It Seems Like They're Only P(l)aying for Keeps (washingtonpost.com)

This article points out perfectly what's wrong with this year's team and why they won't go far in the playoffs, if they even get there at all. You can see in it how the defense picks up opposing players upon conclusion of the play. You can see it in penalty after penalty. There's no consistent serious intensity that carries throughout the game.

"Attitude reflects leadership," says Julius to Bertier in Remember the Titans. For all the great things LaVar Arrington has going for him, he is a leader on the team. He has fun playing football and it shows. For the die-hard fan, he doesn't take it seriously enough. When Boswell mentions some players joking after the game, it's not hard for me to imagine that LaVar was one of them.

Now is the time for the experienced leaders like Bruce Smith and Armstead to step forward and make a speech about how to achieve excellence, how it takes discipline, seriousness and dedication. And fun comes along with it -- but that's not the focus.

The team is more disciplined than when Norv was at the helm. No doubt about that. But less so than when Marty was around. Edwards is an example of that. He trusts his players a bit too much for my tastes and watching them play out this year, I can see myself writhing in agony at each blown assignment due to freelancing. As much as I hope it's not true, I feel that the abandoned responsibilities will keep the defense from maximizing it's potential. It's the typical case of a team with a lot of talent underachieving.

So some reporters write that the Skins have been competitive in every game, they can use this as a moral victory, blah blah blah. That's baloney. When an opportunity arises (like this, with the best collection of talent and no-injuries that the Skins have had in years), you have to take full advantage. Too much changes year to year to "wait 'til next year."

Next year, Bailey could be gone. Ramsey and/or Coles could get injured. Any number of things could happen that rip apart the cohesiveness and talent nucleus that they share this year, here and now. And because they don't have the discipline to see it through, they're losing out on a golden opportunity. Another contract year for so many talented players will play itself out and the Skins could easily have nothing to show for it.

Frustrating is a word tossed around often these days around Redskin Park. That doesn't even begin to describe it.