These are dark days in Washington. Once in first place in the NFC East, the Redskins have bumbled and stumbled their way into third, and their free fall might not be done. And now, a franchise once renowned for its fan support is feeling the pinch of suckitude at the turnstiles.

Here’s the problem: the fans aren’t liking the product’s direction. And they’re voting with their feet. And that, in turn, is incensing the players. Josh Norman unloaded back in November on the hometown fans:

“I feel like we play better on the road, I’m not going to lie,” Norman said. “We go into the homestands and it’s like an open bubble. Like the other team’s turf or something. You hear more of them than you do us. Then if something bad happens, they suck. They sit back in their seat and they boo. I don’t know. This year, I’m starting to see that.”

He doubled down, saying that he wouldn’t mind playing all his games away from FedEx Field:

“We come back to our home and it seems like guys don’t really care,” Norman said. “They just boo everything and aren’t really behind us. We don’t really feel that [support]. And I’m tired of it, really. [Shoot], we can play all the games on the road if you ask me.”

The problem with big talk, though, is that you’ve got to follow it with big action. And Washington absolutely did not do that on Sunday, allowing the Giants to get out to a 34-0 halftime lead — the worst beating the Redskins have taken in a half since at least 1940.

So it was no surprise that Washington fans took that opportunity to beat traffic:

And by late in the game, only Giants fans were in seats to see Washington’s 40-16 defeat.

Washington has a hell of a crisis on its hands. The team’s suffered from attendance problems since Day 1 this season, and there’s only one game left at home: a Dec. 30 divisional matchup against Philadelphia. By that point, the seats might be nothing but green.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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