Redskins: Comeback or Beginning of the End

Story by Damon Shields, Photo courtesy of hoghaven.com.

DECEMBER 8, 2014: “How about them Redskins?” Those are words we seldom hear these days from fans around the DMV. The city is quiet with heads held down and frowns that will make you turn your head and ask yourself, “Is this really a football town”? No matter where you go—to the gas station, metro station, or standing in line at the grocery store, few fans are proud to rock their burgundy and gold this season. 

Washington, DC is the home of the Redskins, a team that has a long standing reputation for drawing in large crowds and causing traffic to pile up for hours on the Beltway. This is a team that had a brand new stadium built in Maryland to draw in tons of fans from all over. However, most people this year believe it’s all over for this team and begin to start thinking about plans for the upcoming season, which is crazy with the season not even fully over. With playoffs just around the corner, the Redskins find themselves at the very bottom of their league. With their rival opponents the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles leading the way tied at being number one in their division. 

What’s going on with the Skins one might ask?  Well, to answer that question, you would have to really look closely at the entire picture. Like most, I think the Redskins have one major area of importance that needs to be rectified immediately. Let’s start with their offensive coordinator RG3. RG3, also known as Robert Griffin III, has impacted this team in so many ways. His first season was top notch! He’s a great player, but he has had too many drastic injuries that have caused him to be out pretty much all of the season. The numerous amounts of injuries over the years have torn not only his body apart, but his team as well. Many think the owners must go back and rethink finding another player to replace RG3 and begin building a better team. Second, the coach is new, and fans have seen several different coaches in the past five years. This high turnover rate goes to show fans that the Redskins have some serious “team” issues. Until this happens, fans will just have to sit back and watch their home team go down as the losing team at the bottom of the league. 

For now, there is no comeback for the skins, let’s face it, RG3 cannot save the day. We all know that there is no “I” in TEAMWORK and playing football is a team effort, so you win some and lose some! Maybe the fans will get a better team next year.  

Damon Shields is an 8th grade scholar at Friendship Woodridge Academy.