Why Willie Jackson is here....

[Art]

The disappearance of Derrius Thompson and Darnerian McCants as consistent threats is the reason you have Jackson waiting in the wings. Thompson was actually open a few times today and Matthews missed him. McCants was open on the touchdown and little else. Jackson is a vet who understand what it takes to perform week in and week out and can impart that to our talented young guys. Gardner continues to flash skills, but, while Matthews is making our offensive line look terrific, he is actually hurting our receivers by missing the easy open throw. Gardner was open on a handful of occasions that the ball was poorly thrown.

Thompson was as well, but, you can't go with no catches in a game and feel too comfortable when you have Jackson lurking.

[Zen-like Todd]

Jackson is here...

to get in Betts' way on kickoff returns.

[Skeletor The Invincible]

LOL TCO, noticed that as well.

[inmate running the asylum]

I agree Art. Willie Jackson may not be a speed-burner, but he still had 81 catches last year, 1,046 yards and 3 100-yard games.

I also feel the Skins have not given an adequate chance to Jacquez Green who also had 3 or 4 big 100-yard games in the past with Tampa Bay. To me if you cant get a 100 yards or more receiving in a few games a year, you are not starting material.

At least McCants is making his catches count, like he did his senior year at Delaware State! 4 catches so far and 2 touchdowns. I would rate our receivers this way:

1. Willie Jackson

2. Rod Gardner

3. Jacquez Green

4. Derrius Thompson - has potential

5. Darnerian McCants - has a lot of potential

6. Chris Doering - should be replaced - maybe by Justin Skaggs

I like Skaggs who I believe is a good special teams player - he just needs more experience and playing time

[Montilar]

Im getting a bit tired of the "has potential" label in regards to Derrius.

This is the year he has to break out and lose that label. How many years now has he been hovering around on the "has great potential" label?

I know not having a legitimate QB doesn't give him a great shot but at some point someone else needs to earn his spot.

I would really hate 10 years from know to be going, "That Derrius Thompson, he's a 14 year vet; he only makes about 20 catches a year but he has great potential".......

If Skaggs can't get on the roster next year, he should go also. I would like to see him make it though.

[ummagumma]

Originally posted by Art

The disappearance of Derrius Thompson and Darnerian McCants as consistent threats....SNIP

OK, maybe nit-picking, but McCants hasn't disappeared as a consistant threat since he wasn't one to begin with. I guess Thompson would be the same, but he has played in more then 2 games so far.

[Art]

I hear you Ummagumma. Perhaps it was poorly phrased. Perhaps just how you said it is how I should have said it. Jackson is here because McCants isn't a consistent threat and Thompson has shown, now twice, he can look good and then have nothing at the end of a game in consecutive weeks. Jackson isn't a great receiver, but he is one who has proven capable of producing in the NFL on a consistent basis as a starter. Thompson and McCants haven't shown that and until they can I suspect they'll learn a lot from watching Jackson.

[Ancalagon the Black]

I think you're right here, Art. Thompson and McCants weren't showing much. If Thompson ever actually used his size to wrest balls away/go up for balls in traffic, things might be looking better for him.

Jackson looked really slow on the field today. Maybe that was because of uncertainty, but it was worrying.

[Ignatius J.]

I think alot of the poor wide reciever performance today goes on Mathews. If a couple of balls had been placed better we would have seen some amazing numbers. Luckily numbers don't really mean anything and we won the game, but If the team turns south I think mathews may be the first to go.... again.....

-DB

[Potato Sack]

Wait a minute, Art. None of what you wrote defended our need to start Jackson ahead of Thompson, Gardner, OR McCants. As a matter of fact, you pretty much trashed the poor play of Shane Matthews. If that's the case, we also have Ramsey waiting in the wings. Why start demoting WRs because of the crappy play of a QB?

Thompson DID mishandle one pass that MIGHT have been a bit high. Still, it was in his hands and he should've caught it. But, you know what? I'm going to overlook it, because he's a young player. However, Matthew's was WAY off and he's been in the league a while. I don't know what happened, but he simply came down with some Wuerffelitis.

Why are we coming down on our young wide receivers? If noone has noticed yet, I'll point it out. WE ARE NOW .500!!! Anyone notice how we've actually WON 2 in a row and sit at 4 and 4? Sure, it was against Indy and Seattle. BUT WE WON! And we're GOING to beat the Jags next week. That puts us at 5-4!

I think Jackson will be a great addition. But, even HE is going to need a QB to get the ball in the numbers.

[Art]

GoSkins,

It's pretty simple really. Thompson was the starter. He was then benched. Why? Because he failed to show up statistically. Matthews was completing other passes though. Now, last night was an awful game for Shane and Thompson as actually rather open on a few attempts.

But, the fact remains that our No. 2 and No. 3 receivers combined for 1 catch. As much as is on Matthews for that, some is going to be on the receivers too.

[Tommy-the-Greek]

I want to know how anyone here can say that Mathews OVERTHREW the balls to Gardner and to a lesser extent the other recievers. How do you know what play was called and what it was changed to and then after reading the "D" before the snap what route Gardner should have run? I got the impression that Gardner was running sloppy routes and the wrong route at least on that one fly pattern Mathews thru into the endzone. Gardner is starting to remind me of Westbrook. He has a few flashes of brillance and then he does something stupid.

How many balls were thrown into a recievers hands and was dropped yesterday? How many times it appeared to be bad throws and the reciever just plain ran the wrong route? Jackson should bring much needed NFL expierence to a wr group that seriously lacks it. His 2 years of playing with Mathews in Florida should also count for something.

[Potato Sack]

Art,

To be honest, I thought the benching of Thompson was ridiculous. I think the QB carousel has been a joke as well. Hell, HAS Thompson been THAT terrible? I don't think so!

I'd think you would have to agree that Thompson shows promise. And I don't think any of us would want to see a game played without Gardner out there. He's just too damn good.

But, my point was this: you simply CAN'T blame WRs because of the bad play of a QB, who should've been connecting.

If Thompson drops balls in next week's game, I'll be more than happy to agree with you. But, I saw nothing in yesterday's game that would give me a reason to agree with you here.

Shane simply has to come out and play with a little more confidence. It's not like he was up against a defensive juggernaut.

[Potato Sack]

Tommy,

Now THAT'S a good point: the route running. I didn't think about that. If that's the case, then, yes, I'd have to retract my disagreements with Art. However, I never read anything about Spurrier making a point about sloppy route running. I figured he would have said something in post about it.

At any rate, without the proof that the WRs were running bad routes, Shane looked bad out there. I think we could have EASILY but up 3 more TDs. Not that it mattered, we won the game!

[Potato Sack]

"We were moving the ball well early on, and then we just bogged down," Matthews said. "I was missing some open guys. I was losing the grip on the ball for some reason. You're going to have your bad days. I need to play better for us to go where we want to go, but we're going to enjoy the win."

That says enough for me!

[fansince62]

GoSkins...you have a point.......same pov I have. How can the receivers be productive if Matthews' answer to every challenge is to dump the ball to the safety valve? To routinely overthrow open players? Now, it is true that we don't know if SOS believes his receivers are making the wrong reads and that Jackson will correct this problem. But then, what the heck were Green and Doering supposed to be here for?

Am I satisfied with victory? Yes. Do I believe we will beat the good teams - e.g.. Philly - with SM at the helm? No. The formula will not work. Our O-line was physically dominated by the better defenses. The same thing will happen again against a good D. SM is not capable enough to win games on his physical talents/leadership. So, we have a forgiving schedule the remainder of the year and the D is playing well. I expect the O to continue its mediocre but sufficient performances. You can't win in this league without a quality QB - Dilfer was the exception, not the rule. The whole philosophy is unappealing: play SM because he is least susceptible to mistakes - not because he can win games with his arm or leadership. Oh well.....Martyball is back!!!!!

[Potato Sack]

fan,

The way we'll beat Philly is with superb defensive play. I think we can win with SM at the helm, but it will be with quick, decisive, accurate throws; not like what we saw yesterday.

If we can shut McNabb down, we win the Philly game!

[fansince62]

GoSkins....we will not beat Philly if the O-line is beaten silly again forcing the defense to wear down as it spends the entire game on the field due to turnovers and poor time of possession by the offense. the rubber will meet the road on how the O-line contains the iggles D-line. Based on what I saw yesterday and what others at the game have reported, it is very much in doubt whether the O-line has improved enough. the gints game will be interesting. if the O-line manages the gints d-line with some consisitency, then I will be more optimistic. otherwise, I think improvements have been marginal at best. remember these things are all linked: O-line blocking, QB play & turnovers, D-line time on the field....etc....etc.....

[Potato Sack]

Good point. Yet, I've seen extreme improvement with our offense. But, will they hold together during the Philly game? We'll see....

[Utah]

Wow, this is the same Michael Westbrook thread we had about 2 years ago. Almost word for word.

Is it the QB or the WR?

Well, at least one guy knows the answer.

[Fred Smoot Fan]

Yeah lets blame the WRs for Shame being a crappy QB. He overthew, he underthrew, he threw in the wrong spots and got McCants almost killed twice in 1 game. Maybe if he had a real QB Thompson would be a probowler!

[NavyDave]

Willie Jackson is here to dispel once and for all that we dot need ex gators to make the system work.

Wille doesnt have a speed demon(J Horn) or two to take have him facing the number 2 or 3 corner.

D Mac and D Thompson are playing in essence their rookie season and with another year in this system should be very impressive and yeah if Matthews could throw the ball in a position for the WR to run under it and not into traffic the WRs wouldnt look bad.

[Henry]

Pop quiz: Can anyone tell me who posted this after the 49er preseason game? I'm just curious.

Haha see you in 6 weeks, oooo we're sooo scared, NOT! Mike Rumph sucks as does the whole 9er secondary. This 1st string vs 3rd string argument is BS. Our starters played just as little as their starters did, the problem is a)we have more O and D depth b)SOS makes it look too easy.

Week 6 prediction

Skins 31

Niners 6

[tex]

Obviously the relationship between QB's and receivers is a symbiotic one. QB's need weapons with sure hands and receivers need accurate passers that can read defenses to get them the ball. At the risk of overstating the obvious the Skins don't have quality throwing to quality. Sometimes I think that there are just not enough quality players to go around.

[bulldog]

let's be honest here folks.

there aren't many playoff teams in the NFL that are starting 23 and 24 year old starting wide receivers as a tandem

the Redskins are in very good position with Gardner, Thompson and McCants for the future and they are indeed making positive contributions NOW.

But what has been missing is the consistency, the knowledge that on third and 7 you can throw the ball to a guy and he is going to win his battle and catch the ball with no questions asked.

Gardner still drops some key passes when they are in his hands, a point which annoys me because his rep in college was he lacked great deep speed but was like flypaper and caught everything thrown to him!

Jackson is the only receiver on the team to have posted a 1,000 yard season. He is the only one to have been a starter on a playoff team.

If you go back Jackson had a breakout year in 2001 with 81 catches but the starting point for him was really the 2000 playoffs where he had 11 catches against the Rams in the playoff win. He was just super in that game.

The only other 'veterans' on the team, Doering and Green, lack that kind of experience to lead.

The one advantage for them over other receivers was their knowledge of this offense, but Jackson trumps them there as well.

His addition, at the minimum prorated salary, is nothing but a positive for the team.

Like Gardener and Tre Johnson, we get a cheap audition for a guy that has better than veteran minimum talent

You watch. I bet somewhere down the road Jackson catches a key touchdown against Philly or Dallas or another team to help this team win a crucial game or two......