Did the 6-2 start raise our expectations to an unrealistic level?

[Takeuon]

Well starting out 6-2 may have raised our expectations and definitely been ahead of where we thought we'd be. But I do not thinks it was an unreasonable level for any of us at that point to have thought possible NFC East Championship possibilities. Superbowl is a stretch and just silly to have started that crazy talk.
But my point is if a team starts out 6-2, you are pretty much expecting them to remain consistent the rest of the season. A loss here & there sure. But what you don't expect is another season where we've started out strong like that and then take a big dump down the stretch.
Yes we have 4 games to go.....it's not looking so good. But it's certainly not over yet. *crosses fingers*

[GTripp0012]

The 4-1 start probably rose our expectations too high, but after the next three games, I think people realized that 6-2 is about where we deserved to be. Right now, I think it's the opposite effect, our expectations are at an unreasonably low level thanks to the three losses in four games.

[YellowBirdy]

I think some people are forgetting that we did actually make the playoffs last year and that the team finished strongly last season to get us there. The core of that team was retained for this season and so I don’t think going 6-2 was such a huge surprise even though we had a new HC.

I think that what is really worrying is that although Zorn changed to a WC passing system it’s the running game which has been kept pretty much the same and an unchanged Defence has carried the team this season.

So the only part of the team that the HC has had an effect on i.e. the passing game has not performed and is in fact getting worse. And it now seems that other teams have caught on to what we have been doing on 1st and 3rd this season and our Coaches don’t seem to be able to change or have a plan B. I think this season is in danger of falling off a cliff and if we did finish 7-9 i think that would be a bad performance for this team.

[Miller101]

I disagree. I completely disagree with anyone who says our expectations were to high after a 6-2 start. Our team has played the number one ranked offense, Two ranked offense, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh. Then the ninth and the tenth...................Against all of those offenses our defense is ranked at sixth overall. I know they had a bad outing against the Giants, but come on! Our offense has to help them out. If our offense can just elimate their mistakes, like they did to start the season at 4-1 then we'll beat just about every team we play against. We have one of the easiest schedules to close out the year. Dallas will fall. Pray for New Orleans to run up 50+points against Atlanta..............And we're in!

We have the defense for it! YES! WE HAVE A CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER DEFENSE!!! One that broke Westbrooke's ribs sending his ass to the locker room so our offense was able to come back from a 14 point hole. A defense that stopped Jamal Lewis for SEVEN STRAIGHT TIMES AT THE ONE YARD LINE OR CLOSER! A defense that shut down the Dallas offense TWICE!!!................I know Dallas is not that good, but still, its Dallas!.............A defense that held Big Ben to just 5 completions before sending him to the locker room with an injury. A defense that held Drew Brees, during his record setting year, to just 216 yards..........hey! What am I saying? He MIGHT not even get the record because of us. No other team has held him to lower numbers! Same thing with Kurt Warner! He only had 192 against us. No other team has come anywhere close to that AND HE COULD BE THE MVP THIS YEAR!

Portis is number two in the league in running the ball. Campbell doesn't turn it over. You've heard it said ALL YEAR LONG. We should be putting up 30+points on these guys or even 40+ points on them. If our offense just STOPS, YES STOPS, dropping that gosh dang ball we'll be fine!

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Miller101

I disagree. I completely disagree with anyone who says our expectations were to high after a 6-2 start. Our team has played the number one ranked offense, Two ranked offense, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh. Then the ninth and the tenth...................Against all of those offenses our defense is ranked at sixth overall. I know they had a bad outing against the Giants, but come on! Our offense has to help them out. If our offense can just elimate their mistakes, like they did to start the season at 4-1 then we'll beat just about every team we play against. We have one of the easiest schedules to close out the year. Dallas will fall. Pray for New Orleans to run up 50+points against Atlanta..............And we're in!

We have the defense for it! YES! WE HAVE A CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER DEFENSE!!! One that broke Westbrooke's ribs sending his ass to the locker room so our offense was able to come back from a 14 point hole. A defense that stopped Jamal Lewis for SEVEN STRAIGHT TIMES AT THE ONE YARD LINE OR CLOSER! A defense that shut down the Dallas offense TWICE!!!................I know Dallas is not that good, but still, its Dallas!.............A defense that held Big Ben to just 5 completions before sending him to the locker room with an injury. A defense that held Drew Brees, during his record setting year, to just 216 yards..........hey! What am I saying? He MIGHT not even get the record because of us. No other team has held him to lower numbers! Same thing with Kurt Warner! He only had 192 against us. No other team has come anywhere close to that AND HE COULD BE THE MVP THIS YEAR!

Portis is number two in the league in running the ball. Campbell doesn't turn it over. You've heard it said ALL YEAR LONG. We should be putting up 30+points on these guys or even 40+ points on them. If our offense just STOPS, YES STOPS, dropping that gosh dang ball we'll be fine!

I don't think we even hit Westbrook on that play when he broke his ribs and he just made a quick move which cracked them. Just like when DG jumped over that guy on a punt return back in the 80's maybe early 90's.

[GMScud]

I think our fast start definitely raised our expectations. Most even-keeled fans around here thought anywhere between 7-9 and 9-7 was pretty realistic for this team. I personally predicted 8-8.

I understand a W is a W, and simply looking at the standings, one would think we were in fantastic shape for the playoffs at 6-2.

I definitely re-adjusted my expectations after our hot start (I threw my 8-8 prediction out the window for a 10-6), but even at 6-2, I was pretty wary of the second half for a few reasons:

1) Portis getting continually knicked up
2) Lack of pass rush
3) Inability to consitently create turnovers
4) Not finishing drives/poor play in the red zone
5) Losing to St. Louis (regardless of what the stat sheet looked like)

Our victories in the 1st half were very narrow, even when we were playing our best football. It became pretty obvious the margin for error is tiny with this team. We've slipped against some good opponents in the last month, and even when our D does snag the rare turnover and put it back in our offense's hands on a short field, we can't convert. We simply don't score enough points to compensate for any other shortcomings.

And one thing that isn't getting enough mention IMO is how god awful our special teams play has become.

[Defensewins]

We were a playoff team last year. Gibbs slowly and correctly brought the team back to respectability. Zorn did not inherit a lemon. Yes, my expectation was lowered when Gibbs left and first time coach Zorn was installed. However I still expect them to be respectable.

[A10sROCK]

Originally Posted by Defensewins

We were a playoff team last year. Gibbs slowly and correctly brought the team back to respectability. Zorn did not inherit a lemon. Yes, my expectation was lowered when Gibbs left and first time coach Zorn was installed. However I still expect them to be respectable.

The Redskins had a change of QB to Collins, who then had a huge streak of high caliber QB play in the last 5 games; we also were playing on emotion due to the murder of ST.

If these two things had NOT happened I'm not sure we would have finished nearly as well last season.

Granted, Zorn inherited a good team. He's got them to play well. Yet, due to being a rookie coach many thought this team would regress, not stay the same or better.

[over the mountain]

man it was hard after going 4-1 to not think: "if this is us now i cant wait to see what we look like in a few months . . "

that said, as fans around week 4-6 we had every right to be proud and hopeful of our burgundy n gold. when your teams hot, enjoy it relish it because you dont know how long you got bragin rights. im just happy the skins put together a nice enjoyable to watch stretch of games and we still have meainingful football to play near seasons end. really more than we expected going in to this season.

go skins!!

[heybigstar]

I think to get to the next level, we have to rebuild our O-line and D-line through the draft over the next 2-3 years -- we are old on both sides.

[PennSkinsFan]

Yes.

But a few things began to hurt us. Again, teams realized by watching tape that the Redskins weakness was pas protection, so they are bringing the blitz and forcing JC to make quick, snap decision.

Second, teams have realized that after Santana Moss, the Redskins have no threats at wide receiver, therefore, they simply key on trying to take Moss out of the game plan.

Finally, the game plan from week 4, 5, and 6, looks like the same exact game plan form weeks 11, 12, and 13. Plus, I am sick of those stupid quick screens.

[over the mountain]

^^^ yeah between juggling punters, lack of any return yards (except moss in det) and shazaaam's damn leg tiring out a quarter way thru the season our St has been awful but . . . come to think of it i cant think of a return td we allowed except bush and jacksons so 2 return tds isnt horrible. our tackling on ST has been pretty good with thrash, rock, campbell and even devin thomas making a few tackles.

[killromo]

Yes, false hopes were abundant in the early-mid season. This year I thought we would be 9-7 which we still may be. It's about how the season has progressed though, I would be much more delighted had we lost a bunch in the beginning and then the team started to grasp Zorn's offense and build up to start winning. Instead our early wins seem to be a carry-over from Gibbs with Zorn's play-calling mixed in. Now that every team has video of our offense and can gameplan against zorny we have a frozen offense. Basically we seem to be headed in the wrong direction and that is frustrating.

[A10sROCK]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Good piece by Mike Wise here:

washingtonpost.com

The article got me thinking, especially this part:



I think most of us can agree our expections back in August for this year were in the 7-9 win range, which we're on course for. So what has changed exactly? The only thing that makes some sense to me is the fast start inflated our short term expecations and has made us lose sight of what the long term plan is.

Yes, I agree the team is certainly capaable of playing better right now, but it still doesn't change the fact that realistically this was a 7-9 win team coming into this season with a rookie head coach, a new passing game and some new coaches on the staff, a QB learning yet another new offense and one that is a pretty big departure from the Gibbs/Saunders philosophy, and a front office that signaled they are working on stocking through the draft and taking a more conservative approach to free agency.

This simply wasn't a team built for winning right now. So can we just calm down with the silly notion that if this team misses the playoffs we need to make major changes to the personnel and staff??

Excellent writeup. I expected a 7-9 or 8-8 season. The mediots expected even less. The fact that we might beat that by 2 games is a testament to Zorn. He's brought this team higher and is off to a very good start as a coach.

Patience has not been a Redskin trait over the last 8 years. We need to make good draft choices in the right areas and good choices in FA. That's Vinny's job when he's not on his talk show.

[GoSkins!]

I think that I expected 9-7. At least I was hoping for that, and it looks like we could very well get there or exceed that. The problem is that my expectation was for the offense to struggle early and get better as the season progressed. The opposite has happened. Unless the offense finds a way to find the endzone, I'm going to be worrited about next year all off season.

It isn't fair to use the wins and loses as a measure of if expectations are reasonable. Well, of course, unless we start winning again.