SKINchiefer Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I know the season is over but I thought this was interesting, plus it was posted today. Hog Heaven Home Archives January 27, 2009 If Roethlisberger didn't get hurt, Redskins could be in SB XLIII Discuss By Greg Trippiedi RecommendedRecommend this (0) | Share Close XShareYardbarkerBallHypeFacebookDigg Well, no, it's obviously not that simple. But the Redskins clearly played well enough in the first half of 2008 to be considered a legitimate super bowl contender. Many players on the Redskins didn't sustain their level of production, and others fell victim to injury, causing backups to have to play roles they were unsuited for (the name "Fabini" comes to mind). The defense made a desperation signing or two that may not have been needed. Let's go back to early November, and play this out as if Ben Roethlisberger played in the second half of the game. Result: Redskins defeat Steelers 12-10 New Storyline: Roethlisberger was just unable to get anything going through the air, and the Redskins shut down Willie Parker all night long as they came back to beat the Steelers 12-10. Jason Campbell led two field goal drives in the second half. The only touchdown scored in the game was a Roethlisberger sneak at the end of the first half off of a drive that started from a blocked punt. The Steelers went up 10-6, but couldn't seal the deal when their offense simply failed to get past the 40 yard line of the Redskins the rest of the night. Jason Campbell was intercepted for the first time this year, but led the game winning drive as Shaun Suisham connected on a 19 yard game clincher with seven minutes to go. At 7-2, the Redskins feel like they are better off not messing with chemistry, and keep Leigh Torrence over DeAngelo Hall. Result: Redskins defeat Cowboys 13-10 at home New Storyline: With Tony Romo sits to pee on the mend with an injured thumb, the Redskins forced two interceptions in the first half in a dominating performance. Greg Blache intelligently used a strategy to defend Marion Barber similar to the one he uses to defend Brian Westbrook, and Romo sits to pee had to force a lot of throws downfield which he was clearly unprepared to do. Romo sits to pee did make a great touchdown throw to Martellus Bennett up the seam, but that only served to tie the game in the fourth quarter thanks to a strong gameplan and great LB play. After one more punt from each team, Jason Campbell finally got it together and drove the Redskins down the field for a game winning field goal attempt by Shaun Suisham as time expired. The now 8-2 Redskins are only a game off the lead in the NFC East, and are a win or two away from clinching a playoff berth. Result: Redskins defeat Bengals 20-14 New Storyline: After a very slow start that yielded a 14-0 deficit to the Bengals, the Redskins powered back into the game behind their offense, led by All-pro LT Chris Samuels, back after missing the end of the Baltimore game. Trailing 14-10 in the middle of the third quarter, Clinton Portis powered in from a yard away to take the lead back, only a play after an apparent Mike Sellers fumble was properly ruled down by forward progress. The Redskins would later add a field goal to snap a two game losing streak. They are now 10-4, and have clinched a spot in the postseason. Result: Redskins beat Vikings 23-9 in Wild Card Round New Storyline: A record setting day for NFL Rushing Champ Clinton Portis as he went for 165 on the ground against one of the fiercest defenses in the NFL. Jason Campbell only threw the ball 15 times, but completed 11 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown bomb to Santana Moss. It's clear that the Redskins are the team to beat in the NFL playoffs. Result: Redskins beat Giants 16-13 in Divisional Round New Storyline: After two losses to the Giants in the regular season cost them the division, Greg Blache came up with a monster of a gameplan in this one. Brandon Jacobs was stymied once again against the Redskins, but Eli Manning could not take advantage of them this time. The zone coverage schemes of the Redskins left no where for Manning to go with the ball on third down, and Jason Taylor and Andre Carter combined for three and a half sacks. Needing a touchdown badly at the end of the first half, Santana Moss took a Jeff Feagles punt back 45 yards to the Giants 7, where Clinton Portis capped the drive with a TD run two plays later to put the Redskins up 13-7 at half. The game was clinched when Blache baited Manning into throwing a deep in to Amani Toomer in what looked like soft zone coverage by Carlos Rogers, but Leigh Torrence dropped into the zone and picked off Manning with only 1:23 left on the clock. The Redskins will face the upstart Arizona Cardinals in the desert next week. Result: Redskins beat Cards 20-17 in OT to advance to Super Bowl New Storyline: After the Cardinals took the lead in this one 14-3 at the half, the Redskins passing attack returned in the second half with Jason Campbell connecting in two 53 yard touchdown passes to Santana Moss. The first was a conventional bomb on the opening drive of the half, but the second one was merely a square in off of play action against a Cardinals house blitz, and when Moss beat the safety to the inside, there was no one who was going to prevent him from going 32 extra yards to the end zone. The Cards fought back for a game tying field goal inside two minutes, but the Redskins won the toss in overtime and never reliquished it. Jason Campbell completed two third down passes for first downs, but Clinton Portis, who had gained only 17 yards in regulation, chipped in 45 yards on the ground in overtime, and then Shaun Suisham's 31 yard field goal sent first year Head Coach Jim Zorn and the Washington Redskins to the Super Bowl. Maybe next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Prime Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Wow dreamer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntotoro Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 That's some serious wishful thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKINchiefer Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Too much, if you ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HitStickTaylor21 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 How about we just not lose to the Rams and Bengals in the future and we call it a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harwich Hog Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 That's not only wishful thinking, that's dangerous thinking. To think this team is that close is ignoring some serious inherent flaws which if not addressed are going to see this team continue to regress. I know it's a bit of fun but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurntToast Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 WOW what a homer. How does are awful offense get better in the second have of the season when, the 24th raked QB doesn't get injured in the 9th game of the season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKINchiefer Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 I see what he is saying though. From a broader perspective, we began our progress downhill during the Pittsburgh game which also began when Rothisberger went down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foodpig1 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Someone has to much free time on their hands.:dallasuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD_washingtonredskins Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I actually think this type of thing is interesting. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe we were one or two plays away from going to the Super Bowl (or even the playoffs), but I find alternate endings pretty interesting. Had these things happened, we'd have been the Cinderella team again this year. It would have been cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Someone picked the wrong day to start sniffin glue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttr77 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Who knew that the opposing team's backup QB would send the Redskins into a tailspin that they never would recover from? And take away their rightful spot in the Super Bowl? Personally, I think the loss to the Rams told us all we needed to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjinhan Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 hey this is kind of like when the Redskins went to Seattle the first playoff game until Gibbs II... if Shaun Alexander didnt get hurt and the Seahawks didnt go to a spread offense.. we should have been in that superbowl as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Yeah and Devin Thomas could be the next Larry Fitzgerald! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjinhan Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Yeah and Devin Thomas could be the next Larry Fitzgerald! you mean Larry Fitzgerald is Devin Thomas before Devin Thomas became Devin Thomas... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoodBits Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Crack is an very dangerous thing. I would quit before it gets too out of hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forehead Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 What did I just read? Hey, no one will ever be able to say I'm not really, really optimistic. I always look for the best in any Redskins situation, but this is beyond how far I'd go. As someone else said, let's just not lose to teams like the Rams and Bengals, take our 10-6 record (11-5 if you want to throw the 49'ers in) and see what we can do with it. He's ignoring the fact that we scored our six points on an attemped onside kick and an interception. It's not like our offense was moving the ball against them or anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinking Skins Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 That's not only wishful thinking, that's dangerous thinking. To think this team is that close is ignoring some serious inherent flaws which if not addressed are going to see this team continue to regress. I know it's a bit of fun but... Every team has flaws. Every team progresses and regresses. Look at the patriots. They went 16-0 then 11-5, thats a 5 game regression. People can get all gloom and doom all they want, but the real problem right now is that too many Redskins fans define success as only having a season like the Patriots or the Colts. The Giants are a team that went 6-10 in their first season under Tom Coughlin. They threw 12 TDs and 13 INTs that year for only 2818 yards (with THE GREAT Kurt Warner as their QB). All of these are worse numbers than what Zorn put up his first year. They came back and went 11-5 the next year. ...But I know what people are going to say: "Its not the same because _________ was different under those Giants". I can keep finding comparisons like this to other teams that had similar or worse numbers than us, but it really won't matter because some fans don't want to believe that we can be a good team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitman#21 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Leftwich was the turning point of the season, good point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2cents Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Crack kills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Brown #43 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I do believe that Carlos' dropped pick-6 in that game was the turning point of our season. If he doesn't drop that gift-wrapped INT, we go up 13-3 in the game and don't look back. That puts us at 7-2. But we lost the game, and the the season quickly unraveled after that. Having said that, this guy is taking things a little far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilsu Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Every team has flaws. Every team progresses and regresses. Look at the patriots. They went 16-0 then 11-5, thats a 5 game regression. People can get all gloom and doom all they want, but the real problem right now is that too many Redskins fans define success as only having a season like the Patriots or the Colts. The Giants are a team that went 6-10 in their first season under Tom Coughlin. They threw 12 TDs and 13 INTs that year for only 2818 yards (with THE GREAT Kurt Warner as their QB). All of these are worse numbers than what Zorn put up his first year. They came back and went 11-5 the next year. ...But I know what people are going to say: "Its not the same because _________ was different under those Giants". I can keep finding comparisons like this to other teams that had similar or worse numbers than us, but it really won't matter because some fans don't want to believe that we can be a good team. ... The Patriots going from 16-0 to 11-5 is not comparable to the Redskins at all. The Patriots and Colts having consistent winning seasons, multiple playoff appearances, and winning at least one Super Bowl is considered a success and that is what the Redskins should be trying to achieve. If the Redskins organization has a different idea of what "success" is, I'd like to hear it and promptly laugh at how pitiful the team has become. Meanwhile the Giants were 4-12 the prior season and Kurt Warner only started nine games. They were 5-4 when he was benched for Eli Manning. The Redskins at the same point in time were 3-6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD_washingtonredskins Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 hey this is kind of like when the Redskins went to Seattle the first playoff game until Gibbs II... if Shaun Alexander didnt get hurt and the Seahawks didnt go to a spread offense.. we should have been in that superbowl as well... Exactly! So basically if our defense was a little worse (and didn't hit so hard), we'd have matched up with the Steelers twice in the past 4 years. And, since Big Ben is playing, we'd have 2 more Lombardis! Now I don't want Vinny to draft DL so we can regress a little bit on D... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoeRedskins Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I think the title should read "If Redsksins didn't go into shell on offense, they would have gotten to the playoffs. Then, who knows." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedevilhimself Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I have not been on this site that long but wow .... the posters on this site it would seem would rather see this team fail and be "right" than actually admit there maybe something to these comments . In the OPs defense, the Steelers game was a turning point . It precipitated some of the problems that have always been there . Offensive line players didn't suddenly lose a step or get old half way though the season but was exposed was the schemes . Had we won the game would we have gone on a winning binge and to the superbowl. Hard to say, worse teams have gone further, better teams have done worse . More and more football comes down to one or two plays that make a season a success or a failure . One play changed the 17-0 all conquring Patriots to a 17-1 failure . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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