I'm an optimist at heart, and even I know this week was bad. But I refuse to give up hope. Why? I don't know, but it's probably because I'm crazy. But...

I saw a few things out there to encourage me, namely that the team didn't self-destruct after going down 28-7 (of course, the fact that they got there is still a problem). This was the game where everything goes wrong. The team is not going to self-destruct a lá last year's Cowdung, but it's nearly impossible to make the playoffs now unless you play perfect football (which I wouldn't say is <em>completely</em> out of the question).

I may be a hopeless optimist, but remember that after all this, we're only two games back in the NFC East (and if we win next week and the Giants and Patriots lose [after what happened to the Giants this week, a loss to Buffalo is more than a remote possibility], we'd be 2-4, Boys at 2-3, Giants at 3-3, and Skins at 3-2, which is pretty good). If we lost in another fourth quarter meltdown, I'd be ready to write this team off. But they showed they have some mental backbone, so the question remains, at least for another week.

I don't know what to say after this loss. This team still has potential, but they've got to stop shooting themselves in the foot (and the defensive playcalling is still atrocious - Castillo is playing zone and Asante's five yards off a receiver at the 1-yard line? Awful.). But somehow I'm still seeing the good in this team. The historical precedents don't faze me - remember, this is the craziest season in NFL history, and it's nowhere near over. If we get hot now, if we stop screwing ourselves over (HUGE ifs), we still have a shot. At a winning season. At the playoffs. At the Super Bowl.

I think. I hope. But I'm probably crazy.