Geezus, Kyle...

The Monday night loss was frustrating for a few reasons. Yes, the defense made a few costly mistakes, but they kept Dallas out of the end zone, which is pretty major. Special teams had one blunder with a kick, but all-in-all, every kickoff and punt they placed the ball inside the red zone. My issue is with the offense.

Hefty Rexy didn't exactly make all the best decisions with the ball... I think we all know that. We all know what his limits and abilities are... you have to learn how to utilize the abilities and strengthen the limits. Besides, it's not like Redskins quarterbacks are allowed to call audible plays anyway to work to their strengths (just ask Donovan how that worked out for him).

But my main issue is with a lot of the play calls. One thing I have noticed since last year when Shanford and Son came to town was the lack of clock management play calling of Kyle. There were a number of situations where the Skins were up at the half or at the end of the 3rd quarter last year (eight games) and it was given away at the end.

So I decided to do some research to see how games panned out with Kyle's play calling. Here's some of the most startling stats I found:

  

·                     In games where Skins were down at the half and there was an increase in the number of carries after the half, 67% resulted in a loss while a decrease in carries resulted in 80% losses.

·                     In games where Skins led at the half and there was a decrease in carries after the half, 67% ended up in a loss while increasing carries after the half resulted in winning 100%.

·                     In games where Skins led at the half and there was an increase in passing plays after the half, 60% resulted in a loss.

·                     In games where Skins were tied at the half and there was an increase in carries after the half, result is 100% win. (pretty striking) Conversely, a decrease resulted in losing 25%.

·                     In games where Skins led after 3 quarters and there were more carries in 4th quarter than the 3rd, 57% resulted in a win while a decrease in carries resulted in 67% wins. (Kinda messed up how you can lead 75% of the game and still give up 33-43% of your games -- clock management. I mean you're already losing 67-80% of your games that you're losing at the half. C'mon, Kyle.)

·                     In games where Skins tied after 3 quarters and there were more carries in 4th quarter than the 3rd, 100% resulted in a win (hmm)

·                     In games where Skins were behind after 3 quarters and there were more carries in 4th quarter than the 3rd, 50% resulted in wins while a decrease after 3 quarters resulted in losing 83% (wowsers)

So what happened Monday night?

Tied at the half... 9 carries in the first half, 9 in the second half

(Stats say our chances of winning dropped 25% right there...)

We were up at the 3rd quarter and had ONLY TWO carries in the 4th quarter

(Odds dropped in that 33-43% loss range just by not carrying the ball enough)

Just think... if we were putting the ball on the ground, we would have offered less time for Dallas to increase their number of rushing plays by 50% and definitely would have decreased the amount of time for them to put up 123 passing yards in the air in the second half alone (just under half of what they had in the air the entire game).

So I don't want to hear "we have to find a way to win." You're coaching the win all the way till the last 20-25 min of the game. Learn to manage the clock.

And while you're at it, can you figure out this whole paranoia/allergy you have with the red zone??? You shoulda won that game by at least 10 points if you put the ball in the end zone. Yet you still could have won by 1-4 pts if you just managed the friggin clock.

Geezus Kyle, you're killing me.

Follow Me on Twitter: @NFLHustleBabe

Tradition

You ever wonder how things get passed down and no one ever researches WHY the idea stood so long???

That's pretty much why there are so many branches of Christianity. One person stood up and said, "You know what, I don't agree with this one thing. Who's with me?!!" And it kept happening over, and over, and over again. And in each branch, the same beliefs are passed down to the next generation.

Same thing with family recipes. One grandma made a bomb version of potato salad 200 years ago and now the only way for anyone in your family to make potato salad is the way she did. Why? Because one person stood up and said, "This potato salad is the best." And the recipe gets passed down to the next generation.

What about track and field? Michael Johnson ran a 43.49 in the 400M in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA to break the Olympic record (narrowly missing the world record by two tenths of a second). That's incredibly fast. Was he coined the fastest man in the world? Nope. Not even after he backed up that performance with a 19.32s 200M dash. The person who won the 100M was. Why? Because some time ago, someone stood up and said that the 100M dash was the measure of who the fastest person in the world is. And the theory got passed down to the next generation.

On Thanksgiving, millions of families sit down and have a Thanksgiving Day Turkey because hundreds of years ago, that's what they ate. Why did they have turkey? Because there was an abundance of them around at the time. So from that point, it just got passed down that at Thanksgiving, you have turkey. I'm sure the Pilgrims and Native Americans ate all kinds of water creatures and what-not because it was also abundant in that location, but the thing that stands out... the turkey.  

People become fans of something based on influence. Whether you have the love of a team shoved down your throat from your parents, ideas from friends or any other medium, it's influence. I am a Skins fan. I grew up in the Washington, DC area and I believe in supporting my home squad. I've watched them win two Super Bowls, and I've seen them suffer miserably. It doesn't change my love for them, they're still my guys at the end of the day. They may upset me periodically, but they will always be my team. Even my stepdad is a Skins fan and he's from South Carolina. Why is he a Skins fan? Because when you grow up where he did during the time he did, that's the only team that came on TV... influence.

I don't get the bandwagon fans... the ones who only like who's good at that time. Then once the tide changes, they find someone else to root for. Flakes.

I don't get the "I love every team playing them" fans either... They just really want to see one particular team lose all the time... not normal.

But other than the people who like Dallas because of racial reasons dating back to when George Preston Marshall was around, I don't understand the DMV folks who cheer for Dallas. Some do it because they want to be the family rebel. Some do it because they like the colors. Some do it because they detest Snyder so they will root for their worst enemy. Some claim they watched them all the time growing up here (for real??) And then there's always some that have it passed down to them from their parents who were cowchick fans. Then you have those guys who root for them because they heard that phrase: "America's Team."

The cowchicks got their nickname from Bob Ryan (who is now the VP of NFL Films). He felt like at that time more people in America were Dallas fans than anything else so in an NFL Films production, he told the narrrator to call them "America's Team." There was no ballot... there was no drawing. Just one dude who decided to call them that based on what he thought. And it just kept getting passed down over and over. (Realistically speaking, if one person stood up and made that assumption every year about which team had t the most fans, every year we'd have a new America's Team.)

Which makes me wonder... If some of these Dallas fans in the DC area would go back and research the reason(s) that they are fans, would they feel differently?

The folks who had it passed down to them, their mind was made up from the beginning. Can't you think for yourselves?

The folks who dislike Dan Snyder, well, their fan-dom was spun out of hate. Seek therapy.

You can also appreciate a certain color and not appreciate a team. I have plenty of silver articles of clothing/accessories. Blue stuff too. Will I change my allegiance because of it? Nope.

The rebels like them because they wanted to be different or they were in cahoots  with a friend/family member. Message: MAKE UP WITH THE PERSON.

The people who claim they grew up following them: if you spent your whole life here, you couldn't have possibly had a fair chance to follow them, because every network here is geared toward the Skins. Besides, NFL Sunday Ticket hadn't been invented yet. Have you even been to the city of Dallas? I have. It's a nice city. But I will NEVER like their football team. GO SKINS.

I know who some of the players are on their team (even though some DMV Dallas fans don't), and I think that a lot of them have legit talent, But I still don't like them. GO SKINS.

I might be going out on a limb, but some people here might like them because they like country music or something and they feel like cowchicks goes along with the persona... I dunno. But I bet you 75% of the guys on their team can't even line dance. GO SKINS.

Why do I dislike them?

#1 - I never voted them 'America's Team'

#2 - When I was growing up, I saw a team full of law breaking bums who got praise from millions of people including their owner because they won games

#3 - Because I will always LOVE my Skins.

What I'm saying is, unless you weren't a fan of the Skins because of the way Marshall ran the team years ago, any reason a DMV native can come up with for being a Dallas fan is pretty silly. If you grew up in Texas or spent a great deal of your life there, that's fine too. But if you're from here, I CHALLENGE you to evaluate why you became a cowchicks fan and see if there's some reasonable cause for you to draw allegiance to the star. 

Go on... I double dog dare ya.

GO SKINS.

#HTTR

Follow me on Twitter: @NFLHustleBabe

Uniforms

I remember when I was in high school running track for Eleanor Roosevelt, I came home with my uniform. My mom was cool with the Adidas warm-up suit we purchased with our names stitched in the jackets and all... she was cool with the jersey (basically a loose fitting racing tank top), but wasn't real cool with the bottom of the racing uniforms: briefs. The first thing she complained about was being afraid of the briefs riding up while I'm running. I have to admit, initially I was kind of concerned about it as well. I had played basketball, softball, soccer, field hockey, and every single time we had regular ol' shorts. Alas, it was an assigned uniform. I didn't have any say about what I could wear. I just had to wear it. I even remember a couple early outdoor meets it was around 40 degrees outside and the officials telling us we couldn't race in our sweats or tights over the briefs. Sometimes you could even disqualify you entire relay if your uniform does not match your team. So, you have to wear the uniform. Come to find out, the briefs actually worked out better than the racing shorts because they stayed in place and allowed a more unrestricted range of motion while running.

My first engineering job out of college, I worked with a firm that required us to conduct surveys in slacks and a company t-shirt. It made me kind of upset for a while because I ruined so many pairs of good pants running around in the field getting dusty, dirty, wet, etc. The company didn't even reimburse us for having to buy new pants. I ended up having to write them off on my taxes. I didn't mind the company polo shirts and button ups though, they're actually pretty nifty. And if you're in a hurry to get to work, it's a real easy decision maker when you're searching for something to wear.

When I went to high school, it was the first time I went to a school where I was allowed to choose what I wanted to wear. My elementary school and middle school we were required to wear uniforms. My mom didn't like the absence of uniforms. She felt like having them eliminates beef between people and unnecessary attention. In a way, she's correct. What I learned was that you can also avoid conflict and unnecessary attention by just choosing to wear something that will not draw negative attention to yourself.

There are many female reporters in the sports world... a field that used to be predominantly men. Nothing wrong with women being reporters, but when you cover sports, you should be mindful of what kind of attention you may draw with your wardrobe selection. I'm sure the most basic rule will say that you should "dress professionally," but maybe there should be a "Press Wardrobe For Dummies" book that explains what this means in detail with cartoon caricatures and all. Maybe it should say something about the sexual attention you can draw to yourself by choosing to wear hot pants and a see thru tank top opposed to business attire or even normal fitting jeans and a company polo (just sayin). Since there's no "press uniform," instead just mere suggestions, someone should step up and say something. This isn't Catholic school or a track meet: no one is instructing you to wear what they say "or else." If you choose to dress suggestively, particularly at a game/practice and around 53 testosterone heavy packages in an NFL locker room (or other similar situation), please don't think that someone isn't checking you out while you're trying to "do your job."  When you choose your get-up, you also accept responsibility for all the stuff that comes with it.

And please, for the sake of sanity and the free gift of common sense, don't complain when they whistle or throw things at you. You know exactly what you're doing and you asked for it.  And don't even get me started on visiting a locker room while dressed that way. Let the athletes shower in peace. That is all.

Follow me on Twitter: @NFLHustleBabe