These men are professionals.
That's all you could think as the final minute of the first half played out with Larry, Moe and Curly on one sideline and the Keystone Kops on the other.
Which error was more costly?
Was it the missed tackle on the 20-yard gain?
The missed tackle (no, that's not a typo. There was another one) on the 17-yard pass completion?
The delay-of-game penalty . . . after spiking the ball?
The false start?
The false start? (Gotcha again. There were two of them, by the same man.)
Or the Eagles timeout that allowed Redskins coach Joe Gibbs to seemingly come to his senses?
Tough pick, isn't it?
In 90 seconds of the first half of Washington's 20-12 win last night, the Eagles and the Redskins managed to do so much wrong, ESPN offered blindfolds to its viewers for the second half.
It was slapstick comedy, except no one seemed to be laughing at Lincoln Financial Field, as the Eagles somehow managed to do less wrong and still ended up on the wrong side of the end zone, putting themselves just deep enough in the hole to bury themselves.
Interestingly and maybe just a touch ironically, it all began with a crummy special-teams play. Sav Rocca punted only 33 yards, giving Washington at least a puncher's chance from its 27 with 1:42 to play.
The Redskins swung for the fences . . . and connected. Washington took a 10-6 lead into the locker room at the break, a lead that somehow seemed more like 100-6, what with the way the Eagles' offense was playing.
The knock on an otherwise strong defensive performance from Game 1 was that the Eagles were up to their old tricks in missed tackles. The yips came back on this one.
On first down at the 38, quarterback Jason Campbell scampered 20 yards, taking advantage of a nearly perfect block from Antwaan Randle El. One play later, the two made things happen again, this time with the quarterback hitting the wide receiver and Randle El doing the rest, shirking away from Sheldon Brown to end up with a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line.
And then it got really fun.
Washington did everything it could to blow its scoring opportunity, with even the head coach trying to screw things up.
Campbell quickly spiked the ball to stop the clock with 14 seconds left and then, with coaches furiously motioning from the sideline (and Bill Belichick furiously recording somewhere?), Campbell failed to get up to the line on time. Washington was hit with a delay of game.
Second-and-goal from the 6.
Right guard Jason Fabini, pressed into service after Randy Thomas left the game with a triceps injury, apparently had a little trouble getting the snap count down. Twice, the lineman was called for a false start.
Second-and-goal from the 11.
Second-and-goal from the 16.
Not to be outdone by his overexcitable guard, Gibbs jumped the count, trotting out placekicker Shaun Suisham for a field goal, despite the fact it was only second down, despite the fact he had 14 seconds left.
That silliness seemingly was one-upped by Andy Reid, who called his first timeout of the half between the two false starts. Given time to reread the rulebook and get someone to knock some sense into his head, Gibbs sent his offense back on the field.
Naturally, on the next play, Campbell found Chris Cooley in the end zone with sweet perfection, putting a pretty bow on a really ugly package.
Cue the boos, cut to the break and signal the official cue that this indeed had been a circus.
In the press dining area during the break, Charles Barkley was holding court.
Why?
Why not? *