themurf Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 (photos by Brian Murphy) Did you know that the Washington Redskins won the first three games ever played at FedEx Field? Seriously, it’s true. Look it up. They defeated Arizona, Jacksonville and Dallas on Monday Night Football to break in their new venue back in 1997. Unfortunately for the home team though, wins have been much harder to come by at FedEx Field since then. While the Redskins enjoyed tremendous success during their 36-year stretch at RFK Stadium, the house that Jack Kent Cooke built in Raljon has been a lot less hospitable for the burgundy and gold. In fact, if the Redskins are able to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday, it will give the franchise a completely mediocre 60-60-1 regular season home record at FedEx Field. Here’s a year-by-year breakdown of how the Redskins have fared at FedEx Field: 2011: 2-6 The Redskins started out the ’11 season with back-to-back wins over the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals … and then lost their final six home games. 2010: 2-6 In Mike Shanahan’s first season in Washington, ‘Skins fans were “treated” to five-consecutive home losses to end the 2010 campaign. 2009: 3-5 In Jim Zorn final season, the maroon and black were outscored at home by their NFC East rivals by an average score of 30-12. 2008: 4-4 A one-yard Clinton Portis touchdown run gave the Redskins a 10-3 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles and enabled the team to finish the season at .500. 2007: 5-3 Home wins over Chicago and Dallas during the final month of the season launched quarterback Todd Collins and company into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. 2006: 3-5 Troy Vincent, Sean Taylor and Nick Novak sparked an improbable come-from-behind 22-19 victory over Dallas during a thrilling November match-up. 2005: 6-2 Washington swept the NFC East at home, with the team’s only two home losses of 2005 coming against Oakland and San Diego. 2004: 3-5 Sadly, the Redskins needed to win two of their final three home games of ’04 just to finish 3-5 on the year. 2003: 3-5 The Redskins were outscored by Dallas and Philadelphia by a score of 58-7 in the final two home games of the season. Ouch. 2002: 5-3 Washington started the season 1-3 at home, before turning things around and winning the final four home games of the year. 2001: 4-4 Jeff George, Tony Banks and Kent Graham were prominently involved in this season, so let’s just pretend it never happened. 2000: 4-4 The end of the Norv Turner era. Good times. 1999: 6-2* The Redskins won their one and only home playoff game since FedEx Field opened by a score of 27-13 over Detroit in ’99. 1998: 4-4 Washington started the season 0-3 at home and 0-7 overall before quarterback Trent Green got into a groove. 1997: 5-2-1 Long before receiver Joshua Morgan came into our lives, wide out Michael Westbrook was the king of taking foolish penalties at the worst-possible time. Overall: 59-60-1 I know Donovan McNabb, Rex Grossman and John Beck were on the payroll and all, but how in the world has Shanahan gone just 4-12 at FedEx Field? How is that even remotely possible for a man with two Super Bowl wins on his resume? And while I understand Zorn took over a team that qualified for the playoffs in two of the last three seasons and ran the franchise into the ground, he did still manage to go 7-9 at home during his two seasons in Washington. Joe Gibbs 2.0 might have only gone 30-34 during his second stint with the Redskins, but he actually had a winning record at home — going 17-15 at home. For as bad as Steve Spurrier was at the pro level (he went 12-20 with Washington), the ol’ Ball Coach still managed to go 8-8 at FedEx Field. During Marty Schottenheimer’s season in charge, his squad went 4-4 at home and 8-8 overall. Of course, he can only dream of being as successful as interim coach Terry Robiskie, who went undefeated at FedEx Field. Sure, he was only 1-0, but that still counts. And then there’s Norv, who amazingly guided the Redskins to a 18-12-1 record at home during the first four seasons in the new stadium. Honestly, did you ever think you’d see a Norv Turner coached team perform at a high level than a Gibbs or Shanahan squad? Me neither. Which brings us back to today’s team. For all the talk of Robert Griffin III being the next Cam Newton or Mike Vick, Redskins fans should hope and pray that if he follows in the footsteps of any NFL quarterback, it’s Falcons QB Matt Ryan. Why? Because he’s gone 26-6 at home since coming to Atlanta. If the RGIII era can start off half as successfully at that, the local fans will finally have something to look forward to each and every Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Somebody will chime in soon about how they pay a lot of money, so if they want to boo our players or cheer when we are on offense, it's their right. It's also their right to get pissed when we can't win a home game. Jackwagons. You've been posting entire articles lately murf, thanks, but my island internet speed is back to normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 I wrote something on similar lines about a month back Mr. M ( http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?368663-One-of-the-most-important-aspects-of-our-resurgence-HAVING-A-HOME-FORTRESS-AGAIN! ); which was more argued against than agreed with. Good luck with this one. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themurf Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Somebody will chime in soon about how they pay a lot of money, so if they want to boo our players or cheer when we are on offense, it's their right.It's also their right to get pissed when we can't win a home game. Jackwagons. You've been posting entire articles lately murf, thanks, but my island internet speed is back to normal. Hey now, I didn't specifically mention the behavior of the hometown crowd at all in this piece. This article has nothing to do with whether mouthbreathers are doing "the wave" while a Redskins players in injured on the field or not, it's simply a look at wins and losses (and one damned tie) since FedEx Field came into our lives. ---------- Post added September-20th-2012 at 08:06 AM ---------- I wrote something on similar lines about a month back Mr. M ( http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?368663-One-of-the-most-important-aspects-of-our-resurgence-HAVING-A-HOME-FORTRESS-AGAIN! ); which was more argued against than agreed with. Good luck with this one. Hail. You actually looked up the one area I didn't have time to research last night -- the team's record at home against the NFC East. For those too lazy to click the above link, here's the breakdown: vs. Cowboys: 6-9 vs. Giants: 6-8-1 vs. Eagles: 5-10 Thanks for sharing the link. I knew we kept you around for some reason. hehehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrypticVillain Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 So basically, if you want to go to the playoffs, you need to go at least 5-3 at home. Let's take a look at this year's 2012 schedule: Bengals Falcons Vikings Panthers Eagles Giants Ravens Cowboys Them last four.... :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kleese Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 It's an interesting study, but it has nothing to do with the stadium, the parking situation, the jumbotron, the concessions, or Dan Snyder. We only had an advantage at RFK when the team was actually good. Go check out our home record in the four seasons we played at RFK AFTER Gibbs I.....not pretty. I went to RFK for the one and only time in 1994.... And that place was a morgue. The team stunk, lots of empty seats, no real atmosphere.... And this was three years removed from the greatest team/season in franchise history. Shanny's home struggles are weird to an extent, but again his teams have gone 6-10 and 5-11; hard to be impressive at home when you lose double digit games every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins24 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Winning record at home = playoffs ('97 was just weird....at tie? really?) Pretty simple. Win at home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Well, I'm glad we are at least .500 at home right now and it should improve, now that our team is finally getting better, however, I'm blaming the fan base for the lack of production over the years, especially recently. I doubt it feels like home to the players. Our team has also been awful and I think our home average isn't any worse than our actual record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justice98 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 The team hasn't been good enough for a home field advantage to even come into play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 60-60-1 home record since 1997? That has to be better than our road record over that span, because we are well below .500 since 1997. So we do have some homefield advantage I suppose, we just haven't been very good in general. I think RG3 will bring out the best in us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 The team hasn't been good enough for a home field advantage to even come into play. Although this wasn't the OP's point, neither have the fans. It's a two way streak. Hail. *Edit* What the Hell is a 'two way streak? :doh: Two way street. I am dip who needs coffee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWFLSkins Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 It sums up as when you suck and you play in a good division it is likely you will have a poor home record. I hope to see the Skins reverse this trend this year and forward. Nice write up again. Always a quality read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinsinparadise Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 60-60-1 home record since 1997? That has to be better than our road record over that span, because we are well below .500 over that span. So we do have some homefield advantage, we just haven't been very good period. I think RG3 will bring out the best in us. That's what I was thinking, we've been a bad team for a long time, why should it be so much better at home, a bad team loses on the road AND loses at home. And if their record is a little bit but not a lot better at home, that makes total sense to me and apparently Shanny according to this post is the exception being a little worse at home than on the road -- but Shanny's teams have been unfortunately bad thus far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themurf Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Wow. Just for giggles I went and looked up Mike Shanahan's record in home games during his time in Denver. During the regular season, his Broncos went 83-29 at home. They went a perfect 8-0 at home four different times and had a losing record at home just once (3-5 in '99) during his 15 seasons in Denver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 I think RG3 will bring out the best in us. I bet the Redskin fans are almost as loud on offense as they are on defense, the entire season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC9 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Good nuggets Murf. Thanks for pointing this out. It would be nice to see some homefield advantage for a change. I am, however, calling out the 12th man this weekend. I fully plan on having no voice on Sunday night or Monday.... and possibly may be nursing a headache from screaming. We need to get back to that, and now that every game we play this year (playoffs or not) will matter in terms of the maturation process of Griffin and the evaluation of the rest of the team around him, we have no excuses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Wow. Just for giggles I went and looked up Mike Shanahan's record in home games during his time in Denver. During the regular season, his Broncos went 83-29 at home. They went a perfect 8-0 at home four different times and had a losing record at home just once (3-5 in '99) during his 15 seasons in Denver. Maybe it was the thin air up there? I think Shanny will do better at FedEx, and overall, he just needed some time to build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themurf Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Maybe it was the thin air up there?I think Shanny will do better at FedEx, and overall, he just needed some time to build. Maybe the team can petition the NFL to allow them to play their home games in the new practice bubble and The Danny can import Danver's thin air into the facility. It's so wacky, it just might work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC9 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Maybe the team can petition the NFL to allow them to play their home games in the new practice bubble and The Danny can import Danver's thin air into the facility. It's so wacky, it just might work! It's. All. About. The. Wave. Bro. I hated it to, but it started growing on me during that 15 minute officials review at the Colts preseason game, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss_Hogg Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 The quality of the fan will improve with the quality of the team. Give it time, soon the miscreants will be gone from FedEx field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Our road record since FedEx was built (including this season): 46-76. I don't think we've lacked home field advantage. I think we've just sucked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Jesus it is painful to look at that year by year breakdown. I was a season ticketholder for over a decade starting in 1999 and my therapist thought he had gotten me through it, and now this. Thanks a lot Murf. I think my tic is coming back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSUSkins24 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 I don't think we've lacked home field advantage. I think we've just sucked. I came into this thread to say this. That's all it is. I bet Bob Griffin leads us to a great home record this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kearney Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Our road record since FedEx was built (including this season): 46-76.I don't think we've lacked home field advantage. I think we've just sucked. Wish I had seen this post before I had done all of the math myself. 59 home wins vs 46 road wins means we average almost one more win per season at home. I wouldn't consider this a huge home field advantage, but we definitely win more at home. Now that I think about it a little more, maybe we just have an away field disadvantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckus Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Our road record since FedEx was built (including this season): 46-76.I don't think we've lacked home field advantage. I think we've just sucked. That is immediately what I thought. Our home record is 13 games above our our road record. Not great - but a significant bump. The bigger issue is that we have been terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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