Skins v. Steelers

Well, I supposed things could have been much worse. Yes, we lost 12-10. Yes, Jason "Future of the Team" Campbell went down in the first quarter when a 285 lb. defensive end dove headfirst into his knee. Yes, Marcus Washington got caught up in a pile and dislocated his elbow, knocking him out for at least the next game, and likely the rest of preseason. Yes, Mike Espy (not a star player, but a solid backup who was busting his but to earn a roster spot) blew out a knee ligament cutting on a routine pass route. BUT... The D looked solid throughout the whole game, not giving up a single touchdown and repeatedly holding the Steelers back in the red zone. The offense looked crisp through Campbell's two series before his injury, then with Todd Collins through the rest of the first half and into the second. Brandon Lloyd scored his first TD as a Redskin (preseason or no, that's gotta be cool for him). The offense didn't look fantastic under Brunell, but he was playing with 3rd stringers or lower, trying to come from behind within the two-minute warning. I almost had a heart attack when I heard the commentators actually say that you couldn't blame that on Brunell and that he played as well as possible, but was hampered by his circumstances. I really like Brunell and don't think he gets the respect he deserves, from fans or announcers. I also think the reporters were making too big a deal over the order the QBs were playing. Last week Brunell followed Campbell, this week it was Collins. I don't think this was some grand conspiracy to bump Brunell. It is possible though, given how each has been playing, that Collins could move to #2 on the depth chart ahead of Brunell. Don't know how Brunell would take that. I know he said that the only place he was willing to play backup was here, behind Gibbs. Don't know if that included playing 2nd backup. All in all, we looked pretty good. A damn sight better than we did at almost any point last year. I think this year will be a lot like 2 (3?) years ago when the defense carried the team and all the offense had to do was score a TD or two to win the game. I'd like to see better, but I'm keeping my hopes realistic.