Shanahan Gets Canahanned

No surprise here - Mike Jones of the Washington Post reported that Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan and his entire staff have been fired by owner Daniel Snyder.

One winning season in four years will do that to a coach, who also has to take repsonsibility for exposing an already injured Robert Griffin III to further damage to his banged up knee last season. A 3-13 record in 2013 didn't help either.

That's Really Speakin' Deacon: Remembering Deacon Jones

Deacon Jones was one of the most ferocious football players when it was time to line up against the opposing offensive line. Off the field he was quite a character and an occassional actor. Sadly, we lost him too soon at the age of 74.

The man credited with the coining the term "sack" to describe his takedown of a quarterback, passed away Monday evening of an undisclosed cause.

Jones was selected in the 14th round of the 1961 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams, the team he spent the majority of his 14 year career with. Jones and Ram linemates Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundy, and Rosie Greer became known as the "Fearsome Foursome" for the manner in which they abused linemen, running backs, and signal callers.

At 6'5", 272 lbs Jones was an imposing presence made more so by his on-field trash talk. Pro Football Weekly researched Jones' sack total since sacks weren't an officially recognized statistic until 1982 (eight years after Jones retired) and found the Hall of Fame left defensive end totalled 194.5 for his career. He had 10 or more sacks over a span of nine straight seasons and recorded 26 sacks alone during the 1967 season.¹

Jones, whose given name was David, played for the Rams from 1961 thorough 1971. He then joined the San Diego Chargers for two seasons, and made the Pro Bowl for the eighth and final time in 1972. He played his final season in 1974 with the Washington Redskins.

Jones guested on a handful of TV series during and after his playing career and appeared in a couple of motion pictures, including "Heaven Can Wait" with Warren Beatty. My favorite was his appearance on one of my all time favorite TV series, "The Odd Couple", in which he appeared as himself in the first TV commercial that Felix Unger (Tony Randall) ever directed.

Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) was supposed to say the majority of lines and Jones was basically just going to nod (Madison had explained that Jones was very quiet). When Madison got stage fright, Jones stepped up and delivered the lines for the final cut. That led to Unger's line, "That's really speakin' Deacon."

Whether on the field or off, Deacon Jones was never afraid to speak his mind. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

1 - ESPN.com

Shake Up in the NFC East

Three of the four teams in the NFC East played on Sunday and only one of them came out with a victory. The Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins both dropped their second games of the season in a pair of surprising shockers. Meanwhile, the Eagles fought off a stubborn 49ers team to even their record at 3-3.

Washington had seemingly turned their season around after their horrible showing in the season opener against the Giants. But after winning four games in a row, they fell to the previous winless St. Louis Rams, 19-17, when Josh Brown kicked his fourth field goal of the game as time expired.

The Redskins had trailed since the second quarter, but went ahead with 3:47 remaining on Clinton Portis' two yard touchdown run. The Rams, who forced three fumbles, managed just 200 yards of offense, almost a third of it on the game's final drive. The big play was a 43-yard completion from Marc Bulger to Donnie Avery that put the ball on the Redskins' 16 with 38 seconds remaining. Offensive lineman Richie Incognito nearly blew the game for the Rams when some choice words to an official resulted in a 15-yard penalty. But Brown's boot from 49-yards out saved Incognito from being very well known.

The Cardinals were coming off a blow out of the Buffalo Bills last week, but the team that gave up 56 points to the Jets in week three, had no business beating the Dallas Cowboys this afternoon. Only they did thanks to their special teams.

The Cardinals' J.J. Arrington started things off with a 93-yd opening kick return for a touchdown and Sean Morey blocked Mat McBriar's punt in overtime to give the Cardinals the win. Monty Beisel picked up the loose ball and ran it three yards for the game winning touchdown.

The Cardinals looked like they might win it in regulation after building a 24-14 lead with just 3:17 to go in regulation. It only took Dallas 1:12 to score though when Tony Romo and Marion Barber III hooked up on a 70-yard scoring play. The Cowboys defense then came up big with a quick three and out. Using their time outs, only 1:06 expired, giving Dallas the ball at their own 32-yard line with 50 ticks left on the clock.

On 3rd-and-11, Romo hit tight end Jason Witten for a 30-yd pick up to the Cardinals' 39. A 5-yd penalty moved the Cowboys a little closer and Nick Falk kicked a game tying 49-yd field goal to tie the game.

Shake Up in the NFC East

Three of the four teams in the NFC East played on Sunday and only one of them came out with a victory. The Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins both dropped their second games of the season in a pair of surprising shockers. Meanwhile, the Eagles fought off a stubborn 49ers team to even their record at 3-3.

Washington had seemingly turned their season around after their horrible showing in the season opener against the Giants. But after winning four games in a row, they fell to the previous winless St. Louis Rams, 19-17, when Josh Brown kicked his fourth field goal of the game as time expired.

The Redskins had trailed since the second quarter, but went ahead with 3:47 remaining on Clinton Portis' two yard touchdown run. The Rams, who forced three fumbles, managed just 200 yards of offense, almost a third of it on the game's final drive. The big play was a 43-yard completion from Marc Bulger to Donnie Avery that put the ball on the Redskins' 16 with 38 seconds remaining. Offensive lineman Richie Incognito nearly blew the game for the Rams when some choice words to an official resulted in a 15-yard penalty. But Brown's boot from 49-yards out saved Incognito from being very well known.

The Cardinals were coming off a blow out of the Buffalo Bills last week, but the team that gave up 56 points to the Jets in week three, had no business beating the Dallas Cowboys this afternoon. Only they did thanks to their special teams.

The Cardinals' J.J. Arrington started things off with a 93-yd opening kick return for a touchdown and Sean Morey blocked Mat McBriar's punt in overtime to give the Cardinals the win. Monty Beisel picked up the loose ball and ran it three yards for the game winning touchdown.

The Cardinals looked like they might win it in regulation after building a 24-14 lead with just 3:17 to go in regulation. It only took Dallas 1:12 to score though when Tony Romo and Marion Barber III hooked up on a 70-yard scoring play. The Cowboys defense then came up big with a quick three and out. Using their time outs, only 1:06 expired, giving Dallas the ball at their own 32-yard line with 50 ticks left on the clock.

On 3rd-and-11, Romo hit tight end Jason Witten for a 30-yd pick up to the Cardinals' 39. A 5-yd penalty moved the Cowboys a little closer and Nick Falk kicked a game tying 49-yd field goal to tie the game.

The NFL Returns

We never thought we would be saying this, but the defending Super Bowl champion Giants (we just love how that sounds!) open the season at home tonight against the rival Washington Redskins. No Michael Strahan or Osi Umenyiora, but a more confident Eli Manning opens the season after winning the MVP award in last year's triumph.

Washington has a new coach in Jim Zorn and hopes to improve on last season's 9-7, non-playoff year.

The Giants are 4.5 points and we will lay the points. Giants 27 Redskins 20

The NFL Returns

We never thought we would be saying this, but the defending Super Bowl champion Giants (we just love how that sounds!) open the season at home tonight against the rival Washington Redskins. No Michael Strahan or Osi Umenyiora, but a more confident Eli Manning opens the season after winning the MVP award in last year's triumph.

Washington has a new coach in Jim Zorn and hopes to improve on last season's 9-7, non-playoff year.

The Giants are 4.5 points and we will lay the points. Giants 27 Redskins 20