2003 vs 2004: Quarterly Review

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Ramseyfan

I agree that the turnovers, penalties, dropped balls, and crappy officiating has hurt our offense, but I still cannot say that Brunell has done his job. A HUGE reason why Portis hasn't been that effective is that we have NO, NONE, ZIP, ZERO deep-passing game. We've been dinking and dunking and opposing defenses have been able to sit near the line of scrimmage and crush Portis and anyone who gets a catch in the flats.

Gibbs' system uses the deep ball to pull defenses away from the line of scrimmage so the screens and running game works. We have no credibility with the opposing safeties.

Ramseyfan is right on, here. Save for a few deep completions to Gardner against a Cowboy defense that slacked off and thought the game was won, nobody is scared about the Redskins picking up big chunks of yardage through the air. And Gardner was bottled up well by the Browns. In that situation, when a team looks at the film from a week before and is determined not to let someone like Rod Gardner beat them, it's Coles' job to step up, and make them pay for that stragedy.

Unfortunately, 7 catches for 116 yards or so just wasn't enough. I'm going go out on a limb to say this, and I know people aren't going to like to hear it, but...Laveranues Coles has not lived up to expectations yet. I know he's injured and playing hurt. But while he had good numbers last year, he has not been the dominating force that makes opponents tremble in fear for our passing game. He's part of the second-tier quality wideouts in the game, well behind receivers like Owens, Moss, Holt and Harrison. Until we get a playmaker on the level of those players, or close to it, (along with a quarterback whose job, everyone agrees, is to simply not make mistakes and just 'manage the game') our passing game will continue to underachieve.