MarkPSkins Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 :::WARNING: Major rant ahead::: You guys in Redskin land are funny. I think y'all's biggest problem is is somewhere along the way you thought that we had talent enough to win a lot of games (me too for a while). You also, obviously, except for fly-by poster here on this board don't really speak to casual non-Redskin fans and that is all you really need to do to understand that the Redskins are just not a whole lot of good right now. Because I live outside the DC area I talk to a lot of non-redskin fans. And the ones that don't study football are the ones that made me realize more than the "students" of game the reality that is the Washington Redskins. They don't know who our QB is, cannot name a single WR, the only name they can pull out from our defense is Darrell Green who hardly plays anymore. Or Bruce Smith who is still imprinted on their brains in a Buffalo uniform. They might know about Lavar, but don't consider him on the same plain as Urlacher. Other than that, there is no one of note. Why can't the average fan name players on our team? I'm a fan, I know the Redskins, play a touch of fantasy football (BTW, Tom (giants fan)...and then there were two ), but I can name names of bunches of players on good teams and no so many from the not so good teams. Why? I'll tell you why. Because they aren't very good and have no interest in them. The press doesn't talk about them, they don't show their games. Why? And the bottom line is: they aren't very good. But you guys seem to think that the Darrius Thompson's and the Darnian McCants should be playing at the levels of the Marvin Harrison's of the league. You guys seems to think that Wuerful/Mathews/Ramsey combination should be playing like the Favres and the Garcias of league. You get so upset at our mediocrity as if it is a mirage, or we're a good team playing bad. Wake up fellows. We are a mediocre team playing to where everyone outside of this message board expected us to play with a new offense and defense, new QBs, unheralded WRs. Why is it so surprising to some of you? Good teams don't turn the ball over 3-4 and 5 times a game. Good teams don't fold in the spotlight. Good teams don't make excuses for their non-talent. Good teams don't switch QBs every week. Good teams aren't discussing mid-season about the future of RBs now carrying the ball. Guys, we aren't very good right now. We do show flashes now and again, but it is inconsistent and just enough to be frustrating to say the least. Blame the front office if you like. But they are trying, they are just as unlucky as the players on the team. Say we bring in a, how you call it, "real GM", he's rolling the dice just like our current guys. We've been unlucky in some areas, luckier in others. The benefit of Hindsight like most of you have doesn't mean squat now. And it is just that...HINDSIGHT. It's all a guessing game. Brian Mitchell for example for the last two years he was here did nothing. Was it his fault, not necessarily. But he looked slow, rarely broke anything and was a whiny azzed-biotch. N.D. Kalu couldn't crack the starting lineup and probably wouldn't have in Philly if it wasn't for injuries. Thrash was nothing to get excited about here and was demanding money he did not deserve and we couldn't afford to pay. The list goes on and on. Yet you people believe all of these moves were mistakes and only can only confirm your beliefs with the benefit of hindsight. The only thing wrong with the Redskins right now is the curse. And it is a curse. We are cursed with losing, with high expectations, with so-called stars not performing. We are cursed with bad breaks, no breaks and worn out brakes. We are cursed by the Cowboys and our own home field. We are stuck in the quagmire of mediocrity for one simple reason. The Redskins seems to believe whole-heartedly, unconditionally and wrongly in the QUICK FIX. I hate the freakin quick fix and if we keep trying to band-aid everything we will never get out of this mud. Can we see the forest through the tress. I think so. But if I see any of you, me included, when next year's prediction threads come up, start throwing out these 10-6, 11-5, 12-4 records, I am simply going to shake my head and wonder what the heck are you thinking. Am I frustrated with our team. Of course. Am I mad that everything we do from a personel stand point seems to backfire. Most definitely. But who is to blame? Why do we blame? Blaming people is just like making excuses, it is effort I don't care to partake in because it serves no useful purpose. Will the Skins get better. Sure they will. Will it happen overnight? You'd be a fool to think so. Do we have the coaching and management in place to succeed? Hard to say because we have been in such disarray in that department for so long, we don't know what could happen if we actually kept the same people for a year or two to see. The Redskins need to avoid as much change as possible in my opinion. Play out the hand. Let it ride and any other relevelant cliche that might apply. I realize there are moves to be made for money's sake, but wholesale changes on Offense or Defense is only going to set us that farther back. I don't think we are that far away. By just cutting out the bonehead plays we'd be at least .500 right now. Some continuity and stability might just be the trick. A whole new front office, a whole new offense save for two or three guys or new coaches is only going to keep up spinning tires as we have been for so long. So vote NO for change. Vote no on the QUICK FIX. Keep the same people, let them grow together. Stand pat, let the chips fall where they may..in a year or two if we are still singing the same ole song, then wipe the slate. But we can't keep wiping the slate year in and year out and expect to be any good. So guys, get comfortable with mediocrity because it firmly entrenched here. You dont have to happy with it, but you need to accept it. I did and I feel so much better looking forward. No star WR or free agent aquisition is going to turn this team around, no GM or coach is suddenly going to make all the breaks fall our way. We need to grow without changing the soil. We need to catch up to the learning curve. We need to become a team and not a patch-worked quilt of quick-fixes. One final cliche. The more things change, the more things stay the same. The Redskins keep changing and they keep sucking. Anyone else see the pattern here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonnyJ Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Curse you for being right!:thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yomar Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 you are right, but we still need a front office...not a new front office, that would imply we currently have one in place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer17 Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Who exactly is playing WR for the Giants? Or the Falcons? Or the Eagles for that matter. Our WRs arent probowlers, but neither are many teams looking at playoff spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Potato Sack Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 AMEN! Great post! Great insight! Poor grammar and spelling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPSkins Posted December 16, 2002 Author Share Posted December 16, 2002 Kilmer, Niether the Giants or the Falcons are teams that I would want the Redskins to apsire to. One of those teams might make the playoffs. But neither one of those teams are really any better than the current Redskins. Making or backing into the playoffs will not cure the ills of the Redskins, but what those teams have and the Skins do have is some semblence of stability. That's all I want for now. Then maybe next year we too can back into the playoffs only to get beat by teams with actual players and talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer17 Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Fair enough. It just disgusts me to see teams with equal or lesser talent outperform us year after year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerpSkin Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Mark, What you are observing in talking to these casual football fans is just a result of our TEAM not having success and thus not being in the spotlight. As a result these "fans" don't hear the names of our players because the media isn't talking about them. That doesn't mean these players aren't very good and that the other explanations that more educated football observers have made (such as our success being a result of massive organizational change year in and year out) are not correct. People around here like Darnerian McCants and Derrius Thompson because they've seen them play well for us and show glimmers of being really good WRs down the road. You say you don't aspire to be the Giants or the Falcons, but do you aspire to be as good as the Eagles or the Packers? Donald Driver was a nobody a year ago... by your logic, that made him not very good last year. Good thing nobody in Green Bay took your wise advice. Your type of thinking is why we didn't think highly enough of Thrash when he was with us, and envy him now at the Eagles. Recognizing talent even before that talent translates into winning ballgames and going to the playoffs is an important part of what the front office types are supposed to do, and an important part of what more educated fans like to do. We DO have a lot of talent on this team whether you like to believe it or not (at the advice of ignorant people who barely follow football at all). This doesn't mean other bad teams don't have talent, but our lack of success also doesn't necessarily mean we don't have as much talent as the teams in the playoffs. I think the general observations of many on this board are dead on accurate. We need consistency in the coaching and QB. We need an upgrade of talent and depth on the OLine (mostly the interior). We need an upgrade of talent and depth at DLine and safety. Any other additions are gravy and should only be made if it is an obvious and affordable upgrade. If you actually watched the Eagles game, I think you would find we competed well, but two or three glaring mistakes hurt us badly and we're not quite good enough as a TEAM yet to overcome such mistakes. In the last few minutes of the first half and the entire second half, we actually outplayed the Eagles (who are quite possibly the best team in the NFC). If you take too seriously the opinions of those people that even you acknowledge as ignorant, it just leads to you sounding ignorant as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPSkins Posted December 16, 2002 Author Share Posted December 16, 2002 TerpSkin, I do not take the advice of casual fans, nor did I presume they were correct. I was merely pointing out that our team is not a good as we think they are right now. Who is our Donald Driver?who was our last Donald Driver? Granted, one could argue that the front office is to blame for not coming up with our Donald Driver, but that was not my point. I still don't think Thrash is all that and is no better than most or even all of what we have on hand. Does any one think that Thrash would be any better than a two or three WR on any team. Again, not my point. But if we continue to "upgrade" positions by the dozens each year we will never find our Thrashes or our Drivers. Gutting the interior line and replacing them with who? Castoffs from other teams, aging vets, players that want only paychecks? Getting a speedy WR from where? The draft...crapshoot. A star on another team that will come here and continue producing, or maybe find out that he was a product of his previous system and would end up being cut like a J.Green or W.Jackson? My point is this, play the hand we have been dealt. Why roll the dice on a WR or even an interior lineman that may or may not produce and watch young possible stars like D. Thompson go to other teams to blossom. We can say we are going to upgrade our Safeties like get a Sam Shade who by all accounts should have been an upgrade. Get an aging Mark Carrier, or anyone else that looks good on paper or with another team, that doesn't mean they are going to be good here and with the luck that the Skins have, more than likely they will get here and suck. I hate the word "upgrade" in the NFL. I like the word patience much better. The Redskins are to impatient. We nned to show patience with our own players, show a little loyalty and maybe we already have the next Donald Driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Mike Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 So what is your point? Not to draft? Not to try? :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cskin Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Tell us how you feel Mark, don't hold anything back. :laugh: Great Post!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerpSkin Posted December 17, 2002 Share Posted December 17, 2002 Mark, I came off more confrontational than I meant to... I agree with your point about leaving the team as it is for a few years. But I think that very point is valid because we are a very talented team that just hasn't produced yet on the field because of new coaches and player turnover. You make that point despite saying that we just aren't very talented. That makes no sense to me. Either you are not very talented and you SHOULD overhaul the team... or you are talented, and you should leave it be so that the TEAM can get better together. When you say that we aren't talented and we should leave the team predominantly as it is, it just sounds like you are being overly negative and giving up. My main point was to address your questioning of the posters around here praising what they see from the likes of McCants and Thompson. You more than just implied in your post that they weren't very talented and your proof was that people who don't watch the Redskins haven't heard of them. I objected to this point and not the turnover point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1car Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Yep, I posted this exact same post about 2 weeks ago. Yet the Cowboy fans can not understand why Dat Ngyuen isn't the best LB in the NFL, yet the flipside is why Washingion fans think that Arlinghton, and whoever else isn't the best either? I'm sure someone will report back how great their XXXXX is, but their team record blows as big as Dallas's? Sucks= us. It's just too funny how people fall in love with the only names they heard day in and day out! Maybe it is the head office in both cases? Maybe it is the players fault, or the pickle juice? Either way boycott the owners, it’s the only option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagles_Legendz Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Originally posted by MarkPSkins :::WARNING: Major rant ahead::: You guys in Redskin land are funny. I think y'all's biggest problem is is somewhere along the way you thought that we had talent enough to win a lot of games (me too for a while). You also, obviously, except for fly-by poster here on this board don't really speak to casual non-Redskin fans and that is all you really need to do to understand that the Redskins are just not a whole lot of good right now. Because I live outside the DC area I talk to a lot of non-redskin fans. And the ones that don't study football are the ones that made me realize more than the "students" of game the reality that is the Washington Redskins. They don't know who our QB is, cannot name a single WR, the only name they can pull out from our defense is Darrell Green who hardly plays anymore. Or Bruce Smith who is still imprinted on their brains in a Buffalo uniform. They might know about Lavar, but don't consider him on the same plain as Urlacher. Other than that, there is no one of note. Why can't the average fan name players on our team? I'd have to disagree here. Look at the Eagles. To the casual fan, how many players can they name that are on the Eagles off the top of their head? McNabb... Dawkins? Maybe... anyone else? The team is built around players who are good, but don't particularly excell or amaze, but they buy into the system. You don't need the loud mouths like T.O etc to be successful. I do agree that continuity is important. In order for the Redskins to be good, they must keep a large part of the nucleus in tact! One year stop gaps can be brought in, but the large majority should be here for a while. I'll borrow a cliche if I may. Less is more. Make moves where you really need to make them, but let the rest of the team grow under Spurrier and his system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdsknbill Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Originally posted by Eagles_Legendz I'd have to disagree here. Look at the Eagles. To the casual fan, how many players can they name that are on the Eagles off the top of their head? McNabb... Dawkins? Maybe... anyone else? The team is built around players who are good, but don't particularly excell or amaze, but they buy into the system. You don't need the loud mouths like T.O etc to be successful. I do agree that continuity is important. In order for the Redskins to be good, they must keep a large part of the nucleus in tact! One year stop gaps can be brought in, but the large majority should be here for a while. I'll borrow a cliche if I may. Less is more. Make moves where you really need to make them, but let the rest of the team grow under Spurrier and his system. Holy $hit!! I'm actually agreeing with an Eagles fan!!!!!! J/k Eagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcop Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 wow - great venting and great evaluation. Well done, MPSkins.:notworthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPSkins Posted December 18, 2002 Author Share Posted December 18, 2002 Eaglez... That was my entire point. While wE may not have, at the moment, any house-hold names, we need to stop changing everything every year. These players may find thier niches if let in a system and play with the same guys for some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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