Looking Back, 5-11 was Good for Us (Long)

[ALLWORLD]

I'm glad to see some measure of support on these boards. Sometimes I feel like we are all one step away from becomming Philly fans. We question everything and support nothing (the majority anyway). What game was it where Campbell got hit pretty hard and Brunell came in? The entire crowd started booing instead of offering some type of support for our backup QB.

You may not like the guy, but he is playing for your team, and is stepping out there to try and help win the game.

exactly, im tired of the negativity of these people... were all supposed to be the best fans, all I see here is a bunch of critics

[Tastes Like Chicken]

its easy, we were 6-10 then went 10-6

now we went 5-11..... time to flip the coin fellas!

:point2sky

Looking forward to 0-16 in 2016 :doh: :laugh:

Love the optimism- it comes down to JC and the D this year

[MoochieDC_86]

You made some valid points bro, good post

[TreachX]

The 5-11 season provided:

• Motivation/Prove everyone wrong
  
• Humbled our coaching staff and team
  
• Saunders and Gibbs developed a working formula for the offense
  
• GW found the weak links and schemes in his defense
  
• A more successful campaign would have meant more Brunell, and Campbell might have entered 07 as a first time starter
  
• Healthy and successful combination of RBs
  
• Lloyd stunk it up, but has something to prove
  
• The offensive line built confidence and improved chemistry in the end
  
• 10 of 11 offensive starters are returning to a familiar offense
  
• The D-Line has found its playmakers as Golston and Carter had a chance to emerge in the system
  
• We recognized that we cannot just plug in linebackers so added an on field coach in Fletcher
  
• Now have experienced and flexible linebacking corp
  
• Addressed depth in secondary by re-signing former players, Smoot and Stoutmire
  
• 5-11 got us Landry
  
• We return 9 of 11 starters on defense
  
• Most of our young stars (Cooley, Portis, STaylor, Rogers, etc.) are now experienced vets (only one rookie may start)
  
• The injuries allowed back ups to gain experience
  

You're being way to optimistic here. The team and coaching staff have something to prove? Guess what? 31 out of 32 teams have something to prove after last year.

And why are you happy that so many starters are returning? These are the guys who went 5-11 last year!

Saying that last year allowed them to identify the flaws in the offense and defense is a bit ludicrous. At season's end, did you have any faith that the Al Saunders offense was going to work? To me, an incredibly complicated system, a young QB, and below average WRs is a very bad combination.

Are Fletcher and Smoot going to improve the defense that much? There's a reason these guys were available. The team still has no reliable pass rush. Taylor and Landry may one day be the league's best safety tandem, but Taylor still makes huge mistakes, and rookies rarely dominate from day one.

Could the team improve on last year? Yes. But to say that last year was a good thing is stretching it.

[JRAB]

My reason for optimism is because the way the last couple of seasons have unfolded and the course of action during this offseason lead me to believe that we have finally built the team that Joe Gibbs/Gregg Williams have been designing and that Snyder has been spending bundles of cash to get. Our reaction to last season hasn't been the complete revamping we've had every year over the past decade.

When was the last time you can remember the Skins making only one free agent acquisition that is intended to start, and that player already comes in with intricate knowledge of the system (Fletcher).

Well... I pretty much think the reason we weren't real active in free agency this year is because we're pretty much snug up against the cap and didn't have just a whole lot of money to spend. We brought in Leonard Davis and just didn't have the money to sign him. We need a guard badly and you can't convince me that the reason we only have Wade at Dockery's old spot is because that's been the master plan all along. We didn't let Dockery walk and Davis sign with Dallas because that was our plan. We just didn't have the money to sign one of them.

Nor can you convince me that we said, "You know... I think Smoot is going to play better than Clements and we just can't use Adalius Thomas." We simply didn't have the money to do much beyond what we did.

We improved middle LB. We improved at safety. We improved at corner. We hope Rocky is ready to take over a LB spot, but our pursuit of Briggs doesn't lend confidence to that theory. We're worse off at G.

Other than that... we stood pretty much pat on a roster that went 5-11 last year, and as many times as people might want to say that's a good thing... I'm not completely convinced of that.

You can tell me that the front office doesn't want anyone for DL and offer our lack of activity getting players there as proof... but my eyes and brain told me last year that we really needed some help there. Until I see these guys stopping the run and pressuring the QB, I'll be skeptical of not getting any help at DL.

In short, I'm not too sure that this is the team that Gibbs has been building towards the whole time he's been back. I don't really expect us to take the NFL by storm and march straight to the super bowl. Hope for? Of course... it would be great. Expect? No, not really. This team has a ton to prove and really, it is going to be pretty much the same team we had last year. The scary thing is... I didn't see a whole lot of heart out of this group last year. I didn't see a whole lot of players who seemed to be playing because they love the game and playing for pride. They looked primarily like a group of guys that quit at times and were just showing up for a paycheck.

I hope that isn't the case and that I'm wrong as I can be. However... they'll have to show it to me, because the last time I saw them... they weren't playing like a championship team.

Anything beyond that is just fans having wishful thinking. :2cents: