It's not Brunell's fault!

[jdlea]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

Celts, I wondered the same thing last week. I don't go to the games, so you can't really tell if the wideouts are getting open or not on TV.

But someone on the radio had an interesting viewpoint on whether the WRs are getting open -- in the NFL, getting open usually means only half a step from the defender. In this league, you must have a quarterback who can zip the ball in tight places -- sometimes on their back foot under heavy pressure.

Brunell seems to be good for two types of passes: Short, controlled throws within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, or desperation heaves to Moss, many times relying only on luck or Moss' ability to adjust to the ball.

But we must be wrong, because Gibbs obviously sees it differently.

The only game I've been to where Brunell was the starter. That was the opener. The game against Minnesota. When I openly admitted that I booed the team. It was directed at Brunell. Why? Because I saw them in the red zone with Cooley or Moss (happened on 2 occasions) running free across the back of the end zone and all it would have taken was a little mustard on the ball for 6. What does he do? Throws it away once and takes a sack the other time. That's why I was booing the team in week 1. I know these guys can get open. You don't just forget how to do that this year. The ball's not getting there. Why else would Lloyd be flipping out?

[jdlea]

Another thing...the only time he did throw in the middle of the field the ball was up. The Skins receivers aren't big enough to take shots from safeties because Mark's hanging them out to dry. He keeps throwing like that, they're gonna get their heads knocked off.

[mike340]

I remember at one point in the first half Brunell was 10 of 15 with ?? yards. Then they gave the sacks/hurries numbers. There were 10 hurries. That means, in spite of all the dump-offs, he only had 5 unpressured passes. So can you try to go downfield if your OLine is so weak that you get pressured doing just short dump-offs? My feeling is that Saunders doesn't call the downfield plays because he doesn't trust the OLine to hold up long enough. And remember all those holding penalties? There's a lot more of them when the line has to pass protect for more time.

As far as pulling Brunell, I don't see it until we're (practically) mathematically eliminated. As it currently stands:
Philly: we have 2 more losses and we play them twice
Dallas and NY: After tomorrow, we will be 2 losses behind one and 3 behind the other, with one home game against each.
So we're not exactly out of it yet. But if we continue to play the way we have been...

[CHIEF CHUCKING MY SPEAR]

come on its not mark fault the receivers are small. They have to grow over the bye week and get tuffer

[SoCalSkinsFan]

I have an idea: tackle the guy with the f-ing ball. And enough with the stupid penalties. Brunell didn't contribute to either of those factors in losing the game. And somehow Greg Williams doesn't seem to get enough blame. We give up almost 25 points a game! JC, Brunell or whoever, we ain't winning too many games with that type of D.

And someone please put Arculetta and Samuels out of their misery. They're done.

[Pocket$ $traight]

Originally Posted by SoCalSkinsFan

I have an idea: tackle the guy with the f-ing ball. And enough with the stupid penalties. Brunell didn't contribute to either of those factors in losing the game. And somehow Greg Williams doesn't seem to get enough blame. We give up almost 25 points a game! JC, Brunell or whoever, we ain't winning too many games with that type of D.

And someone please put Arculetta and Samuels out of their misery. They're done.

I agree that Samuels is overrated but he is no worse than a top 5 tackle. Archuletta is garbage. Unfortunately, we are stuck with them for a while. I would like to see Archuletta benched, at least we will find out if the guy has any pride.

[Citizens for 81]

The OL has had only 1 solid game this season. Samuels and Jansen are having horrible seasons. They both gave up sacks today, for the second week in a row. Most probowl tackels give up less than 5 a season. Its hard to trash Brunell when he can't even set his feet to throw because he's running for his life.

[Mauicruzer]

I CANT DEAL WITH THIS CRAP ANYMORE. Everything bothers me about the skins right now. Because im so frustrated im going to go ahead and say it but I still blame it all on Norv Turner

[CPDAMAN]

I think you are right. FA's that played great, sucked after they came here, we had stupid penalties and we never performed to our ability. It's the curse of Turner

[Citizens for 81]

Originally Posted by CPDAMAN

I think you are right. FA's that played great, sucked after they came here, we had stupid penalties and we never performed to our ability. It's the curse of Turner

Why is he a curse? Is it because he was from Dallas or is b/c he sucked so bad.

[Daseal]

I remember at one point in the first half Brunell was 10 of 15 with ?? yards. Then they gave the sacks/hurries numbers. There were 10 hurries. That means, in spite of all the dump-offs, he only had 5 unpressured passes. So can you try to go downfield if your OLine is so weak that you get pressured doing just short dump-offs? My feeling is that Saunders doesn't call the downfield plays because he doesn't trust the OLine to hold up long enough. And remember all those holding penalties? There's a lot more of them when the line has to pass protect for more time.

Yeah, I remember when they showed that. Peytons hit was higher and hurried was the same. Really kept him from doing anything,

[mike340]

Gee, I seem to remember Peyton's was lower. Since you bring this up, and I don't have the videotape, could someone please post the corresponding stat(s) for Peyton, i.e. attempts, completions, and hurries. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Daseal

Yeah, I remember when they showed that. Peytons hit was higher and hurried was the same. Really kept him from doing anything,

[GTripp0012]

I'm not going to bother defending Brunell right now, because no one else around the league thinks this is his fault. The offense is generally very good, and the only thing thats inconsistent about this offense is O Line play. In the first half, it was generally very good, and so was the offense. But in the second half, it wasn't, and neither was the offense. Those guys up front need to play with some more consistency.

As for the D, they took huge strides in the first half this week. As for the 2nd half performance, I don't care who they are playing. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Terry Bradshaw, Johnny Unitas, Marino, Elway...you DO NOT give up 3 TDs on the first 3 drives of the half that easily. The D Line was a huge bright spot in the first half and when they came out for the 2nd, it was an entirely different unit. They made Addai look like Edge. There are no bright spots on this defense right now.

[EternalEnigma21]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I'm not going to bother defending Brunell right now, because no one else around the league thinks this is his fault. The offense is generally very good, and the only thing thats inconsistent about this offense is O Line play. In the first half, it was generally very good, and so was the offense. But in the second half, it wasn't, and neither was the offense. Those guys up front need to play with some more consistency.

As for the D, they took huge strides in the first half this week. As for the 2nd half performance, I don't care who they are playing. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Terry Bradshaw, Johnny Unitas, Marino, Elway...you DO NOT give up 3 TDs on the first 3 drives of the half that easily. The D Line was a huge bright spot in the first half and when they came out for the 2nd, it was an entirely different unit. They made Addai look like Edge. There are no bright spots on this defense right now.

We were scared of manning. Gregg Williams was scared. you don't put 3 guys down to rush manning and think you can make a zone blanket he can't pick apart given all day.

The running... well everyone has been doing that to us...

We need to start playing in our opponent's backfield constantly like we did 2 years ago....

[mike340]

Another thing that's happened this year is that Saunders's system doesn't allow for many audibles at the line of scrimmage. Brunell did that (I believe effectively) in prior years. As you saw, Peyton changed many plays at the line of scrimmage. As it is, there is now no way to adjust a play for the defensive set. This has got to make life harder for the offense.

The offense is averaging 20 points/game. 21/game two years ago would have gone 13-2-1. But our defense is allowing 26/game!
Who has allowed more total points than we have(171)? The Jets, Lions, and 49ers. That's it!
To contrast, at Denver's current rate, their defense would take 1 1/2 years to yield 171 points.