Don’t Leave Us, Cooley: Nine-year Redskins player Chris Cooley, who was into inadvertently public dick pics way before Brett Favre, was released by the team today. According to coach Mike Shanahan, Cooley wants to find a team where he can be in the starting lineup. -3

Mexican Meshugas: The menu at Chef Mike Isabella‘s Bandolero is “inspired by” Mexican food, and now it’s inspiring something of its own: bad reviews! First Isabella clashed with the Post‘s Tom Sietsema after Sietsema trashed its grim interior (money line: “Day of the Dead I can appreciate. Year of the Dead is pushing it.”). Now Washingtonian’s Todd Kliman is on Bandolero’s case too, saying that Isabella’s just getting by on his Top Chef celebrity. -3

Flatt Out Delicious: Isabella better get his act together before Washington’s restaurant scene gets blown out by country hitmakers and Guy Fieri impersonators Rascal Flatts. The band plans to open a branch of its restaurant chain in D.C. sometime next year. -4

Statue Snafu: The incorrect quote on the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial still isn’t fixed. -2

Monday‘s Needle rating: 94 Today’s score: -12 Today’s Needle rating: 82