It's just the silly season

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In his weekly Winners & Losers column, Don Banks of CNNSI ranks the Redskins a loser. They were losers last week, of course, but that's not really what Banks is getting at.

As for whether or not the Shanny-Fat Albert feud has prevented the new coaching staff from re-making the team, that remains unknown. We won't begin to really get an answer to that question until the season opener on September 12 and then we'll be getting an update on that answer every week [apart from one bye] until the end of the year.

This isn't just the silly season in politics, it's also the silly season in football. Because the games tend to be pedestrian and so much is unknown about each team, the media and fans seize upon any nugget of news and chew it to death. Last year it was all about how the will-he-or-won't-he drama of Brett Favre had doomed the Vikings season. Four months later, it was abundantly clear that Favre's indecision and obsession with the limelight hadn't hurt the Vikings at all. [Same could be true this season.] What looks like a crippling problem or distraction now may be mostly forgotten in a few months. While Haynesworth is busy feeling sorry for himself and making himself un-tradeable, the rest of the team is working, practicing, trying to improve. Anthony Armstrong is getting better. Keiland Williams and Ryan Torain are improving. Trent Williams is working on his footwork and learning not to lunge so much. Brian Orakpo is working on new pass rush moves and Maake Kemoeatu is trying to get stronger and healthier.

The world does not revolve around Albert Haynesworth [even if he and most of the media think it does], nor does it stop for him. If the coaching staff and the other players on this roster are doing their jobs, like professionals, the self-centered ravings of one player need not derail the entire team. In fact, it might just pull them together.

The point is, we'll see.

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