Fedex Field

FIFA, SOCCER'S world governing body, would like to take some time out from all of its alleged backdoor dealings and scandals to make the following decree: Islamic headscarves are a violation of the outfit's dress code and are now banned from all competitions. However, the kicker here is not FIFA's decision, but its timing. Just prior to kickoff in a women's Olympic qualifier between Iran and Jordan last Friday, officials decided that the Iranian players' little white headscarves were illegal and disqualified the team.

DESPITE HOW they've looked the past few weeks, the Redskins are not the Cleveland Browns. They are capable of derailing the Eagles' late playoff push, which would really make for a sour Christmas week around here. Washington will need some help from the Birds to do that, though. As dangerous as Clinton Portis and a solid secondary can be, back on Oct. 5, I thought the 'Skins were the better team along both lines of scrimmage. I'll be surprised if that remains the case on Sunday. Some Birds fans seem to be worried about the weather, which looks cold and maybe rainy.

$1.2 billion. That's the price Mayor Street put on the new baseball and football playpens last week. He hasn't said how the city will pay for its share. Naming rights could fetch a big chunk of change. The Washington Redskins are getting $205 million over 27 years just for calling their crib FedEx Field. Alas, reports say the Phillies and Eagles probably will keep those rights. So how about selling the naming rights to other landmarks? Taco Bell paved the way with a 1996 April Fool's ad saying it had renamed the Liberty Bell.

Home may be where the heart is, but for the Indiana University football team it's also where the money is. Indiana will abandon its Bloomington, Ind., stadium on Saturday to play a home game against Penn State in Landover, Md., a locale roughly 350 miles closer to the Nittany Lions' campus than its own. Why? Well, there are roughly three million reasons. That's how many dollars Indiana was guaranteed to switch the Big Ten matchup to FedEx Field. That's a pretty significant sum for the Hoosiers' program, which generates the second-lowest football revenue in the Big Ten and historically has had trouble filling 52,000-seat Memorial Stadium.

Sometimes, the bettors get it right. Oddsmakers made the Washington Redskins two-point favorites over Minnesota to start the week just as the Vikings replaced former head coach Brad Childress with Leslie Frazier. However, bettors - apparently assuming that the coaching change would revive the foundering Vikings - threw money at Minnesota with both hands, forcing a hefty four-point swing by kickoff. Suddenly two-point favorites, the Vikings rewarded the betting public's faith by holding off the Redskins, 17-13, at FedEx Field on Sunday.

Washington Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington, a former Penn State star, was fined $5,000 by the NFL yesterday - raising his season total to $35,000 - for pushing Cardinals wideout David Boston. Boston also was fined $5,000 by the league. He taunted Arrington by tossing him the ball after a tackle in the Redskins' 20-10 victory Sunday. Both players were called for personal fouls on the play. Arrington has been fined four times by the league in 2001. The Redskins face the Eagles tomorrow at FedEx Field, in Landover, Md. Meanwhile, Redskins cornerback Darrell Green is thinking about playing another season.

ASHBURN, Va. - Darrel Young is used to making adjustments. He was recruited by Villanova as a running back, but he switched to linebacker and then strong safety in becoming a four-year varsity performer who made 244 career tackles. Young first attempted to make the NFL as a linebacker, but he has found a home as a fullback. Besides being versatile, he is persistent. Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Washington Redskins in 2009, Young was on the practice squad as a linebacker for three weeks before being released that September.

LANDOVER, Md. - Fans had begun filling the lower bowl at FedEx Field Sunday night to see the Redskins play Dallas when the fourth quarter of the Eagles-Packers game came on the jumbo screens behind both end zones. At the first sight of Michael Vick in kelly green, the fans - Redskins and Cowboys alike - booed loudly. Ten minutes later, Washington's newest savior, Donovan McNabb, jogged onto the field in a maroon No. 5 jersey and bright yellow pants. The fans serenaded McNabb with cheers and showered him with love.

LANDOVER, Md. - Donovan McNabb did three things on Sunday night that Kevin Kolb did not: He played well, he finished the game, and he won. The NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint, but McNabb took the early lead in the debate over whether the Eagles made a masterful move sending their franchise quarterback 21/2 hours south to a division rival while they handed the team over to an unproven fourth-year player, or whether they made a mistake....

LANDOVER, Md. - Eagles safety Kurt Coleman made a good first impression in his second chance this season in the starting lineup. Coleman intercepted three passes as the Eagles broke a four-game losing streak on Sunday with a 20-13 victory over the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. Coleman became the 10th player in team history with three interceptions in a game and the first since Joe Scarpati on Oct. 23, 1966, in a game at the New York Giants. Coleman started the first three games this season, but was benched during the third, a 29-16 loss to the Giants, due to shoddy tackling.

LANDOVER, Md. - Mike Shanahan could take it no longer. He had stuck with quarterback Rex Grossman through some uneven performances during the Washington Redskins' first four games, but after three quarters of futility Sunday against the Eagles, the coach finally relented to the FedEx Field crowd's chants of: "We want Beck. " John Beck took over at quarterback for the Skins in the beginning of the fourth quarter, with Washington trailing by 20-6, and he sparked an offense that had been lethargic.

LANDOVER, Md. - This day, and this week, the Eagles wore turmoil well. That this began with the quarterback is fairly obvious, and not only because everything in the NFL begins with the quarterback. The fates of Andy Reid and Michael Vick are married now; it is one of the oft-discussed themes of the Eagles' 2011 season. With the heat on the head coach after the Eagles' 1-4 start, with the heat on him in a way that Vick has never experienced, watching and listening to Vick in the last few days has been instructive.

LANDOVER, Md. - Eagles safety Kurt Coleman made a good first impression in his second chance this season in the starting lineup. Coleman intercepted three passes as the Eagles broke a four-game losing streak on Sunday with a 20-13 victory over the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. Coleman became the 10th player in team history with three interceptions in a game and the first since Joe Scarpati on Oct. 23, 1966, in a game at the New York Giants. Coleman started the first three games this season, but was benched during the third, a 29-16 loss to the Giants, due to shoddy tackling.

LANDOVER, Md. - Mike Shanahan could take it no longer. He had stuck with quarterback Rex Grossman through some uneven performances during the Washington Redskins' first four games, but after three quarters of futility during Sunday's 20-13 loss to the Eagles at FedEx Field, the coach finally relented to the crowd's chants of "We want Beck. " John Beck took over at quarterback for the Skins in the beginning of the fourth quarter, with Washington trailing by 20-6, and he sparked an offense that had been lethargic.

ASHBURN, Va. - Darrel Young is used to making adjustments. He was recruited by Villanova as a running back, but he switched to linebacker and then strong safety in becoming a four-year varsity performer who made 244 career tackles. Young first attempted to make the NFL as a linebacker, but he has found a home as a fullback. Besides being versatile, he is persistent. Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Washington Redskins in 2009, Young was on the practice squad as a linebacker for three weeks before being released that September.

ASHBURN, Va. - Rex Grossman insists he was just making a preseason statement - that he had no idea his suggestion that the Redskins shouldn't be left out of discussions of potential NFC East champions would generate so much backlash. As Washington stands in first place with a 3-1 record heading into Sunday's 1 p.m. game at FedEx Field against the Eagles, those who lampooned his statement are piping down, for now. The Redskins, who were 6-10 last season, are in first place, and the 1-4 Eagles, the popular preseason pick to win the NFC East, are in must-win mode.

FIFA, SOCCER'S world governing body, would like to take some time out from all of its alleged backdoor dealings and scandals to make the following decree: Islamic headscarves are a violation of the outfit's dress code and are now banned from all competitions. However, the kicker here is not FIFA's decision, but its timing. Just prior to kickoff in a women's Olympic qualifier between Iran and Jordan last Friday, officials decided that the Iranian players' little white headscarves were illegal and disqualified the team.

Sometimes, the bettors get it right. Oddsmakers made the Washington Redskins two-point favorites over Minnesota to start the week just as the Vikings replaced former head coach Brad Childress with Leslie Frazier. However, bettors - apparently assuming that the coaching change would revive the foundering Vikings - threw money at Minnesota with both hands, forcing a hefty four-point swing by kickoff. Suddenly two-point favorites, the Vikings rewarded the betting public's faith by holding off the Redskins, 17-13, at FedEx Field on Sunday.

Home may be where the heart is, but for the Indiana University football team it's also where the money is. Indiana will abandon its Bloomington, Ind., stadium on Saturday to play a home game against Penn State in Landover, Md., a locale roughly 350 miles closer to the Nittany Lions' campus than its own. Why? Well, there are roughly three million reasons. That's how many dollars Indiana was guaranteed to switch the Big Ten matchup to FedEx Field. That's a pretty significant sum for the Hoosiers' program, which generates the second-lowest football revenue in the Big Ten and historically has had trouble filling 52,000-seat Memorial Stadium.