Where was everybody last year?

[RedskinzOwnU]

Remember, Prilounea(SP!) never played a play, so he couldn't fill in for AA on the pass plays. Our pass D was actually somewhat better with Springs in it. Also, Alot of fumbles and throws weren't falling our way. That one pass in the Bucs game went right to rogers and he tapped it a away and it fell into a TE hands. In the all of the games, they were a few fumbles falling our away. Hell, I can think of at least 3 calls that easily couldv'e changed the outcome of a game. FOr example, the roughness on that one vikings receivor when Taylor hit him was BS.

Remember, we went from 6-10 to 10-6 and hopefully, we can go from 5-11 to 11-5. All we need is some pressure and a little luck(IMO)

Prioleau was certianly an important injury, but you can't fault bad luck or the ball bouncing the wrong way for the season. Just think about how lucky we were to even with the games against Jacksonville or Dallas. It can go both ways. At the end of the day, good teams win regardless of whether or not they are on the good side or the bad side of some lucky breaks. I'd rather not rely on Carlos Rogers' ability to catch, or our ability to recover fumbles, to determine the outcome of next season. When the team gets good, they will create more of those opportunities, and recover more of them but, I want the team to be good irrespective of chance. And we aren't there.

[NewCliche21]

We are far from being a good team. We aren't 1-2 moves away. We are at least 2-3 really good starters away from even being a competitive team. Thoughts of being dominant should be thrown out the window. We are gonna have to grind out every game next season. It's gonna be stressful, but we have the talent to put up some Wins. The question is whether or not the coaches can get their **** together, call the right plays, manage the games properly, and bring the right people in. So far Gibbs has demonstrated that he can't do any of these things correctly.

Eh. We're bad, but we're not dying. We are just one year removed from a playoff victory and a dropped interception away from the NFC Championship. I don't have my hopes up, but while I wouldn't be surprised at a number 9 pick next year, I wouldn't be shocked by a number 26-32 pick, either.

[NewCliche21]

Prioleau was certianly an important injury, but you can't fault bad luck or the ball bouncing the wrong way for the season. Just think about how lucky we were to even with the games against Jacksonville or Dallas. It can go both ways. At the end of the day, good teams win regardless of whether or not they are on the good side or the bad side of some lucky breaks. I'd rather not rely on Carlos Rogers' ability to catch, or our ability to recover fumbles, to determine the outcome of next season. When the team gets good, they will create more of those opportunities, and recover more of them but, I want the team to be good irrespective of chance. And we aren't there.

The only teams to win are the ones that recover those fumbles, block those kicks, and have their corners catch those balls. Unless you're the 1991 Redskins, you're not gonna outscore your opponents by a million points while having plus three DOZEN takeaways. It just doesn't happen. Chance has a major role in each of the 41 Super Bowl winning teams' seasons.

[pjfootballer]

Most people in here won't admit it, but most everyone in here picked us to go the the SB. I was one who thought we had the horses to run with the big boys, then we had to shoot some of them and send them to the glue factory. I was just as optimistic (I picked 12-4 IF Brunell played well) as the next. Not so much this year. I say 8-8 this season, 10-6 at best with a couple of breaks.

[FanSinceWomb]

I had us at 11-5. I couldn't fathom us being a worse team, hence, one more win.

However, I did look at the schedule and say, well, I could see us going below .500 also.

Anyone who thinks the offense was the main reason, or even most the reason for our losing season go over to NFL.com and skim through the regular season stats, in particular NFL Defense. You can arrange the stats best to worst for everything, 3rd%, TOP, YPG, TOs, etc. You'll find that our D was last or close to last in EVERY CONCEIVABLE CATEGORY. Every one. And in some areas they were the worst EVER.

Yes, the O could've punched the ball in the endzone a hell of a lot better, because the certainly had the YPG to do it (more than Chi, NYG, NYJ, Seattle who all scored more) but it was an average offense with one of the worst defenses in the league.

IF you want to talk about what it takes to get to the Suberbowl look at the playoff teams differential between PPG and points allowed PG. Listed in order of regular season record.

San Diego +11.9

Chicago +10.8

Baltimore +9.5

Indy +4.2

New England +9.3

New Orleans +5.7

Philly +4.4

NY Jets +1.4

Seattle -1

Dallas +4.7

KC +1

NY Giants -0.4

The Skins were at: -4.3

So let's aim from 2 more points per game and give up 4 less. I think we can do both, which would put us at +2, however, to really compete we'll have to make a huge leap.

By the way Jacksonville was a pretty damn unlucky team, they had a whopping average point differential of +6.1, which is better than half the playoff teams.

[elkabong82]

I said 13-3. I was wrong. Very wrong.

(I was 4 of 6 for who makes the playoffs, in both NFC and AFC, though)

[s0crates]

I had us making the playoffs, and probably winning the division.

[Jethrodsp]

I thought we were the best team in the NFC East before the season started but the whole season was dependant on one thing: Mark Brunell.

I did not see the defensive collapse coming at all.

[Capt. Jack]

I said 11-5. I knew we could be below .500 since Brunell was a big question mark, but I never would have guessed our defense would be as bad as it was.

[FredrockSkinsFan]

I didn't have a specific record layed out, but I expected us to be in the top tier of our division. I wasn't 100% on us taking the playoffs, I had a feeling like most of the commentators that our division would be the toughest. Of course as a Skins fan I thought we'd take it eventually, but I figured it'd still be a battle.

Portis getting knocked out early really had an impact on the team over all.

[Shadowplay]

When it comes to predictions, you can pretty much wipe your you know what with them because they're meaningless. For the most part, this NFL is a league of attrition and luck. A poster in this thread previously mentioned the concept of "grinding" out games and that's exactly what 90% of teams do. We could just as easily go 10-6 as we could 6-10. The pros the team has going for itself are another year of working with the same coaching staff and a strong (not to mention deep) running game. The cons are a terrible front office and an aging offensive and defensive lines. Nobody knows how the season is going to turn out...not you, not me, not even Sean Salsbury.

[ChaosCooley]

last offseason I was bragging to everyone about how good a signing Adam Archuleta was :doh:

And it should have been one, Archuleta had a back problem, which they found out after the season:doh: Do they not make new players get checked out by our doctors anylonger?

As for this upcoming year, I think we should do fairly decent. I see us making another playoff. Our offense needs a little work, but not much. We have good threats, Moss, Randel El, and yes, even Lloyd (everyone wants to talk bad about him, but I have seen him make some great catches. Especially the one against the Cowboys where Brunell underthrew him, and he stoped and went back for it. Against the Titans, had a man right on him, and still caught the ball at about the 10 yard line). We have two amazing running backs, the big bruser Betts, and the almighty fast Portis. We have a young, talented, and very skilled quarterback, and our line could use a little work, but I think well be good.

Our special teams, well hell, they just need to do what they did this past season, blocked punts, field goals, punt returns, and kickoff returns, doesn't get any better than that!

As for our defense, thats really only the main problem in our books. But hey, we can do it, cause damnit, were the Washington Redskins! I say were about 80-85% ready for the season, and come down to pre-season, Id say will be 95% ready.

For predictions, as long as we get the Defense together, I can easily see us going 11-5, 12-4, or even 13-3.

Yes, I know some of you are thinking, damn, you're crazy man, then so be it. But I like to think highly of our team, even if I know we aren't going to do well (which I dont think in this occasion). You have to be loyal to the team, through thick and thin, we dont have time for any bandwagon fans, or anything along those lines. Stick together, and I can guarentee we will be just as good as we were in 2005.

[Tastes Like Chicken]

11-5, win the NFCE, home playoff win at FedEx, SB XLI Champs over Colts. "The U Boys" Portis, Moss, Taylor, Rocky celebrating in Miami.

However, when it was apparent that we were in trouble mid-season, I had changed my SB pick to Colts over Bears.

[boysetsfire]

I had us no less than the NFC Championship game. Portis was going to break the Redskins rushing record again. Taylor was going to get a minimum of 5 ints. I could go on and on *sigh*.

[Tastes Like Chicken]

One thing is certain (for me at least)- the expectations for '07 are MUCH more conservative.

[Darth Tater]

I was picking us to go anywhere from 9-7 to 13-3 though I had hoped for the high-end. Of course, since I didn't expect the rash of injuries we had this year, I guess I was a bit optimistic.

[The Rook]

I had last season nailed perfectly. After the signing of AA, ARE, and AC, I predicted we would go 11-5.

Did I mention my dyslexia?

:helmet:

[MF Doom]

I was thinking about 12 and 4, and in my mind believed we had a great chance to go all the way.

[Phixius]

I was thinking 13-3. I said Carlos will improve. Now I dont have expectations this season, I just hope they play well like in the 91' season. As of matter of fact I was thinking we would play like the 91' team last season.

[FuriousD]

I didn't make any predictions with regard to our final record but I certainly thought we had a legit chance to compete for the division title! :doh:

To me, there is very little difference between 7-9 and 1-15. A losing record is a losing record. The only difference of note is draft position. The threshold of any measure of success must be a winning record and that being said,......

I felt very confident that we would finish with a winning record.

I felt good about our chances for a playoff spot.

I felt we had a chance to compete for a division title. :doh:

I felt anything beyond that would be gravy! :doh1:

'07 will be a significant challenge just to reach the threshold! :thud:

[Larry Gude]

This time last year we had added Saunders in January, before the FA period. Ramsey had not yet been traded to the Jets and the big season ending Gibbs press conference made me think Gibbs was very commited to Jason as the starter.

We had not torn apart a secondary that was a strength at that point. LaVarr was still here, having played a huge role in the playoff win over the Bucs. Portis was hurt from a titanic collision when he scored in the same game.

The D line was just awesome.

There was much lamenting Rogers hands of stone and what a pic 6 early against the Seahawks would have meant for moving on to the NFC Championship game.

We needed help at WR.

At that point, I thought a 2006 repeat of the 2005 season the D had and we would only need a few more plays on offense that Campbell might provide and that the D would hold down the fort until maybe mid season where he'd be up to speed and we'd make another playoff run.

That's where I was a year ago.

Moving forward;

Seeings how safety was not an offseason concern, at all, AA was a shock to me. Maybe add depth at corner, sure, but changes at safety?

I saw Brunell as the problem on offense, not Gibbs. I said last year that Gibbs had fired himself from O coordinator and people didn't like hearing that.

Randl El and Lloyd seemd like we'd be loaded at WR, even though the money sounded huge.

Not replacing LaVarr was surprising.

We added depth at O line plus they had a healthy '06 anyway.

In hindsight, Saunders addition made more problems than it solved, at least for 2006.

The WR thing didn't work out too good.

AA for Clark, aka fixing something that ain't broke, goes on that all time wierd move list.

The D line fall off was a shock.

[unsonny]

i had us at 16-0, like i do every damn year

[LoudMouth12thMan]

11-5 but said 10-6 likely...yikes!

HTTR

[thelarkascend1ng]

i never, ever, ever, mind a little optimism on this board.

not even like, dumb or "acceptance of mediocrity". it's not like that. whatever happens happens. i'm along for the ride.

we're superbowl bound though.

[SkinsFTW]

I think just about everybody picked 11 or more wins. I think I was right there as well but said that a lot of it would depend on when Brunell got injured or how badly he played. I didn't think the defense would be horrible though and I had no idea Brunell would absolutely suck. I knew he wasn't very good but he just made the offense worse last year.