Redskins QB Mark Brunell turned 36 on Wednesday, and The Washington Post’s Howard Bryant and Camille Powell were on hand to cut the cake.

Yesterday, Brunell (above) was at his most testy of this young season. A reporter greeted him with the question: “How does it feel to be 36 and washed up?” But Brunell was not in the mood for any questions about his age, nor for any questions related to the pressure of trying to turn around a football team with great expectations but, thus far, poor results.

“You know what? How about we talk about football, the Texans or something like that?” Brunell said. “When you’re 0-2, you’re 0-2 as a team. You’ve got to do your job better. Each guy has to take some responsibility and play better on game days. It starts with the quarterback and goes all the way through. We’re making some mistakes all over the place. I think it’s going to get fixed. It’s early.”

The good news for Oakland is that a former league MVP quarterback was working out with the team yesterday. On the other hand, the league in question was the XFL, and the QB was Tommy Maddox.

A day after denying his hamstring injuries were really a poorly disguised holdout, Panthers WR Steve Smith returned to practice.