Talk Commanders

The NFL is the master of Marketing. For decades the Draft was a cozy business day in a downtown hotel Ballroom. Now it’s a 3-day event in front of throngs of people and a national TV and streaming audience on any number of platforms. It’s gone from being a minor expense to the League to now being a monster money-maker. It’s the NFL’s version of Alchemy; making Gold out of Lead. The League simply defies the gravity that bounds normal business.

This year’s mega-event is in Pittsburgh starting at 8 p.m. EDT today. That much we know. Nearly everything else about this Draft is a set of question marks. One notable exception is the identity of the #1 pick. The Raiders will select Fernando Mendoza, Quarterback out of Indiana. After that, it’s a craps shoot. Washington arrives as a team in need of more pieces/parts than it can snag in three-days. And, it burned some of its powder acquiring stud Left Tackle Laremy Tunsil. The franchise only has 5-selections with a threadbare 2-selections in the Top-100. There is much to discuss below.

In brief the WFT got younger, faster, and more athletic during the first week of Free Agency.

Free Agency comes at you fast. The “Official” start of Free Agency comes at 4pm on Wednesday March 11. It’s the start of the new League year, don’t you know. What? there’s no New Year’s Party planned? The League opened this two-day “Legal Tampering” window which started on Monday. By the end of the day Washington had landed an Edge Rusher, a Slot Corner, brought back an inside Defensive Lineman who can play “Zero Technique” (Nose Tackle situated directly over the Center), set their Left Tackle for the next three years, and re-signed their solid #2 QB. And, curiously the team did not lose any of their own Free Agents. That’s not a bad day’s work. There are many more moves coming. Hold on tightly!

The National Football League originally crowned its champion based solely on regular season record. Hence the first champion team was the Akron Pros in 1920 a franchise long since lost to the ether. The first real Championship Game took place in 1933. There the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21. Today’s Super Bowl is the League’s 94’th Title Game. There have been blowouts, cliff-hangers, and everything in between. What is in store today? We will all have to tune in and find out.

An old sage once told me that one doesn’t grow old. Instead our youth is taken away a single piece at a time until it is no longer there. A rather large piece of it was removed on Friday with the passing on Sonny Jurgensen. For many of us, he was the Quarterback of our early fandom. But, he blossomed into much more than being a simple jock. Sonny became the face of the franchise before it achieved relevance…and stayed in that role long after it did.

There are a few things in life that are given. Everyone knows about death and taxes. But, you can add NFL Officiating Controversies to the list. Last week’s Buffalo vs. Denver game only reinforced the thought. In the aftermath yet another Head Coach with a sterling record was shown the door. Two of the games went to Overtime. All in all it was a memorable weekend.

And, then there were only seven left. After the sheer volume of NFL football last weekend with six-games this week’s slate is a full one-third smaller. With four-games this weekend, and two next there’s only one left thereafter. Football is on its way out the door for 8-months. But, it’s not going without making a lot of noise. Let’s winnow through some of it.

The NFL has mastered the art of generating constant attention. One would think the end of a season would bring a similar end to the buzz around a team. Not so in this League. Firings and Hirings and intrigue have dominated the post-season chatter so far. And, your Washington Football Team is in the thick of it. Oh, and we haven’t played the first playoff game yet. We’ll see if there’s some sense to be made of it.

After today the ashes of a lost season can finally be collected into a single container and stuffed into an obscure storage location. If you are a life-long Washington fan you have a substantial collection of them. For this still-young century the WFT is 174-244-2 (.414). Some 18 of the 26 seasons were losing efforts (69%) Right this minute RFK Stadium has been torn into pieces small enough for front-end loaders to grab and disposition into 10-wheel dump trucks. Since 1961, when Washington relocated from Griffith Stadium to the new “District of Columbia Stadium” the team is 486-wins, 504-losses, and 22-ties (.485). However, before the year-2000 the franchise had only 14-losing seasons in that 40-year span. One-half of them came in the 1960’s. Life was pretty good for Washington fans once the 1970s hit. It all went south when Dan Snyder took the reins. But, you knew that. The bookcase with the urns of lost seasons’ ashes is heavily stacked toward the more recent past. For younger fans there isn’t much in the way of success to stand upon.

Give credit to Dan Snyder for one thing: It’s not easy to lose an entire generation of fans. He did it with aplomb.

The NFL will play three-games on Christmas Day. All should have been key matchups with plenty of playoff consequences. That’s how they drew it up at least. As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.” Four of the six teams are completely eliminated. That includes your Washington Football Team. They will face the equally eliminated Dallas Cowboys. It’s not “Must See TV” by any stretch of the imagination. Washington will be starting QB3, 39-year-old Josh Johnson. Game #2 features the Lions vs. the Vikings. There the likely staring QB will be an undrafted Free Agent who has thrown 0-Touchdowns while chucking an interception every 12-throws. In Game #3 the Kansas City Chiefs will be starting a QB3 as well.

It’s not hard to imagine the empty suits at the NFL office in New York back in March salivating over a slate of compelling games. Reality interceded. Best laid plans…and all that. There’s a warm snap coming for the Mid-Atlantic, even warmer farther south. The best football games of the day are likely to be in back yards.