FanHouse

This morning, NFL Network's Adam Schefter reported that if interim Rams head coach Jim Haslett somehow found a way to win six games this season (which, honestly, is like asking a normal coach of a normal team to go undefeated) he would keep the Rams job.

But, hey, it's good to have goals, I guess.

Buried inside Haslett's new Rams contract is a clause that says if he leads the teams to six wins this season - and it will not be easy with upcoming games at Washington, home against Dallas, at New England - then St. Louis will be obligated to keep him as its head coach for next season. ...

Now, chances are, if Haslett wins four or five games, and shows the culture in St. Louis has changed, Rams management might retain him for next season anyway. But six wins makes it official - not an easy benchmark for an organization that has won only three of its past 20 games.

Well, Haslett's 17-25 percent of the way their, depending on the number of wins he needs to keep the gig for '09. Whatever, the Rams have their first victory of the season, defeating the Redskins in Seattle on a last-second Josh Brown 49-yard field goal.

Looking at the schedule, five (or, hell, three) more wins look tough to come by, but after watching Rams offensive lineman Richie Incognito singlehandly try to lose the game with various personal foul penalties today, I'd have to think benching him automatically increases St. Louis' chances going forward.

The Washington Redskins are 4-1. They have come off major road wins against Dallas and Philadelphia. The St. Louis Rams are 0-4. They are coming off a bye week which saw their head coach fired. Trap game alert!

The last time the Rams and Redskins shared a field together, Steven Jackson rushed for 150 yards and added another 102 yards receiving. He topped it off with a 21-yard touchdown run in overtime to give the Rams a 37-31 victory. Of course, the Rams were on their way to an 8-8 season while the Redskins bottomed out at 5-11.

That was 2006 and neither team resembles anything like that now.

The Redskins are the NFL's buzz team after reeling off four straight wins and winning in Dallas and Philadelphia. The once-turnover laden Skins have committed just one this season and that was on a punt. The defense has slowed down each opponent they've played while the offense has come together to enforce their will.

The top four teams from last week's power rankings all won, and I think a general consensus is starting to emerge: The NFC East is by far the best division, with the Giants at the top and the Redskins and Cowboys nipping at their heals, while the Titans are the team to beat, for now, in a weak AFC.

Of course, this is the NFL, which means that we could be back here next week, wondering how we were all so wrong about the teams we thought were the best. For now, however, we'll forge ahead with the weekly Power Rankings.

Once a week FanHouse's resident referee will chime in with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The Zebra Report.

Once again, the NFL's only famous official came under significant scrutiny this week ... and the game was on a national stage, being the Monday night contest between the Vikings and the Saints. There were two calls in particular that we'll check out.

Incident 1: Reggie Bush's facemask mangled, and no one saw it.
MDS already covered this here on FanHouse, but I wanted to point a few things out. First of all, please do not blame Hochuli. If you blame him, you don't know anything about officiating. Ed Hochuli is the referee, and the ball was moving away from him. If he was in proper position -- and I'm assuming he was -- he would have been watching the lineman on the backside and protecting the quarterback from unnecessary roughness. Even if he did glance over at the ball, which admittedly we have a tendency to do, he would have seen Bush's head turn from behind.

You still can't assume that's a facemask from his point of view. Allow me to present a scenario:

The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday, and that has Redskins owner Dan Snyder very pumped up in this video:

For the first couple of seconds of the video, you hear someone yelling, "Whoo! Yeah! 4-1!" and you assume it's a fan or a player or something. And then the source of the hooting and hollering comes through the door, and it's Snyder himself.

Via PFT.

In his recap of the Eagles-Redskins game, fellow FanHouser and Eagles fan Enrico Campitelli shared Donovan McNabb's assertion that the Eagles were better than the Redskins even though they lost today.

Even after all of this, the Redskins are still not respected.

All Washington did was beat the Saints, Cardinals, Cowboys and Eagles in a row. That after losing a 16-7 yawner against the Giants in the season opener. All of those teams fancy themselves as playoff hopefuls.

They've also pulled off an amazing feat by winning in Dallas and Philadelphia in consecutive weeks. Three weeks ago, experts were glowing that those were the two best teams in the NFL. Both are in the Redskins rear view mirror.

Oh, they'll see each other again. The Redskins are halfway through their division schedule. They get another crack at the Cowboys, Eagles and Giants -- but all games will be played at FedEx Field.

The Redskins should be around for the long haul. Their next three opponents (Rams, Browns, Lions) are a combined 1-11. There is a really good chance that Washington could be 7-1 before an Election Day Eve battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It was a pretty great day for the city of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, none of that greatness can be attributed to its football team. For the second straight week, the Eagles offense failed to convert on short yardage plays near the goal line and it cost them the game. The Washington Redskins ran all over the Eagles and simply played like the better team today.

During his post game press conference, Donovan McNabb said that he didn't feel like the Redskins are a better team than his Eagles. Comcast analyst and serious football guru, Ray Didinger, didn't exactly agree. To paraphrase Mr Diddy, "Who went down to Dallas and came away with a win? Not you. Who came into the Linc and beat you on your home field? Who made the playoffs last season? Not you. Who has won four straight games? Not you."

Yeah, things aren't going so well for the Eagles.

As we get ready for this week's huge matchup between the Eagles and Redskins, I exchanged e-mails with Derek from the Iggles Blog. Derek was nice enough to offer some insights on the Eagles for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

Sportz Assassin: Another week, another big NFC East battle. Your Eagles are 2-2, which means they've shown you some really good things and some stuff that wasn't so good. Assess where you think Philly is at right now.

Derek: Exactly where we thought they'd be before the season, except switch the results against Pittsburgh and Chicago. Philly is a maturing team with a lot of developing talent. The two problems last week were that too many players were hurt and sometimes "maturing" can also mean "young and untested."

Assuming a few important players can get and stay healthy, this still looks like a team that's going to be in the mix come playoff time. It's just that expectations for immediate awesomeness – rather than season-long improvement – got a little high after the first three games.

Sportz: I noticed on your blog that some questionable coaching decisions may have contributed to the loss to the Bears. How are Andy Reid and his staff regarded among Eagle fans?

The Washington Redskins have another NFC Beast contest this week as they head to Philadelphia and face the Eagles. Washington is 3-1 and has played the toughest stretch of their schedule.

The question now is "will the Redskins be able to stay in the NFC East race or will they come back down to earth?"

Let's look at opportunities to win games. As I said, the Skins are finishing up the toughest part of their schedule. They have already played the Giants, Saints, Cardinals and Cowboys. I know they do play in the NFC East, but after Sunday they will have already taken their trips to New York, Dallas and Philly. All three still have to come to Washington.

Beyond that, there are some very winnable games for the Redskins. Washington gets three of the NFL's winless teams (Rams, Bengals, Lions) and the Cleveland Browns.

You've got questions. I've got answers. If not, I'll make them up. Each Thursday at 1 p.m. EST, I answer your queries on all things related to the NFL. If you have a question, send it over to NFLMailbag@gmail.com. Don't forget to include your name and location. Click here for the archives. Rock'n'roll.

How bad will the Colts beat the Texans on Sunday? Also, will the Texans win a game this year? Matt Schaub got in tune with the game for a while last week but he is so inconsistent. I think it's time for him to take a hike and take Gary Kubiak with him.
- Ward77029, Texas

Oh ye of little faith. The Texans won't continue to slide into the 2008 twilight. While the Dolphins and Rams last year offered legitimate hope for an 0-16 season, the Texans are simply too talented to continue losing, and I think it comes together this week in what most would consider a shocker. Schaub did begin to harmonize last week, and though the Colts defense is offering a remarkably stout pass defense, they're also now missing Bob Sanders, and if we've learned anything about the Colts it's that their defense relies quite heavily on that tiny young man. Add in a remarkable Texans front four that will be playing against a Colts line that will be missing Tony Ugoh and Ryan Lilja (though the line has done a good patchwork job of protecting Peyton Manning, they've been awful on the ground, and they haven't played a unit like this), and I like the increasingly-healthy Texans' chances of getting in the win column this week. Added motivation? I don't care what Bob McNair says, the Texans have a chip on their shoulder after Jerrah equated the fourth-largest city in America with Mayberry.