The View from FedExField

Some of you  may know that I live in Vancouver, Canada.  So I don't get to attend many Skins games -- a far cry from childhood when my dad took me to every home game from 1983-1987.  But I happened to have a meeting in Maryland this week, and took the opportunity to catch tonight's pre-season game against the Steelers.

It had been awhile since I last saw a Skins game in person, and I appreciated being able to experience some things, mostly small things, that are not part of the television experience:

1.  Before the game I saw Dan Snyder casually hanging out on the field talking with ex-Washington, now Pittsburgh special teams coach Danny Smith.  Snyder looked like a nice, friendly, confident, short, frumpy man-child.

2.  The instant replay at FedExField is terrible.  A typical exciting or interesting play was replayed just one time, sometimes not at all.  Very frustrating.

3.  Just minutes before the game, kickoff specialist John Potter was warming up.  It was clear he would be handling the kickoffs in place of Forbath.  I saw him shank a practice kickoff.  Then another.  Then another.  It was crazy -- he's a kickoff specialist repeatedly hitting short wobbly line drives under practice conditions.  Then he hit a beautiful, soaring, deep practice kick.  Then two more good ones.  Then it was game time, and he nailed the kickoff high and deep.  I was nervous for him after seeing his warm-up.  I wondered if he was also nervous about that first kickoff.

4.  There appeared to be only one exercise bike on the Skins sideline.  It's used quite often during the game as players try to stay warm.  Why is there only one bike?  What if more than one person wants to use it?  What if a 3rd-string player is on the bike and a starter wants to use it, does he tell him to leave or does he wait his turn?  Sadly these things are not explained to the fans.

5.  Rex Grossman's interceptions look just as terrible in person as they do on television.