Must-Read Article on GW and the Defense

[dall-assblows]

maybe AA struggles are b/c of the safties coaches too. i wish they would just let ST free lance. he has the best football instincts on the team, if not the nfl, ala the blocked fildgoal return to field goal position.

let the kid play his game!

[Oakland Red]

An article like this coming out is bound to have a huge impact on the psychology of the team I would think. Thank goodness for Adam Archuleta, (or whoever gave his perspective to Tom Friend of ESPN). Hey, Arch, you may have earned some of your salary with this. Change is needed, and it takes people to make their views known.

This is going to be a turning point for the Redskins. If Joe Gibbs were not here to lead, I think we would be at the point where things could disintegrate badly. However, Coach Gibbs I think is really going to have a challenge ahead.

Some questions:

Will the players start to let their feelings come more to the surface?

Will there be pro- and anti- Williams factions?

Will Williams actually read the situation, realize how dire things are, and take steps to listen to the players and change his stripes? I think that is not likely, but people can change. Or will he dig in and polarize? Or pretend all is well?

Will the team respond to Coach Gibbs' exhortation to play smashmouth? Will this demand lead to changes in the scheme which will set the players free to do what they need to do? Last year, we simplified on offense. Maybe we can do that on defense this year.

It is going to be a very trying time ahead for the Redskins, but I am hopeful that things will shake down in such a way that by the offseason we will be headed strongly in the right direction.

[mheisig]

I guess I'm the only one here who doesn't really care who the source is.

A lot of the article is not based on what that player has to say, and a lot of the information is common knowledge: GW being an arrogant prick, the clusterfuck of a hundred different coaches not working together, the secondary being split and not meeting together, poor handling of personnel, bad FA signings and poor drafting.

A lot of this information can be picked up just watching the games or following the news and connecting the dots.

Plenty of other people in the league get it too. Bill Parcells (yes, the sworn enemy, but he knows his football) has made comments about the Skins fading offensive line and the "gadgety" offense. Ron Jaworski noted the same things about the O-line, and Jansen and Samuels in particular. The anonymous Colts player clearly has the same feelings about the predictable Redskins defense as the anonymous Redskins player. And what does the Colts player have to gain from comments like that? All I can figure is it's just an honest opinion.

And morale? No one should be shocked that morale at Redskins Park is at an all time low and that there are a lot of disgruntled players. This is a team that made it to the playoffs last year and had legitimate Super Bowl hopes this year, only to go 3-7. You think everyone is a little pissed off?

So maybe this anonymous player is Springs, or Taylor, or AA, or whoever. The fact is I doubt his sentiments are all that unique.

Anyone questioning the integrity of the article is really grasping at straws. I'm a die-hard fan too, but it's ok to admit when it looks like this team is circling the drain. It doesn't make you less of a fan or a "Godless Joe Gibbs Hater." Hollering that the article must be fake, or the author just hates the Skins, or the player is made up and his comments fabricated is just absurd. This is legitimate journalism, an actual article from a published, well respected magazine. It's not someone's blog, it's not a quick online article thrown up to sensationalize and draw readers. As far as I can tell it's a well thought out, well researched, well written examination of a team with some serious problems.

[Longtimefan]

The article was quite a read, and while we all may have our suspicions as to who the unidentified player may be, I'm going to hold serve because I have always been skeptical of articles mentioning a third party who's not going to speak for himself. I'm reminded of the old "false flag" doctrine.

To think there's that kind of problem going on with the coaching staff is troubling (if the authors writings can be asumed as truth) It may also help explain why the product we've seen this season is what it is.