Don't you think we are overreacting just a bit??

[MTK]

I've gotta say I'm pretty amazed over the reaction from Redskins fans since Thurs. night. Not just here but from all over the place.

I can understand people being frustrated. We waited all off season for this and we laid a stinker in week 1. But let's be realistic... people are already planning for Zorn's successor, people already have their minds made up that Campbell is not the guy and should either be benched or traded, the depth that got us through last season is somehow non-existent, there should be no learning curve for a rookie HC working with a young QB, Jason Taylor is a waste of a pick, I could go on and on.

My message is simple: it's a long season, 1 down and 15 more to go. As we've seen in past seasons a lot can change during the course of a season. One week you can look like the worst team in the league and the next you're the hottest team in the NFL tearing things up on a late season playoff run.

Before you try to write this off as Matty the optimist just trying to sugar coat things or make excuses, just know that I was in no way satisfied with what I saw the other night. The offense needs major work and the defense also needs some fine tuning. Zorn has a lot of work to do and much to prove.

And I don't think it's unrealistic or making an excuse to say that we need to give this thing some time to work. How much time? I don't know exactly, maybe 4 weeks, or maybe even half the season before we start seeing things coming together. What I do know is one game is not a reasonably fair body of work to judge and evaluate the Zorn era, in fact I'm downright embarrassed to read some of the fan reactions out there this week. And the media is just eating it up and piling on as well.

Stay classy Skins fans, we're smarter than that. At least I thought we were.

[Redskin Warrior]

You can never satisfy Redskin fans ever. IF we won we should won by this amount, we lost bring me JC & Zorn's head Warpath will never change Matty.

[That Guy]

kinda have to agree... you can't look that bad in preseason and not have it carry over either (remember gibbs "that's not the real offense" preseason... and it turned out it was... and we went 6-10).

new system, new coach, and we don't have the right pieces for the WCO maybe (two tiny WRs, a vertical QB).

honestly, last year's offense was pretty much suited to our talents... lots of screens, cooley patterns and RB dump offs.

not saying they can't make it work, but it's going to take a while.

[Rajmahal33]

I agree, we are overreacting BIG time here and I am definitely taking the positives from this game (like the D, the experience of playing on a big stage, etc)...But, Matty, why does this amaze you? You more than anyone else should know how fickle us skins fans are. In general we are not the most patient bunch, haha. It's just the regular "the sky is falling" routine after a loss. I say being a quiet observer is the best thing in this instance. That way when we do start winning games you can pull the "i told you so" card.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Rajmahal33

I agree, we are overreacting BIG time here and I am definitely taking the positives from this game (like the D, the experience of playing on a big stage, etc)...But, Matty, why does this amaze you? You more than anyone else should know how fickle us skins fans are. In general we are not the most patient bunch, haha. It's just the regular "the sky is falling" routine after a loss. I say being a quiet observer is the best thing in this instance. That way when we do start winning games you can pull the "i told you so" card.

I guess maybe it's just the timing of the overreactions. Week 1 and people are already pulling the plug.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I guess maybe it's just the timing of the overreactions. Week 1 and people are already pulling the plug.

Well, I guess it kind of depends on what your definition of "overreaction" is.

If I said that based on what I saw in the preseason, and what I saw the other night, that we will not make the playoffs this season, is that an overreaction? I don't think so at all.

Now, am I saying ridiculous things like trading for Jason Taylor was a bad idea, and Jason Campbell is all wrong for the WCO? Hell no. But I definitely don't think we'll make the playoffs.

You said yourself the offense clearly needs time, alluding to the length of time Hasselbeck took to get up to speed in Seattle as precedent. And if you're willing to wait half a season for the offense to come around, aren't you really saying that you don't expect us to win very much during the first half of the year?

I mean, our defense is solid, but it's not spectacular. It's basically the same group from last year with the same schemes, which placed 9th in the NFL. That's above average, but not good enough to win games for us while our offense finds its way, a la Trent Dilfer and the 2000 Ravens.

Now's about the time during this post when people start saying, "well yeah but it's still possible, there are 15 games left." Of course it's possible, that's not the question. Is it PROBABLE? That's the question.

If our expectations are that the offense will struggle as JC learns it, then we can't possibly expect the 'Skins to beat Dallas in Dallas and Philly in Philly, can we? It's possible, but not probable.

I'll give you this, an overreaction would be to say that it's impossible for the 'Skins to make the playoffs. But it would be right on point to say they probably won't - anything else is irrational exuberance buoyed by the emotional hopes of a football-starved fan in early September.

[htownskinfan]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Well, I guess it kind of depends on what your definition of "overreaction" is.

If I said that based on what I saw in the preseason, and what I saw the other night, that we will not make the playoffs this season, is that an overreaction? I don't think so at all.

Now, am I saying ridiculous things like trading for Jason Taylor was a bad idea, and Jason Campbell is all wrong for the WCO? Hell no. But I definitely don't think we'll make the playoffs.

You said yourself the offense clearly needs time, alluding to the length of time Hasselbeck took to get up to speed in Seattle as precedent. And if you're willing to wait half a season for the offense to come around, aren't you really saying that you don't expect us to win very much during the first half of the year?

I mean, our defense is solid, but it's not spectacular. It's basically the same group from last year with the same schemes, which placed 9th in the NFL. That's above average, but not good enough to win games for us while our offense finds its way, a la Trent Dilfer and the 2000 Ravens.

Now's about the time during this post when people start saying, "well yeah but it's still possible, there are 15 games left." Of course it's possible, that's not the question. Is it PROBABLE? That's the question.

If our expectations are that the offense will struggle as JC learns it, then we can't possibly expect the 'Skins to beat Dallas in Dallas and Philly in Philly, can we? It's possible, but not probable.

I'll give you this, an overreaction would be to say that it's impossible for the 'Skins to make the playoffs. But it would be right on point to say they probably won't - anything else is irrational exuberance buoyed by the emotional hopes of a football-starved fan in early September.

great post

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I guess maybe it's just the timing of the overreactions. Week 1 and people are already pulling the plug.

Just keep in mind, there are people such as myself that have remained calm, and understand the situation. Do I like the loss, absolutely not, but we can afford to have 6 more of these and still make the playoffs...I am not worried, nor am I even close to hitting the panic button.

[celts32]

I agree completely and it's not just redskins fans...I listen to Sirius Radio and the consensus that I heard on there yesterday is that the redskins are pretty much the worst team in the league. It's never as good or bad as it looks.

The only major problem i had on thursday was with Zorn not running a hurryup offense with 6 minutes left...that was bushleague. Zorn acknowledge the mistake yesterday so hopefully it won't happen again. As for the performance overall, it was bad but we need to give it more then one game before jumping to conclusions. Honestly, I am more worried about the defense then the offense...we had a bad passing game last year also but our defense stopped the run and kept us in most games...this defense has been leaky to say the least so far.

[Twilbert07]

I hope we are overreacting and that Week 1 was not an indication of how we will play all season.

That said, Zorn's clock management while we still had a chance to win, was hard to take - especially on national TV, and especially from a former QB. It's hard to feel that Synder gave Skins fan what we deserve: the best-available head coaching candidate. I'm behind Zorn, but he did look in over his head Thursday night.

I'm a die-hard fan and will cheer for them every game, regardless of what happens. We're a playoff team, and I hope we pick up where we left off last season.

[saden1]

Yes and no. The clock management was abysmal and inexcusable even for a rookie head coach.

[Stacks42]

My point is the skins had an extra preseason game to prepare for this. They came out completely flat on both sides of the ball, and it ultimately cost them the game.

2 weeks ago, it was a "wake up call" against the panthers, well no one woke up. Last week it was an eye opener, well someone fell asleep on the job. Everyone said "its preseason, wait until it really counts" well we saw they performed, when it really counted, and that is very disappointing.

I can understand an tolerate a loss, its the NFL it happens. But to have your team manhandled like they were in the 1st quarter is embarrassing. Our O-line looked over matched against a team that lost its 2 top defenders, our D line was non-existent, the corners and safeties looked like they had no clue what was going on until the 2nd half. And Campbell well, he was just horrible, there is going to be a learning curve (I am interested to see how Farve does this season, he is in a new system, will it take him 2 years to learn how to play the game he has played his whole life?)

Its hard to be too optimistic when you have one of the hardest schedules in the league, and you can't get positive yardage and a first down, until the very end of the first half!
Lastly I saw a total lack of urgency in Zorn’s play calling, running up the gut is going to wear down Portis, arguably our best player, and then we are in real trouble.

If the skins had merely lost I could have accepted, but they were dominated. There are a myriad of problems on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, and our season does not get much easier.

[htownskinfan]

Originally Posted by Stacks42

My point is the skins had an extra preseason game to prepare for this. They came out completely flat on both sides of the ball, and it ultimately cost them the game.

2 weeks ago, it was a "wake up call" against the panthers, well no one woke up. Last week it was an eye opener, well someone fell asleep on the job. Everyone said "its preseason, wait until it really counts" well we saw they performed, when it really counted, and that is very disappointing.

I can understand an tolerate a loss, its the NFL it happens. But to have your team manhandled like they were in the 1st quarter is embarrassing. Our O-line looked over matched against a team that lost its 2 top defenders, our D line was non-existent, the corners and safeties looked like they had no clue what was going on until the 2nd half. And Campbell well, he was just horrible, there is going to be a learning curve (I am interested to see how Farve does this season, he is in a new system, will it take him 2 years to learn how to play the game he has played his whole life?)

Its hard to be too optimistic when you have one of the hardest schedules in the league, and you can't get positive yardage and a first down, until the very end of the first half!
Lastly I saw a total lack of urgency in Zorn’s play calling, running up the gut is going to wear down Portis, arguably our best player, and then we are in real trouble.

If the skins had merely lost I could have accepted, but they were dominated. There are a myriad of problems on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, and our season does not get much easier.

good post

[DirtyLandry]

Originally Posted by Stacks42

I can understand an tolerate a loss, its the NFL it happens. But to have your team manhandled like they were in the 1st quarter is embarrassing. Our O-line looked over matched against a team that lost its 2 top defenders, our D line was non-existent, the corners and safeties looked like they had no clue what was going on until the 2nd half. And Campbell well, he was just horrible, there is going to be a learning curve (I am interested to see how Farve does this season, he is in a new system, will it take him 2 years to learn how to play the game he has played his whole life?)

Campbell was horrible?? an 81.6 passer rating is horrible? And did you just compare him to Farve? Eli manning might have had more yards but had a far worse passer rating and threw an interception (probably should have been 5 picks.) People like you are why it's hard to be a skins fan.

[Stacks42]

Originally Posted by DirtyLandry

Campbell was horrible?? an 81.6 passer rating is horrible? And did you just compare him to Farve? Eli manning might have had more yards but had a far worse passer rating and threw an interception (probably should have been 5 picks.) People like you are why it's hard to be a skins fan.

15 of 27 55.6% for 133 yds an average of 4.9 yd per play, yes that is horrible. Great to have a awesome passer rating when all you are doing is dumping the ball off, didn't Brunell set some type of completion record a couple years ago doing the same thing?
My comparison to farve was in how he would fair with the learning curve, they are completly different QBs. I was just saying if you have been working on something for 6 months, you should be able to show something.