The Redskins' Rash of Injuries

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Mark Brunell and Jon Jansen are injured on offense. Philip Daniels, LaVar Arrington, and Mike Barrow are injured on defense. John Hall is still recovering on special teams.

Could it get much worse? Brunell is our starting QB...enough said. Jon Jansen was the "Rock" of the Dirtbag O-line (which is an essential component of Gibbs' offense). Barrow and Arrington are two Pro-Bowl linebackers (who are the "heart and soul" of the defense). Philip Daniels added a quality defensive-end to our d-line (which was never deep in quality or quantity). John Hall is the key to our special teams.

I know every team has its share of injuries, especially this season (where over 3 dozen starters around the league will not start this weekend), but we need some divine intervention. I guess I just want to see Gibbs successful and I hope that everything falls into place sooner rather than later.

[Gmanc711]

Hopefully these injuries wont last too long ( except Jansen ). If we can stay content, which we should be able to do over the next two weeks against Dallas and Cleveland, we should get a bulk of that back. I think we need to be in full force to compete with Baltimore.

[Shane]

This season to me is to get the ship set on the right course, and though I think we have a good chance to get to the playoffs, that is a bonus. The injuries to me are not beyond what is normal for football. The good thing about injuries is that you get a chance to see what the backup can do.

Without the injury to Barrow, we wouldn't have had a chance to see that Antonio Pierce is going to likely be our stalwart at middle linebacker for years to come, the quarterback of the defense. We get a chance to see more of what Patrick Ramsey can do, and we all hope he is going to rise to the challenge. Now Lemar Marshall and Ron Warner have a chance.

So personally I am kind of interested and excited to see what the backups are going to do.

[JWsleep]

Well put, Shane. We all get carried away with Gibbs and co coming back and forget that it takes time even in the best of circumstances to build a team.

[Daseal]

Well put, Shane. We all get carried away with Gibbs and co coming back and forget that it takes time even in the best of circumstances to build a team.

Team chemistry yes. The talent is here, he just needs to adapt his system to incorporate it a bit.

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by Shane

This season to me is to get the ship set on the right course, and though I think we have a good chance to get to the playoffs, that is a bonus. The injuries to me are not beyond what is normal for football. The good thing about injuries is that you get a chance to see what the backup can do.

Without the injury to Barrow, we wouldn't have had a chance to see that Antonio Pierce is going to likely be our stalwart at middle linebacker for years to come, the quarterback of the defense. We get a chance to see more of what Patrick Ramsey can do, and we all hope he is going to rise to the challenge. Now Lemar Marshall and Ron Warner have a chance.

So personally I am kind of interested and excited to see what the backups are going to do.

Excellent post, Shane. I totally agree. I'm just looking for this team to be competitive this season, and at least be in the playoff hunt through December.

Though the injuries are disheartening, I'm looking forward to see if guys like Marshall and Warner step up the way Pierce has done. Gibbs and Williams have pointed to Pierce and said, "this is a guy that's making the most of his opportunity." Hopefully, the other backups have taken note of Pierce's professionalism and commitment to excellence, and they will step up and become playmakers in their own right. I don't expect either of them to perform at Pierce's level, but if they do, it will be a pleasant surprise, and a bonus to know that there is some quality depth at those positions.

I'm confident that Gibbs will train Ramsey to play smarter and make better decisions with the ball. In the short term, Gibbs will have to help him out with a playcalling strategy that avoids putting Ramsey in situations where he will be tempted to force the ball downfield, and place the emphasis on quicker reads and shorter passes. Once Ramsey gets into a rhythm with the short game, and learns to use it as a powerful weapon against the blitz, Gibbs can start to open up the offense a bit more. But Gibbs and Ramsey have to work together to force defenses to back off of the heavy blitzing approach, which is what every defense is going to do until Ramsey learns to exploit it.

[cpayne5]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Team chemistry yes. The talent is here, he just needs to adapt his system to incorporate it a bit.

How come we never heard you say this when Spurrier was here and #48 was getting only 15 touches a game? :cheeky-sm

I don't think it's a matter of the system adjusting to the players in the case of Gibbs. Remember, he started his first coaching stint with a 0-5 record. Give it time. Our defense is keeping us in games right now. When the turnover ratio flip flops, watch out.

[Daseal]

He didn't go out and get Stephen "goaline fumbles" Davis. He acquired a lot of talent for this team. Gibbs went and got Portis, now use him.

[cpayne5]

Can't help if Portis puts the ball on the turf. Portis and the offense had an excellent first drive last week, just gotta keep that going in the coming weeks.

[That Guy]

at least two more starting QBs went down today (rich gannon... aren't they lucky they had kerry collins, who had a good game...) and mcnair (NO!!!! volek is alright, but he's not mcnair)...

this season seems to have soo many more big name starters biting it...

[SkinsRock]

Originally Posted by Shane

This season to me is to get the ship set on the right course, and though I think we have a good chance to get to the playoffs, that is a bonus. The injuries to me are not beyond what is normal for football. The good thing about injuries is that you get a chance to see what the backup can do.

Without the injury to Barrow, we wouldn't have had a chance to see that Antonio Pierce is going to likely be our stalwart at middle linebacker for years to come, the quarterback of the defense. We get a chance to see more of what Patrick Ramsey can do, and we all hope he is going to rise to the challenge. Now Lemar Marshall and Ron Warner have a chance.

So personally I am kind of interested and excited to see what the backups are going to do.

Good post! When it was announced that Lavar was out, it seemed like most reactions were "oh no, we're screwed!" Maybe I'm overconfident in Gregg Williams defense (not to mention the players), but I felt like yes, it's a big loss, but I expect the defense to not miss a beat. Let's see what these back-ups can do. If you think about it, one of the biggest strengths of all of the top, biggest winning and most respected coaches...Gibbs, Parcells, Belecheck, Reid, etc...is that they can take the "unknown" players and turn them into stars, or at the very least, solid starters. Lets see what they can do!

[MTK]

You always have to hate injuries but I'm looking forward to seeing what Marshall and Warner can do.

Let's hope we can battle this the injury bug and get healthy later in the year.