It was the officials' fault for letting things get out of hand between players on the Washington Redskins and St. Louis Rams. There was pushing, shoving and smack-talk after almost every play in Sunday's game and the replacement refs never stepped in to stop the skirmishes. It was like the players were taking advantage of substitute teachers because they knew they could.

It wasn't Cortland Finnegan's fault for pushing Josh Morgan after the Redskins wide receiver caught a ball on third down with 1:18 left in the game to set up a fourth-and-1 at the 29-yard line. Washington could have either gone for the first down or tried to kick a game-tying 47-yard field goal from Billy Cundiff.

It was only Morgan's fault for what happened next. The 'Skins wideout may have been playing in a game that the officials let get out of control. Finnegan may be an instigating punk who likes to goad other players into fighting back and prays they'll get caught instead of him. Neither of those facts excuses Morgan for retaliating to Finnegan's cheap shot by throwing the ball directly at him and earning a 15-yard penalty that put the Redskins out of first down and field goal range in Sunday's game.

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When a bully punches first, you always get caught for punching back. Had Morgan let Finnegan get in his chippy shot and simply gone back to the huddle, the Redskins would have had a better chance to beat the Rams. Either Cundiff would have attempted a shorter field goal (which, to be fair, he'd probably have missed) or the 'Skins could have gone for a fourth-and-1 with the dynamic Robert Griffin III.

Then again, Morgan's original mistake was cutting outside to try and get the first down rather than continuing his route to the inside.