The Homer and the Hater – Bye Week Bloviating and a Giant Sandwich

December 13, 2022

By Paul Francis

The Hog Sty serves a multi-purpose role for me as one part Washington football chatter, one part general chatter, and one part fan therapy.  On the therapy front, I’ve fully embraced the duality of my Washington fanhood.

There resides within me a “homer” and a “hater”.  The Homer strives to see the Washington team through the lens of my childhood Redskins, believing that every positive play is a hopeful sign of returning to glory years.  The Hater in me languishes through every wasted second spent watching this unholy catastrophe of an organization, as they annually invent new ways to fail at every level.  The Homer and the Hater engage in robust subconscious debate, and my logical brain typically tries to balance the two views.  But I’m bringing it all out today, as I consider our footballing fate.

Whatever weird twist the scheduling algorithm took when it pit the Commanders and Giants against each other twice in three weeks, with a bye in between for us, it certainly could not have worked out better for the NFL.  The Commanders and Giants are currently locked in mortal playoff combat as a juicy prime-time rematch looms.  With the season hanging in the balance, the Homer and the Hater are here to provide some schizophrenic perspective on last week’s game and the one to come.  Hater, you’re up first.

The Hater’s Take

So, with the Commanders feeling all this great momentum going into last week’s Giants game, you may recall that I posed a question to all the feel-gooders:  Would you bet your next paycheck that Washington goes 3-0 in their next three very winnable games?  I hope you took my advice and said “No” to that parlay, because right off the bat they served up a typically-Washington special – a tie.

Let’s be real.  The Giants are NOT a good team.  They played out of their minds in the early part of the season, before coming back to down earth and getting really injured.  Keep in mind, the Giants were 1-3 in their previous 4 games going into our last matchup (and that win was a 1 score victory over the hapless Texans).  So, with momentum going for us and against them, what happened?  We somehow blew an early 10-0 advantage and squeaked out of MetLife Stadium feeling lucky that we did not lose.

Our offense could not find 21 measly lousy points, even with extra time.  And though our defense was stout overall, they failed to do the 1 job they were tasked to do – keep Daniel Jones from hurting us with his legs.  For perspective on what an actual playoff-caliber team should do to the Giants, I invite you to cue up the highlights of the 48-22 start-to-finish drubbing that the Eagles laid onto them this past Sunday.  Bottom line: We made the Giants look good, despite who they really are, because we are really not that good.

So here we are with a prime-time do-or-die matchup on tap.  The Giants are reeling from a really bad loss.  We had a bye week to pull ourselves together and prepare.  The Giants are away.  We are at home.  The Giants are desperate as they watch their season fade.  We are in the driver’s seat for a play-off wild card.  We have all the advantages.  They have all the disadvantages.  But I ask you again.  Search your soul.  Would you bet your next paycheck that Washington wins on Sunday night?  If you said “Yes”, I know that you at least hesitated to do so…why is that?  Because deep down, we know.  We always know.

The Homer’s Take

We are in BETTER playoff position than we were 1 weekend ago.  I mean, it takes a really dedicated naysayer to poo-poo the team and the momentum we have right now.  Granted, I was disappointed that the team did not win the last game.  But it was always going to be a tough game in a tough setting. In these divisional matchups, you throw the records out the window and anything can happen.  We all know that.  But when it was all said and done, we came back from behind to send the game into OT and hold on for what now looks like a precious potentially playoff-clinching tie.  We saw the same kind of fight and grit and togetherness that has helped redefine Washington’s team culture and keep us in the race.

Let’s talk about the game – it was a game of bad breaks for Washington.  The bad officiating clearly benefitted the Giants.  And if Joey Slye doesn’t miss that FG, then it’s a different narrative.  Putting those things aside, Washington made entirely correctible mistakes that the team can see on film and address, especially with extra time to prepare.  Heinicke could have kept the sticks moving by scrambling more to avoid pressure/sacks – something he normally does very well.  The defense let Daniel Jones escape too often for gains – something they are going to double-down on addressing.  That’s pretty much it.  It’s not like the wheels came off and the team crashed and burned miserably.

Otherwise, Washington continued to do what they do to keep a game-winning script.  They ran the ball, controlled the clock, shut down Saquon Barkley, made timely plays in the passing game, and gave themselves a chance at the end.  We also saw some great playmaking from healthy Jahan Dotson, which is a promising sign for the passing game moving forward.  What’s my point?  There’s no reason for this team to doubt itself.  The winning formula is still there.  Speaking of winning, did you know the Commanders under Ron Rivera are now 5-2 in prime-time games?  Yup, those numbers are facts.  Not only that, but there have been encouraging signs of fan turnout at the home games recently…a little magic coming back to home field advantage?  I guess we’ll find out.

Of course, if you are determined to live under a cloud of organizational despair and tirelessly lament changed names, horrible ownership, missed draft picks from years ago, and tied games that actually IMPROVE your playoff standing…well, I guess you are free to cling to your depressed version of reality.  But if you can live in the moment and enjoy the football for what it is, the momentum is shifting for us.  The team has character and a VERY likeable core of players.  There’s every reason to think they’re going to come out Sunday angry and eager to prove themselves.  We control our own destiny.

It’s mid-December, folks, and we are playing “playoff” football a little early – Hail!