Washington Redskins

As NFL owners met in Boston this week, taking care of league business such as selecting future Super Bowl sites, another whisper made the rounds: Is America?s most powerful game growing even more dominant? Read full article >> More...

Daniel Shirey – USA Today Sports Images To say Robert Griffin III won over the hearts of the Washington Redskins and their faithful fans would be a vast understatement. RG3 came into the league last year and, in just his first NFL season, captured the hearts and eyes of Redskins fans and fans of football as well. He immediately became one of the most liked and influential athletes in the league. There are just so many things that make Griffin a polarizing and likeable figure. For starters, he’s pretty great at playing the game of football. In his rookie season he completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns and just five interceptions while also rushing for 815 yards and seven touchdowns. However, Griffin is also charismatic and likeable in almost every instance that the public sees him in, which only adds to his likability. However, RG3 has come under criticism over the past week after he released pictures that showed wedding gifts that he had received from fans after his registry at Bed Bath & Beyond was made public. Critics have come forward saying that he shouldn’t be accepting gifts as a pro athlete who makes millions of dollar from people who likely make less money than him. To be frank, that criticism of Griffin is absolutely absurd. He didn’t make his registry public; the Washington Post did that. He didn’t ask fans to buy him gifts; they did that on their own crazy whims. Griffin isn’t at fault here. It would be nice to see him donate some of those gifts to charity, but he shouldn’t be faulted for receiving gifts that he had no control over. Quite simply, he didn’t do anything wrong. Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.

Since 1934 the Redskins and Eagles have squared off 156 times and unlike the heated*rivalry*with the Cowboys and the longstanding tension with the Giants, the Redskins have won over 50 percent of their games against their Pennsylvania counterparts. Similar to the inaugural installment of Redskins-Eagles in 1934, the Redskins swept in 2012 thanks to a […] More...

(AP photo) Since 1934 the Redskins and Eagles have squared off 156 times and unlike the heated rivalry with the Cowboys and the longstanding tension with the Giants, the Redskins have won over 50 percent of their games against their Pennsylvania counterparts. Similar to the inaugural installment of Redskins-Eagles in 1934, the Redskins swept in 2012 thanks to a clipping of the Eagles wings in a 31-6 victory in Week 11 and a seven point victory in Week 16 that sprung them into a do-or-die matchup with the Cowboys a week later. While the Eagles had been the Redskins worst nightmare throughout the early 2000’s, one man didn’t even blink when Philly came to town last year–Robert Griffin III. Going into the Bye Week the Redskins sat in the cellar of the NFC East and it seemed as if Redskins Nation would have to wait out another long winter before having the chance to see playoff football. No. 10, however, was having none of that. After the Eagles won the coin toss at the start of their Week 11 battle they eagerly elected to receive hoping to catch the Redskins D off-balance after two weeks away from game action. After gaining only two yards on their first two plays, the Eagles looked to air it out on the Redskins only to have DeAngelo Hall snag his third interception of the season. What was next for the Redskins seemed like a scene out of Madden. Griffin III would connect on 14 of his 15 pass attempts for the first perfect quarterback rating (158.3) by a rookie since Drew Bledsoe in 1993, Santana Moss would take two defensive backs to school, and Brandon Meriweather showed the FedExField faithful just how good he can be even if it was a one game sample. The 31-6 victory showed the league that the Redskins weren’t going to roll over and call the season a lost cause. Instead, it jump-started their unimaginable seven-game winning streak into the playoffs. Win six of that streak may have provided the most nerve-racking moment of the season. Late in the fourth quarter of the Redskins-Eagles Week 16 matchup, the Eagles got the ball with less than five minutes left down by seven. With nothing left to play for on the season, the Eagles cared less about tying the game at 27. If they were to steal some of the Redskins late-game heroics and score a touchdown, they were going to go for the win. On the last play of the game Eagles quarterback Nick Foles tried to do his best Griffin III impression by scrambling out of the pocket to find some free space to hit one of his receiver in the end zone. But with a 310-pound Stephen Bowen breathing down his back Foles had no choice but to get rid of the football—nowhere near an Eagles player. The result was an intentional grounding call and a 10 second clock runoff. Game over. For more highlights of the Redskins sweep of the Eagles, check out this gallery of the top-12 images from their 155th and 156th encounters. Hail to the Redskins!

The NFL schedule gods know that the Redskins and Giants will battle for the NFC East title in Week 17. How? In three of the last four seasons, the NFC East has come down to the last game of the NFL regular season calendar in a playoff play-in game of sorts. Yes, that includes the […] More...

Months before an NFL opener, Michael Crabtree's season is in jeopardy. The San Francisco 49ers wide receiver tore his Achilles tendon during organized team activities and will soon have surgery, USA Today's Mike Garafolo reports. Read full article >> More...

It may be yesterday's news -- and even then, we're stretching the definition of 'news' -- but John McDonnell's a professional photographer, and I am not. His photos of the training camp facility in Richmond offer a much better look at what the Redskins are building than what we posted yesterday: Read full article >> More...

Next year?s NFL draft will be held in May. That was announced Tuesday by Commissioner Roger Goodell. But other proposed changes to the sport?s offseason calendar are not yet set, according to Goodell and others within the sport. The league … Continue reading → More...

(AP photo) The NFL schedule gods know that the Redskins and Giants will battle for the NFC East title in Week 17. How? In three of the last four seasons, the NFC East has come down to the last game of the NFL regular season calendar in a playoff play-in game of sorts. Yes, that includes the game where Alfred Morris tore apart the Cowboys defense en route to the franchise’s first division crown since 1999. So to continue our mini-series on the Redskins-Giants rivalry that dates back to the franchise’s days in Boston, we are going to look forward to the Burgundy and Gold’s Sunday Night Football tilt at FedExField on December 8th and the season finale on December 29th with five storylines to follow. 1.)    Emulating 2012’s success in the run game Last year the Redskins lead the league in rushing with 169.3 yards per game. Nothing proved the Redskins dominance on the ground more than when they played the Giants. In Week 7 the Redskins rushed for 248 yards as Morris crossed the century mark and Robert Griffin III followed up his 76-yard touchdown run against the Vikings a week prior by rushing for 89 yards. On the flipside, the G-Men got a measly 64 yards on the ground. Then in Week 13 the rookie duo once again shredded the Giants 25th ranked rushing D with 196 yards. If Washington wants to take two from New York like they did in 2011, the running game will need to be performing on all cylinders once again. 2.)    Containing Victor Cruz If it weren’t for Cruz’s 77-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter in Week 7, the Redskins would be riding a four-game winning streak against the Giants right now. The Redskins secondary struggled to keep Cruz in check last year as he had a combined 12 catches for 235 yards and a touchdown. When the Redskins swept the Giants in 2011, Cruz struggled to get into rhythm as he failed to record a catch in Week 1 and only gained 44 yards in Week 15. With a revamped secondary that includes three rookies and a seasoned veteran in E.J. Biggers, the Redskins will look to repeat 2011’s success against the 2012 Pro Bowler. 3.)    Turnover battle The Redskins lost a very lopsided turnover battle in 2012, turning the ball over five times to the Giants two. While the secondary did corral Eli Manning into throwing two interceptions in Week 7, they fumbled the ball five times that day, losing three. After Cruz’s touchdown, the Burgundy and Gold got the pigskin back with a hair above a minute left in the contest. On the first play of the drive, Josh Morgan fumbled the ball and while he recovered the lost football, the same could not be said for Santana Moss just two plays later. In Week 13, the Redskins shored up their turnover problems from the first game, but still lost the battle as they failed to generate a fumble or interception. No matter the game or the opponent, the Redskins fate will hinge on turnovers this season. 4.)    Yellow flag battle In 2012 the Redskins were the fifth most penalized team as they were called for 119 different infractions. None might have been more costly than Fred Davis’ illegal shift that cost the Redskins a touchdown in the first quarter of the front half of the season series. Instead of tacking seven points on the board, the Redskins had to settle for a Kai Forbath field goal. While I don’t want to play the “what if” game, the nullified touchdown could have been the game-tying points. On the other side of the coin, the Giants  were penalized only 72 times last year. Nine of those penalties came during the Monday night game. Result? “Hail to the Redskins” being sung into the wee hours of the morning. 5.)    Sweep=Super Bowl Seriously. During the Redskins decade of dominance starting in 1982, three Lombardi Trophies came to the Nation’s Capital. In those three seasons, the Redskins went 6-0 against their New York counterparts. So if the Redskins can sweep the Giants for the second time in three years, expect their odds to have another parade throughout the streets of

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22627923