After four games, let's reexamine the schedule shall we?

[illone]

Just dont leave too much time on the clock or mr griffin will carve you up and you'll be seen with your face in the dirt on his next subway commercial.

Skins could win or lose every single one of those games.

[Cooleyfan1993]

Maybe it's just me but I could see us at 6-3.going into the bye

i agree with this. ur not the only one. however, we may be the only 2...i see us putting up a good fight with the falcons, but losing. 2-3. win against vikings, 3-3. beat giants, 4-3. beat steelers, 5-3. beat panthers, 6-3.

[kleese]

i agree with this. ur not the only one. however, we may be the only 2...i see us putting up a good fight with the falcons, but losing. 2-3. win against vikings, 3-3. beat giants, 4-3. beat steelers, 5-3. beat panthers, 6-3.

That is some seriously wishful thinking. If we do that, we are a Super Bowl contender most likely...and that certainly seems far fetched. I guess I'd put 6-3 at the bye as a best case scenario, but that is even a stretch...I'd put the odds there at less than 10% for sure.

I'd say our "realistic" best case scenario is 5-4; that's beating Minny and Carolina and winning one of three vs the Falcons, Giants, and Steelers

[NewCliche21]

I remember way back when the schedule first came out and everyone was raving about how easy it was and with RGIII we had a good shot at the playoffs. I also remember me saying this schedule looked brutal.

Glad to see everyone agrees with me now. haha

Huh? I think that you were reading it wrong.

The super-optimists were saying between 7-9 and 9-7 with random jackasses (in the most loving way possible, of course) saying 0-16 or 19-0.

People were only saying that this team was better than last year's team but that didn't necessarily equate to more wins due to this schedule being much, much harder.

[Henry]

We disagree a bit on whether to call it two or three years, but whatever.

Well, as we may have previously discussed in this thread I don't think it's an insignificant distinction, but I'll try and explain further.

Look around the league... The Eagles OL is in shambles; the Giants secondary is as bad as ours and they have more injuries there; Cowboys OL is a sieve. Packers gave up 8 sacks.... In one half. Cardinals are 4-0 with a QB that lost a competition to John Skelton and they can't run the ball either.

The Eagles, Giants, and Packers are all veteran teams with a core that has played together for years. Unlike us, they aren't drafting to simply field a team. They draft for depth. I would expect teams with established programs and coaches to be able to cover for weaknesses better than a team like ours, which is still putting it's core together with first and second year guys. The Cowboys haven't been good in years and they aren't good now so I don't know why you'd bring them up. The Cardinal are seven years into their program, and quite frankly I'm not convinced they are for real.

If you take our weaknesses and combine that with some injuries and youth at key spots, that is an understandable excuse for me to not be a 10 win playoff type team... But it is not good enough for me to accept a 5-11 season.

Again, it's not just 'spots.' A football team, more than any other sports team, is not simply a puzzle where you stick in pieces and suddenly it's all complete. That's the exact mentality that got us stuck on the treadmill of suck for a decade. We need to get away from thinking like that. We need to understand that players have to get used to playing with one another, and with the coach. This process requires patience, moreso with a team full of young players that are also getting used to the league itself. It's no coincidence that every team you mentioned except the Cowboys has had the same coach for at least five years, most of them seven.

I like Shanny the GM... He has made some missteps, but I think we have talent here and only one area (DBs) that I consider a true weakness. I think he has a done a good job gathering parts.... I just think its time for him to coach them to some success... So far this year I am fine with where we are.

I'm fine with where we are as well. The talent may be here, but it's raw and it's clearly not quite ready to take the next step. Whether that means 5 wins or 9 wins or something in between I don't know. But regardless I understand where we are and I don't think the amount of wins will change that. Not at this point.

[pjfootballer]

That is some seriously wishful thinking. If we do that, we are a Super Bowl contender most likely...and that certainly seems far fetched. I guess I'd put 6-3 at the bye as a best case scenario, but that is even a stretch...I'd put the odds there at less than 10% for sure.

I'd say our "realistic" best case scenario is 5-4; that's beating Minny and Carolina and winning one of three vs the Falcons, Giants, and Steelers

This is the way I'm looking at it. 5-4 at the break, I'd be completely satisfied with that.

[gaskinsfan]

The schedule still looks tough. Vikings are going to be a tougher game than we thought, pretty much everything else is the same as I thought it would be at the start of the season. So unless there is a significant injury in the division, it is a tough road.

The reality is that the Redskins are in uncharted territory. We are used to watching a solid defense, an offense that is shaky, and our inability to score is what ultimately has killed off our good starts. Defense wears down and by the end of the season we look bad.

Now we can run the ball, we are getting great QB play, lots of weapons on offense, and we are finishing drives. Defense is letting leads slip away, offense has stalled in 2nd half, but overall the team is playing different football than we are used to seeing.

There are a lot of questions about this team. If O line can hold together and Defense can stiffen up a bit we could be really surprised at how many wins this team can pull off. If we get hurt on the O line, and our secondary gets lit up, or RG3 falters, we could lose most of the remaining games as well.

I have to admit it is fun to watch RG3 play. I am glad some of the adjustments were made by the coaches against Tampa (less option, less 0 coverage). Last week was a must win. We have two straight at home, if they can find a way to win both then we have a chance to do something special. If we lose both, and sit at 2-4 without playing a single division rival yet, it will be a long rest of the season.

[Plasticbricks]

Ya, The one advantage we have over a lot of teams we're going to play against is that we can run the ball and control time of possession. That's going to really mater once it starts to get cold.

That's an excellent point you've made Renegade7. So in theory, opposing teams will be less effective passing the ball when it gets cold. By then, with more coaching and Merriweather to return, there will be less pressure on our secondary, which means we a better chance to win than right now.

[Bacon]

I basically have us losing every other game the rest of the season, which never happens. There are always streaks and periods of ascent or decline.

Regardless, 8-8 is probable as long as RG3 stays healthy. Next year, we'll be a playoff contender.

[redskindan07]

If the defense steps up we can win any game on the schedule

[DogofWar1]

If our line stays healthy (fingers crossed so hard) we should be able to run the ball all year. I feel like Morris is the kind of guy who we can run a lot. It's too bad Helu was injured though, he'd have been a solid speed back to keep in our back pocket to spell Morris, but we have to take what we can get I guess.

Controlling time of possession and doing long drives will be our key tool. If we can manage to put up 30 most games with long drives, and our defense, even while porous, manages to continue generating a couple of turnovers a game, we should be able to win some shootouts.

[MintSkinz]

I wish we had beaten the Bengals when they were visiting.

Schedule looks brutal to me. No team is an easy win given how Redskins usually play up or down to the other team's level. We just can't put teams away...

[skinnyles]

come on guys...not even the coaches really know how good or bad we are. This is basically a rookie team!!! As the season progresses we will see what our true strenghts and weeknesses are. The schedule predictions are meaningless at this time.

[SIXPHO]

This is the way I'm looking at it. 5-4 at the break, I'd be completely satisfied with that.

Same here, considering how horrible our defense has played (and ST's) we have a rookie qb and still are above .500

Can't recall where I heard it but isn't there some history to no top pick QB's have a winning record?

---------- Post added October-4th-2012 at 02:56 PM ----------

come on guys...not even the coaches really know how good or bad we are. This is basically a rookie team!!! As the season progresses we will see what our true strenghts and weeknesses are. The schedule predictions are meaningless at this time.

lol "weeknesses"

not being mean, but spelling is one

[konga2145]

What people can't seem to see is that the 2 teams we beat have a total of 1 win, so in all we have not proveb we can beat anybody that good yet, not that we can't, we just have not proven it yet.

[skinsfan07]

What people can't seem to see is that the 2 teams we beat have a total of 1 win, so in all we have not proveb we can beat anybody that good yet, not that we can't, we just have not proven it yet.

You can only play the schedule you're dealt. I think the Rams and Bengals are solid squads too. So are the Saints and Bucs. Heck the Bucs almost beat Dallas and New York.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

This is the way I'm looking at it. 5-4 at the break, I'd be completely satisfied with that.

I don't want to sound pessimistic (I prefer objective, ), but I would be ecstatic with 5-4 at the bye. If we win 3 of 5 against Atlanta, Minnesota, New York, Pittsburgh, and Carolina then we will be ahead of schedule in my book. I would be satisfied with 4-5 at the bye because it still puts us on pace for about a 7-9 season. All things considered, I'd be happy with that.

[RansomthePasserby]

I think it's hard to extrapolate what the rest of the season will look like based on the first four weeks. Especially this season with the replacement refs (I think either or both of our losses could have turned out different if we had the regulars in there), a young team that will grow and change as the year progresses, and a QB who is gifted in what seems to be all areas and can SCORE (something we've never had before.)

[Mr. Sinister]

I think it's hard to extrapolate what the rest of the season will look like based on the first four weeks. Especially this season with the replacement refs (I think either or both of our losses could have turned out different if we had the regulars in there), a young team that will grow and change as the year progresses, and a QB who is gifted in what seems to be all areas and can SCORE (something we've never had before.)

Yeah.You really don't even get a sense of how good or bad a team is until early November for the most part. Even then, for us (in 2008), the bottom literally fell out. I mena I know we're all fans, but it's hard for me to change my opinion on how this team will perform, when the roles are essentially reversed (offense playing well, defense playing terrible) from what I was expecting.

[kleese]

Well, as we may have previously discussed in this thread I don't think it's an insignificant distinction, but I'll try and explain further.

The Eagles, Giants, and Packers are all veteran teams with a core that has played together for years. Unlike us, they aren't drafting to simply field a team. They draft for depth. I would expect teams with established programs and coaches to be able to cover for weaknesses better than a team like ours, which is still putting it's core together with first and second year guys. The Cowboys haven't been good in years and they aren't good now so I don't know why you'd bring them up. The Cardinal are seven years into their program, and quite frankly I'm not convinced they are for real.

Again, it's not just 'spots.' A football team, more than any other sports team, is not simply a puzzle where you stick in pieces and suddenly it's all complete. That's the exact mentality that got us stuck on the treadmill of suck for a decade. We need to get away from thinking like that. We need to understand that players have to get used to playing with one another, and with the coach. This process requires patience, moreso with a team full of young players that are also getting used to the league itself. It's no coincidence that every team you mentioned except the Cowboys has had the same coach for at least five years, most of them seven.

I'm fine with where we are as well. The talent may be here, but it's raw and it's clearly not quite ready to take the next step. Whether that means 5 wins or 9 wins or something in between I don't know. But regardless I understand where we are and I don't think the amount of wins will change that. Not at this point.

Henry, we have a bit of a fundamental disagreement here. If this was 1989 or even 1999 I would tend to agree with your theories on team building and having patience with a regime. But the NFL has changed drastically in recent years. I think that 5/6 year "rebuilds" are a thing of the past. As are rookie QBs waiting their turn and taking their lumps. The Texans right now are an exception to that rule as they've taken a long road to get where they are... But even then keep in mind that they only had one losing season during the process... They just got stuck at 8/9 wins for awhile.

I said this in the other thread and I beleive it wholeheartedly: If you are good, you are good. Adjusting to schemes and new ideas is the most overblown thing in the world. RG3 has never had a playbook before coming to DC and he already seems to have mastered this offense. We didn't suck in the past because we changed schemes on Jason Campbell. We sucked because Jason Campbell wasn't very good. He wasn't very good in Gibbs' offense or Zorn's and he wouldn't be good in Bill Walsh's either. In contrast, if Mike McCarthy fired himself this off season and brought in a new offense, I imagine Aaron Rodgers would be just fine.

If you get good coaches mixed with good players you will get good results... And it won't take years and years to show it.

The time is now for Shanny's plan to be bearing some fruit in the form of victories. I think we will get those 7/9 wins this year and be right on track.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

This is the way I'm looking at it. 5-4 at the break, I'd be completely satisfied with that.

If we get to 5-4 going into the bye, I'll be ecstatic.

Sadly, I see our record at the off week being 3-6, with Carolina stopping a 4 game losing streak. Maybe we beat the Vikings, but with Peterson getting back upto speed, I aren't putting money on it.

Hail.

[kleese]

If we get to 5-4 going into the bye, I'll be ecstatic.

Sadly, I see our record at the off week being 3-6, with Carolina stopping a 4 game losing streak. Maybe we beat the Vikings, but with Peterson getting back upto speed, I aren't putting money on it.

Hail.

And that to me, would be an illustration of something I'd find unnaceptable at this point. Too much parity in the league for me to be willing to accept a four game losing streak as "part of the process" at this point, especially when one of those games is at home against a squad very comprable to us. It would also mean the home losing streak under Shanny would grow to 9 games, which is just embarrassing.

[88Comrade2000]

And that to me, would be an illustration of something I'd find unnaceptable at this point. Too much parity in the league for me to be willing to accept a four game losing streak as "part of the process" at this point, especially when one of those games is at home against a squad very comprable to us. It would also mean the home losing streak under Shanny would grow to 9 games, which is just embarrassing.

Maybe unacceptable to you and many others but only one man has to be satisfied. Shanny also has 3 built in excuses:

1. Rookie QB

2. Salary cap hit prevent us from adequately addressing some weaknesses this year

3. Injuries to key players

Shanny isn't on the hot seat this year. Plus, despite our lack of a defense and other weaknesses; you are seeing an improvement on offense. Next year is when Shanny will be on the hot seat. Shanny will have to have the Skins at minimum contending for the playoffs all the way up to Week 17.

---------- Post added October-7th-2012 at 02:42 AM ----------

I initially predicted 7-9; I now say 6-10.

[RedskinsFan44]

When I look at that schedule I see the need to start winning at home. Let's make some noise today! I agree Shannahan is off the hot seat this year, his choice of Griffin is looking pretty good.

[TheItalianStallion]

Of all our remaining opponents, the only ones who have winning records are Baltimore & NYG. Bmore has sustained a bunch of defensive injuries and may prove ripe for collapse. We turned the ball over 5 times last Sunday @ NYG yet we still took the lead late in the game. Carolina & Cleveland are game which we should win (given the state of our pass D, no games are gimmes, but we have better than a 50% shot against them). Pretty much every game is a toss up. This schedule doesn't strike me as being brutal at all.