Quote:
Originally Posted by SmootSmack
Well if we beat teams like Buffalo and the Eagles when they were 1-4 (or whatever) maybe we're atop the division at 9-7 and in the playoffs. But what's done is done.
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This about sums up how a lot of us are feeling and why Shanahan said at the end of the season that we are close.
The New York Giants are Off to the Super Bowl, So What Does That Say About the Redskins? | Redskins 101
If you want to be a smart ass about it it simply means that the Redskins beat the NFC Champions twice (last season they beat the Green Bay Packers as well), but I think it means a little more than that.
This wasn't like last season where the Redskins beat the Packers early on before the Aaron Rodgers machine was up and running at full capacity. No the Redskins beat the Giants twice, decisively.
In the greater scheme of things it makes Rex Grossman's start of the season prediction of the Redskins winning the NFC East seem like it could have been true with a bounce here and a call there.
Don't get me wrong 5-11 is a terrible record and in all honesty I shouldn't even be considering this a possibility but the Redskins were not as bad as their record. The team's two quarterbacks maybe, but not the entire team.
If you compare the Giants and the Redskins you'll see strikingly similar teams. Both have excellent defenses that keep teams out of the endzone and could force timely turnovers to give their respective offenses a chance late in games.
They both have an excellent tandem of running backs who compliment each other very well. The Giants have the edge at wide receiver (but just barely) and the Redskins have the edge at tight end.
So where is the different between the 9-7 Giants who won the division and the 5-11 Redskins who swept the Giants?
Surprise, surprise it's at quite possibly the more important position on the field, the quarterback.
The Giants have Eli Manning who at times can look a little Rex-ish but can also mimic his older brother in clutch situations . And then you have the Redskins who have Rex Grossman and John Beck.
I've been saying this for the past six or seven seasons now, "if the Redskins have had an honest to god franchise quarterback they'd be a threat in the NFC."
That isn't to say they'd be Super Bowl bound, but I think the Giants have proven (twice now) that all you need to do is get into the playoffs and anything can happen.