach that nobody in the locker room wanted to play for. The Rams shouldn't be a factor in the post-season chase but they clearly are better than the team that Scott Linehan lost the first four games for.
• And before anybody gets any ideas, we did NOT go to the Redskins game today even though we were offered tickets at the last minute. And yes, that was A.O. you saw in the crowd during the See-BS broadcast sporting the throwback NFL Helmet. Too bad See-BS had no idea who he was (thank you Mr. Bettman) and couldn't play it up. We wonder what some of our Redskins hating brethren think about A.O. turning up in Landover two weeks in a row now? The only question we have is will he join in the "We Want Dallas" chant in four weeks when the Cowgirls come to town?
• We took our first look at the NHL Standings and wonder if Olie Kolzig is rethinking his decision not to retire this summer?
• Alright, this week the Caps clear out the Phone Booth for the Horse Show and head out to Calgary, home of the World Famous Calgary Stampede. The Caps play the Flames on Tuesday night then head down to Phoenix on Thursday night for a game against the Coyotes before wrapping up this road trip with a stop in Dallas to face the Stars on Saturday night. Should the Caps get four points out this trip, we'll be very happy. D.C. United finishes off its MLS season on Sunday in Columbus needing a win and a lot of help to extend their season but will play out another CONCACAF Champions League game on Tuesday in the interim. As mentioned earlier, the Terps will host N.C. State for Homecoming on Saturday for a 3:30 pm kickoff that isn't being televised. The Redskins travel to Detroit to face the Lions on Sunday at 1 pm.
• As always, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and other goaltender goal highlights to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.