Ghost of

Didn't he play until 2008 with multiple teams, I'm not sure I'd say "career" was ended by it.

like father like son

"this kid is incredible" gushed an announcer after he was zinging it around the field and leading a comeback. Ramsey seemed to have a partial magic touch and should have been the starter in the playoffs in 2005 when Brunell was obviously hurt (in the game where Ramsey came in and led the team to a win, and then he won against SF the next game) or at least by the Seattle game. Brunell was throwing around beach balls by then and Gibbs blew what small chance we had of advancing on a bum-knee QB who simply wasn't the same after he got hurt vs the Giants.

The average draft fan obsessively poring over film gushing about what a "beast" a prospect is and stats vs. the Chad highlight enjoyer who just says "I just don't see it."

I do remember that suplex. I think Archuleta was one of those workout warriors, maybe even some hidden PED use but even for Rams he was an in the box safety and I just think that type of safety was not long for the game even back then. I bet there are still some but the system probably covers for them a bit more. That and Arch may have had his run and collected his bonus and was "out." Deion single-handedly won us the Saint Louis game and it wasn't like he got burned every game so I don't know I can consider him on Mt. Rushmore.

My understanding was that Archuleta was on Gregg Williams. hey, remember Roy Williams, the Dallas safety whose career took a hit when he couldn't horsecollar anyone anymore? Just thinking about safeties who can't cover a lick.

That was me

Now there seems no reason why I should carry on In this league that once was my league I can't find a home It's lonely and it's quiet And the away team fans are cheering Think it's time I took the Metro And ceased my senseless sneering For soon I'll find the yellow moon Along with my great heroes Where the legends dance over RFK field Without a scoreboard of zeroes And the red sun sinks, at last sets on burgundy and gold And peace to this young Redskin fan Comes without a glimmer of..hooooope.

China still holding onto sparty hope that "this time, surely something will stop the GOAT NFL player from being from Michigan! I believe there's a regulation against this."

Pack didn't you used to be a teenager on our boards? How old are now, son?

For me it's more the relationship to the board. The team just gives us something to talk about. Like a family member who has always been a disappointment.

My son is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. Everything is good and I feel...freer by not being so invested. I'm anxious about my family and our well-being, who has time to get wrapped up in outcomes you can't control? Hell, I have more fun playing computer games these days. Sports is still fun, but it's best not to treat it like the fate of your people is at stake. I had it wrong all those years (though I also wouldn't trade away my childhood love of sports.) People may think of sports (as in playing) as a young man's game, but so is being a fan.

Nope, feelin' fine. One day you'll be here too.

We used to have a thread of attractive women (though clothed, mostly) in the Tailgate. Before the Dark Times... "this guy walks through the raindrops"

That tweet really gets at it. For me, I had stopped watching every sport years ago, I just find that my objections about what sports does, how it distracts, who plays it, coaches it---these aren't really individuals I would want my son to emulate other than physical courage (now that I have one.) The crass commercialism, dilution of the experience, Thursday night games, the politicization of my favorite sport, the constant need that even I would feel to be an apologist for this or that retrograde moron because they were paid millions of dollars to put on my particular corporate product's jersey (or hat like Gruden), and ironically, watching this team under Gruden was the last straw. I have never felt my interest in the team to be so futile, I really think years from now we will see how Gruden was the last coach of the Redskins and a franchise-killer. I simply had better things to do. Now that I have a family, my weekends are spent doing chores or going on walks or talking to family. It's fun to watch some highlights or hear a score but that's about it. I have tried to re-engage and I can sort of do it every so often but now I finally relate to those oldheads years ago, the ones who used to talk about not watching Sundays anymore (and this is back when we had some reason to feel our delusions made sense about a redemption of the Washington football brand.) Now, true, I'm not the best example because I feel this way about all sports, not just professional but college too. But it all started with the first few weeks I slept through Washington games and didn't care that much that I missed them. This is about more than Snyder or even losing. Something special has been lost. Going with my grandfather who was proud of his season tickets, seeing Chief Zee, hearing the band, feeling the stadium rock, the smell of hot dogs and peanuts, in the air at RFK, the last gasp of American innocence in the 80s and early 90s, the feeling that the football team wasn't merely an organ of a massive corporate trust, an enjoyable Super Bowl experience that catered to actual football fans, a sense of loyalty (even if forced through restrictions on free agency) and continuity, NFL Films on the weekends before games---it's gone. Maybe one day it'll come back but I don't think I'll be young enough to really enjoy it. To quote Dillon (Carl Weathers) from Predator: I woke up, why don't you?

Richard Dent had 17.5 sacks in 1984, then 17 in 1985, and had 8 out of 10 double digit sacks and was no slouch against the run...back when having that many sacks meant something from a 4-3 DE position. So you don't need to be Reggie White. But you could try to match the production of the 203rd pick from the 8th round of the draft. "he's a HOFer, that's not fair" Um, you pick guys at #2 to go to the HoF, numbnuts. He's not even some mid-round guy who flashed for a few years. He's not Mann, he's not Kerrigan, he's not even Fred Stokes for those of you who remember Fred.

It's all in the game, yo. btw, I am still picturing "head trainer" giving advice. "No, here, let me show you" looking like Andy Dick's character in Old School

Urban Meyer is an example of a guy who really is a great college coach and, more importantly, a fantastic "recruiter." His system is perfect for athletic QBs who don't have the pocket skills of a Tom Brady (even at Michigan.) Pair that with superior talent in most cases and a likely lack of ethical core and you've got a great coach of young men.

When you draft someone basically as a #1 overall, you do sort of expect White or Dent. I added Dent in for a reason. A HoFer who was excellent but not better than White but someone we'd be happy with. I find it funny that I barely watch any football anymore but had suspicions about Young when I watched some tape out of curiosity. I didn't see what people were telling me about. I trusted that I was wrong and I was just rusty but... *meme* Look at what it takes for them (1.25 seasons) to mimic even a fraction of our power (pre-draft)!*/invincible* Props to you, I was probably not as negative (in my own head, I honestly don't even know if I posted) but I didn't see it. I'd still have rather traded down to get a QB or just draft someone you can halfway believe in. I didn't see it with this guy. Not at #2. Bob at least had a major knee injury to blame for a regression and it getting in his head.

I thought it might be interesting to bump this and resurrect specific discussion on Young, since these megathreads seem to suit that purpose. I was skeptical of the pick but I also don't pretend I am an expert, I still thought getting a QB until you seem to hit is key. Young is...disappointing this year from what I understand. Any reason to think he turns into Reggie White (or Richard Dent even) in the next year?

They may have been ripped in threads in a gameday or postgame situation where people are heated or whining about a loss or lack of performance but you can count me as one of those people who thought, if what people said about how brilliant McVay was (and that he was not just smart but a pretty good leader), that he should have been hired after we fired Gruden long before he actually was. I'd have been fine, also, if we hired Shanahan and let his dad move on to retirement. I disagree that because some people were heated or were wrong that it means the "fanbase" was wrong in some general way when people like me were so disheartened by Gruden that they eventually stopped watching football altogether (well that's not entirely true, but it didn't help.)

it wasn't really that bad. The defensive player made contact with the offensive player before that. And if a team gets away with multiple holding calls on key plays that is just as big as 20 seconds to go call because the entire game was changed. Now, if you are comparing two individual calls, then yes, you have time to make up the bad call earlier.

Yeah, SkinsGuy, I saw that but I did notice that Cardinals had 4 fumbles lost, yet no Skins are credited with Fumbles Recovered. I have a distinct memory that Milot was in on a forced fumble and/or fumble recovery, as well as over ten tackles and that half-sack. I was a kid but I'm feeling a bit old that Milot is dead and I'm reflecting on a game from 1983. Great game (for the Skins.)

Memory is a fickle thing, but I remember the 1983 home game versus the Cardinals and how the screen (what were those old light bulb displays called again) would light up with whoever made the tackle or recovered the fumble. As I recall, Milot's name was a constant on that board but since tackles are unofficial stats, I can't find any trace of that box score with tackles or anything else. Skins won 45-7.

He stay winning. "and another one"