T.J. Duckett Conspiracy

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by Oakland Red

It seems like everything is judged pretty much based on what happened last Sunday by a lot of people. Things go bad, you have to trash the quarterback. Or if he has some cache built up, trash the coaches, or the player acquistion strategy. Unless you win, then it's all cool. A roller coaster is fun once in awhile, but it's tough to live on one.

Teams can be at different stages in my view - stages in their readiness to make a Super Bowl run. The Redskins have a lot of the ingredients ready and almost baked to make a Super Bowl run. So the focus has not been on the draft but on adding the veterans we need to finish the puzzle.

The confusion I think exists about all this is conflating the years Snyder was running the team without Gibbs with the years since Gibbs has arrived. These are two different eras in my view. Snyder of course wanted to get all the flashy names like Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith and LaVar Arrington. He wanted to release players without the head coach knowing, so that the head coach would find out from players in team meetings that someone was cut. He wanted to come into the locker room after games, close the door and give the head coach a humiliating tongue lashing.

All those terrible years are gone, and Gibbs arrived, and he has been making the best of the situation, bringing order, developing the team that he inherited, taking the best of who was already here, and figuring on the best strategy to go from that point.

To my mind, we have been getting better overall every year since he arrived. Things are moving along well in the big picture. Mistakes have been made, and right now releasing Walt Harris could be one of the biggest ones. It seems like this year is not the year for us to make the Super Bowl run, but hopefully we will get the engines running very well before the season is out.

And the fact is that even in this much maligned season, we have already had some special moments, particularly against the Jaguars.

"Patience is the only strength that a man needs."

Nice post. I think what people tend to forget is that Gibbs didn't win the Super Bowl every year. We tend to look back on his first tenure and think only of the 3 rings. But I mean he was the coach for 12 years so there were "lean years" (relatively speaking). He built winners over time. I understand the expectations are deservedly high this year, but not every game is going to be a resounding victory. It wasn't even like that the first time around.

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Originally Posted by Oakland Red

To my mind, we have been getting better overall every year since he arrived.

I agree. However, this season we are not as good as we were the 2nd half of last season ... we could be moving backwards a tad.

[redsk1]

Originally Posted by Oakland Red

It seems like everything is judged pretty much based on what happened last Sunday by a lot of people. Things go bad, you have to trash the quarterback. Or if he has some cache built up, trash the coaches, or the player acquistion strategy. Unless you win, then it's all cool. A roller coaster is fun once in awhile, but it's tough to live on one.

Teams can be at different stages in my view - stages in their readiness to make a Super Bowl run. The Redskins have a lot of the ingredients ready and almost baked to make a Super Bowl run. So the focus has not been on the draft but on adding the veterans we need to finish the puzzle.

The confusion I think exists about all this is conflating the years Snyder was running the team without Gibbs with the years since Gibbs has arrived. These are two different eras in my view. Snyder of course wanted to get all the flashy names like Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith and LaVar Arrington. He wanted to release players without the head coach knowing, so that the head coach would find out from players in team meetings that someone was cut. He wanted to come into the locker room after games, close the door and give the head coach a humiliating tongue lashing.

All those terrible years are gone, and Gibbs arrived, and he has been making the best of the situation, bringing order, developing the team that he inherited, taking the best of who was already here, and figuring on the best strategy to go from that point.

To my mind, we have been getting better overall every year since he arrived. Things are moving along well in the big picture. Mistakes have been made, and right now releasing Walt Harris could be one of the biggest ones. It seems like this year is not the year for us to make the Super Bowl run, but hopefully we will get the engines running very well before the season is out.

And the fact is that even in this much maligned season, we have already had some special moments, particularly against the Jaguars.

"Patience is the only strength that a man needs."

I see where you are coming from and do see alot of that going on but...

I try not to put too much into one game, so I try to look at trends and improvement. We started the year w/ SB hopes. I think every fan and player will admit that. We are 5 games into the season and to be so inconsistent its frustrating. Every team is going to have a bad day or two, that's expected. To have 2-3 bad games out of 5 tells alot SO FAR, about this team. Can they turn it around, sure. But they really haven't done much this season to warrant us to think they can.

So yeah after a loss, it seems like alot of people want to change the whole team around, but looking at trends i think we can draw some conclusions so far:

Good teams battle good teams on the road, we've folded
Portis is a top 5 back
We have offensive talent

[redsk1]

Originally Posted by redsk1

I see where you are coming from and do see alot of that going on but...

I try not to put too much into one game, so I try to look at trends and improvement. We started the year w/ SB hopes. I think every fan and player will admit that. We are 5 games into the season and to be so inconsistent its frustrating. Every team is going to have a bad day or two, that's expected. To have 2-3 bad games out of 5 tells alot SO FAR, about this team. Can they turn it around, sure. But they really haven't done much this season to warrant us to think they can.

So yeah after a loss, it seems like alot of people want to change the whole team around, but looking at trends i think we can draw some conclusions so far:

Good teams battle good teams on the road, we've folded
Portis is a top 5 back
We have offensive talent

Our defensive additions aren't helping yet
We need secondary help or SS back
Without a Ravens-like defense we need our QB to make some plays

[Rexi]

Originally Posted by Oakland Red

Mistakes have been made, and right now releasing Walt Harris could be one of the biggest ones.

To my surprise Walt has been good at #2 Corner. I really didn't think the move was that great in the offseason but Harris has been the MVP of our mostly trash defense.

[BrunellMVP?]

i can respect your theory that we are living in a "what have you done for me recently" type world...but couldn't the same be said for you guys, and your support of brunell? i mean, sure he did well (tossing the short balls) against houston and jacksonville but the overall trend is that he can't beat you down field...his receivers may be able to, but he can't. when was the last time we had several sucessful LONG BOMBS? not 10 yard slants or screens that went for big plays...(not dimishing the value of these plays)??? the fact is he hasn't tossed big bombs, when it counts, in a LONG LONG time...
i wouldn't argue that long throws make the QB, but i woudl argue that you can't enjoy sustained sucess without it...what is mcnabb doing these days? manning? any of the other elite qbs?

[Chief X_Phackter]

Originally Posted by BrunellMVP?

i can respect your theory that we are living in a "what have you done for me recently" type world...but couldn't the same be said for you guys, and your support of brunell? i mean, sure he did well (tossing the short balls) against houston and jacksonville but the overall trend is that he can't beat you down field...his receivers may be able to, but he can't. when was the last time we had several sucessful LONG BOMBS? not 10 yard slants or screens that went for big plays...(not dimishing the value of these plays)??? the fact is he hasn't tossed big bombs, when it counts, in a LONG LONG time...
i wouldn't argue that long throws make the QB, but i woudl argue that you can't enjoy sustained sucess without it...what is mcnabb doing these days? manning? any of the other elite qbs?

As a quarterback with smaller receivers, you can't just throw the ball up for grabs. Those guys have to get open, create separation. They haven't been able to do that for the most part yet.

[EternalEnigma21]

I like the Duckett move, but I agree with Mr. Slab Hurta about not using him yet... Not sure if the blocking schemes are that much different here than in Atl, but if all you gotta do is see a hole and hit it full force, we should be using the guy. Just like Bettis last year for the Steelers, and he wound up getting alot more of the workload, as I think duckett would.

Can you imagine him running behind Dock and Thomas and Sellers... cutting to the edge and getting blocks on backers? Who in the secondary is going to bring this guy down one on one?

[BrunellMVP?]

not playing TJ on short yardage situations proves yet again that the Redskins are one of the worst run teams in the league...who but us gives away draft picks for people with no market value or that we don't plan to use? Gibbs needs to understand that the days of stockpiling talent on the roster are gone...moreover, we need TJ...the man gets the tough yards...Riggs anyone??

[Longtimefan]

Originally Posted by BrunellMVP?

not playing TJ on short yardage situations proves yet again that the Redskins are one of the worst run teams in the league...who but us gives away draft picks for people with no market value or that we don't plan to use? Gibbs needs to understand that the days of stockpiling talent on the roster are gone...moreover, we need TJ...the man gets the tough yards...Riggs anyone??

Listening to the Redskins report last weekend Sonny Jurgensen made mention of the fact the Redskins signed Duckett to keep Philadelphia from getting him because it was believed they had some interest. I would not say Duckett has no market value, he would draw some interest on the market. The whole Duckett ordeal has been a complete mystery to me.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I made sure I didn't read a lot after our loss. It's the same thing each time.

[JWsleep]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

I made sure I didn't read a lot after our loss. It's the same thing each time.

lol..Good point, but...

Portis was hurt (and still may not last the season). Betts had shots in the Minn and Dallas games and didn't show much (though the o-line wasn't doing much, so it's hard to say). But Betts has been hurt a lot. He doesn't look to be durable enough to be an every down, 16 game back. The skins were facing the prospect of losing their run attack, so they made a move. So I think the move was sound. Duckett is a good player.

As for not using him, that's another story. He can't be WORSE than the other backs at thrid and short. If he's active, put him in! (Bet we'll see him soon--probably this week, IMO.)

[RiggoRules]

I think TJ for a 3rd rounder was a steal. We have needed a bruising, between the tackles and short yardage back for a while. But I don't get why we aren't using him.

As far as the 4th and 1 against the Giants, where we should have used him was on the 3rd and 1.

[redsk1]

Originally Posted by RiggoRules

I think TJ for a 3rd rounder was a steal. We have needed a bruising, between the tackles and short yardage back for a while. But I don't get why we aren't using him.

As far as the 4th and 1 against the Giants, where we should have used him was on the 3rd and 1.

I disagree. I like Duckett but a 3rd rounder is a steep price for an insurance policy. Right now given the choice i would go w/ portis on short yardage as opposed to anyone else.

[Chief X_Phackter]

Originally Posted by RiggoRules

I think TJ for a 3rd rounder was a steal. We have needed a bruising, between the tackles and short yardage back for a while. But I don't get why we aren't using him.

As far as the 4th and 1 against the Giants, where we should have used him was on the 3rd and 1.

I agree with you 100%. But, here is what Joe Bugel had to say about it:


"[In last Sunday's game against the Giants], we told our offensive football team before the game that we were going to throw the ball on our first 3rd-and-1 play because we were 100 percent run on 3rd-and-1 going into the game. They accepted that, and our first 3rd-and-1 play was in the third quarter.

"It turned out to be a big play because we didn't make it. It was a short pass to Chris Cooley. I'll tell you what, [the Giants] must have heard the play in the huddle because they played that pass really well.
"As coaches, you can't second-guess that call. You can't what-if it. Our players didn't second-guess it, either. I think, when you ask offensive linemen, they always want to run on 3rd-and-1. We told them we were going to take a shot on this pass play on 3rd-and-1, and we didn't make it. So be it.

Personally I think that is ridiculous to make that decision before the game. In my opinion you have to see how the flow of the game is going, how successful have we been running so far, etc. Dumb dumb dumb. I mean I can see scripting the first series of the game or whatever, but to make the decision to pass on the first 3rd and 1 before the game even starts is ridiculous.