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(photo by Brian Murphy)

Let us say up front – we love fantasy football. We started back in 1996 and have run multiple teams each season since. That being said, one can’t help but notice the effect fantasy football has had on football.

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This is the time of year where every talking head and every person with access to the “interwebs” wants to tell you how to “fix” [insert name of favorite sports franchise here]. Every doofus who has ever played the franchise mode in Madden or come in sixth place in a fantasy league feels compelled to tell you the Redskins should acquire Tank Johnson. Or Darren Sproles. Or Shayne Graham. Wait … what?!?! Someone actually used valuable space on Al Gore’s internet to start a sign Shayne … excuse us … “Shane Grahm” conversation?

Take our advice, you’re probably better off avoiding any team websites (with one notable exception, of course) and messageboards until after the NFL draft because every mouth breather in America apparently has the answers and wants to share them with us.

If that’s not bad enough, even the “pros” are getting in on the act. Locally, we’ve got someone we consider a personal friend, Rick Snider of the D.C. Examiner, throwing out the idea of the Redskins bringing Michael Vick to town. Yes, that Michael Vick. On a national level, there’s Jeffri Chadiha of ESPN.com suggesting that Eagles safety Brian Dawkins will be collecting mail at Redskins Park next season.

Never say never, but these two ideas, from people who are paid to write about sports, are nothing more than a “there’s nothing going on, so maybe I can drum up some hits for the website” cry for attention. And the fact that we linked to both of them plays right into their hands. (Editor’s note: dammit.)

What we should have done is ignored them. Right about now, no one has any clue what their team, including our beloved Redskins in particular, are going to do next. The players and coaches are all taking time off to blow off steam and separate from this past season. Fans should too.

And if anyone is going to make wild suggestions, then it should be outlandish suggestions like “The Redskins should get younger on the offensive line” or “The Redskins should draft a defensive lineman with a first rounder for the first time since football was broadcast in color.”

If we’re talking crazy talk, then we could even suggest The Danny bring in a true football guru like Scott Pioli, the New England Patriots vice president of player personnel, to run things. But honestly, why waste the time and energy? We know damned well that, barring Marty Schottenheimer 2.0 in D.C., we’re getting another year of Vinny. Make your peace with it now.

Yes, this is the leanest time of the year, but do everyone a favor and take a break from the fantasy football talk. No one wants to hear your mock draft simulation for all seven rounds of the upcoming NFL draft. No one even pretends to care when you restructure the entire organization or petition to hand the starting job to the third-string quarterback. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – don’t be that guy.

(photo by Brian Murphy)

The big news of the day is that Vinny Cerrato, the executive vice president for football operations for the Washington Redskins, held a 15-minute press conference today.

Since folks don’t hear much from Cerrato unless he’s on his own radio show, some ‘Skins fans had high hopes in regards to possible topics. But as most rational fans could have guessed, Cerrato had nothing of substance to say just days after the Redskins season ended. Truth be told, only one question and answer from the entire press conference is noteworthy at all.

When asked if Jason Campbell was the Redskins’ quarterback of the future, Cerrato replied: “I think that Jason’ll be back … you know, he’s the starting quarterback. And I think what you do is you just go year to year and you have to evaluate everything.”

That’s it. Of course, since that’s the only memorable quote from the entire dog and pony show, the fanatical types will surely take it 10 steps too far and say, “OMG!!!!! VINNY DISSED CAMPBELL!!!!!!” and go on blathering about nothing. But let us, the sensible types, take a step back and think about it for a moment.

What exactly would the front office have to gain by endorsing Jason Campbell as the Redskins’ long-term solution at quarterback?

The answer? Nothing.

In fact, making that statement, one could argue, would actually hurt the franchise. Why? Because Campbell is set to become a free agent after the 2009 season.

Standing in front of the media and stating unequivocally that Campbell is the man and will be the cornerstone of the franchise for the next decade only drives up the price for the free agent-to-be.

Cerrato is simply playing things safe and not giving Campbell’s agent any unnecessary leverage when it’s time to sit down and negotiate a new deal. Anyone that says different is a moron. Do us all a favor and don’t be that guy.

(photo by Brian Murphy)

This has been a banner year for the Washington Redskins’ most popular player, tight end Chris Cooley.

In addition to marrying his lovely wife Christy, Cooley also earned his second straight trip to the Pro Bowl, set a team record for most receptions by a tight end and, oh by the way, started the most popular blog by an athlete ever.

One might think that with everything going his way, there’s no stopping Cooley. Well, that person would be slightly mistaken.

We heard rumblings earlier in the season that, although the Redskins as an organization have given little guidance, Cooley does have one rule he’s required to follow – do not talk about the offensive line. No, the front office hasn’t laid down the law. But the offensive line has, which is why, when Cooley mentions “air humping” a fallen lineman Happy Gilmore style, no names are actually used. He has to keep things generic and keep their names off of his website.

We have it on good authority that a certain tight end/blogger is banned from mentioning the offensive line on his website. What say you?

“No names,” said offensive tackle Jon Jansen. “I won’t use any names, but we like to think that what happens in here, in team surroundings, stays with the team and not on the internet.”

Have you ever checked out Cooley’s blog?

“No, no I don’t,” Jansen said.

Obviously someone has, seeing as you guys have brought the issue up with Chris, right?

“Well, whether you see your name or not, you have family, friends or fans who will let you know what’s been on there. But honestly, I’m all for it. It’s something that he enjoys doing and the fans love it and I’m all for it, as long as there’s good taste involved.”

And he keeps his pants on …

“There’s always going to be mistakes along the way and you just hope they’re small ones,” Jansen said. “And that was a small one.”

With that, we sought out the blogger himself for answers.

We’ve been told that you’ve been banned from using the names of offensive linemen on your blog. Is that true?

(Laughs). “Yeah, but they like to be on the blog secretly,” Cooley said. “They just like to give me a hard time.”

But they keep track of what you’re posting, right?

“Yeah, they all find out,” he said. “They act like I’m one of the media. Like I’d sell them out or something. They’re fun. It’s always something interesting.”

So there you have it, Cooley can blog as often as he’d like, as long as no names of offensive linemen are used. And for the record, we know which lineman got “air humped.” We’d share with the class, but we’re not about to cross The Dirtbags. If they’re willing to come after one of their best teammates, then think of what they’d do to us.

(photo by Brian Murphy)

Long after most everyone else had cleared out of the locker room following the Washington Redskins season-ending 27-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, we found ourselves sitting side-by-side with linebacker Marcus Washington.

In the interest of full disclosure, Washington happens to be one of our favorite players currently sporting the burgundy and gold. He’s always been very engaging and highly entertaining whenever we’ve had the chance to chat with him.

After catching him up on the results from the previous night’s UFC pay-per-view, we asked Washington if he’d heard the rumblings that major changes could be happening at Redskins Park this offseason and if/when he anticipates hearing from the organization regarding his future with the team.

“To be honest, I don’t really get into that stuff,” Washington said. “I try not to mess with it much. I have an agent and I pay him to deal with that stuff. Obviously I want to be here and we’ll see what happens.”

As we continued to chat, we asked Marcus about the importance of continuity and told him about our previous conversation with cornerback Fred Smoot, who said that it was the main reason teams like New England and Pittsburgh are routinely among the best in the NFL. That’s when Washington gave quite possibly the best metaphor ever, in a way that only Marcus could.

“I look at it like a typing class,” Washington started. “The first time you take a typing class you always have to look down at the keys and you can’t type very fast. But as time goes on and you get more familiar, things become easier and you can begin to type things without even looking down or whatever. Now imagine if every so often someone came in and changed where the keys were. Now you’ve got the space bar up here and you’re looking around saying, ‘Where the fuck is the semi-colon?’ That’s what it’s like on a defense when you’re constantly changing it up.”

It sounds so simple, but Washington’s perspective on constantly changing personnel forces casual fans to see things a bit differently. If a player has to constantly look over his shoulder to see who is lining up next to him and wonder if that person is going to be where they’re supposed to when the game is on the line, it’s a huge distraction.

Its common sense – teams with the same coaches, players and schemes week after week have a greater chance for success as opposed to teams who have a new defensive coordinator every other year or teams that bring in half a dozen new players into the rotation every season.

So here’s our message, once again, to the front office – resist the urge to make radical changes. If you must get rid of a Shawn Springs or a Jason Taylor, so be it. But try to keep stability on the defensive side of the ball as much as possible. This is a fourth-ranked defense that at times showed flashes of dominance. Just image what can happen once they truly get comfortable and find that fucking semi-colon.