The Offense Was Too Conservative

[LadyT]

The offense has been the weak link in this team for 2 years now. The last two games were truly awful, from an offensive standpoint. Our "D" is a championship calibre defense and was the same last year. It's sad to see them play so well, game in and game out, only to be undone by an offense that sometimes shows up and many times does not.

Would love to see another competition at QB at training camp next summer, but my guess is that Gibbs will stick with his man. Brunell played well (even great) for spurts this season, but he has been awful these last few games. The O's poor play and total inability to even move the ball is why our season ended tonight. Bottom line is - Brunell will never take us to a championship.

We also need to upgrade our kicking game. A new punter is needed and John Hall just cannot kick off worth a d*** anymore. On a regular basis, our opponents were starting from the 30 yard line and even more, mostly due to his poor kickoffs. A good kicking game is crucial for the Skins to improve.

Having said all that, this was still a season to be proud of. I, for one, believed they were through when they were 5-6, but they fought back with a lot of guts. Makes you wonder how far we can go if we can only get a higher level of play from our QB?

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by LadyT

The offense has been the weak link in this team for 2 years now. The last two games were truly awful, from an offensive standpoint. Our "D" is a championship calibre defense and was the same last year. It's sad to see them play so well, game in and game out, only to be undone by an offense that sometimes shows up and many times does not.

Would love to see another competition at QB at training camp next summer, but my guess is that Gibbs will stick with his man. Brunell played well (even great) for spurts this season, but he has been awful these last few games. The O's poor play and total inability to even move the ball is why our season ended tonight. Bottom line is - Brunell will never take us to a championship.

We also need to upgrade our kicking game. A new punter is needed and John Hall just cannot kick off worth a d*** anymore. On a regular basis, our opponents were starting from the 30 yard line and even more, mostly due to his poor kickoffs. A good kicking game is crucial for the Skins to improve.

Having said all that, this was still a season to be proud of. I, for one, believed they were through when they were 5-6, but they fought back with a lot of guts. Makes you wonder how far we can go if we can only get a higher level of play from our QB?

Not to kiss your butt too much, but I love how much thought you put into your posts. They are always so well written.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by LadyT

The offense has been the weak link in this team for 2 years now. The last two games were truly awful, from an offensive standpoint. Our "D" is a championship calibre defense and was the same last year. It's sad to see them play so well, game in and game out, only to be undone by an offense that sometimes shows up and many times does not.

Would love to see another competition at QB at training camp next summer, but my guess is that Gibbs will stick with his man. Brunell played well (even great) for spurts this season, but he has been awful these last few games. The O's poor play and total inability to even move the ball is why our season ended tonight. Bottom line is - Brunell will never take us to a championship.

We also need to upgrade our kicking game. A new punter is needed and John Hall just cannot kick off worth a d*** anymore. On a regular basis, our opponents were starting from the 30 yard line and even more, mostly due to his poor kickoffs. A good kicking game is crucial for the Skins to improve.

Having said all that, this was still a season to be proud of. I, for one, believed they were through when they were 5-6, but they fought back with a lot of guts. Makes you wonder how far we can go if we can only get a higher level of play from our QB?

I guess I don't understand why we're calling for heads to roll when we closed out the regular season with the #12-ranked offense in the league, a 3000 yard passer, a 1500 yard rusher, the #2-ranked WR in the league, and two H-Backs with 7 TD's each. Not to mention breaking several team offensive records.

Two underwhelming showings in the playoffs from a fatigued and gimpy team don't make me question the offense, they make me question our depth.

Totally agree on Hall and the kicking game though. Frost was pretty decent today but has not been terribly reliable this year.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by dgack

I guess I don't understand why we're calling for heads to roll when we closed out the regular season with the #12-ranked offense in the league, a 3000 yard passer, a 1500 yard rusher, the #2-ranked WR in the league, and two H-Backs with 7 TD's each. Not to mention breaking several team offensive records.

Two underwhelming showings in the playoffs from a fatigued and gimpy team don't make me question the offense, they make me question our depth.

Totally agree on Hall and the kicking game though. Frost was pretty decent today but has not been terribly reliable this year.

All I am saying is that while everything you sad is all well and good I think that's as good as it can be for us. That's the ceiling. Can't be any better. Not saying they didn't make vast improvements this year and have some real good moments but I can't see this becoming a standout offense on a consistent basis with MB as QB. Just can't. We need to take another equal size step next year with this offense as we did this year but, to me, it is clearly not going to happen unless somehow Brunell gets even better than he got this year. What the answer is don't know but I think Gibbs is the coach who'll figure it out.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

All I am saying is that while everything you sad is all well and good I think that's as good as it can be for us. That's the ceiling. Can't be any better. Not saying they didn't make vast improvements this year and have some real good moments but I can't see this becoming a standout offense on a consistent basis with MB as QB. Just can't. We need to take another equal size step next year with this offense as we did this year but, to me, it is clearly not going to happen unless somehow Brunell gets even better than he got this year. What the answer is don't know but I think Gibbs is the coach who'll figure it out.

The problem with Brunell is he just can't take the abuse of a 16 game NFL season to begin with, and when you add playoffs you're talking about 19-20 games to win the whole thing. He ain't getting any younger, either. Max protect schemes kept him fresh for a lot of the season but all it takes is one shot and a guy like that becomes questionable.

He can say he's 100%, but we all know he isn't. That said, I think Brunell is serviceable, and good enough to win it all with the right pieces in place elsewhere. There are a lot of worse QB situations to be in, for sure.

The problem as I see it is the lack of a legitimate WR2. We need a slippery, surehanded threat to keep the secondary honest because Moss can't do it all by himself, and Cooley's been drawing doubleteams lately and he's just not going to be able to be productive like that.

[FirstandTen]

Originally Posted by dgack

The problem with Brunell is he just can't take the abuse of a 16 game NFL season to begin with, and when you add playoffs you're talking about 19-20 games to win the whole thing. He ain't getting any younger, either. Max protect schemes kept him fresh for a lot of the season but all it takes is one shot and a guy like that becomes questionable.

He can say he's 100%, but we all know he isn't. That said, I think Brunell is serviceable, and good enough to win it all with the right pieces in place elsewhere. There are a lot of worse QB situations to be in, for sure.

The problem as I see it is the lack of a legitimate WR2. We need a slippery, surehanded threat to keep the secondary honest because Moss can't do it all by himself, and Cooley's been drawing doubleteams lately and he's just not going to be able to be productive like that.

I agree 100%

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by dgack

The problem with Brunell is he just can't take the abuse of a 16 game NFL season to begin with, and when you add playoffs you're talking about 19-20 games to win the whole thing. He ain't getting any younger, either. Max protect schemes kept him fresh for a lot of the season but all it takes is one shot and a guy like that becomes questionable.

He can say he's 100%, but we all know he isn't. That said, I think Brunell is serviceable, and good enough to win it all with the right pieces in place elsewhere. There are a lot of worse QB situations to be in, for sure.

The problem as I see it is the lack of a legitimate WR2. We need a slippery, surehanded threat to keep the secondary honest because Moss can't do it all by himself, and Cooley's been drawing doubleteams lately and he's just not going to be able to be productive like that.

To me you are almost right. The coment about his durability is spot on. But having a QB that REQUIRES max protect simply kills the offense too consistently. I am so tired of one god damn WR sets that it isn't funny(in these your theoretical quality WR2 isn't even in the game). You cannot consistently pass in this league with one WR good WR downfield. Hell it's hard enough with two You just can't.

I agree that given "great" protection we can win with Brunell consistently but I think by "great" I mean the best in the league by far simply using our 5 o-linemen. But I think getting to that level is going to be harder than upgrading the QB spot. Notice I didn't say fix. I don't think it is broke. I think we need to upgrade I think we have a working '98 Honda when we need a '03 BMW. You know a car you can rely on to get you relatively safely from one place to another with no frills versus a car that will get you safely one place to another with some style. I love Brunell for what he is. A good manager QB. I think he does a lot of the things QBs needs to do as good as anyone in the league. Decision making primarily. But there are some things he simply cannot be expected to do and it kills our offense in general because it shuts out part of the playbook I think. I sure would rather have this situation than a lot of others but I'd rather have no situation at all. That's what we need to work towards.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by dgack

I guess I don't understand why we're calling for heads to roll when we closed out the regular season with the #12-ranked offense in the league, a 3000 yard passer, a 1500 yard rusher, the #2-ranked WR in the league, and two H-Backs with 7 TD's each. Not to mention breaking several team offensive records.

Two underwhelming showings in the playoffs from a fatigued and gimpy team don't make me question the offense, they make me question our depth.

Totally agree on Hall and the kicking game though. Frost was pretty decent today but has not been terribly reliable this year.

Who's calling for heads to roll?