Week 4: Redskins 17, Eagles 12: Knee Jerk Reactions

Football season is already at the quarter pole! The hair pulling, TV-screaming, remote control throwing and furious cigarette smoking is in full swing. Before I let rationality cloud my judgment, here are my knee-jerk reactions from the fourth game of the season:

First place?......First Place! Hey, they all count the same right? I know it's only 2-2, but we are a 1/4 of the way through the regular season and 1/3 of the way through our divisional games. So what we'll get trucked by the Packers next week? Let's enjoy it while it lasts.

• Our offensive line just manhandled them in the first quarter. Amazing considering we have Stephon Heyer still playing LT - we should only get better with Silverback out there. I think Lichtensteqwalknasdf's starting spot is safe for awhile.
• I think Skins are at our best in the 1st quarter team and have been for several years. I'd love to see some stats on this. 
• That was not a planned commitment to the run. That was us getting a lead and holding it like a real offense.....makes me feel all mushy inside.
• The first half flew by literally timewise, but the 2nd half was an abomination. Given that we had a 2-score lead, it could not have been much more boring - I just wanted to nap until Philly got within 1 score.
• I doubt Philly's inability to throw downfield was a result of excellent coverage. I get the feeling Kolb was tentative, and the Skins also gave him tons of room underneath.
• Andre Carter lost his starting job to Lorenzo Alexander and played with his hand in the dirt  waaaay more than any he has in other games and looked good doing it. You know why? Because he's a defensive end!!!!!! Hey Haslett, how about we put our players in the best position to succeed!!!!!
• Very interesting defense by Haslett in the 2nd half. We basically let them throw underneath and didn't blitz much. It was like we went into a prevent with a 17-6 lead and stayed in one even though our offense was impotent after the first quarter.
• Portis went looking for contact on his first run, that had to be fueled by a week of piling on by the media and fans. He looked pretty good today, but even though he had a little shake, he still doesn't have anything close to the speed of his Denver days.
• Ryan Torain does not suck and I have no problem with a 2-headed backfield.
• Why is Byron Westbrook the guy holding the kickoff? He is possibly our best special teamer and maybe the last guy on the field I'd want holding that ball and not getting a chance to get downfield. In closing, fire Danny Smith.
• Josh  Bidwell is trying to hurt me.
• Amazing that we could run ARE out there for punt returns for so long when guys like Brandon Banks are freely available. 
• The Rams won again, too bad this isn't the BCS where you get credit for quality losses.
• McNabb has not been good thusfar, but I will give him credit for two things: using his legs, and avoiding turnovers.
  
• That said, his running out of bounds instead of sliding on our last drive could have cost us the game. He gave the Iggles an extra 40 seconds.
• D-Mac also gave this badass post game speech, "We are #1 in the NFC and we're gonna stay up there." Well maybe not after the Green Bay-Indy combo we face the next 2 weeks, but the sentiment is appreciated.

(Image courtesy of  foxsports.com)