Bless Spurrier's Heart, He is Still.........

[bulldog]

waxing poetic about those halcyon days of training camp and the preseason in Osaka when Wuerffel and the offense looked to be headed to the stars

from today's Post:

Spurrier remained less than enthused yesterday about the way his team is playing because of the struggles in the passing game.

"It's disappointing because we threw the ball better the first preseason game in Osaka," Spurrier said. "It's just not working right now real well, but we'll keep practicing with our guys and try to get it going. I don't have any real answer. You're supposed to improve as you go. But right now, I would think we sometimes looked a little better in the preseason, running routes and throwing it where you're supposed to, than what we're doing right now."

Could it be the pressure of having to perform in a regular season game and against top level competition that makes the difference in the equation?

[@DCGoldPants]

I do like that he still expects one day we'll be doing that against everybody.

[redman]

I too wonder about him, bulldog. High expectations are one thing. Unrealistic expectations are something else.

And it's not like he's totally unfamiliar with the NFL or preseason football. He played in the league for a decade! :shootinth

[OrangeSkin]

Isn't it ironic how the NFL can transform even the most pass happy coach in perhaps the history of college football in 8 games?

I'm glad to see that he believes we'll get this show off the ground in a couple years, but until then, it's Martyball, baby.

[RySkins]

I find it encouraging that Spurrier is not boasting in victory and instead is focused toward correcting our problems in the passing game. I think he realizes that we aren't going to win very often throwing for 114 yards.

[RiggoDrill]

Spurrier has a point, though. The line played great on Sunday, yet Matthews was missing wide open receivers, esp. Thompson on the crossing route. Ramsey also missed wide open receivers in the endzone.

So it's executing fundamentals as much as it is the competition.

[SonnyJ]

I agree with him. They were performing better in the preseason.

Regardless of the circumstances, I expect routes to be run correctly, receivers to catch the ball, and QBs to hit open men when they have time. That has been a problem over the last six quarters, at least.

Better competition and regular season pressure should not affect these basics. This isn't a case of trying to thread balls to well-covered receivers, or having every catch contested. It's a matter of making plays when a reasonable opportunity exists.

Plays were there to be made in the passing game, especially against Seattle (if only because it's freshest in my mind). Connecting on those plays could have made that game a laugher. They were making those plays in the preseason. I don't blame Spurrier for being miffed. He is not out of line wondering why those plays were made in August, but not now. Professionals should be making those plays, with few exceptions.

[bulldog]

let's be honest here. Spurrier has gotten decent production out of his offense given the fact he and the front office decided to bypass adding any established players in the offseason.

the team has gotten good performances from Matthews against Arizona and the Colts. He had a workman like effort against the Seahawks, refusing to make the crucial mistake in a game where Seattle was not going to win unless the Redskins gave it to them.

in other starts against SF and the Eagles, the team was just bullrushed by better talent. the lines didn't play well and the running game wasn't there. it would have taken the talent of a Brett Favre to put those games in winnable position.

then you have the games against Tennessee and New Orleans. Those were games where Matthews would have played well in my opinion.

he certainly would have read the same blown coverages that Ramsey did time and again. Tennessee was the perfect defense for the Redskins because they were without their best pass rusher and their front seven was small and had trouble stopping the run.

So, the quarterback was set up nicely there.

Against, New Orleans the Redskins lost by two touchdowns. And how many returns did they give up for scores? Two.

There you go. Even with all of Ramsey's interceptions and early miscues that gave the Saints chances, the game was right there for long stretches.

Would Matthews have made a difference? I think so.

I don't think there is any way Shane comes out and throws 4 interceptions at home in a half.

Not making those mistakes, even if he didn't do anything exceptional besides, would have made that game winnable.

You could say the same thing about the Packers game. Favre was injured and the score was within 2 touchdowns.

Given the ball at midfield against a decimated defense, Ramsey turned the ball over twice.

I doubt Matthews would have come away with zero points on BOTH of those drives.

So, overall Spurrier has gotten what he paid for out of the offense.

Ramsey is a rookie and played like it when he was in there. Wuerffel was a career #3 and played like it when he was in there.

And Matthews is a quarterback that can be effective when he manages the clock and cuts down on the mistakes.

He is not a 300 yard per game passer with big playmaking abilities.

Spurrier should have known that, at least if he had watched Shane's starts in the NFL since leaving Florida.

[@DCGoldPants]

Well, lets be happy that we came out of the hardest part of our schedule at .500 and with some potential. If this is what Spurrier can do with that talent on the O including your star RB out for a game....I think in the long haul...he could be just dandy.

[PCS]

Little something different here. Shoort of the long? Or long of the short is I don't think S.S. is naive enough to make a statement like that meaning : Gee, i can't understand why we aren't playing as well as preseason" Seems to be more like "Yeeeeeesh. You'd think guys would pick this stuff up by now".

[SonnyJ]

That's a perfect synthesis, PCS. Wish I had thought of it myself.

Really, I think Spurrier is just saying the offense seemed to be executing better on a fundamental level in preseason than they are now. And, as PCS so succinctly put it, he can't figure out why the players have seemed to re-gress, rather than pro-gress.

[Skins57]

How much pressure has any of our WR ever been under. How many meaningful games has Rod, Thompson, McCants and Doering played at this level. Rod did play last year as a starter but everything then was around Davis and he wa secondary and he had people hating Westbrook to help take off some pressure but now that he is the man how much could that be affecting his play. I think Willie adds much needed experience to the WR corps. Ramsey is a rookie, he has never been around this kind of pressure. Matthews comes in and knows this is his best chance to have his own team, his best chance to succeed with SS with him again and he wants so bad to make it work that he is trying to hard. I think after last week that Shane seen we do not need him to play well he will relax and improve this week

I know I just said in the long form our WR are young and our QB's are desperate to succeed. Oh well see I said it all again in one sentence:D

Also I think it came to easy in the preseason and when the bullets were for real and teams were game planning for us it got a lot harder quick and might have caught these guys offguard. Except for Arizona who is Arizona:doh: