Why Arizona means something but the Giants just felt good. Welcome 4-0 into the bye.

[Art]

You did, and if you are unable to understand that welcoming us to 4-0 was the point of the thread regardless of how it is justified I would think that perhaps you noticed it because it's appropriate in your situation.

He says welcome to 4-0 and then goes on to explain that we will get there because we beat a team he thinks we should have pounded in the cardinals but barely managed to squeak by. he says it isn't so much a statement as a inexorable march of a team that basically deserves it.

The truth? We aren't better than the cardinals by much if at all. That team that turned the ball over in the redzone today and had a field goal blocked, that IS the Redskins, not just some unfortunate caricature of them. This is a team with a qb who is known to turn the ball over and did so twice today and has done so 3 times in the first two games. This is a team coming off a 6 win season and still has a ton of work left to be done. Proclaiming welcome 4-0 into the bye" and then justifying it afterwards is both ignorant and arrogant for a team so prone to self destruct.

Actually, the person you're responding to was not only correct, but you have confirmed his accuracy. Welcoming us as 4-0 was not the point of this thread. It was a part of the thought. Commenting on why this game was more meaningful even than the feel good Giant game, and what it feeds in a team like ours was the point of the thread. That it allows me to expect, having expected a loss today, two more wins in the coming weeks is certainly meaningful, but was more an after thought to the thread than the thrust, which is this team showed itself in a way it hasn't in a long, long while. It won a game in a fashion it has lost a dozen just like it. The Redskins arrived and played like the Redskins of our recent memory.

They ended like someone new.

And they think they are on to something.

And Romo sits to pee, who was OUT with a cracked rib, is back in.

[MrSilverMaC]

Fortunately a title is not all there is to a post. There's context. The title leads to a post which, as a whole, says what the person's trying to say. As I wrote, the Cowboys are a good team at home who could beat us and it wouldn't be at all a surprise. I've further reinforced that. What I wrote initially, and restated, is this team has something short of a swagger, but leading to one. It believes the systems have answers for the opponent. It believes in the ability of the players. And a win against Arizona feeds that. It confirms it in a way few things could. Once Grossman hit Moss I knew the game was over and we'd won. I'm guessing the team did too.

And a belief of that sort can feed itself into a little roll leading to an impressive record at the break.

The 2005 team also had the belief in itself late. The 5 in a row or we don't go thing was good for it. And that team showed that belief and made the playoffs and started to emerge as something better, but, we had NOT shown the resilience of a game like this where we solidified a gain with another gain in a way that left us overcoming our own idiocy. This team could well be a below average team at the end of the day. But a win like today feeds itself in a way few things can. That belief, should it become an earned swagger will be the time we are actually good. Right now the team likes itself and thinks it can make the plays necessary to win. That's a getting on a roll worthy way to go.

---------- Post added September-18th-2011 at 05:21 PM ----------

Romo sits to pee has a rib fracture. Out today. Wonder about next week.

Art, I wonder if you read what you wrote. You keep referring back to it as if I hadn't read it. You proclaimed 4-0 in the title, posted a lot of fluff (which I read) then finished off the sugary goodness of your post by stating:

"4-0 into the bye gives it a throaty arrival, a little ahead of where it should be, but, fixed in the knowledge this is no longer the Redskins team of a generation.

It's not so much a statement as an inexorable march for a team that actually seems to like itself AND those leading it."

Now, I don't know if you just learned the word "inexorable" but just incase you have a different understanding of the word, I'll list the webster's definition which is in alignment with my understanding of the word:

": not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped : relentless <inexorable progress>"

Used as you did, you are basically stating that 4-0 is a guarantee. That our march to 4-0 is, in your words, inexorable. You can try to temper what you wrote in your original post all you want with follow up posts stating that we indeed may well lose one of or both of our next two games, and claiming that I didn't read the op, that is fine. It doesn't change what you wrote, what the words you typed meant, or that my posts in this thread have addressed what your post said.

This team isn't good enough to just pencil in 2 wins against anyone especially dallas and a rams team that has owned us of late.

[MumboSauce]

Just have to get more TD's for all of the effort, and less turnovers. Was a statistical domination. I'm concerned about the health of the secondary going forward. But this is finally a "team" all bought in 100%, the young talent is contributing, the coaches are competent. They believe. Far from great, still some flaws and work to do...but so much better. Hail.

[MrSilverMaC]

Why not? Isn't that how great defenses finish games?

I apologize for my inability to realize if you are being serious or not.

Just in case you are serious. Great defenses do indeed find a way to finish games and shut out the other team. But not always with a turnover or even with a spectacular play.

This is not a great defense, though with some of the pieces it has it has potentital.

[Art]

Art, I wonder if you read what you wrote. You keep referring back to it as if I hadn't read it. You proclaimed 4-0 in the title, posted a lot of fluff (which I read) then finished off the sugary goodness of your post by stating:

Now, I don't know if you just learned the word "inexorable" but just incase you have a different understanding of the word, I'll list the webster's definition which is in alignment with my understanding of the word:

": not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped : relentless <inexorable progress>"

Used as you did, you are basically stating that 4-0 is a guarantee. That our march to 4-0 is, in your words, inexorable. You can try to temper what you wrote in your original post all you want with follow up posts stating that we indeed may well lose one of or both of our next two games, and claiming that I didn't read the op, that is fine. It doesn't change what you wrote, what the words you typed meant, or that my posts in this thread have addressed what your post said.

This team isn't good enough to just pencil in 2 wins against anyone especially dallas and a rams team that has owned us of late.

We are going to take this simply.

First. I wrote it. I know what I was saying. You are obviously confused by it and you should feel free, as you have, to ask questions about it. I am obligated to answer them. But, the premise we begin with is I know more about what I wrote than you do. If I did poorly in expressing it in a fashion you can understand, that's my fault. But, it's YOUR fault to ignore all those sentences you seem to need to ignore to come to a conclusion directly opposite the precise explanation has provided you. Yes. I said going 4-0 based on what today's win provides this team, is what I think this team is headed for.

And, yet, that's not at all the point of my post.

The point is this win is different and provides this team something it hasn't had. A legitimate, if only a mildly legitimate, belief in itself. My point is this win is precisely the opposite of what any recent Redskin team was capable of. Sure, it was capable of running a team around much of a game, and losing by self destructing. It just hasn't been capable of doing that, self destructing, and somehow still winning, especially in a consolidation type game like today was after the Giants. The Redskins, a little full of themselves, are a TERRIBLE team to like because they make it so hard on themselves as they did today.

And they won.

And they won in a fashion that feeds that budding chemistry and belief in a way that puts it at a very attractive point when the bye comes.

Indeed, I think that's the case.

Indeed, I could be wrong both on the outcome, and the sea change this game signals. But, this thread is about that sea change and what it means for this team in my view. And that's the answer you get to accept as nothing you say alters what I say about what I said .

[winstonspencer]

any way you slice it, it takes balls to start this thread. confidence and craziness are two in the same here.

[MrSilverMaC]

We are going to take this simply.

First. I wrote it. I know what I was saying. You are obviously confused by it and you should feel free, as you have, to ask questions about it. I am obligated to answer them. But, the premise we begin with is I know more about what I wrote than you do. If I did poorly in expressing it in a fashion you can understand, that's my fault. But, it's YOUR fault to ignore all those sentences you seem to need to ignore to come to a conclusion directly opposite the precise explanation has provided you. Yes. I said going 4-0 based on what today's win provides this team, is what I think this team is headed for..

I'll tell you what Art, if you can just show me the form I need to fill out so I can receive my "super secret, super special Art speak decoder ring" I'll gladly fill it out since I obviously forgot to do so when I first registered for this site. That way when you write out a post that says one thing, but means another, I won't have to bother you with ignorant questions or statements when I read your apparently cryptic/esoteric posts and try to apply common accepted meanings to words and use of sentence structure to them. Deal?

You have a good weekend and enjoy the rest of your thread.

[Art]

I'll tell you what Art, if you can just show me the form I need to fill out so I can receive my "super secret, super special Art speak decoder ring" I'll gladly fill it out since I obviously forgot to do so when I first registered for this site. That way when you write out a post that says one thing, but means another, I won't have to bother you with ignorant questions or statements when I read your apparently cryptic/esoteric posts and try to apply common accepted meanings to words and use of sentence structure to them. Deal?

You have a good weekend and enjoy the rest of your thread.

The secret is pretty simple.

Read all the words.

Don't fixate on five.

Doing so will benefit you. Whenever you demonstrate an inability to comment on 99 percent of a post means you probably are talking about something YOU want, rather than having a conversation as to the topic being discussed. I do not know your posting history, but that behavior is typical of agenda posters who decide ANY portion of something they read that seems to negate their belief requires total focus at the exception of all else. My post was reasonably balanced. I even indicated we are not yet a great team or a contending team and that the Cowboys not only could beat us, but probably should. I merely believe today's game feeds this team's growth in a way to give it a very attractive bye week position, which I wrote is ahead of where the team is from a talent ability OR where it might be considered to be in a rebuilding process schedule.

So, in the future, read an entire thread, and comment on it, not five words bracketing the rest.

[Conn]

You have a good weekend and enjoy the rest of your thread.

Translation, using my "super secret, super special Art speak decoder ring":

Damn, I'm embarrassed.

[WyomingRedskin]

Love this post Art. A lot of fans are going to focus on the negatives from this game. The fact that we were able to win this despite ourselves in huge. I've been preaching since preseason that something feels different about this team. They players see it and they are backing it up on the field. There was a point when we were down in the 4th quarter where you could almost feel the air going out of the Skins. The Cards had the momentum and we could have sulked and given up. We didn't. They persevered, came together, and fought back.

[Rypien1191]

If you don't think jinxes are for real, look no further than the Romo sits to pee thread.

[mzkp54]

I don't know why everyone's so negative. This is what we've never been able to do. I was having a debate tonight about whether it would have been more likely in years past that Gano misses the last FG or if he hits it and then we let the Cards score in the last minute. We did neither! There may have been things to take away from the game, but 2-0 is the only stat that really matters. We have a coach and FO that WILL take the negatives from this week and work on them. Again, this is a good thing.

We were staring at a classic case of "bad rex grossman" and we overcame it and still won the game. I for one, am a very happy redskins fan tonight. Now hopefully the falcons will destroy Michael Vick, both for my pleasure and the benefit of my fantasy football matchup

Hail!

[Art]

Love this post Art. A lot of fans are going to focus on the negatives from this game. The fact that we were able to win this despite ourselves in huge. I've been preaching since preseason that something feels different about this team. They players see it and they are backing it up on the field. There was a point when we were down in the 4th quarter where you could almost feel the air going out of the Skins. The Cards had the momentum and we could have sulked and given up. We didn't. They persevered, came together, and fought back.

Today there was a lot NOT to like about our team. Each of the three phases had a major negative. But, the winning in spite of our mistakes and feeding in to that different feel is exactly what this post was meant to capture. We won this game once Moss caught the touchdown. After the air came out, that filled it back up but also fed that slight swagger. The team thinks it can't be stopped. One day they may actually accomplish that .

[Conn]

If you don't think jinxes are for real, look no further than the Romo sits to pee thread.

I said it in another thread, and I'll say it again: Bull****.

[RSimports]

I felt my blood pressure rising as the game went on but then I felt something I haven't felt in a long time. Happiness.

HTTR!

[Taylor4Life]

I don't think much has changed (mentally), but we do have much more talent to dig ourselves out of holes than we used to. The players are still playing incredibly stupid football at times, but the difference is that in years past we didn't have the Kerrigan/Orakpo combo on defense, and the one-two punch on offense with Helu/Hightower. I predict there will be hell to pay this week at Redskins Park despite the win. That said, this is a much more talented squad than we've had in quite a while, kudos to Allen/Shanahan for putting this thing together in just a year.

[kevinklein]

Like the confidence, but unfortunately Art's bold proclamations mean nothing. The game needs to play itself out on the field. No pretty written words change that.

[Pick6]

So far so good. I am ready for Dallas. I am more of the mind set "one game at time." I don't think it has been brought up yet, but this team has the attitude that is led by example from Rex Grossman. Dude is a gamer. Like the guy or not, he doesn't quit. And he fights back even after he gets knocked down. Some believe a good football team all starts with the quarterback, maybe Rex is the type of guy the team needs right now.

[NNskinsfan1]

typical redskins fans..never change

[Coolio47]

In related news, Tony Dungy just said surprise 2-0 teams to look out for and started the list in Detroit, Buffalo..."but my beloved Redskins. That's right, I'm on the bandwagon." Or something to that effect.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

typical redskins fans..never change

Damn proud of it.

[Darth Tater]

Last year, we'd have been talking about all the points we gave away by RZ fails. You'd see an ISO on whoever blew the block that led to the blocked FG. Just pull up almost any post-Texans game thread from last year. This year we're ****ing about how what should have been a blowout but was a win. This game was roughly analogous to the Texans game (every thing surrounding it was almost the same) and many of the events were similar (blocked FG, multiple RZ fails) and a couple of big plays against us. Fact is, WE OVERCAME our f-ups which we haven't done since 2007.

[winstonspencer]

can we just be honest, if anyone but art started this thread, the OP would have been burried

not trying to hate, but I'm very superstitous. you can thank me for sitting in the same spot and yelling at my wife for vacuuming later. or does this mean I have to put up with her using the vacuum on monday night. crap.

[WyomingRedskin]

Guys....it is okay to be happy. We won. There are some problems to clean up. We showed some weaknesses. But that's okay. We will continue to gain confidence and improve. This is a game we used to lose. Enjoy it.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

can we just be honest, if anyone but art started this thread, the OP would have been burried

not trying to hate, but I'm very superstitous. you can thank me for sitting in the same spot and yelling at my wife for vacuuming later. or does this mean I have to put up with her using the vacuum on monday night. crap.

I'd thank you if I wasn't pretty sure that your same superstition has contributed to our 17 playoff-less seasons over the past two decades.