Don't Give Up Yet! Five Reasons To Keep Watching The Washington Redskins

With the Washington Redskins dropping their third straight game and falling to a 3-4 record with their 23-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, many Redskins fan are ready to give up. Analogously, the eight-yard pass on first down was called back from holding. This Redskins season is a three-and-out. Call in Sav Rocca, we're punting on 2011.

As a fan, you might be tempted to quit on the team. You might be tempted to stop watching Redskins games and instead spend your Sundays either watching your VHS recording of Super Bowl XXVI, or watching your DVR recordings of the Oklahoma, USC, and Baylor games from the day before. (Not Stanford though. We've already given up on our chances of winning the Andrew Luck sweepstakes.)

Not so fast though. Don't give up yet!

The Redskins might not be winning very often the rest of this season. They might not even be very entertaining. But that doesn't mean you should stop watching.

Here are five reasons to keep watching the Redskins this year.

1. Kerakpo

From Buffalo's first snap of the game, it looked like Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan would be a major force on Sunday. But after Kerrigan thwarted Fred Jackson on that opening play, the pass rushing pair was virtually nonexistent, finishing without a sack. They've been on again and off again all season. At times, they've threatened to be the next Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney. At other times, they've played more like Dan Wilkerson and Dana Stubblefield.

2. Fred Davis

The tight end had eight catches for 94 yards against the Bills and is on track for 1,184 yards for the season. That would shatter Chris Cooley's Redskins record of 849 yards, the most ever in a season by a tight end. The thing is, though, that this is a contract year for Davis. His agent is Drew Rosenhaus, so a new contract for the lone productive member of Washington's 2008 draft class won't come cheap. Will the team wrap him up for the future before the end of the year? Can they afford to keep both Davis and Cooley on the roster?

3. Sav Rocca

Davis isn't the only guy playing at an elite level for the Redskins this season. Think about it: when was the last time that the Redskins had a player who was the best in the league at his position? That's what Rocca is. Of course we'd gladly trade Rocca to have the best player in the league at any other position besides punter, but he still has plenty of value for this team. With the offense faltering, we'll be seeing Rocca a lot this year. Cheer him on, all the way to the Pro Bowl.

4. Developing talent

As Washington's record continues to worsen and the division title grows further and further from reach, Shanahan is bound to start giving some of his younger players a chance eventually. At the wide receiver position, where top target Santana Moss is recovering from injury, we're already seeing some younger players take over on the field, with limited success. We'll start to see that elsewhere soon enough, but hopefully with more success. Hello Perry Riley. Hello Chris Neild.

5. Drinking games

Ah yes. That classically futile defense mechanism that allows us to find some form of enjoyment in our team's defeat. It's just one step above gallows humor. Here are some good examples of games that are sure to get you wasted enough so that you forget how bad the Redskins are.

- Drink every time John Beck has the chance to throw the ball but inexplicably hesitates and gets sacked.

- Drink every time Carlos Rogers, Andre Carter, Justin Tryon, or any other former Redskins player makes a big play for a different team.

- Drink every time an offensive lineman gets injured.

- Drink every time the television broadcast shows Rex Grossman standing on the sideline looking clueless (also known as his normal look).

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