There is nothing I like better than to second-guess certain franchises.

Take the Washington Redskins. They made a big trade for Falcons running back T.J. Duckett in the preseason - apparently they were really worried about Clinton Portis' separated shoulder - but now they are stuck with Duckett, who has five carries for 24 yards, and are on the hook for a third-round draft choice.

At one time, Washington's first-round pick was in play in this trade, but the Redskins' choice probably will end up being more than four spots ahead of where Denver is picking next April, so they are off the hook on that segment of the trade.

But what an impatient decision this trade was for the Redskins. The team definitely thought they were going to win this season and they wanted quality insurance in the person of Duckett, who didn't come cheaply. And you can't tell me that the Falcons don't miss Duckett. His mere presence probably would correct their woeful red-zone production.

In three years in Atlanta, Duckett scored 27 rushing touchdowns on 422 carries. Just to compare values, Portis scored 16 touchdowns on 697 carries the last two seasons.

And speaking of trades ... wouldn't the Redskins have been better off trading for Green Bay's Javon Walker, now a star in Denver, than making deals for Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randle El?

Cole's deal is for real

The majority of NFL teams had money to spend before yesterday's deadline to re-sign current players to long-term deals. Not surprisingly, few deals were made. The Eagles signed two of their young defensive linemen, Mike Patterson and Trent Cole. I found Patterson's contract, an 11-year extension for $40.95 million, to be fairly inconsequential, considering his big base salaries don't really increase till years 2014-16 (almost $15 million there) and his bonus was a modest $4.5 million.

But Trent Cole definitely received a fair-market deal for a player in only his second season. Cole was a fifth-round pick last season and signed for $153,000. He had already hit a first-round escalator clause (for a 2008 tender offer) based on his overall production so receiving $12 million in bonus money was a great deal for a player who just turned 24. He basically got a five-year extension worth $27.5 million.

Cole was going to earn $2.6 million over the next two years, so he could have rolled the dice on a bigger deal if he had wanted to. But receiving that $12 million was too much security for Cole to pass up.

Other signings

The Cardinals gave new middle linebacker Gerald Hayes, their most productive young defensive player, a four-year extension worth $21 million with $7.5 million upfront. Hayes, a former third-round pick, leads the Cardinals with 61 tackles.

The Green Bay Packers locked up their new center, Scott Wells, who would have been a restricted free agent, for five years. Wells received $3.5 million upfront and basically a four-year extension worth $12.6 million.

Tuesday second guesses

 - I don't know how you feel, but it is painful if you're a fan of the Oakland Raiders to watch their offense on the field.

- You could say that Bill Belichick out-smarted himself by not continuing to run the ball right at the Colts on Sunday night. You can argue that all those screen passes were too slow to develop, but other football people say that if Brady would have connected properly on a few of them, there were blockers in position to produce very long gains.

- I remain stunned that the Giants deposited $2 million into Michael Strahan's base salary last Thursday and nobody thinks it's a big deal, especially if he's not playing for a month.

- Bill Parcells still believes you live by the go-for-two chart even if the game is in the first quarter. Yes, two-point conversion attempts are exciting plays. But the Cowboys called an awful play and they didn't convert. Just minutes after the Redskins took an automatic three points off the board by failing on a fourth-down run, why not reward your team with a solid seven points. Mike Vanderjagt has missed only two extra points in 482 career attempts.

- When placing blame for allowing Troy Vincent to block Vanderjagt's field-goal attempt that turned the Redskins' game totally around, you have to mention tight end Jason Witten, who totally whiffed on Vincent, along with tackle Marc Colombo, who ignored his assignment and blocked to the inside. Witten simply ignored Vincent because he didn't rush - he stood behind the line of scrimmage - on previous kick attempts.