Dear Daniel Snyder
Look,
I know the Redskins are your team. You're a relatively young guy and a passionate Redskins fan who ended up blowing up your communications/marketing firm and collecting ooogles of dollars.
You've been the main owner for quite a while actually and you've done a few nice things with the revenues and the stadium and what not. But you know what? You're f***ing up right now.
What's all this I'm reading in the papers about letting Gregg Williams go? How could you even consider such a thing?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012302806.html
You know what, let me rephrase that.
Its your perrogative to consider whomever you want, to be the head coach of the team. But why hire someone who would want to bring in a new Defensive Coordinator, when the defense is BY FAR the strength of a team that made the playoffs 2 of the last 3 years?
If you're not going to promote GW to head coach, which is your right, and he has in the past expressed that he enjoys being DC and isn't necessarily pressed to be a head coach right now, I'm thinking you'd hire someone who can get along with him, and not blow the whole damn thing up.
Hire Jim Fassel to be head coach and bring in Baltimore's Rex Ryan as DC and Seattle QB Coach Jim Zorn as Offensive Coordinator?
2/3rds of that plan are f***ing stupid. See you made me go and curse.
F***ING STUPID.
You must think we (the passionate fans that fill your stadium revenue coffers quite faithfully) are effing playing with you. You MUST think this dude Jim Fassel isn't going to get his ass booed the very first chance we get. Let the offense go 3 and out. Once. Let them throw an incomplete pass. ONE TIME.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
First snap - First game. Guaranteed.
This is not a game, son.
You still have Al Saunders under contract. He's the current offensive coordinator. You seem to have decided to let him go..
I wouldn't do that, but I'm not against the idea. You want to bring in someone with an offense Jason Campbell can run soon. Well...you know what. Todd Collins, who knows Saunders' offense, was lighting it up with crossing routes and 7 routes and the ball was going down the field. Why can't Jason do the same? He's got a stronger arm and he's not entirely stupid (though the red zone INTs have to stop...I'll let him be a 2nd year player in 07. In '08 I'll start evaluating QBs in the draft, son. Matter of fact, there's this kid out of San Diego, Jack Johnson who tore up the Blue-Gray game and is 1-AA player of the year...Can we get him in the 3rd? Please? If he's there at 83 you gotta get him. The Chargers had two really good QBs and that worked out pretty ok for them).
So anyway, if you don't want to give JC another year at Al's offense, whatever. It wasn't like the Skins was putting up 30 a week. Fine.
But letting Gregg Williams go, not even to mention not be the Head Coach?
Thats f***ing lunacy. LUNACY. He has the players to make his system work. They were stomping cats in the nuts all season long (whatever that was in the Pats game aside). And he was missing a ton of his best players for long stretches of the season (R.I.P. #21 Sean Taylor). His defense works. And he adjusted it for his personnel to MAKE it work.
So now you want to go get Buddy Ryan's son, who is on some next generation of the 4-6 D, and you'd have to bring in entirely different personnel. Really? That makes sense how when youre D is currently Top 10? With plenty of young and good players.
OK I'm going to stop the rant soon...
Bottom Line = None of the fans want Jim Fassel. Its not even that we have to have GW as coach, but who the eff said hiring that bum is a good idea? How does that make sense? You are seriously trying to get some season ticket plans cancelled.
None of the fans care who the OC is, as long as the offense progresses
Fire Gregg Williams (or force him out) and let the defense slip next year and you will need to get some police protection. That's not even a threat. That's the truth. Cats will be looking for you. And you ain't hard to find. "Its the short guy with the glasses getting on the private jet."
All I'm saying is. Can you please not f*** this coaching search up like you did when you let Schottenheimer go after finishing the season 8-3 over his last 11 games in his first season with a roster he didn't choose to get Steve Effin Spurrier. Could you please not do something stupid again? PLEASE
PLEASE DO NOT MESS THE TEAM UP ANYMORE!
Apparently, I'm not the only one PISSED...
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dot.comments/2008/01/skin_fans_in_revolt.html
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Thank You Joe Gibbs
Joe Gibbs retired today after an atypical press conference yesterday that had the media buzzing.
Gibbs, who has been saying "I intend to fulfil my contract" - which expires after next season - to keep the rumors away, said something different and the reporters and players who heard it went all WTF! on him.
Apparently, they had reason to.
So...Joe Gibbs retired...
How do I feel about this?
Hmmm....
Well... I will first say that when he initially came back, I was so excited i had a DREAM that I was sitting there talking to Mike Vick of all people talking bout "we got Joe Gibbs, nigga!!". I guess because Vick is from VA. Perhaps I envisioned him returning to the mid-atlantic with Gibbs. Regardless, the dream would make more sense if it were like...LaVar Arrington but whatever.
So I expected good things. The 4 years he had here were, however, weird. The team played with lots of spirit, as Gibbs' strength has always been motivating his players. I can't recall a single time when I complained that the team looked "flat". "These n**** is FUCKING UP" - yes, "they look like they don't care" - no.
So the first year they realize, OK, you can't just run the effing counter-trey (guard pulls and lead blocks a cut of direction run) EVERY 3rd play...if not every two plays. Then they add a pitch out. Then they realize, oh wait, we can't get the ball down the field. Oh wait we need some real plays. And it just was a mess.
To their credit, they didn't draft Kellen Winslow TE out of Miami that year. They took Sean Taylor, S out of Miami. Winslow vowed revenge. (Which is dumb because we'd play the Browns exactly once every 4 years, so max 3 times in his career) Taylor became a ProBowler. R.I.P. 21
Well Gibbs went out and said, ok, we're not going out like that, and at least hired a staff member who was a vertical passing "expert". I forget who but they did it. That year the Skins played tough, but lost like...4 consecutive games to the AFC in November to put themselves apparently out of playoff contention. Blown leads and shit. I gave up on the season...then they reel off 5 straight victories...WTF!!!
I couldn't even enjoy it because it was like "so what, they're not making the... the... playoffs???"
They proceeded to beat Tampa at Tampa in the wild card round without any offense (it was going to Cooley or Santana - that was it. 8 blockers and a Qb + cooley and santana moss. Wild), then lost at Seattle...because Carlos Rogers can't catch easy pick-6's and they had no offense. Brunell's arm was close to falling off and they had no backups to speak of.
So then comes 2006. The weirdest most inexplicable year in the history of a NFL team...until 2007.
So because the offense is cold hard trash, and Kansas City hired Herm Edwards to liven up their press conferences, rather than promote offensive coordinator Al Saunders, we hired him to run our O.
(...yeah...him and his 700 page playbook. That's too many gotdamn plays son. For real. You expect me to remember 700 plays??? What if there are multiple plays per page...ugh.)
So this is exciting news because despite Trent Green NEVER having a WR of note, him and Tony Gonzalez racked up 4000 passing yards and 30 pts a game annually.
Plus Gregg Williams is our defensive coordinator though I think he was in place for the 2005 run, the one with the swarming defense. I miss those games. Total shutdowns. Blitzes...beautiful. They stopped blitzing in 2006. Why? I don't know. It stopped working. It was weird. The whole season was weird.
The 'Skins, considered a few offensive players away, went out and got Brandon Lloyd from the 49ers to compliment Santana Moss and Chris Cooley.
Brunell...didn't work out in 2006. Long story short, his arm gave out. He had that one game at the Texans that I didn't go to for personal reasons, where he set the NFL consecutive completion record.
That's cute.
All of them were dump off passes. There was NO vertical passing game for the Skins in 2006. Speaking of vertical passing. The Redskins moved up in the draft before the 2006 season to take QB Jason Campbell from Auburn. So by the end of the year the fans wanted to see him get some reps with his big arm and...well we didn't know what other talents he had. Mobility? Intelligence? We'd find out.
So the last 7 games of 06, JC17 goes out and learns on the job. He showed flashes, but I've continued to say "Fuck Jason Campbell" since they drafted him. Its not that I think he totally sucks, but he ain't shown and proved nothing yet.
Which is why at yesterday's Joe Gibbs Chunks The Deuce press conference it was cool to see Gibbs acknowledge that if JC and Todd Collins both come back, some competition might be in order. I'm tired of his ass overthrowing wide open receivers and throwing interceptions, in the red zone, at the end of games. He does that shit weekly. I'm still willing to give him a chance though.
Back to 2006. Not only did the Brunell arm fall-off thing mess things up, the team couldn't stop anyone on 3rd down. Ever. Statisticians who follow the NFL professionally expected the Skins to be a much better team this year simply because the alarming rate at which opponents converted 3rd downs HAD to get better.
So after 2006, they went soul searching and had to figure all this stuff out.
Why bring in Al Saunders if you're not going to use his playbook? During the season, when the running game stalled, Gibbs goes all Triple H on him and declares they were going back to "Redskins football" which means running the ball with counter trey and pitches to Clinton Portis. OK fine, you still ended up 5-11.
The defense decided to blitz less, much to my chagrin, and tried to get pressure on the Quarterback with 4 or 5 man rushes instead.
Well in 2007, it worked at first. The Skins got off to a decent start to the season. Good wins, really close losses that can be attributed to first year starter at QB. In fact, every game they lost this year except to the Pats was winnable late in the 4th quarter, including Seattle in the playoffs. I don't think they tried against the Pats. In fact, let me retract my earlier "never came out flat" comment but put an asterik next to it because that was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. Like they had a reason to bow down to the Pats in week 8. Whatever.
The Skins outplayed every other team they played this year. So when they ended up at 5-7, after 4 consecutive last second Jason Campbell is Effin Up losses, I was like "ok, well next year we'll draft Malcolm Kelly, who JC can't overthrow, and we'll win these games"
Then JC gets hurt against the Bears in what was looking like it was going to be a 0-0 tie. Todd Collins comes in and lights it up. And continues for 4 weeks.
Then the Saints, the only team in the way of a Redskins playoff berth, lost to the Eagles.
This meant that Minnesota "HAS GOT TO GO". At Minnesota. With all-world-rookie Adrian Peterson. I had a dream about Adrian Peterson and how he was "the truth", which he is, because I fell asleep during a Vikings game. So I was a bit worried...but not...really. I was in DC watching this game with my dad.
First thing I noticed, on the first TD pass to Cooley...the Redskins were RUNNING PLAYS! The offense that Al Saunders brought Todd Collins with him to run and teach Jason Campbell was unleashed!
It was like Al Saunders wasn't the offensive coordinator, so long as Jason Campbell was the QB. But he was now. And the Skins started winning.
And we made the playoffs. =)
And we almost beat Seattle until the wheels came off and the team of backups lost the magic. And I wasn't even upset.
I was satisfied with the season. Which is weird when I know the Skins can beat every team in the NFC playoffs.
But the season was so emotional that I just...I was ready for it to be over to be honest. And I didn't even know it.
So imagine how Joe Gibbs, 67, feels.
Perhaps this team is on the cusp of a SuperBowl run next year. Perhaps.
Perhaps they take the reigns off JC with the offense and he flourishes. Or they open QB competition up and Todd Collins wins, plays well the first 7 weeks until JC learns it all and then he gets back in there. Perhaps they play with some consistency and they draft Calais Campbell to get some pass rush off the edge and the D REALLY shuts people down...
Thats a lot of ifs.
All teams in the NFL have "wait till next season" ifs. Joe Gibbs is too old for that. He's won THREE SuperBowls. Would it be more satisfying to get one more after all he's been through this go-around. Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe when you have grandkids and more money than you can spend, football isn't as important to you.
So he's walking away. And I'm ok with that.
Sure, partly because before the streak I was ready for him to leave. But also because its best for him.
The team actually could use one more year of Joe Gibbs leadership and motivational skills.
Hopefully he'll still be around to do some pep talks.
The team is back where it needs to be and where it wasn't after Spurrier came in and messed things up. Its in position to do well.
The nucleus of talent is on the roster. The playoffs don't seem like a distant memory, and its not uncommon for the Skins to be on national tv.
Thanks Coach Gibbs. Hail to the Redskins!
Gibbs, who has been saying "I intend to fulfil my contract" - which expires after next season - to keep the rumors away, said something different and the reporters and players who heard it went all WTF! on him.
Apparently, they had reason to.
So...Joe Gibbs retired...
How do I feel about this?
Hmmm....
Well... I will first say that when he initially came back, I was so excited i had a DREAM that I was sitting there talking to Mike Vick of all people talking bout "we got Joe Gibbs, nigga!!". I guess because Vick is from VA. Perhaps I envisioned him returning to the mid-atlantic with Gibbs. Regardless, the dream would make more sense if it were like...LaVar Arrington but whatever.
So I expected good things. The 4 years he had here were, however, weird. The team played with lots of spirit, as Gibbs' strength has always been motivating his players. I can't recall a single time when I complained that the team looked "flat". "These n**** is FUCKING UP" - yes, "they look like they don't care" - no.
So the first year they realize, OK, you can't just run the effing counter-trey (guard pulls and lead blocks a cut of direction run) EVERY 3rd play...if not every two plays. Then they add a pitch out. Then they realize, oh wait, we can't get the ball down the field. Oh wait we need some real plays. And it just was a mess.
To their credit, they didn't draft Kellen Winslow TE out of Miami that year. They took Sean Taylor, S out of Miami. Winslow vowed revenge. (Which is dumb because we'd play the Browns exactly once every 4 years, so max 3 times in his career) Taylor became a ProBowler. R.I.P. 21
Well Gibbs went out and said, ok, we're not going out like that, and at least hired a staff member who was a vertical passing "expert". I forget who but they did it. That year the Skins played tough, but lost like...4 consecutive games to the AFC in November to put themselves apparently out of playoff contention. Blown leads and shit. I gave up on the season...then they reel off 5 straight victories...WTF!!!
I couldn't even enjoy it because it was like "so what, they're not making the... the... playoffs???"
They proceeded to beat Tampa at Tampa in the wild card round without any offense (it was going to Cooley or Santana - that was it. 8 blockers and a Qb + cooley and santana moss. Wild), then lost at Seattle...because Carlos Rogers can't catch easy pick-6's and they had no offense. Brunell's arm was close to falling off and they had no backups to speak of.
So then comes 2006. The weirdest most inexplicable year in the history of a NFL team...until 2007.
So because the offense is cold hard trash, and Kansas City hired Herm Edwards to liven up their press conferences, rather than promote offensive coordinator Al Saunders, we hired him to run our O.
(...yeah...him and his 700 page playbook. That's too many gotdamn plays son. For real. You expect me to remember 700 plays??? What if there are multiple plays per page...ugh.)
So this is exciting news because despite Trent Green NEVER having a WR of note, him and Tony Gonzalez racked up 4000 passing yards and 30 pts a game annually.
Plus Gregg Williams is our defensive coordinator though I think he was in place for the 2005 run, the one with the swarming defense. I miss those games. Total shutdowns. Blitzes...beautiful. They stopped blitzing in 2006. Why? I don't know. It stopped working. It was weird. The whole season was weird.
The 'Skins, considered a few offensive players away, went out and got Brandon Lloyd from the 49ers to compliment Santana Moss and Chris Cooley.
Brunell...didn't work out in 2006. Long story short, his arm gave out. He had that one game at the Texans that I didn't go to for personal reasons, where he set the NFL consecutive completion record.
That's cute.
All of them were dump off passes. There was NO vertical passing game for the Skins in 2006. Speaking of vertical passing. The Redskins moved up in the draft before the 2006 season to take QB Jason Campbell from Auburn. So by the end of the year the fans wanted to see him get some reps with his big arm and...well we didn't know what other talents he had. Mobility? Intelligence? We'd find out.
So the last 7 games of 06, JC17 goes out and learns on the job. He showed flashes, but I've continued to say "Fuck Jason Campbell" since they drafted him. Its not that I think he totally sucks, but he ain't shown and proved nothing yet.
Which is why at yesterday's Joe Gibbs Chunks The Deuce press conference it was cool to see Gibbs acknowledge that if JC and Todd Collins both come back, some competition might be in order. I'm tired of his ass overthrowing wide open receivers and throwing interceptions, in the red zone, at the end of games. He does that shit weekly. I'm still willing to give him a chance though.
Back to 2006. Not only did the Brunell arm fall-off thing mess things up, the team couldn't stop anyone on 3rd down. Ever. Statisticians who follow the NFL professionally expected the Skins to be a much better team this year simply because the alarming rate at which opponents converted 3rd downs HAD to get better.
So after 2006, they went soul searching and had to figure all this stuff out.
Why bring in Al Saunders if you're not going to use his playbook? During the season, when the running game stalled, Gibbs goes all Triple H on him and declares they were going back to "Redskins football" which means running the ball with counter trey and pitches to Clinton Portis. OK fine, you still ended up 5-11.
The defense decided to blitz less, much to my chagrin, and tried to get pressure on the Quarterback with 4 or 5 man rushes instead.
Well in 2007, it worked at first. The Skins got off to a decent start to the season. Good wins, really close losses that can be attributed to first year starter at QB. In fact, every game they lost this year except to the Pats was winnable late in the 4th quarter, including Seattle in the playoffs. I don't think they tried against the Pats. In fact, let me retract my earlier "never came out flat" comment but put an asterik next to it because that was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. Like they had a reason to bow down to the Pats in week 8. Whatever.
The Skins outplayed every other team they played this year. So when they ended up at 5-7, after 4 consecutive last second Jason Campbell is Effin Up losses, I was like "ok, well next year we'll draft Malcolm Kelly, who JC can't overthrow, and we'll win these games"
Then JC gets hurt against the Bears in what was looking like it was going to be a 0-0 tie. Todd Collins comes in and lights it up. And continues for 4 weeks.
Then the Saints, the only team in the way of a Redskins playoff berth, lost to the Eagles.
This meant that Minnesota "HAS GOT TO GO". At Minnesota. With all-world-rookie Adrian Peterson. I had a dream about Adrian Peterson and how he was "the truth", which he is, because I fell asleep during a Vikings game. So I was a bit worried...but not...really. I was in DC watching this game with my dad.
First thing I noticed, on the first TD pass to Cooley...the Redskins were RUNNING PLAYS! The offense that Al Saunders brought Todd Collins with him to run and teach Jason Campbell was unleashed!
It was like Al Saunders wasn't the offensive coordinator, so long as Jason Campbell was the QB. But he was now. And the Skins started winning.
And we made the playoffs. =)
And we almost beat Seattle until the wheels came off and the team of backups lost the magic. And I wasn't even upset.
I was satisfied with the season. Which is weird when I know the Skins can beat every team in the NFC playoffs.
But the season was so emotional that I just...I was ready for it to be over to be honest. And I didn't even know it.
So imagine how Joe Gibbs, 67, feels.
Perhaps this team is on the cusp of a SuperBowl run next year. Perhaps.
Perhaps they take the reigns off JC with the offense and he flourishes. Or they open QB competition up and Todd Collins wins, plays well the first 7 weeks until JC learns it all and then he gets back in there. Perhaps they play with some consistency and they draft Calais Campbell to get some pass rush off the edge and the D REALLY shuts people down...
Thats a lot of ifs.
All teams in the NFL have "wait till next season" ifs. Joe Gibbs is too old for that. He's won THREE SuperBowls. Would it be more satisfying to get one more after all he's been through this go-around. Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe when you have grandkids and more money than you can spend, football isn't as important to you.
So he's walking away. And I'm ok with that.
Sure, partly because before the streak I was ready for him to leave. But also because its best for him.
The team actually could use one more year of Joe Gibbs leadership and motivational skills.
Hopefully he'll still be around to do some pep talks.
The team is back where it needs to be and where it wasn't after Spurrier came in and messed things up. Its in position to do well.
The nucleus of talent is on the roster. The playoffs don't seem like a distant memory, and its not uncommon for the Skins to be on national tv.
Thanks Coach Gibbs. Hail to the Redskins!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Redskins Wrap 2007-2008 and 2008 Draft Preview
Some of you might wonder why I blog weekly about college football but not much about my favorite NFL team, the Washington Redskins. Its an emotional thing. I try to be semi-objective in my sports blogging and Redskins posts would more often than not come out like vents.
They lost 6 winnable games this year. Not even winnable. Should've won and outplayed the opponent games. They finished 9-7. Lets say they won half of those. They would be 12-4. If one of those wins was against the Cowboys (Jason Campbell last second pick in the red zone seals 28-23 loss) or the Packers (Santana Moss's point shaving game) The Skins would be sitting at home resting this weekend. Its not even sour grapes, watch the games, they outplayed the Bills, Cowboys, Giants, Packers, Bucs...let me shut up.
Now u see what I'm talking about.
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2007-2008 Redskins Wrap Up
Yesterday the Washington Redskins season came to an end.
I am very happy how the season turned out and very very proud of them. I am not angry that they lost to the Seattle Seahawks, even though you could see during the 4th quarter a big window for a victory.
The truth of the matter is the Redskins have been holding it together without their best player - R.I.P. Sean Taylor - their #1 corner back, Carlos Rogers, their #1 outside linebacker in Rocky McIntosh, their #1 and #2 right tackles in Jon Jansen and Todd Wade and their #1 right guard in Randy Thomas. Oh, and their alleged #1 QB in Jason Campbell. All for long stretches of the season.
They lost 4 winnable games in a row in the last seconds of the game. Which is the wildest most frustrating stretch of football a team you can cheer for can ever play, believe me. This doesn't even count the 2 close losses earlier in the season to the Giants and Packers. Yet at 5-7, after going to Sean Taylor's funeral, this band of replacement players and backups, old and young, put together 4 straight victories and nearly knocked off the Seahawks, the NFC's most consistent team over the last 5 years, at Seattle. I can't be mad at that. I love the Redskins and sometimes it seems more like a bad relationship when they play below their potential, but I can appreciate the hard effort and work they have put together this season.
Thanks guys.
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2008 Redskins Draft Preview
And now for the 2008-09 season.
See, since the Skins were 5-7, and there wasn't really an obvious path to the playoffs for them (New Orleans had to lose to someone sorry, and they had to win out and Detroit had to keep losing, and they had to beat Minnesota and NYG and Dallas - thats a lot of ifs to project) - I had already started looking at the team next year and what draft picks I wanted them to make.
Let's break down the team by area
QB - Jason Campbell is inconsistent, which you can expect out of a 2nd year player and 1st year full starter. I hope that watching Todd Collins perform out of this world for 4 and a half weeks solely due to this knowledge of Al Saunders' playbook inspires him to get it memorized. The Redskins offense was healthier towards the end of the season, which helped TC15 out, but I was looking at some nice offensive patterns the Skins wouldn't DREAM of running with JC17 in there. Its almost like Joe Gibbs didn't hand over the playcalling duties to Al Saunders until Jason went down. No QB is needed right now because TC has showen he can be a reliable backup for another year or two. JC could blossom but he could also continue to be frustrating as hell and keep overthrowing ninjas...which leads us to
WR - sure I could and probably should talk about RBs before WRs but if you want to go down that path of criticism, just tell me to keep it real and talk about the OL and DL first.
The bottom line is the Redskins have a #2 receiver playing #1 and a #3 receiver playing #2. That's Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El. They are each 5'9'' or below. Reche Caldwell, James Thrash, Keenan McCardell, have played well this year but none are long term options.
You see what I'm trying to say is, we need to upgrade at receiver. I was a little curious why the Redskins were considering selling the farm to move up and draft Calvin Johnson last year and now I see why. He's 6'4'' to start. So I expect to see the Skins address this need in the draft's first few rounds.
RB - Clinton Portis is a decent RB, but he frustrates me. And he gets hurt easily. Not sure why Ladell Betts and Rock Cartwright didn't get more carries this year. Mike Sellers at FB isn't the long term option. He can block, but he stays coming up short than a mofo in short yardage situations - the ones he lobbied to get involved with.
OL - The injuires makes it hard to determine if a draft pick should be used on the line or not. I'd tend to say no. Outside of Patrick Kerney DESTROYING undrafted rookie Stephen Heyer in the playoff game, the backups held up. Heyer is young and may develop further with instruction and maturity. Jon Jansen and Todd Wade aren't that old. Randy Thomas will be back at RG. So if u have backups holding up fairly well as starters (Minnesota has beasts on the DL and we ran over them like it wasn't nothing) and you get your true starters back, that's called "depth". Woo hoo! Also trade bait.
TE - Chris Cooley is a ProBowler. Yoder is cool as a backup.
K - Suisham missed a momentum changing kick against Seattle. That's not the first choke whiff he's had this season but he's not a bad kicker. No draft pick needed. Signing someone decent to compete in training camp though.
P - Derrick Frost is an OK punter. Same as Suisham. Let him compete in camp.
DL - The defensive line needs upgrading. Other teams can get a rush at the QB with 4 down linemen occasionally. Early in the season I saw some of that out of the Skins but not late when it counted and definitely not against Seattle. Watching Kerney slam Todd Collins to the Seattle turf the entire 1st half convinced me, and hopefully the team, that DL is what needs to be upgraded before WR or DB. Not to say the young guys at DT suck or Andre Carter is a bum, but the other DE spot needs to be addressed and word is, Albert Haynesworth is a free agent. That being said, the Skins are 20 Million OVER THE CAP. They always convert roster bonuses to signing bonuses, but that doesn't mean they'll have enough to go after the head stomping All-world DT. I'd like to see a presence up the middle though. So the first two rounds of the draft, one's gonna be DL
CB - The Rogers, Springs, Smoot, Torrence, Macklin, crew is ok for a 5-deep at CB. Now, Rogers got hurt seriously and Smoot has a big contract. So...we'll be needing some top level corners. Rogers will not have his explosiveness and agility back until at least 09 and maybe never. I'd be ok with a 1st round pick, IF and only if there was so much talent at DL that we knew with the 51st pick in the 2nd round we could get someone good...like how they got McIntosh in the 2nd round when there were a ton of linebackers in his draft. Is CB a bigger need than WR? Not sure
S - Sean Taylor cannot be replaced easily. There is no player as good as Taylor, the 5th overall pick, at the Safety position in this draft. I really hope they don't draft Kenny Phillips, the top rated Safetey, who happens to be from the University of Miami like Taylor (and Portis, Moss, McIntosh). That's too much pressure on the young man and not fair. Plus he's not nearly as good. I'm ok with Reed Doughty for now but we might need to sign Mike Doss or someone with experience. A 4th round pick would be ok with me
LB - We've had some injuries at the lineback position this year. McIntosh and Washington, two starters, missed significant time. The backups played more than fine. But LB is one of those positions where you kind of keep bringing in talent. If Gregg Williams sticks around, it'll be good to get more bodies for him to rotate in. Not a top draft need unless someone falls mysteriously (like Laurinitis gets busted for weed a week before the draft)
The 2008 NFL Draft
I believe the Skins priorities for drafting should look like this
1. DE
2. DT
3. WR
4. CB
5. S
6. LB
7. OL
The top 3 or 4 needs are so close, I'm ok with the Redskins using their first two picks on the best players available at the time they draft, provided they are in those categories - DE, DT, WR and CB.
Players I'd like to see the Redskins draft (and think might be available)
1. CB Aqib Talib, Kansas. He's 6'2'', can CATCH (carlos rogers beware), can run back kicks, and highly skilled. Mock drafts show him available at 20. I highly doubt this will last. But that's where they are at now. I know the Skins would be in a position to draft a big time DE with the 20th pick because there are some good options, but this draft is deep at DE so one of them will be there at 51 as well. That's my belief. Thus, if Talib is there, take him
2. WR Malcolm Kelly, Oklahoma - Big, good hands. 6'4''. Smooth. Can Freestyle rap. (click to watch).
3. DE Calais Campbell, Miami or Gholston, Ohio State - DE with stats and ability. Campbell is like 6'7''.
Its important to note the Skins traded their 3rd round pick (I think) to the Jets to get Pete Kendall at LG. Which was necessary since they let Derrick Dockery go and trying to get Todd Wade to play LG nearly got Jason Campbell killed in preseason. So that may affect draft orders, and necessitate the DE pick going first. Gotta address needs (no! you take the best player available! LaRon Landry worked out. Needs we'dve had Amobe Okoye, who is fine but I love Landry.)
They lost 6 winnable games this year. Not even winnable. Should've won and outplayed the opponent games. They finished 9-7. Lets say they won half of those. They would be 12-4. If one of those wins was against the Cowboys (Jason Campbell last second pick in the red zone seals 28-23 loss) or the Packers (Santana Moss's point shaving game) The Skins would be sitting at home resting this weekend. Its not even sour grapes, watch the games, they outplayed the Bills, Cowboys, Giants, Packers, Bucs...let me shut up.
Now u see what I'm talking about.
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2007-2008 Redskins Wrap Up
Yesterday the Washington Redskins season came to an end.
I am very happy how the season turned out and very very proud of them. I am not angry that they lost to the Seattle Seahawks, even though you could see during the 4th quarter a big window for a victory.
The truth of the matter is the Redskins have been holding it together without their best player - R.I.P. Sean Taylor - their #1 corner back, Carlos Rogers, their #1 outside linebacker in Rocky McIntosh, their #1 and #2 right tackles in Jon Jansen and Todd Wade and their #1 right guard in Randy Thomas. Oh, and their alleged #1 QB in Jason Campbell. All for long stretches of the season.
They lost 4 winnable games in a row in the last seconds of the game. Which is the wildest most frustrating stretch of football a team you can cheer for can ever play, believe me. This doesn't even count the 2 close losses earlier in the season to the Giants and Packers. Yet at 5-7, after going to Sean Taylor's funeral, this band of replacement players and backups, old and young, put together 4 straight victories and nearly knocked off the Seahawks, the NFC's most consistent team over the last 5 years, at Seattle. I can't be mad at that. I love the Redskins and sometimes it seems more like a bad relationship when they play below their potential, but I can appreciate the hard effort and work they have put together this season.
Thanks guys.
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2008 Redskins Draft Preview
And now for the 2008-09 season.
See, since the Skins were 5-7, and there wasn't really an obvious path to the playoffs for them (New Orleans had to lose to someone sorry, and they had to win out and Detroit had to keep losing, and they had to beat Minnesota and NYG and Dallas - thats a lot of ifs to project) - I had already started looking at the team next year and what draft picks I wanted them to make.
Let's break down the team by area
QB - Jason Campbell is inconsistent, which you can expect out of a 2nd year player and 1st year full starter. I hope that watching Todd Collins perform out of this world for 4 and a half weeks solely due to this knowledge of Al Saunders' playbook inspires him to get it memorized. The Redskins offense was healthier towards the end of the season, which helped TC15 out, but I was looking at some nice offensive patterns the Skins wouldn't DREAM of running with JC17 in there. Its almost like Joe Gibbs didn't hand over the playcalling duties to Al Saunders until Jason went down. No QB is needed right now because TC has showen he can be a reliable backup for another year or two. JC could blossom but he could also continue to be frustrating as hell and keep overthrowing ninjas...which leads us to
WR - sure I could and probably should talk about RBs before WRs but if you want to go down that path of criticism, just tell me to keep it real and talk about the OL and DL first.
The bottom line is the Redskins have a #2 receiver playing #1 and a #3 receiver playing #2. That's Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El. They are each 5'9'' or below. Reche Caldwell, James Thrash, Keenan McCardell, have played well this year but none are long term options.
You see what I'm trying to say is, we need to upgrade at receiver. I was a little curious why the Redskins were considering selling the farm to move up and draft Calvin Johnson last year and now I see why. He's 6'4'' to start. So I expect to see the Skins address this need in the draft's first few rounds.
RB - Clinton Portis is a decent RB, but he frustrates me. And he gets hurt easily. Not sure why Ladell Betts and Rock Cartwright didn't get more carries this year. Mike Sellers at FB isn't the long term option. He can block, but he stays coming up short than a mofo in short yardage situations - the ones he lobbied to get involved with.
OL - The injuires makes it hard to determine if a draft pick should be used on the line or not. I'd tend to say no. Outside of Patrick Kerney DESTROYING undrafted rookie Stephen Heyer in the playoff game, the backups held up. Heyer is young and may develop further with instruction and maturity. Jon Jansen and Todd Wade aren't that old. Randy Thomas will be back at RG. So if u have backups holding up fairly well as starters (Minnesota has beasts on the DL and we ran over them like it wasn't nothing) and you get your true starters back, that's called "depth". Woo hoo! Also trade bait.
TE - Chris Cooley is a ProBowler. Yoder is cool as a backup.
K - Suisham missed a momentum changing kick against Seattle. That's not the first choke whiff he's had this season but he's not a bad kicker. No draft pick needed. Signing someone decent to compete in training camp though.
P - Derrick Frost is an OK punter. Same as Suisham. Let him compete in camp.
DL - The defensive line needs upgrading. Other teams can get a rush at the QB with 4 down linemen occasionally. Early in the season I saw some of that out of the Skins but not late when it counted and definitely not against Seattle. Watching Kerney slam Todd Collins to the Seattle turf the entire 1st half convinced me, and hopefully the team, that DL is what needs to be upgraded before WR or DB. Not to say the young guys at DT suck or Andre Carter is a bum, but the other DE spot needs to be addressed and word is, Albert Haynesworth is a free agent. That being said, the Skins are 20 Million OVER THE CAP. They always convert roster bonuses to signing bonuses, but that doesn't mean they'll have enough to go after the head stomping All-world DT. I'd like to see a presence up the middle though. So the first two rounds of the draft, one's gonna be DL
CB - The Rogers, Springs, Smoot, Torrence, Macklin, crew is ok for a 5-deep at CB. Now, Rogers got hurt seriously and Smoot has a big contract. So...we'll be needing some top level corners. Rogers will not have his explosiveness and agility back until at least 09 and maybe never. I'd be ok with a 1st round pick, IF and only if there was so much talent at DL that we knew with the 51st pick in the 2nd round we could get someone good...like how they got McIntosh in the 2nd round when there were a ton of linebackers in his draft. Is CB a bigger need than WR? Not sure
S - Sean Taylor cannot be replaced easily. There is no player as good as Taylor, the 5th overall pick, at the Safety position in this draft. I really hope they don't draft Kenny Phillips, the top rated Safetey, who happens to be from the University of Miami like Taylor (and Portis, Moss, McIntosh). That's too much pressure on the young man and not fair. Plus he's not nearly as good. I'm ok with Reed Doughty for now but we might need to sign Mike Doss or someone with experience. A 4th round pick would be ok with me
LB - We've had some injuries at the lineback position this year. McIntosh and Washington, two starters, missed significant time. The backups played more than fine. But LB is one of those positions where you kind of keep bringing in talent. If Gregg Williams sticks around, it'll be good to get more bodies for him to rotate in. Not a top draft need unless someone falls mysteriously (like Laurinitis gets busted for weed a week before the draft)
The 2008 NFL Draft
I believe the Skins priorities for drafting should look like this
1. DE
2. DT
3. WR
4. CB
5. S
6. LB
7. OL
The top 3 or 4 needs are so close, I'm ok with the Redskins using their first two picks on the best players available at the time they draft, provided they are in those categories - DE, DT, WR and CB.
Players I'd like to see the Redskins draft (and think might be available)
1. CB Aqib Talib, Kansas. He's 6'2'', can CATCH (carlos rogers beware), can run back kicks, and highly skilled. Mock drafts show him available at 20. I highly doubt this will last. But that's where they are at now. I know the Skins would be in a position to draft a big time DE with the 20th pick because there are some good options, but this draft is deep at DE so one of them will be there at 51 as well. That's my belief. Thus, if Talib is there, take him
2. WR Malcolm Kelly, Oklahoma - Big, good hands. 6'4''. Smooth. Can Freestyle rap. (click to watch).
3. DE Calais Campbell, Miami or Gholston, Ohio State - DE with stats and ability. Campbell is like 6'7''.
Its important to note the Skins traded their 3rd round pick (I think) to the Jets to get Pete Kendall at LG. Which was necessary since they let Derrick Dockery go and trying to get Todd Wade to play LG nearly got Jason Campbell killed in preseason. So that may affect draft orders, and necessitate the DE pick going first. Gotta address needs (no! you take the best player available! LaRon Landry worked out. Needs we'dve had Amobe Okoye, who is fine but I love Landry.)
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