Reality Bites!

[sportscurmudgeon]

First of all, I did not say I was rooting for the Skins to lose their last 3 games. I said they would win against SF and that I wanted them to beat the Cowboys. Then if both of those games are wins, I want them to lose BIG to the Vikings so that they don't go into the off-season thinking they are only a player or two away from a championship. They are not! Hence the title of this thread - - Reality Bites !!

Go check out my picks for the NFL this week and you'll see that I took the Skins with 9.5 points in the game. I collected on the game; I did not lose anything. So I'm not complaining about this from a personal loss standpoint; I'm fed up with poor play on the field by a lot of guys who are not performing like competent NFL players.

Oh, and I'm not overly thrilled with some of the coaching calls either...



gortiz:

The reason I paint such a bleak picture is that the Skins have also been terrible over that peroiod of time that you chronicled in your note. And I don't see them on the list of miraculous turn-arounds yet. The reason it hasn't happened is that the team always thinks that a flashy free-agent signing and a big press conference and a lot of TV time and pics in the papers in March is what the team needs. Well, that has not worked for the last 5 years and it ain't gonna work this year either. And if they get full of themselves with three straight wins at the end of the year and begin fantasizing that they coulda/shoulda beat the Eagles in week 13...



illdefined:

You are what you are. And the Redskins are 4-9 after being 5-11 last year. That means they lose twice as many times as they win.

The offense has improved since Ramsey took over in terms of statistics but in terms of wins and losses, the improvement is less than spectacular. Look, I remember when Sonny Jurgensen was putting up monster numbers every year for the Redskins and they just kept losing and losing and losing. It was fun watching Sonny fling the ball all over the lot, but in the end it did not amount to a pinch of pigeon poop come "playoff time".

And by the way, even with St. Patrick of Ramsey at QB, the Redskins have still only gotten over 18 points once...

Here is the priority order for starting QBs:

1. Win games 2. Score lots of points 3. Accumulate gaudy stats.

Remember, Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer won Super Bowls in the last five years. They had great defenses around them; Ramsey has one this year that is holding opponents to low scores. The difference? Ramsey - and Brunell as his predecessor - don't score enough to win even with the opponents being held in check. If you don't think that is "reality" go look at the standings one more time...


cpayne5:

Do I think this team is spiralling into oblivion? I hope not. But I am afraid of what they will do if they win the last three games of the year - which are all winnable.


Matty:

The problem is that lots of people here are saying that Taylor is a great player. You read the posts here; you know I'm right about that. He's an intimidator; he makes great plays; he's going to lay out Donovan McNabb; no one will dare go over the middle on the Skins because they will fear him. Sounds good but it is fantasy. Taylor is a head-hunter who makes highlight reel hits. And he gives up lots of big plays and the ones he gave up last night lost the game for the Redskins.

BTW for everyone who is cackling about the Todd Pinkston "alligator-body play"; that was Clark who "scared him"; if you look very carefully at the tape, you will see that it was Sean Taylor who was beaten on the play by about 5-7 yards and who would have wound up chasing Pinkston into the end zone had not Clark "saved the day".

And Matty, you surely remember the postings here where someone went to look up Ramsey's stats in his first 16 or 18 starts and compared them to same games by Favre and Peyton Manning and John Elway. Lo and behold, Ramsey's stats there were declared to be better than all of them. Now what is the implication of that kind of research and analysis. I infer that the person meant to say that Patrick Ramsey is in the same category as those QBs. He might be some day in the distant future, but as of today, he is not as good as Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, Michael Vick, Chad Pennington, Jake Delhomme, Brian Griese, Aaron Brooks, Joey Harrington, David Carr, or Drew Brees just to name some of the YOUNG QBs in the league at the moment. The jury is out if he is better than either Rex Grossman or Kyle Boller. Please note, I am not comparing him to Favre and McNabb and Culpepper and McNair who have been around so much longer than him; I've also left Brady off the list even though he too is a young QB just because that would be just too embarrassing a comparison to make; I am only comparing him to young QBs. And he is "below average" on that list.

Ramsey has been starting on-and-off for two and a half years now. What is his record in games that he started? I'm asking only because I'm too lazy to go and look it up. I'll bet a sizeable amount of money that he has not won 10 games yet and I would not be at all surprised to find out that he wins one game for every two he loses. Since that is what the team does, that means that his presence at QB is not any better for the team than whomever else he has replaced. And for everyone spring-loaded to quote stats to me here, I'm talking about winning games not completing two out of three passes that are within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage.

Coles can't run anymore; that is the problem. He still plays hard and hustles and gives 100%. I love that. That does not make me fail to see that whatever injury he has to his ankle/foot/toe makes him a whole lot slower now than he was at the beginning of last year. Watch the game tapes and forget how much you admire his tenacity and his guts; just watch him try to outrun CBs or watch him try to accelerate away from them after a cut. He can't do that today; he did it all the time at the beginning of last year. He's hurt and he is the still the best receiver by a wide margin on this team and that tells you why the passing offense for the Skins is miserable.

I'll give Dockery a chance in training camp but I really want them to bring in a solid young OL to push Dockery. He has improved, but he still makes some really boneheaded plays and sometimes gets beaten like a drum. There isn't any gas left in the tank for Raymer. If Samuels does not renegotiate, he has to be cut because he is not worth $11M against the cap next year - period end of message.

I want the overpaid dumbass players cut; I want the younger ones to look at that situation and realize that this country club they call a football team might just cut their dumb asses too if they don't figure out how to play this game intelligently; I want the scouting staff to find draft picks that will all make the team next year AND have at least four of them contribute to the team in something other than punt return blocking duty. And I want the practice squad to have players there who can actually come to the team and plug a hole if necessary. That's the scouting dept's job so why not ask them to earn their money too.

[SmootSmack]

There was a team in the NFL last year with a proven head coach, a conservative game plan, a young QB, an All-Pro RB, decent but not spectacular WRs and a suspect defense that finished 4-12.

But with essentially that same core of players look at the San Diego Chargers now.

So why can't that be us next year? We're essentially where they were in 2003 with the same type of team. Plus, we already have a good defense in place

[SmootSmack]

SC, I'm still not quite understanding why you want them to get blown out by the Vikings.

What would that accomplish?

[illdefined]

by your logic, no.2 defense in the league and close games vs practically all our opponents including two of the top tier teams in the league is the same as getting completely blown out.

in terms of playoff reachability this season yes, of course, but we're arguing that the manner of those losses counts much in broader terms, like next season. to think all 4-9 teams are equally 'bad' is completely simplistic.

you know what? why even have wildcard teams in the playoffs? shouldn't just team's records determine the champion?

[VTSkins897]

we've improved over the course of the season; we've got players adjusting, coaches adjusting, which is to be expected from a new staff. anyone who thinks a revamp is in order should just be ready for 3+ more yrs of this same old crap. an L is an L sure, but the eagles are the best team in the nfc, and the 'skins are not. we lose by 3 pts, in part b/c of the mistake of a young qb. yeah his sophomoric leeway is subsiding, but i think we're getting on track with PR and the guys we have. if PR had started the whole time maybe at this point he'd finally be clicking. anyways i dont think anyone should worry too much, let's just win out, and get our butts in gear for next season.

[JWsleep]

Sports, you're of course right about the record: numbers don't lie.

But I'm not sure about what your overall point is. JUst focus on the defense of this team. Other than your complaints about Taylor (which I for one am willing to chalk up to the learning curve as of yet), aren't you getting just what you asked for? No name players playing intelligently and pratice squad players plugging holes, etc? And here they actually have had significant injuries. No offense to Ryan Clark, but Bowen is better. Remember his performance in week one when it looked like "Year of the Bowen." So maybe the team is only half broken, and with a good model of how to get better.

As for Ramsey, do you really see no change in his play since he came in for Brunell? No sign of improvment? And you say he's been "starting on and off for two and a half years," but how many games is it, and how may in a pro system (no offense to Daseal and Spurrier)? Last night's int was terrible, no doubt. But he's played 4 games, in this stretch and 3 have been against Pitt and Philly. Those teams have excellent defenses. Let carson, Carr, Brian, etc have a go against that lot. My guess is that they'll make some big plays and blow some big plays. The jury is still out on Ramsey, but I for one am encouraged.

As for the o-line, upgrade if you can. Find a better available QB. Get some good WRs. But you speak against splashy free agent signings, so you must mean draft them. My guess is that's just what they'll do, coupled with a few less exciting FA pickups. They've got to re-sign Smoot and Pierce, and deal with Samuels, so they won't have any real cap space anyway. I figure in the end you'll get your wish about the direction of this team: it sounds a lot like the sorts of things Gibbs and Buges say. So things are looking up, Mr. Curmudgeon! Turn that frown upside down!

[MTK]

Taylor is well on his way to being a great player in this league. Once the mental part of his game catches up to his physical part he's going to be extremely dangerous. I don't understand all the negativity towards him, SC. He's a rookie and playing pretty damn well for a rookie. There are 31 other teams that would love to have a young player of his caliber. You like to pick out the 1-2 negative plays he has per week and put them under a microscope. How about the INT he caused? Why does he seem to always be around every tackle? The way you talk about him one would think he's a complete bust.

Are you willing to let him develop, or since he's not all-world and playing flawless football in his rookie season you're ready to replace him?

Same for Ramsey, yes he's been here for 2+ seasons but he's also in his second system, one that is radically different than the one he spent his first two seasons in. He has 4 starts in this current system and less than 20 for his career.

He's already much more consistent under Gibbs than he ever was in his first two seasons. Personally I'd like to see us commit to him for next year. Otherwise we're going to be grooming yet another QB next summer and probably going through the same growing pains as yet another QB has to learn the system.

[BrudLee]

Originally Posted by smootsmack

SC, I'm still not quite understanding why you want them to get blown out by the Vikings.

What would that accomplish?

I think SC's fear - and it's valid - is that if we win four of our last five, we will stand pat, or worse; we will add three or four "superstars" to make the next step. The problem with that thinking is that we really aren't that close to being dominant, we are that close to being mediocre. There is one dominant team in the NFC right now - two pretty good ones and three mediocre ones will be playoff bound. Our goal for next year should not be to be one of the three mediocre teams that makes it to the playoffs. That turned into an admirable goal for this year, but we should be aiming higher than that for our future.

One thing I have to (shudder) admire about the Eagles is that they've been unafraid to jettison their mistakes. Even if the player stays on the team, no one is starting because of their draft position or salary. Freddie Mitchell's no good? He won't start, then. I wish we had the same fortitude and could sit Gardner, or Samuels, or Dockery. Maybe a wake-up call would help them be better players. I don't think it's Gardner's fault he hasn't improved. I think all Gardner's learned is that he can drop balls without fear of losing his job. Maybe that's because we haven't pushed him, or signed guys who will push him for us.

Guys, I really wanted to win out and show the naysayers how wrong they were. They're still wrong, I believe, but it has to be a matter of faith now. Going 7-9 isn't going to validate the return of Gibbs, but being a better team in year two will.

[illdefined]

Originally Posted by JWsleep

Sports, you're of course right about the record: numbers don't lie.

yeah we don't need a superbowl. whoever has the best record is clearly the best team.

[sportscurmudgeon]

Someone said I wanted everyone - here and at Redskins' Headquarters - to take off their burgundy glasses. Thank you for understanding. That is exactly what I want.

What is the purpose of wanting the Skins to get blown out by the Vikes in the last game and finishing 6-10? Let me say it again. I do not want any of the geniuses in Redskins Headquarters who have tried to build this team through the splashy free agent signing mechanism to get the idea that they are "close to getting it right this time" and just need to do it once more. I want them to go into their magical post-season skull-sessions with the idea that this is a work in progress and that the team has to be built to win in 2006 and not necessarily in 2005. It will be great to make the playoffs in 05, but the goal should be to get there in 06 and to win a game or so once they are there.

So that takes a plan. And a plan is not simply a linear extrapolation of the recent past. You don't do this March what you did last March just because "we've always done it that way." Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So I want the Skins' braintrust to do something different this time.

I want them to look at this team really critically and make some tough decisions about who should be back next year and who can be REASONABLY be projected to be a real contributor to a winner in 2006. That allows them to look critically at a Derrick Dockery and to decide if they think he will continue to improve because he is coachable. Or it could lead them to conclude that this is what you are going to get from him...

It gives them the opportunity to ask the same questions of players like McCants, Jacobs and Gardner. I like McCants and Jacobs for their physical skills; I think both of them are seriously flawed when you think of them as cogs on a winning football team. So, can you fix the flaws or not...?

Can Coles overcome this injury that seems to have dragged on for next to forever now? If so, he's part of the core for the future as the #1 receiver. If not, then maybe you have to find/draft a #1 WR and have Coles as the #2 guy. This is part of a planning process not a "quick-fix".

There has to be a new center next year so somebody has to go out and find one. It does not have to be someone from the All-Pro team, but it has to be an upgrade from what has been there for the last two years. OK, who has the assignment to identify that player?

There has to be some depth on the OL. If anyone mentions Man Mountain Kenyatta or Ray Brown in terms of a winning team in 2006, dismiss them from the room and do not let them back in. How good are these young OL? Maybe we should play them a lot in the last three games just to see? Or can we tell from the practice field? Can you count on Vaughn Parker getting over his injuries sufficiently to start? How about as a back-up? Can he play multiple positions effectively?

Oh, by the way, what is the deal with Chris Samuels? Is he going to renegotiate or not? If he does not, what is the plan? Do the Skins suck it up and live with that monstrous cap number or do they try to trade him or just cut him and move on? Suppose the only way to get cap room to sign Smoot and Pierce is to cut him??? What's the plan, gentleman? This is not as complicated as finding a path to peace in the Middle East, but it is something you do have to think about just a little bit...

There is ONE tight end on this team who can catch a football reliably. That is not enough. So, I understand how important it is for a Joe Gibbs tight end to be able to block, but there has to be some kind of way to upgrade the catching abilities of the tight ends without making them utterly useless as blockers. Cooley is a keeper. All the other TEs should understand that they are one bad mistake removed from a pink slip.

Obviously, you have to keep Patrick Ramsey as a QB and if Hasselbeck is still under contract and comes for the league minimum, you keep him also as the disaster QB. Now what to do with Senor Brunell? That's a tough one. If you cut him, you will take a cap hit that could be really bad. If you keep him - and pay him his roster bonus in April - then you are one big hit on Ramesy away from going through a multiple game stretch with Brunell at the helm. I'd keep Brunell next year because my vision is that next year is not the important one; 2006 is the important one. But after 2005, I think I'd have to suck up the cap hit and ditch Brunell in order to get a real back-up in place for Ramsey.

Notice, I've assumed that the coaching staff has confidence that Ramsey will develop into a serviceable starting QB. However, if they are convinced that Ramsey is nothing better than a career back-up, then they need to find a way out of the QB morass they have created for themselves and they need to find that way out creatively and quickly.

On defense, they need to re-sign Smoot and Pierce and at least a couple of the young DL players whose contracts are up. They have to look carefully at the safety position and figure out if Taylor/Ramsey/Clark/Lott is the core of a trio there that can be the last line of defense on a winning team in 06. Notice I said a "trio" because they have to think about depth and not just a starter who has some kind of flashy past credentials. I'm not convinced; I'd be looking to draft help here, but I'll defer to the braintrust if they approach this with a long-range planning focus.

Here is a simple question for them. Is John Hall still worth it as a kicker? Let's just say the results this year have been less than stellar and he is making more than the league minimum and you can find a whole lot of kickers who will play for league minimum. In addition to limited field goal productivity, his kickoffs have been kinda - - short.

The focus in 05 should not be on stars and starters; it should be on building a solid roster for 06. It would be nice to break even in 05 and maybe sneak into the playoffs, but if the cadre is in place and growing on 05 and the team is ready to make a push in 06, that will be fine with me.

[Redskins_P]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

Someone said I wanted everyone - here and at Redskins' Headquarters - to take off their burgundy glasses. Thank you for understanding. That is exactly what I want.

That would be me SC! I'll take all the credit for that.

[Paintrain]

WOW! SC, bitter, party of one, your table is now available.. I understand the frustration of another lost season and yet another tough defeat and the unabshed optimism of some of us on the site but I don't know that all of that was warranted.. Your glass isn't half empty, it's shattered on the floor..

Yes we are 4-9 and we are what we are. That being said, I think that if we played all season like we played the last 4 weeks then we would have at least 3 more wins. Fact is we didn't so that's why we are 4-9, but if you don't see improvement recently I don't know that we are watching the same games. Yes it's making excuses, but in the past 3 weeks we've lost by a total of 12 points to teams that are a combined 24-2! That indicates to me that we aren't too far off. In either one of the past 3 games if we scored 21 pts we'd have won. If we scored 21 pts each game we'd have 6 more wins! I know if wishes were we'd all be drunk, but let's try to have some perspective here.

Every team has players that do dumb things. McCants penalty, while stupid, didn't actually hurt us. The next play Ramsey hit Cooley at the 1 yd line. Sellers on the other hand should have been cut by now. He makes dumb, selfish decisions, on and off the field (arrested in Cleveland, served a 4 game drug suspension) with no regard for the team. He hurt us on 3 occasions last night alone. Overall as a team and a coaching staff, everyone needs to be smarter and crisper. Hopefully continuity with this staff and team will make that happen.

While you can't throw out Ramsey's stats under Spurrier, I don't think that it's really a fair assessment of who he is as a QB to judge him on those games. He had NO running game, no protection and was a sitting duck so he was banged up a lot. Over the past 4.5 games I think, OVERALL, we have seen improvement. I would like to see him throw the deep ball better, but his pick was no worse than I've seen Favre or Marino or even the walking Jesus himself Peyton Manning throw. If he's making bad reads consistently and missing open receivers at mid-season next year like he did last night with McCants, who I thought was open in the middle on that pick, Portis, who was open on the Cooley overthrow and Coles on the sideline, then I will say it's time to start looking at a different answer at QB, but he has made 20 starts in the NFL. That's less than Kyle Boller, Joey Harrington, David Carr and I don't see them setting the world afire either. You listed a bunch of QB that you think are better than Ramsey, at the same stage in their careers would you make that same assessment? You listed such digintaries as Brian Griese, who was cut by 2 teams, Aaron Brooks, who does some of the most mind boggling things I have ever seen and Drew Brees who was a holdout away from being a camp casualty.

You say Taylor gives up big plays. Show me a rookie DB who doesn't. He gets sucked in by play action, which he will hopefully learn to grow out of. I only remember him being beaten on 1 TD, the Anderson pass to Glenn in the Cowboys game. He makes more plays than he gives up IMO. Sure he should have wrapped on the Levens TD, but Levens was already being wrapped up by one of the LB and he was looking for the kill shot. Not to excuse the missed tackle but again, that's something that he will hopefully learn from.

You say you want to see the overpaid dumbass players cut, specifically who should be cut? If Samuels doesn't renegotiate then I agree he needs to be let go because his salary doesn't match his production. I don't know that this team has anymore players that are grossly overpaid (other than Brunell obviously) that consistently hurt the team.

My offseason wish list would just be for continuity, return to health of Morton, Bowen, Arrington, Coles and Hall, the development of Jacobs who needs to step up and contribute to the passing game, the addition of depth along both lines and a solid draft. The tear-down and rebuild of this team that you seem to be proposing has shown over the past couple of years that it just doesn't work.

[illdefined]

Taylor is way overhyped. if it wasn't for him our defense would be no.1 instead of lowly no.2

[joecrisp]

My glasses look pretty clear, and I see a lot of gray.

Some black.
Some white.
Not burgundy.
Could be half-empty or half-full.

But a lot of gray.

Maybe it's just that gray time of year... you know, that time of year when it gets really gray and cold, and once again, the Redskins aren't in the playoff hunt? That time of year when we begin pondering what was, what is, and what ever shall be?

And the curmudgeon, once again, is our Scrooge.

[Daseal]

I agree with most all of SC's points and posts like that are the reasons I enjoy reading his threads more than anyone else. He's brutally honest and able to display his emotion in a nice fashion that people as myself don't quite accomplish.

Also, for those of us who wanted to throw more, I can't go totally against that playcall, I liked it and it was on Ramsey to check down or throw away, but that point in the game I think I would have tried to run some clock and kick a FG. Short passes and runs, I don't like the timing of a lot of the play-calls. However, I see why he'd go for it there.