bulldog Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 the Redskins haven't missed on many personnel moves since Gibbs returned. Contrary to belief around the country the team has done very well in replacing injured and problem players with younger, stronger athletes who demonstrate improved attitudes towards competition and making the commitment to sacrifice to win. We see that over and over again in the play of a Cornelius Griffin or Marcus Washington. More recently, in a Santana Moss or Sean Taylor. The one move that stalled the club in 2004 was the injury and premature falloff for a quarterback in Mark Brunell that looked to have a couple of productive seasons left as a starter in the NFL. Sure he had lost his job to a potential franchise talent in Byron Leftwich in Jacksonville, but he was certainly no more of a risk than a Brad Johnson or Rich Gannon. A Trent Dilfer or a Kerry Collins. All of these players made it to the Super Bowl AFTER they were written off by one or multiple clubs. What I think we saw last night was a team make a turn. A positive one after a LOT of careful groundwork that took a bit longer to bear fruit than even insiders expected. Brunell showed why he was named the starter. He does not have a great arm. But he does still have above average mobility. And as we saw last night he has perhaps the most important quality evident in a veteran player, patience Brunell didn't play well in the first half and had to overcome a pick and a fumble by Betts. A lot of quarterbacks, especially younger ones, would have been thrown off their 'game' by the poor start. Further interceptions and miscues the likely result of the increased pressure. But that didn't happen last night. Brunell and the offense shook off the pressure and made the plays necessary to win the game. For those that point to the small margin of victory forget that teams first learn how to WIN games, then they learn how to win them by distancing themselves from opponents. This turn as I described seeing it last night is an indication the club is passing through this first phase of learning how to win. The 9-7 and 14-13 victories in 2005 remind me a lot of the 13-9, 12-7 and 15-14 victories in 1982 where defense and field goals mixed in with the occasional big play on special teams or in the passing game marked the difference early. That 1982 team improved steadily as the season wore on. The 27-10 and 28-0 victories came at the END of the schedule not at the beginning. In the end I don't think Patrick Ramsey would have started this game much differently from Mark Brunell. Indeed he may have hit on a downfield pass earlier in the game than Mark did. But what Coach Gibbs and the staff could not count on was Patrick coming back from adversity and continuing to compete while not getting down on himself and feeling the pressure if things went south at some point. Mark Brunell and Joe Gibbs are in a similar position. Both are proven past winners who are trying to convince a skeptical NFL that they can still get it done. The fact the team shook off the change in qb and didn't allow that to divide the locker room or cause any distraction in the preparations for Dallas indicates how Gibbs and Williams have gained the respect of the players. It would have been too easy for this team to go down to Dallas and then succumb 13-0 after some adverse off-week publicity over the qb change and the poor first half performance. We have seen such changes blamed in the past for failures against Dallas (see Jeff George in 2000). In my mind this club learns more from the 9-7 and 14-13 wins than the 28-0 win, at least this early in the season because being 2-0 after having had to fight for the wins continues to carry the message that success only comes from working harder than the other guy. Coming out of the break the Redskins won't be looking past Seattle or assume all they have to do is show up and good things will happen. This is a working man's 2-0. As it should be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlanta Skins Fan Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Bulldog, Excellent post. The best read on the State of the Skins that I've read anywhere since midnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted September 21, 2005 Author Share Posted September 21, 2005 my system clock was off on my laptop :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 I agree. I think much of the Redskin squad played tenatively... afraid to lose or expecting to lose. The O-line made so many more nervous mistakes, jumping offsides, than they did against Chicago. They were so concerned about the Dallas Curse, still we kept hearing about how Brunell is a calming and steadying influence in the huddle. The team now realizes they can win... that will reduce some of the jitters causing the offsides (I hope) and dumb penalties. I think that they will play better against a team tha they are less superstitious about. This game meant so much too all of them that they really played tight. At least that's what I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 well done, bulldog, my brother. (no caps in your honor.) Gibbs doesn't do NFL fast food. he takes the time to cook a real meal, and the eatin' is hearty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Gibbs Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Jurrasic Mark (as Brian Mitchell called him on the week 1 postgame) threw 2 great passes yesterday. KEEP NURSING THAT SORE TOE LAVERNEUS! WE GOT SAAAANNTAAAANNNAAAA MOSS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsHokieFan Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Great post there The other thing is it always seemed like that with Gibbs' teams. The Redskins looked much better at the end of the season then at the start You can think of Gibbs' "last team" basically the squad that made up the team from 89-92 and see how they progressed. It wasn't always pretty, there were some ugly losses (playoffs to the 49ers 28-10) and some ugly wins (33-31 in Dallas on MNF) but the end product was masterful Great post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheREALJBird Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Gibbs doesn't do NFL fast food. he takes the time to cook a real meal, and the eatin' is hearty! Well said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 that was a sweet post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camyj15 Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 I totally agree with your post. This was a big win for the franchise, not just a win over Dallas. I believe we have bigger fish to throw back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 We have seen such changes blamed in the past for failures against Dallas (see Jeff George in 2000).It's like Beetlejuice. You mention his name and he appears. The Lions have brought him in for a workout. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RF4L Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 you sound so analytical bulldog. how did you behave during the last 4 minutes of the game? chew the sofa cushions to shreds? :laugh: woof woof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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