At the halfway point.
 

Ok folks we are 4-4 and currently tied for 2nd (we did beat the Eagles) in the East. We have had quite a bit of drama in the first 8 games. Haynesworth has really impressed me over the last 2-3 games. For everyone who is worried about Donovan, I say calm down. This staff wouldn't have traded for him if they didn't like the guy. I personally think he still has 2-3 years in the tank. I like this teams direction going into the future, yea we have been very inconsisitent but we are competitive and are no longer a laughing stock.


My Midway point MVP on Offense: Santana Moss, what more can you say about this guy? He's on pace to catch 100 balls (48 after 8 games). Moss has been our number 1 for many years now and he is always putting up good numbers. This year the guy has a QB that can move around and make plays, he also has a Coaching staff that moves him around alot and gets him oppurtunities to succeed. I love his work ethic and passion to win. He's getting older but obviouslly hasn't lost much of a step.

Runner up: Trent Williams


Midway Point MVP on Defense: Laron Landry. This guy came to play this season! Landry is playing great football so far and has been the best Safety in the NFC through 8 games. Leads the team in tackles with 76, has 1 FF, 1 INT and 1 Sck. I know he's not the greatest in pass coverage but this guy has become a beast in one offseason. Honestly outside of Troy Polamalu, Landry could be playing at the higest level of any Safety in the entire league, that says alot. I look forward to watching this guy become a pro bowler this season and really become a star player.

Runner up: Deangelo Hall

Agree? Disagree?

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Agree. I love watching dirty30!!!! D-Hall a very close third.

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I would not take Hall over Orakpo, Fletcher, or even Rogers, however, he's been more valuable than not valuable.

Landry is a good pick for defensive MVP. Anthony Armstrong and Santana Moss are both good picks on offense, because their blocking has been a big key to our successes in the running game. Cooley's blocking has been fantastic as well, but his receiving is clearly a case of a down year.

I think Torain has been more bad than good (though plenty of both), so why not Santana Moss for 1/2 season offensive MVP? Heyer has been our most consistent lineman, and he's not even a starter, so that's probably not an option.

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Graham Gano is my offensive MVP pick, as kickoffs have been our best offensive play.

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Brandon Banks and Lorenzo Alexander. Banks makes the field shorter for our offense and Alexander is so versatile on defense it allows Haslett to be creative

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Yeah, if Alexander played more defense, he'd be my defensive MVP. I went with some every down players over the best guy per play.

Alexander is probably going to make the pro bowl as a special teamer, so you could argue based on that and his defensive contributions that he should be our team MVP.

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It shows the team does have talent, now it's just getting them to gel all at once

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[quote=SmootSmack;755566]Brandon Banks and Lorenzo Alexander. Banks makes the field shorter for our offense and Alexander is so versatile on defense it allows Haslett to be creative[/quote]
LA gets left out of these conversations because he does little bit of everything. Also Fletcher is right behind LL with just a few less tackles. We still have a long way to go because if we where not a plus in turn overs we would have maybe only two wins. Our O and D are both ranked around the bottom.

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Lorenzo Alexander is our unsung hero, because he stabilized our play at outside linebacker and he's a special teams standout. That said, Landry is overall team MVP in my opinion. He brings an intimidation factor that we haven't had on our D since Sean Taylor was blowing up opposing receivers.

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I am totally glad it's the bye week. I need to get my mind refreshed, away from the constant drama of the Redskins and this board. You'd think we were the winless Bills looking for a qb solution by bringing in a fat, unmotivated, lazy ass JaMarcus Russell by the way this board reacted.

In between the unneeded drama of McNabb being benched (Seriously it was a mistake. Shit happens. He's our qb for the rest of the year, and there's no qb controversy to speak of because everybody knows McNabb is our #1), losing to the Lions, this supposed distrust the Shannies have of McNabb, and now bringing in JaMarcus Russell for a workout, it's practically exploded the collective heads of Redskins Nation and made everybody think we're so far up there in disarray that the Cowboys have less problems than we do.

I need a break. This bye week came at the perfect time. I'll leave you guys with these last words. We're 4-4. Just remember that. Not 3-5, 2-6, 1-7, or 0-8. Believe it or not, we're not even mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet. We're still in the thick of it actually, but you wouldn't know that by reading the posts around here.

See you guys after the bye week.

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This Eagles game in a couple weeks is crazy huge.

A win puts us back over .500 at 5-4,but it also gives us a 3-0 division record and a sweep over philly.

It would be nice to get a little help from teams winning VA packers and bears...Bucs,Saints or falcons and the west to keep beating up on each other.

it's going to be hard enough to get a Playoff spot at 9-7,let alone win the division.

The Redskins need to go a little run,if we are to have a shot at making the playoffs.

Cause even if we somehow win against an eagles team..we come right back on the road and play a VERY good Tennessee Titans team that has beat all other 3 NFC east opponents.

A win against them on the road would be big!

We need a run of wins...

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Midway through the season I'm pretty happy, but not impressed. Even talking to other division fans, they are saying a few good things about us. We all can agree that we aren't far from being a dominant team in the NFL. We just need some more time, and no more coaching scheme changes over the next two years. 8-8 this year, and I'll settle. Wining season next year, and Super Bowl Champs the next. Keep building through the draft, and moving forward.
The team and I need this bye week. I have no fingernails left and my stress level needs to come down.

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WE ARE WHO WE THOUGHT WE WERE going to be...

Maybe [I]different[/I] wins and losses than anticipated, but the record probably represents exactly where this team is at this point. Got to take advantage of this bye week and fix what they can with the personnel we have and hope for the best. Definitely see progress and I'm pleased with that.

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I dont think the O has played especially well yet this team is 4-4 and still in it. If they can work some things out over the bye and get the O clicking a bit better maybe they can go on a bit of a run and get to 9-7. At that point who knows maybe they can squeak into the playoffs and once you get into the playoffs anything can happen, just ask the Cards.

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[quote=irish;755718]I dont think the O has played especially well yet this team is 4-4 and still in it. If they can work some things out over the bye and get the O clicking a bit better maybe they can go on a bit of a run and get to 9-7. At that point who knows maybe they can squeak into the playoffs and once you get into the playoffs anything can happen, just ask the Cards.[/quote]

Irish...............you've changed
This....optimism thing is really messing with my mind, man.
HTTR

Re: At the halfway point.
 

[quote=irish;755718]I dont think the O has played especially well yet this team is 4-4 and still in it. If they can work some things out over the bye and get the O clicking a bit better maybe they can go on a bit of a run and get to 9-7. At that point who knows maybe they can squeak into the playoffs and once you get into the playoffs anything can happen, just ask the Cards.[/quote]

Yeah I would have to agree. I think we are very fortunate to be 4-4 right now. Our offense has not been hitting on much at all, but still worlds better than last year (shows you how bad our offense was last year!)

I would say if this team goes 8-8 this year, then were twice as good as we were last year and it shows progress. I'm still hoping for at least 10 wins of course.

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[quote=skinsguy;755755]Yeah I would have to agree. I think we are very fortunate to be 4-4 right now. Our offense has not been hitting on much at all, but still worlds better than last year (shows you how bad our offense was last year!)

I would say if this team goes 8-8 this year, then were twice as good as we were last year and it shows progress. I'm still hoping for at least 10 wins of course.[/quote]

10 would be nice but I think thats a bit of a stretch. I do think 9 wins is realistic as they only have to go 5-3 over the last 8.

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[quote=irish;755761]10 would be nice but I think thats a bit of a stretch. I do think 9 wins is realistic as they only have to go 5-3 over the last 8.[/quote]

Yes, realistically, 7 to 9 wins. I just hope this McNabb stuff doesn't make us implode.

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We are in a much better situation than we were last year. No more Vinny and no more Zorn.

We've got a legit front office and a legit coach. Even though he's made some strange decisions lately.

4-4 w/ our roster. I'll take it. More importantly, we're going to get better.

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I just really think we will see improvements on offense when our OL starts improving their pass protection. I'm wondering how much better the front would have been if Mike Williams wasn't lost for the season and Trent Williams hadn't gotten hurt and missed time?

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Individual kudos so far: Banks, Landry, Hall, Orakpo, Alexander, Williams, Torain, Moss, Armstrong, Fletcher, Cooley, Haynesworth (last 3 games)

7-9 wins is realistic, I'm still holding out hope for 10 wins but going 6-2 the rest of the way looks like a tall task considering how inconsistent we seem to be.

- Getting Portis back will be huge for 3rd down pass pro.

- Hopefully Torain's hammy is a non-issue the rest of the way.

- Hoping the bye helps Trent get healed up, he just hasn't been the same the last few games since he's been dinged up.

- The obvious: Now that some dirty laundry has been aired out, McNabb and the Shanahans need to get on the same page. I fully expect they will since they all know what's at stake. This marriage can still work out if they want it to. A solid performance by #5 and a win over Philly will go a long way in healing things up.

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If we come out and beat Philly on MNF, everything will be back to normal.

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[quote=aceinthehouse;755692]This Eagles game in a couple weeks is crazy huge.

A win puts us back over .500 at 5-4,but it also gives us a 3-0 division record and a sweep over philly.

It would be nice to get a little help from teams winning VA packers and bears...Bucs,Saints or falcons and the west to keep beating up on each other.

it's going to be hard enough to get a Playoff spot at 9-7,let alone win the division.

The Redskins need to go a little run,if we are to have a shot at making the playoffs.

Cause even if we somehow win against an eagles team..we come right back on the road and play a VERY good Tennessee Titans team that has beat all other 3 NFC east opponents.

A win against them on the road would be big!

We need a run of wins...[/quote]

Hoping for a win there and we better DESTROY Dallas. We better not play down to them.

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I would say Orakpo has to be up there for defensive MVP. I know Landry has been hitting people harder and Hall has been picking off everything recently but not only does Orakpo lead the team in sacks but think of all the holding penalties he generates!

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we are 4-4..still in the hunt..can competative every game...EXCEPT the two games against teams that had one only one game. This is what i take from the 1st half.

We are competative against good teams and have let downs against teams that we should beat. Rams, Lions again this year. I dont know if it is a curse or what, but this is a year after year montra of the Redskins. I guess a bright side to this is our D is about dead last and we are still 4-4. Thank goodness for the turnovers, and either our very good redzone D, or the fact that the other teams redzone offense isn't very good. I like where we are going. McNabb has to be better. Our o-line has to better, just a little better for christ sakes. They are horrible. I really thought with the draft of Williams, the pick up of Brown that we would be better. Not sold on the benching of Dockery yet because the other dude looks to be getting blown up every other week. our interior line was getting absolutely destroyed against the lions.

Moss may be having a good year, but i think there is more to that. McNabb had a few games where he threw the ball 30-40 times. Moss is the only receiver worth a damn on the roster. And I am not a big fan of him being a #1 Receiver anyway. i think he would be a great #2. We just can't ever get anyone open on a consistant basis.

Defensively - like i said thank god for the turnovers. Hall namely has won two games for us with the pick 6 and the fumble return. Turnovers are great, but we aren't doing anything with them. Landry is a monster. I like the 3-4, but we have to do something to get better against the run. Anyone with a patient offensive coordinator will put up 200 yards rushing against us.

I am not trying to be negative nelly, I am happy with the 4-4 record midway. I just think of the possibilities if we can just put some points on the damn board consistantly. And stop playing down to lesser teams. No way we should have gotten beat by the rams (rookie QB) and the lions.

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[quote=Buster;755878]Hoping for a win there and we better DESTROY Dallas. We better not play down to them.[/quote]It's really difficult to project what Dallas is going to look like when we see them again. We don't know who their QB will be, we don't know whether they will be playing great defense or poor defense, and we don't know if they will have an injury-riddled OL or a finally-healthy OL.

All we know about Dallas later on is that they will have those backs and they will have those receivers. That's it.

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We're about what I expected, if not better. I was thinking 7 or 8 wins before the season started.

The McNabb benching aside, I feel good about this bye week compared to the past couple seasons when it was like praying that somehow the team would come back better. With Shanny I at least feel like if there are changes he feels need to be made, he'll make them. We may see some slight changes, personell & scheme on 11/15.