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Fine Boswell article in the Post.


E-Dog Night

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I'm assuming someone posted it but if not here's the link from the WP.

There were a few morsels of information included in this column which made me very happy:

"In 1987, the Redskins were a flawed team that needed December wins by four, four and three points to make the playoffs. Few expected much of them..."

"Neither Jay Schroeder nor Doug Williams was as good as current Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell. Gary Clark was the only receiver with more than 630 yards in catches. Top running backs George Rogers (613 yards) and Kelvin Bryant (406) barely combined for 1,000 yards...Chris Cooley's 71 catches would have led the team -- by 15."

"The '82 Super Bowl champs had to win four postseason games. The '86 team was a wild card yet beat the 14-2 Bears in Chicago to reach the NFC title game. Both the '90 and '92 Redskins were only wild cards, yet won their first-round games on the road."

"throughout his 14 seasons, Gibbs's teams have improved by an average of 17 points in their rematches against teams that previously beat them."

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That's a great article. I'm not a big Boswell reader and typically find him too dry for my taste. But, with his Redskins writing, there's the quality about it that most of us miss in writing for the local papers. Boswell writes a nice piece. He doesn't assign the Redskins any unearned greatness. He lays out a series of reasonable facts. All that's fine.

But, the underlying component of it is HOPEFUL.

This is the element most of the media now seems to ignore when writing stuff about the team. The article is written in a way you, as a fan and reader, connect with because AS a fan and reader, it is meaningful to you. It speaks to you. Why? Because sports writing has to take into account that the readers of any particular beat are people who are likely VERY interested in the beat and who almost uniformly WANT the beat to perform well.

We want to believe, to hope, to dream.

Boswell remembers this. TK used to know this. Yeah, the Redskins have flaws. Boswell was able to point that out without fixating on it. And, he was able to bring some inspiration to us as fans and readers who are feeling the exact same way. Boswell did well here connecting with the audience.

The Post infrequently does this.

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After the Eagles victory, several Redskins prepared to douse Gibbs with Gatorade. Trainer Bubba Tyer, an old hand from the Gibbs I Era, contemptuously knocked the bucket over. First, don't give Joe pneumonia when he needs to work 20 hours a day. Second, get serious. If you play for Joe, you don't celebrate being in a three-way tie for the 11th best record in a 32-team league.

Man, that's awesome. It makes me warm inside knowing we have a coaching staff with severe playoff experience, all the way down to our head trainer.

Act like you been there. Luckily, our coaches have.

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"The Bucs played seven games, nearly half their season, against teams that lost 12 or more games -- the worst patsies in the NFL. Yet they only outscored the league for the year by 26 points. For an 11-5 team, that's lame. The Bucs lost to the horrid 49ers and Jets, barely beat the lowly Packers by a point and the even worse Lions by four. Three weeks ago, New England undressed them, 28-0. Meantime, the Redskins played 10 games against teams with nine wins or more and outscored the league by a respectable 66 points. They also beat three division champions: Seattle (13-3), Chicago (12-4) and the Giants (11-5)."

That about says why I don't see Tampa winning the game. The only thing on their side is the Home field and our injuries.

Reading an article like this kind of makes you nervous too because you want Gibbs to live up to what he has done in the past. The players aren't quite there yet in getting it about Gibbs.

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All I know is that I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't concentrate. I'm so nervous that I may not even watch the biggest game to hit town since the last time we played in Tampa in 1999.

I firmly believe that we will win this game, don't get me wrong, but I just can't bear to watch the first 3 quarters when it will be close and hard fought. I need some vicodin, prozac, something!

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Interesting he mentioned SF in '87, but didn't mention that we were lucky not to face them. If I remember correctly, they lost in the first round to the Vikings, who we faced in the NFC Championship game.

I can excuse the players a bit for getting excited for making the playoffs. For a lot of these guys, it is their first time. Hopefully, a first of many times.

Jason

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Glad an old Redskin like Bubba is watching out for Coach Joe! That whole Gatorade bath deal should be banned too...it's tired.

Boswell rarely blows smoke...he's thoughtful and uses stats and facts to make his arguments. You may not always agree with his conclusions, but he certainly makes you think. Good columnist for Washington Redskins fans because they tend to be very informed and knowledgeable about the game.

If this column doesn't get you pumped for tomorrow's game...you don't have any blood pressure!

Hail to the Redskins! :point2sky

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Page 2 had some godd stuff too.

Washington Post

"Though he'll never say it, Gibbs fully expects to go to Tampa and beat the Bucs. Why? Because for starters, the Bucs are not terribly good. The Bucs' strength is defense: No. 8 in points allowed. If that's their edge, it's not a big one. The Redskins were No. 9. More important to Gibbs is that the Bucs spent most of their season playing down to the level of an extremely weak schedule while the Redskins spent their year trying to play up to the level of a tough schedule.

The Bucs played seven games, nearly half their season, against teams that lost 12 or more games -- the worst patsies in the NFL. Yet they only outscored the league for the year by 26 points. For an 11-5 team, that's lame. The Bucs lost to the horrid 49ers and Jets, barely beat the lowly Packers by a point and the even worse Lions by four. Three weeks ago, New England undressed them, 28-0. Meantime, the Redskins played 10 games against teams with nine wins or more and outscored the league by a respectable 66 points. They also beat three division champions: Seattle (13-3), Chicago (12-4) and the Giants (11-5)."

Go skins!

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I just read Boswell's article!!! I am completely pumped now!!!!!!!!!

As soon as I finish writting this I am going to run to the gym, do 20 sets of benchpresses, followed by 20 sets of shoulder shrugs, followed by Rocky-esque run/sprint down the Mall, up the stairs of Congress, turning around out the top with fists pumping in the air screaming "TAMPA!!!!!". My insane workout will hopefully inspire a large following of Hill staffers, street vendors, homeless people, traffic cops, school kids, etc to follow me up the stairs at which point we will all engage in a multi-cultural feel-good embrace as we are overcome by emotion and break out in song "Hail to the Redskins...." I AM SO FREAKIN' AMP'd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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