Coles Big Toe...I'm worried

[SmootSmack]

All I meant was inspite of the Eagles poor receiving they still managed to make it deep into the playoffs but you're right the Skins defense is still a big question mark

Connell is one of my least favorite people ever. I could tolerate his failures on the field if he wasn't such an ass off the field. He had that one good year in 1999 and suddenly thought he was the second coming of Jerry Rice

Anyhow, looks like we'll agree to disagree on Gardner's future Hogskin but on behalf of everyone else here on the warpath the last thing we want come football season is to hear less of you.

[Redskins8588]

Hogskin: If I were interested in joining or starting a league with your program how would I go about that? If you could e-mail me info that would be great. Thanks.

I am really excited to see how Jacobs will do this year, I like Gardner and I think that Gibbs will get him on the right track. But if Jacobs is as fast as they say, that would be so cool to have 2 speed burners at wr.

[Hogskin]

Thanks for the comment, Smack. I really enjoy this site, and don't want to get scarce. But all of my kids and grandkids will be coming here for the July 4th weekend, some arriving as early as June 25 and some staying through July 14, so I will not have much online time then. And then July 15 is the cutdown deadline for our keeper leagues. Right after that it gets pretty intense here until about the 2nd week of the NFL season. I will still check in here whenever I can, but will always be in a rush LOL.

[Defensewins]

IF Clinton Portis can produce for the Skins like he did in Devner, our passing game will be fine, even if Coles' toe is sore. If the opposing LB's and Safety's have to cheat up in run support because Portis is ripping off ten yards a run, our remaining WR's will have career years. Play action will work all day long.

[Hogskin]

Actually, it works both ways. A good passing game will help Portis put up those lofty numbers. It's a lot tougher when your WR's have trouble getting open. Coles is the only guy we have that has shown he can get open on a consistent basis. AND, he is the only one that will draw double coverage on a regular basis, taking one more defender away from run-stopping. We need Coles...

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

I can think of VERY few teams that have two “true” no. 1 wideouts on their roster. The Rams and Steelers are the only teams that I know of that have two solid #1 wideouts in Bruce and Holt and Ward and Burress (and Burress is a borderline-top notch WR) respectively.

We have more depth at WR than any other team in the league. If Coles goes down of course our passing attack would suffer; any team’s passing game would falter if their #1 WR was out. But, I think our team would be the least affected team if everyone’s #1 wideout was out of action.

I can’t say anything about McCants because no one has seen him play as the #2 wideout.

Jacobs is also hard to judge since he got so little playing time last year. But, Gibbs apparently thinks very highly of Jacobs and according to various press reports, raved about how good he looked on film and at the mini-camps. I defer to Gibbs on this one and take his word for it that Jacobs will develop into a quality wideout.

Thrash is not a top notch receiver, as everyone saw when he was at Philadelphia, but I think VERY highly of him. He’s played against Champ Bailey, Will Allen, Terrance Newman, and every other top corner Philly went up against. He was Philly’s top wideout and while that doesn’t say much, it does indicate, to me at least, that he is a decent #2 and a VERY good #3 wideout.

Gardner is a very good #2 possession receiver. People think he isn’t as good as he really is because:
#1 he was a first-rounder and so people automatically have very high expectations for him;
#2 he hasn’t had the running game going to draw defenders closer to the line;
#3 until last year he was the best receiver on our roster, thereby drawing double-coverage on occasion and always getting covered by the defenses’ top corners;
#4 he had less time to get open because our o-line was so crappy under Spurrier;
#5 until last year he didn’t have a very good veteran WR to tutor him; and
#6 he hasn’t had a good, experienced QB under center with whom he can establish a rapport. The lack of stability under center has hurt not just our record, but the performance of our wideouts. WRs need to know their QB and vice-versa to be effective.

I think there are several teams that would like to have Thrash, Gardner, and McCants as their top 3 receivers. So, even if Coles were to be injured this season, I must say that our depth at WR is pretty good.

[skinsfanthru&thru]

another point that will help our offense that i don't think i saw mentioned is the fact that brunnel is a much more accurate passer than any of our qbs since brad johnson. gibbs play calling will make a huge difference in the route running of the wrs since there will be a whole lot less audibles called and thus less chances for mix ups on what the play being run is. and portis' arrival will prevent defenses from playing too lose in the secondary. anyone else think with coles not being a 100% that gibbs might keep 6 wrs on the active roster and thus allow Cloman the oppurtunity to get some playtime? does anyone know why coles opted not to have the surgery cuz obviously resting it didn't help it as much as we'd have liked? and like it's been noted before, if gibbs is liking what he's seen from Jacobs and Mccants from game footage and the mini camps, who r we to question him, lol?

[Hogskin]

Originally Posted by Ramseyfan

Gardener is a very good #2 possession receiver. People think he isn’t as good as he really is because:
#1 he was a first-rounder and so people automatically have very high expectations for him;
#2 he hasn’t had the running game going to draw defenders closer to the line;
#3 until last year he was the best receiver on our roster, thereby drawing double-coverage on occasion and always getting covered by the defenses’ top corners;
#4 he had less time to get open because our o-line was so crappy under Spurrier;
#5 until last year he didn’t have a very good veteran WR to tutor him; and
#6 he hasn’t had a good, experienced QB under center with whom he can establish a rapport. The lack of stability under center has hurt not just our record, but the performance of our wideouts. WRs need to know their QB and vice-versa to be effective.

I couldn't resist replying to your 6-point post:
#1 - This had absolutely no bearing on my evaluation
#2 - Good point - with the caveat that my response to #3 may actually indicate the reverse is true.
#3 - Actually, he got very, very few double coverages. Since he could be covered well by one man, teams blitzed the hell out of our QB with their "extra" man - this also hurt our running game. He is not a good #1 WR.
#4 - Again a good point, but part of the problem with the line was that our opponents could blitz at will, and our RB's were inept at handling the blitz (Snyder waived the one good blocking back we had).
#5 - Excellent point - and he had some questionable receiver coaching also.
#6 - Agree, but if he continues to drop passes in critical (3rd down) situations as in the past, he may not get that opportunity.