themurf Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 (photo by Brian Murphy) Before the start of each season, I like to put my money where my mouth is and do my best to forecast what’s in store for the Washington Redskins. Sometimes I look like a genius (Albert Haynesworth equals disappointment). Other times … not so much. (Carlos Rogers setting a career high in interceptions? Wow. Let’s move on.) But the point of this exercise is to take a few swings for the fences. You know, go big or go home. Or something. With that in mind, I present to you my 10 (semi-) bold predictions for the 2011 season. 1. Rex Grossman has exactly four games to show what he’s got. The Redskins first four games are against the New York Giants (decimated by injuries), Arizona Cardinals (rebuilding for the 24th straight year), at the Dallas Cowboys (no offensive line and a defense in transition) and at the St. Louis Rams (dangerous, but still unproven). Grossman needs to have Washington at least 2-2 heading into the bye week or he might find himself riding the bench as if his name was Donovan McNabb. That’s because the Redskins come out of the bye week against Philadelphia (never a fun game) and then play four games in a row against beatable opponents — Carolina, Buffalo, San Francisco and Miami. Because their December schedule is so brutal, the Redskins need to win early and often this season if there’s any chance of … well … never mind. Let’s just say Grossman needs to come out of the gate fast and furious or John Beck will be back in our lives in no time. 2. The Tim Hightower trade makes it all better. For years, it was automatically assumed that if the Redskins made a trade, they got the short end of the stick. Even when the acquired legitimate talent, like, for example, running back Clinton Portis from Denver, it came at the expense of Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey and a second-round draft pick. Other times, they gave up high draft picks for players like McNabb, Brandon Lloyd, T.J. Duckett (and so on) and got nothing but a swift kick in the beanbag in return. But this offseason has been different. It started with a trade that brought receiver Jabar Gaffney to Washington from Denver for seldom used Jeremy Jarmon, who was later cut by the Broncos.* *Suck it Denver! Then the Redskins somehow convinced Arizona to trade away Hightower for 35-year-old Vonnie Holiday, who is a nice guy, but wasn’t going to make the 53-man roster. The trade was so lopsided that my initial reaction was that Capitals general manager George McPhee was somehow involved. If Hightower is half as good in the regular season as he’s been in the preseason, the ‘Skins fans will be smiling about this acquisition for a long, long time. 3. The line is no longer offensive. The starting offensive line for Week 1 of the 2010 season was Trent Williams, Derrick Dockery, Casey Rabach, Artis Hicks and Jammal Brown. In other words, two tackles and three duds. Mercifully, the three interior linemen are someone else’s problem now and Shanahan has turned to 26-year-old Kory Lichtensteiger, 28-year-old Will Montgomery and 28-year-old Chris Chester. Lichtensteiger, a former third-round draft pick by the Broncos, started 14 games last season, while Montgomery, the strongest Redskin on the roster, started six games in 2010. Both showed flashes of promise and if Chester can prove to be an upgrade over Hicks, who never really worked in Washington, the offensive line could very well be the best in the NFC East. Of course, there’s absolutely no depth if anyone gets injured, but that’s a topic for another day. 4. The ground game is back in business. Shanahan has 24 years of experience coaching in the NFL. In 17 of those seasons, his team’s have finished in the top 10 in the league in rushing. Statistically speaking, the Redskins are basically a lock to make huge strides after ranking 30th in 2010 just because Shanahan is still running the show. Add in Hightower (not to mention rookie Roy Helu and last year’s workhorse Ryan Torain) and the revamped offensive line and I feel comfortable predicting big things for the rushing attack in 2011. 5. LaRon Landry is the modern day Bo Jackson. No, he’s not going to become a two-sport star by playing for the Kansas City Royals in the offseason. I see similarities between Jackson and Landry in a different way – and if I’m being honest, it’s not a good thing. Jackson was so big and muscular, that there really was no such thing as a minor injury. And once he got nicked up, Jackson had trouble with nagging little injuries that prevented him from ever truly reaching his potential. As often as Landry has been sidelined since he came to Washington … let’s just say I hope I’m wrong about this one. Click here for the full article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddub52 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I would prefer Obama to be elsewhere on our game day. And I hope that the O line is as promising as everyone thinks that it will be. As always, great read Murf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themurf Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 I would prefer Obama to be elsewhere on our game day. And I hope that the O line is as promising as everyone thinks that it will be. As always, great read Murf All I'm saying is, if the guy can make time for a Mystics game, I think he can justify being at FedEx Field for the Sept. 11th tribute. I'm not interested in hearing anyone's politics. I'm just taking a wild guess about the biggest sports fan in town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88Comrade2000 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 All I'm saying is, if the guy can make time for a Mystics game, I think he can justify being at FedEx Field for the Sept. 11th tribute. I'm not interested in hearing anyone's politics. I'm just taking a wild guess about the biggest sports fan in town. He will be in New York along with Bush. Hey, maybe you can get Cheney and Biden instead. I think you keep political figures out of it and just honor the families of the fallen. Also, the NFL isn't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They are doing this because they know viewership will be even higher given Opening Day falls on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. More ratings, more dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illone Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 We agree on all points this year. You didn't get quite as bold this time around. Good read, as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goingforburgundy Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Landry missed a total of ZERO games previous to last season. That is the one thing I disagree with. Could care less about Obama going to a game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejay183 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Carlos Rogers setting a career high in interceptions? Wow. Let’s move on. Well you were close. Rogers matched his career high of 2 INTs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitman21ST Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I would only disagree with the Landry bit. Out of a possible 64 games, he has played in 56. I wouldn't quite call him "oft-injured" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I would only disagree with the Landry bit. Out of a possible 64 games, he has played in 56. I wouldn't quite call him "oft-injured" I don't think he was saying he HAS missed a lot of games but that he WILL miss a lot of games. It is a good point when you use the Bo Jackson analogy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitman21ST Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I don't think he was saying he HAS missed a lot of games but that he WILL miss a lot of games. It is a good point when you use the Bo Jackson analogy. Read it again. As often as Landry has been sidelined since he came to Washington … let’s just say I hope I’m wrong about this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurseReversed Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I have been watching this zone blocking scheme of ours in slow mo during preseason, its legit. We move fast and can make lanes and take over edges using a myriad of shanny tactics. Only issue I see is is cooley. I am not sure he can equal the skillset that davis has in the running game. He has been playing very well and has been involved with crucial blocks in a lot of those big runs. Redskins rushing attack will be the best it has been in a long time. Passing game will come from that, all rex or beck has to do is make good decisions and deliver the ball and they should be immediate upgrades to anything we have had here in a long time. Defense is still a mystery, hard not to improve but if it can actually perform at a very high level, like in years past, with this running game, there is a lot to look forward too. It would not surprise me at all if the season where expectations were the lowest in ten years turned out to be the best in ten years. Thats why you gotta love football. Lets go skins! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rpredskins Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 good point about the o-line, also remember every team has had poor o-line play this preseason. Ours was not great but better than last year's regular season, which says a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sportjunkie07 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 unfortunately, i agree with you about laron and i also think macintosh will be the weak link. i dont see your number 1 point as bold (or semi-bold).. it seems the logical route for the coaching staff. so ill take that point a little further and gamble that Rex's stats this year will be comparable to better than Eli Manning's stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewCliche21 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Love the article and owning up to last year's missed predictions, but you're way off about Landry even just factually. Landry is to sidelined as Rogers is to interceptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsFTW Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I don't think he was saying he HAS missed a lot of games but that he WILL miss a lot of games. It is a good point when you use the Bo Jackson analogy. Bo Jackson missed a lot of games due to baseball. When he got injured against the Bengals that was the end. He didn't come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Nice read and great form admitting your imperfection. A lot of writers as well as posters don't do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsFTW Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I don't think that Grossman is on a short leash. I think the job is his unless he really starts having major fumbling problems or gets injured. I'm pretty sure that the up and down 3td game followed by 3int game Grossman will never surface in this offense anywhere near like Chicago and if he has a bad game the coaches will assume that Beck would have had an even worse game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themurf Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Nice read and great form admitting your imperfection. A lot of writers as well as posters don't do that. Last season I actually thought Rogers would set a career high for picks and the backfield of Clinton Portis and Larry Johnson would be productive. So yeah. That's not good. But the beauty of it is, there's always next year. This is always a fun game and it usually starts a pretty interesting debate among 'Skins fans. That makes it worth being wrong from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milliondollarslim Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I also fear that we will never see the Landry from the first part of last season ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themurf Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Landry missed a total of ZERO games previous to last season. That is the one thing I disagree with. Could care less about Obama going to a game He hasn't been healthy since roughly Week 9 of last year (10 months ago, give or take). You're saying you're not the least bit concerned about Landry's health at this point? I'm simply saying that maybe if the guy wasn't so freaking jacked, he might not be on the shelf for such an extended amount of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDawg Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 He hasn't been healthy since roughly Week 9 of last year (10 months ago, give or take). You're saying you're not the least bit concerned about Landry's health at this point? I'm simply saying that maybe if the guy wasn't so freaking jacked, he might not be on the shelf for such an extended amount of time. But the flipside is, if he wasn't as big, would he be as good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 As a fellow reporter, I've learned to trust the guys who admit they've been wrong or don't know something once in a while. They tend to be the most knowledgable people. People who pretend they're never wrong are most often bs artists or pushing an agenda. I was sadly right on Portis and Rogers, but I was wrong about Landry at least until he got hurt. I thought Landry was horrible in Zorn's last year, bad angles, sloppy coverage, undisciplined play and I didn't think that the move from FS to SS should make that big a difference, but he was great until... I also hate that I was right about Haynesworth. I said from the day I heard we were contacting him as a free agent that I didn't want him on our team. Now, I had no idea how bad he'd be, but I knew that the price tag wasn't worth the player. What I'm most curious to discover is if what we saw in the preseason real or a mirage. If we have that dynamic a running game and that disciplined and hustling kind of defense... we'll be a fun team to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elkabong82 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 All I'm saying is, if the guy can make time for a Mystics game, I think he can justify being at FedEx Field for the Sept. 11th tribute. I'm not interested in hearing anyone's politics. I'm just taking a wild guess about the biggest sports fan in town. It would make sense too, given that the game is also D.C. against New York. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.T.real,lights,out Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Great write up Murf and the o-line depth is a big issue to me also. Hopefully we dont get too banged up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audible_Red40 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 David Boston is closer to Bo Jackson then Dirty Thirty right now. It's been one year and a new set back. Let's hope you're wrong with that prediction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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