The Burgundy and Gold? Don't worry about them.

By Nate Sandstrom
Following a 19-17 home loss to the previously winless Rams, Clinton Portis was among those quick to write off the loss as a situation where the Redskins fell victim to the so-called "trap" game.

"The headlines got good. We were saying 'Yeah, we're here.' We've got three games we can win," Portis told reporters at a press conference. "And we overlooked a team today that came in here ready to play," Portis said.

However, some other Redskins players, and I, could not disagree more. They lost because of three critical turnovers, poor pass blocking at times and horrendous punting.

On the first count, fumbles happen. It is rare that a pass is going to be deflected, your guard is going to catch it and then fumble it, and then the defense is going to recover it and run it back 80 yards for a TD. All that happened and that was the difference in the game.

Of course the fact that the Rams D-line was able to penetrate the line and tip Campbell's pass spoke to some of the larger pass blocking problems Washington had yesterday. And by Washington I mean Jon Jansen.

Jansen has been a great Redskin and I really like him. But he clearly lacks the quickness he once possessed and keeps getting beat to the outside too much, like the time the Rams sacked Campbell on 3rd and 1. Heyer will probably miss another week though before he can reclaim the starting spot.

Meanwhile, craptacular punter Durant Brooks could be replaced or put on IR. The Redskins will hold auditions this week. I don't know why they didn't just keep Derrick Frost.

So anyway, the upshot of all this is the punting situation will be dealt with and Heyer will be back in another week. The Redskins outyardaged the Rams 368-200 and had a 22-8 edge in first downs. The Cowboys lost this week anyway and it looks like Eli Manning is back to his old self. Washington should still finish with at least 10 wins.

Meanwhile, Ladell Betts is out for possibly two weeks, and Shaun Alexander apparently came in for a workout.