Miracle on FedEx Way?

There’s Something Going On With The Washington Football Team

By James Estepp

2020 is not a year for fairy tales.

In mid-August, the coach of the Washington Football Team, Ron Rivera, was diagnosed with cancer in his lymph node.

Rivera

This was bad news for Rivera personally, but the diagnosis wouldn’t change the football team’s fate, as professional prognosticators expected the team would deliver between three to four wins this season while competing in a race to the bottom for the first overall draft pick in 2021.

As noted, no fairy tales here.

What about a miracle, instead?

Two years ago, Alex Smith was getting worse. He had suffered what many felt could be a career-ending injury on November 18, 2018, against the Houston Texans. Four days later, on Thanksgiving Day, he was facing far worse, with the possible loss of his leg while in an unexpected fight for his life. During the surgery on his leg’s compound fracture, he developed an insidious infection in his right leg. Necrotizing fasciitis was eating his flesh. There were serious questions as to whether or not he would ever leave the hospital.

Fast forward to the present, when, 17 surgeries later, Alex Smith didn’t just walk again, he stood under center with 12:23 remaining, down seven, on the road, missing their best player, and facing the only undefeated team in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

So much for the “undefeated” part. Smith led the team down the field for a tying touchdown on the way to 20 second-half points and a victory leaving them tied for first place with four weeks remaining in the most unusual season of all.

A detractor would tell you the team lost both of the games against the Giants, the team with whom they are tied, meaning they’re really in second place. Some might say the Cowboys are without their All-Pro quarterback and the Eagles aren’t themselves. To that I say, who cares?

The Washington Football Team has beaten the hated Dallas Cowboys twice, and knocked down the last undefeated team in the NFL while winning three straight games.

Perhaps it’s fitting that the team and their quarterback, both of whom could easily be confused with a phoenix rising from the ashes, play their third straight road game against the San Francisco 49ers, in Glendale, Arizona, fewer than ten miles from Phoenix, the Arizona state capital.

In the year 2020, where so many have lost more than a sporting contest, why can’t a football team called Washington, living in Virginia, but working in Prince George’s County, bring us a miracle?