Putting It All in Perspective

It's not time to jump off the ship just yet.  Over Saturday and Sunday night there was a lot of talk about drastic changes that needed to be made to both the Terps and Redskins after their losses this weekend.  Everyone that was so high a week ago now seems to think the apocalypse is coming.  We all just need to take a step back and look at the situation.

Both the Terps and Redskins had some defensive lapses this weekend.  Both teams gave up big yards, but both defenses also had takeaways that put their team in great position to score.  In the second half of the Terps game, and for most of the Redskins game, the offenses were clicking.  They had moments (for the Redskins more than the Terps) where they looked like they knew what they were doing going straight down the field.

All is not lost in the first couple of weeks of the season.  For the Terps, I was so jazzed about beating Navy because they were a good team in my mind.  And when we laid 62 on Morgan State, I thought 'this is what a good team does to bad teams'.  The Terps lost on the road to a Top 25 team in a hostile environment and still made a game of it in the second half after going down big.  They still come home for FIU and Duke, and when you look at it all, the Terps can very well be 4-1 and 1-0 heading into the bye week.

The Redskins win over Dallas had me giddy all week.  It was such an emotional win that you had to feel as if a letdown was inevitable.  That kind of emotion and fire is hard to match for 16 games.  But the Redskins surprised everyone and came out firing on all cylinders en route to a 27-10 lead over the Texans.  Yes, the defense faltered in the end, and a few plays didn't bounce our way, but we now know the 'Skins offense can put points on the board.  Washington won't see anything as good as the Houston offense every week, and this week they can get back on track against St. Louis.  Besides, there's a three team log jam at the top of the NFC East right now.

At the end of the day, both teams are only two or three weeks into the season.  Both teams have looked very good at times.  The Terps and Redskins have opponents they should bounce back against this week and everyone can remember why we had such optimism and faith early on in the first place.  September 20^th is a little early to start hitting the panic button.