5 Bright Spots for the Redskins This Year

[The Zimmermans]

Betts has definitely gotten better in a lot of areas. He is very very good at cutting back and bursting upfield, almost better than portis. He is also beginning to develop better open field moves, he has been making guys miss. He used to not be able to read blocks well, but now he hits the hole more effectively. Hopefully he will continue to improve, especiallly with his pass blocking, which has been miserable as you all know.

[hesscl34]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

So if Brunell wasn't so bad, why did Joe bench him?

Becuase Portis was lost that weekend and he probably felt after that, so was the season, so why not give JC his shot now to get him ready for next year. I understand why he did it, I just think he should have waited a little longer.

[celts32]

Originally Posted by The Zimmermans

Betts has definitely gotten better in a lot of areas. He is very very good at cutting back and bursting upfield, almost better than portis. He is also beginning to develop better open field moves, he has been making guys miss. He used to not be able to read blocks well, but now he hits the hole more effectively. Hopefully he will continue to improve, especiallly with his pass blocking, which has been miserable as you all know.

In reality, Betts true ability probably lies somewhere inbetween what some of us think of him and what the Redskins think of him. I may underrate him but I am positive that the Redskins overrate him. They all talk like he is Jim Brown reincarnated...

[EternalEnigma21]

you guys gave me a rash of shit when I said Frost was pro-bowl worthy...

He may not have the best stats in the NFC, but he's certainly won me over... he's been doing a great job and has really developed into a dependable punter...

he got a rash of shit for that shank against Jacksonville (the one where they had to re-kick, but no one knew why) but the first one was a decent punt...

I like Golston and didn't see him coming into his own... I hope we see griffin's production increase since they have to give another DT some attention now...

Jury is still out on Campbell. I'm glad we made the switch, but I don't know what to think of him. He misses alot of throws. He usually errs on the side of caution and he manages a game allright for a "rookie", but he hasn't exaclty looked like he's gonna light anyone up or anything...

If the season end right now, (and I was running things) I may bring in a fairly cheap possible starter to compete with him in the preseason next year... either he steps up or watches someone else...

maybe byron leftwitch??? Not saying Campbell wont' be great, just saying I wouldn't mind insuring him with someone under 40...

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

I disagree. In my opinion, JC has been a bright spot. Obviously I was looking at more than simply statistics. I think his stats will come with time, by the way.

But it's become evident thus far his presence can change the dymanics of the offense and how we game plan some. He's made some throws already that we haven't seen in a while. If you want to look at his stats, sure we could nitpick all day long, but things like his poise, movement in the pocket and out of the pocket, his arm, down field vision are all positives. (see Jason Campbell thread by 12thMan).

In the end, I think he's definitely given this team a lot to look forward to next year.

I think Firstdown's point was that despite all the poise, mobility, arm strength, and vision, that Jason Campbell has yet to "get 'er done" if you will. I don't think he was trying to say that he hadn't shown us anything.

That's all important stuff, but it's stuff we knew he had (possible exception: poise) before we drafted him. I think we are all anxiously waiting to have his breakout game, and trust me it will happen, but I don't know if he's anymore of a bright spot now than he was a month ago.

So yeah, for now I agree with firstdown.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by ArtMonkDrillz

So bringing up brunell isn't beating a dead horse?

And I brought up dallas merely to show that you never really know what could happen by bringing in some fresh blood. Look at what the ravens did in 2000; they brought in dilfer because tony banks was struggling and they won the freakin super bowl.

Not to beat the dead horse to a bloody pulp, because this fourm had a 4 week arguement on this subject, but...

Dallas made the switch because Bledsoe was costing his team victories. They had no idea how good Romo would be. Advanced metrics say that Bledsoe was costing his team over 1 point per game over a replacement level QB (i.e. the average NFL backup). So the choice to remove Bledsoe was an easy one. No one in the world knew Romo would be this good, not even Romo himself. The last time this situation happened was Brady's 2001, and I wouldn't be shocked if this situation didn't repeat itself for another 5 years.

Brunell on the other hand, was conservative. At any point, Al Saunders could have got risky and started stretching the field with Brunell. However, the dink and dunk game we were running was successful. Brunell averaged more than 7 yards per pass during his first 8 starts. Plus with the offensive line and Betts missing their protection assignments left and right, it really didn't make a lot of sense to stretch the field when the current "take what the D gives" philosophy had our passing game in the top 7 in the NFL by yards per pass attempt against a tough schedule.

Where as the Cowboys always had a top 10 defense, and were sub .500 with Bledsoe, the Redskins were a game back through the Week 9 matchup between the teams with a defense in the bottom 4 of the NFL. There was no question who had the better offense of the two at that point.

After we lost all realistic hope of taking the division, it made sense to put in Campbell. We weren't going to get any farther than last year with a WC birth, and it only would have hurt us to grab a wild card in a weak division with Brunell (which of course assumes that the D would have picked it up), and not get Campbell ANY expierence this year. If Campbell could take us to the Wild Card, great! But at least he gets expierence 100% of the time this way.

Since Campbell has been the starting QB, we have changed the offense a bit. But should we have? Campbell is only averaging 5.39 yards an attempt. Regardless of whether this is the playcalling, or a young QB refusing to check down, our passing offense isn't producing what it was under Brunell. Period.

Just understand that the Cowboys were in a very different situation than we were, we both made the right decisions, and these are the results of those correct decisions.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I think Firstdown's point was that despite all the poise, mobility, arm strength, and vision, that Jason Campbell has yet to "get 'er done" if you will. I don't think he was trying to say that he hadn't shown us anything.

That's all important stuff, but it's stuff we knew he had (possible exception: poise) before we drafted him. I think we are all anxiously waiting to have his breakout game, and trust me it will happen, but I don't know if he's anymore of a bright spot now than he was a month ago.

So yeah, for now I agree with firstdown.

That's fine, no problem. But if it is indeed important stuff, and if he's doing those things..(four of which you mentioned in your reply) then it is a 'bright spot', as far as I'm concerned. The team as a whole hasn't been getting 'er done, all season long.

And what 12thMan considers to be a bright spot and what Fistdown considers to be a bright spot may be two entirely different things.

[skinsguy]

I don't know if I would say Jason Campbell has been a "bright spot" of this season. Maybe just the fact that he is getting to play is a positive thing for him. Hopefully it means he'll be ready for next season.

The only true bright spots I would say as far as players go would be Betts and Golston. Vernon Fox continues to impress me. Troy Vincent really hasn't impressed me a great deal.