Skins players see stark reality of 2-5

ASHBURN Having failed to assemble a winning football team, the Washington Redskins now have a split in viewpoint between the front office and the locker room.

While executives accent the positive, many players won't play along. They know what a 2-5 record means.

They also remember last year: Add this season's start to last year's finish, and the Redskins are a 4-11 team since last Halloween.

"We definitely look at that," said team captain and middle linebacker London Fletcher. "Because it's the first seven games of this season, but then when you add in the last eight games of last year, it's basically been a year of struggles around here. We've struggled to score points, struggled to win football games."

Fletcher and his drained teammates needed a vacation like nobody's business, and this week's bye has been as much a welcome mental respite as a physical one. But when they return to work tomorrow, the very real practical problems that doomed the first half of the season still will be there.

"We felt pretty good about our roster coming in," Fletcher said. "Obviously depth at some areas was an issue before the season, and it's come up on us to where we're faced with the reality that our expectations have changed."

Running back Clinton Portis was more direct, implicating the front office's failure to adequately upgrade the line as a top reason for the offense's struggles.

"We went into the season, and we didn't address that issue," Portis said. "And it came back to haunt us."

Not long after Portis uttered those words, a public relations official tried to cut short Portis' chat with reporters. Portis laughed out loud and smiled a smile of incredulity at the move, a standard practice in the Redskins' locker room.

Even coach Jim Zorn gets the quick hook, to the point that he now has less general media availability time during a regular week than any Redskins coach in decades.

One Redskins official who spoke at length this week was David Donovan, the team's chief operating officer. He spent a spirited 25 minutes on 106.7 The Fan criticizing The Washington Post for what he found to be negative coverage of the team. Donovan also stated there was "hardly an Eagles fan to be found" at the Monday night home game against Philadelphia, although a pregame stroll through the parking lot and a quick glance into the stands indicated otherwise.

Donovan also revealed that fans are now prohibited from carrying any kind of sign into the stadium. He said the ban was put into effect for fan security and comfort, although it has coincided with a stark increase of banners and signs critical of owner Dan Snyder and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato.

Still, getting rid of negative signs won't cause fan anger to disappear. The players certainly know that.

"We go out there and play hard and nothing really happens. We don't get a spark. The fans are losing interest," defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said. "The more games we play, the fewer the fans come. It's getting bad."