AP

Delusion seems to be the operative phenomenon in D.C. right now, what with coach Mike Shanahan staking his reputation on quarterbacks Rex Grossman and John Beck, and with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan claiming that he “stood on the table” to get the Texans to use the 10th overall pick on Beck in 2007.

Grossman apparently has caught the bug, as evidenced by his August 9 interview with CSNWashington.com.

“We’re fine being the sleepers right now,” Grossman said, before doing his best to wake everyone up to the Redskins. Or to provide comic relief to the rest of the league.

“We’re just waiting in the wings ready to take over the NFC East. Nobody’s talking about us, it’s right where we wanna be. You look at us from top to bottom out here, there’s a bunch of great players. And we don’t need people saying we’re the best right now. But when it’s all said and done, I really feel like this team’s gonna win the [NFC] East.”

Most NFL fans, including plenty of Redskins fans, would respond to that statement with this question: In what year?

It would be foolish to write off the Redskins or any other team right now. But when the guy who’s at the top of the depth chart at the most important position on the field was a free agent for a full week and got zero sniffs, it’s hard to have much confidence in this team’s ability to leapfrog the Giants and the Cowboys and the Eagles.

It would be a great story if they do it, but it sounds beyond crazy for Grossman to call his shot when, by all appearances, the other three teams in the division are armed with rifles — and the Redskins have a pop gun.