LANDOVER, Md. No NFL team is out of the playoff picture six games into the season. But with a 2-4 record and consecutive losses to clubs that had been winless, the Washington Redskins are in serious trouble. And while they are not yet eliminated from the playoff race, it is clear they have eliminated themselves from the points race.

Jim Zorn stood alone on the sideline yesterday, his headset off, his arms folded across his chest, hearing the dwindling crowd’s boos and watching the seconds tick away on the latest Washington Redskins loss.

LANDOVER, Md. The Washington Redskins had been reciting the same line every week for a month. Struggling teams are the worst to play, the saying goes, because they’re desperate and unpredictable. Enough of that political correctness. The Redskins are a desperate team now. They have no problem saying they should’ve been beating all these winless teams, and—now that the creampuff part of the schedule is coming to an end—they must dispense with the Kansas City Chiefs (0-5) today.

ASHBURN, Va.—So, Frank Gifford, are you bummed out that your 1954 New York Giants are about to lose a place in the proverbial record books to the 2009 Washington Redskins? “Not at all,“ the Hall of Fame running back said with a laugh. “Particularly when you didn’t know you had one.“ When Gifford remembers the ‘54 Giants, he thinks about a knee injury he had late in the season that contributed to the team’s struggles down the stretch. What never occurred to him—until a telephone interview with The Associated Press yesterday—was that New York opened that season with five consecutive games against winless opponents.

ASHBURN - The booing fans and critical talk-radio yakkers are hardly the only ones giving the reeling Washington Redskins a hard time lately. Members of the “Redskins family” are piling on, too. Yes, with Washington 2-3 despite a soft schedule, everyone from former stars Joe Theismann and John Riggins to people writing for the team’s official Web site are ripping the Redskins.

CHARLOTTE So it’s true that no good deed goes unpunished. Byron Westbrook, who spent two seasons on the Washington Redskins practice squad and worked so hard to make the 53-man roster this season, was just doing his job, trying to protect punt returner Antwaan Randle El. And then Westbrook’s world, as well as that of the Redskins, turned upside down. Or right side up. Or every which way but loose. This much is certain: it was not sunny-side up.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Jake Delhomme got up, his shoulder pads sticking out and his chin strap bunched around his mouth. He pumped both fists and yelled, letting out a month of frustration. His eighth interception of the season earlier in the day? Forgotten. Carolina’s winless start was over, too. Delhomme’s bold bootleg run for a first down on third-and-8 and an earlier disputed call helped the Panthers rally past the Redskins 20-17 yesterday, a day of vindication for Delhomme and more trouble for embattled Washington coach Jim Zorn.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Jake Delhomme got up, his shoulder pads sticking out and his chin strap bunched around his mouth. He pumped both fists and yelled, letting out a month of frustration. His eighth interception of the season earlier in the day? Forgotten. Carolina’s winless start was over, too. Delhomme’s bold bootleg run for a first down on third-and-8 and an earlier disputed call helped the Panthers rally past the Redskins 20-17 yesterday, a day of vindication for Delhomme and more trouble for embattled Washington coach Jim Zorn.

At this rate you’d expect the Redskins’ next opponent to be a directional school, or maybe even a Championship Subdivision team. In a stretch that would make even cupcake-collecting college coaches blush, Washington (2-2) visits Carolina (0-3) today to become the first NFL team in 55 years to play a winless teams in each of the first five weeks of the season.

ASHBURN—In a week full of Washington Redskins distractions, here’s another one: The starting backfield of Clinton Portis and Mike Sellers had a bit of a spat. Redskins coach Jim Zorn confirmed yesterday that running back Portis and fullback Sellers had a verbal confrontation earlier this week. Zorn downplayed the dispute and said he didn’t know what it was about. But WRC-TV, which first reported the incident, said that Portis and Sellers had a heated exchange, with Portis venting frustration over Sellers’ blocking.

ASHBURN - Seems a day can’t go by without something curious happening in Redskins land. A bizarre week took another strange turn yesterday when defensive coordinator Greg Blache began a media boycott of sorts - just in time, it turned out, to avoid having to answer questions about his relationship with new offensive consultant Sherman Lewis.

Retired for nearly five years, Sherman Lewis was about to go to the senior center to call a bingo game when the Washington Redskins phoned. Lewis, therefore, left behind one set of “I’s” - I-18? I-20? - and instead became a “fresh set of eyes,“ inserting himself in an awkward situation with a struggling team. Fewer than 24 hours after getting the call at his home in the outer Detroit suburbs, the longtime NFL assistant was on the field yesterday observing Redskins practice - with all sides trying not to portray his presence as a vote of no confidence in coach Jim Zorn.

ASHBURN So, Jim Zorn, all you have at the one-quarter mark of the season are two narrow, ugly victories over a pair of winless teams. Now your quarterback is saying this might be the way it is, that the Washington Redskins don’t need to be “trying to win games the way people want us to win games.“ Presented with that thought Monday, Zorn mockingly pounded the lectern twice with his left hand. “Oh, great,“ he deadpanned.

LANDOVER, Md. That huge sigh of relief that was heard all the way to the Outer Banks yesterday at 3:47 p.m.? That was Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn, happy to have a victory, pleased to have an entire week’s worth of job security, content not to have lost to one of the worst teams in the NFL. “I can’t wait to watch it,“ Zorn said. “It was a great effort.“

LANDOVER, Md.—Within the first two minutes, the Washington Redskins had given up two sacks and lost a fumble. They had also allowed a quarterback making his first NFL start to throw for a touchdown on his first pass of the game. By halftime, they were down 10 to a winless team, and Jason Campbell had thrown two interceptions. Forget all that talk about whether Jim Zorn would last the season. For a while, one had to wonder whether the booing fans would allow the coach, his quarterback and the rest of the team back on the field for the start of the second half.