WP - NFL preview magazines call Redskins ‘clueless’ and among NFL’s worst teams

[LoudMouth12thMan]

I pray to God Gruden turns out to be a good coach, because we do not deserve another bad coach leading this great organization. We do not deserve it as fans and the talent on this years Redskins team is too damn good to be waisted on another Zorn or Shanahan like coach.

 

I think he's the perfect coach for this team.  I don't think he'll have any trouble communicating with players and quite frankly he comes from high pedigree in the football acumen department.  I don't see Zorn or Shanahan in Gruden.   That doesn't necessarily mean he'll succeed, but on paper (since we have nothing else to go on) he seems like the right fit.  

[jflow78]

Fair criticism is fine..some may not like to hear it but I can accept it if it's founded in truth and fair...However, this is uninformed crap. Just silly. RG3 timid? lmao.  He was tentative and working his way back...but there is nothing timid about RG3. 

I wish he WERE a little timid.  Then maybe he'd get out of bounds earlier.  Instead, his crazy *** is still going for that extra yard or 2.  

I think he's the perfect coach for this team....

I agree, but for another reason.  He's come in with next to no fanfare.  There are zero expectations on him this year because it seems like the national media assume he's going to be a bust at HC.  I LOVE that.

 

Even Zorn came in with more attention (even if only because of the way he got the job), but Gruden has been an OC and no one cares to pay attention.  

[Bacon]

The people who come up with preseason rankings are always hilariously uncreative. Whatever happened last year is exactly what will happen this year and it's always the same 4 or 5 teams at the top with some perennial loser (Detroit, Cleveland) thrown in there as the requisite "sexy pick." 9 times out of 10 they disappoint because those teams are, you guessed it, perennial losers.

Looks like all these guys did is go "2nd worst record last year + DeSean Jackson = 26th this year...durrr"

[hail2skins]

PFT has us at #23 overall, #13 in the NFC.  Not a bad writeup.

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/11/preseason-power-rankings-no-23-washington-redskins/

[hail2skins]

The people who come up with preseason rankings are always hilariously uncreative. Whatever happened last year is exactly what will happen this year and it's always the same 4 or 5 teams at the top with some perennial loser (Detroit, Cleveland) thrown in there as the requisite "sexy pick." 9 times out of 10 they disappoint because those teams are, you guessed it, perennial losers.

When you combine the power rankings and writeups it seems like in most cases the publication tries to cover itself.  The power ranking has the Skins at 30 or below, but the writeup says "But the Skins have the playoff pieces" so if Jay and Co. do surprise this season, the mag can always say "Told you so."  I have more respect for the ones that say "While the Skins have talent, their holes make us think that they're still a year away." Still squishy, but at least more on a limb than others.

[justice98]

On the one hand, when you're coming off a 3-13 year, it's hard to be indignant that the team isn't highly regarded.  But that said, these rationale given behind these rankings are still nonsense.  

[Mursilis]

I honestly have no idea why people let preseason rankings get under their skin.  Even if the people making the rankings were imminently qualified to do so, and they seldom are, who cares?  These people get paid to write - no one gets fired for bad predictions.  If they did, there would be no one left at ESPN.

 

Would people be happier if everyone had the Skins as the team to beat?  Three weeks into the season and it won't matter where anyone was in July's Power Rankings.

 

This.  These predictions are just done to sell magazines to rubes who can't figure out that ranking teams before training camp even opens is dumb.  No one has any idea what injuries will occur, what cuts will be made, which rookies will shine, etc., before the first real game.  For nearly half the league, loss of a starting QB practically guarantees a sub-.500 season.  Nearly every year, multiple teams finish + or - 5 or more games from last year, and no one saw it coming.  Heck, the 'skins have gone 6-10, 10-6, 5-11 (2004-06) and 5-11, 10-6, 3-13 (2011-13) in the past 10 years, so this is nothing new to us.  People need to chill out and worry about what's done on the field, not what's said in magazines everyone will forget all about in a month. 

[pjfootballer]

I honestly have no idea why people let preseason rankings get under their skin. Even if the people making the rankings were imminently qualified to do so, and they seldom are, who cares? These people get paid to write - no one gets fired for bad predictions. If they did, there would be no one left at ESPN.

Would people be happier if everyone had the Skins as the team to beat? Three weeks into the season and it won't matter where anyone was in July's Power Rankings.

Part of it for some is most of the time, these guys use the year before as their barometer for what will happen this year. The lack of research on what each team drafted or signed in free agency to make a respectable prediction for the upcoming season is lazy journalism. If they had legitimate reasons as to why we should be the 15th or 16th team in the conference, it would be easier to take.

[Larry]

When you combine the power rankings and writeups it seems like in most cases the publication tries to cover itself.  The power ranking has the Skins at 30 or below, but the writeup says "But the Skins have the playoff pieces" so if Jay and Co. do surprise this season, the mag can always say "Told you so."  I have more respect for the ones that say "While the Skins have talent, their holes make us think that they're still a year away." Still squishy, but at least more on a limb than others.

It's kinda like the weather forecaster.

If he says "60% chance of rain", how can he be wrong?

[mistertim]

lol @ Alfred Morris being the 21st ranked RB in the NFL.

[theTruthTeller]

Part of it for some is most of the time, these guys use the year before as their barometer for what will happen this year. The lack of research on what each team drafted or signed in free agency to make a respectable prediction for the upcoming season is lazy journalism. If they had legitimate reasons as to why we should be the 15th or 16th team in the conference, it would be easier to take.

If you look at my prior posts in this thread, you'll see a couple of things.  Most importantly, the particular power ranking from USAToday that everyone is complaining about was first published in early May.  The article that had them at 7-9 was written by another author (who came up with his rankings by guessing on each game played throughout the season) and was published in early June.  As Hail2skins found out from his research, these articles and others were compiled into a single publication sold in late June.  There is a reason they publish new power rankings every week once the season starts - everyone, even the experts, are clueless at the beginning of the season.  Things change pretty rapidly in the NFL.

 

I doubt anyone puts a whole lot of thought into nailing the power rankings in May.  

 

If you look at my post #46 which compares the preseason ESPN power ranking of the Skins to their eventual actual ranking at the end of the regular season, you can see that they are wildly off at times, in both directions, but overall they have been pretty fair.  They ranked the Skins #10 last year in week 1 (the week before the first game) - no one here was complaining that the ranking was too high.

[ConcordNCSkinsFan]

Whatever bias against the Redskins from National Media we joked about in the past is a reality now. Because of the name issue the Redskins have become Public Enemy #1 in the NFL for many of these media outlets. There have been many other seasons where it would have been more warranted to call the Redskins the "worst team in NFL" going in over this one (2011 for example) but I didn't see the same amount of disdain I see now. The fact that these people still consider themselves "journalists" is laughable.

[bonesbr549]

Until the Skins can win consistently for a few seasons this is what we are relegated to.  Winning is the only way out.

 

You hit the nail on the head.   You are your record and one season will not change that.  However, I do think we are getting the pieces together.  I go into the season with great hopes!  (of course I always do  )

[EvilMonkeyBoy]

 

 

 

Redskins Coach Jay Gruden. “The Redskins needed a big hire,” she wrote. “Instead, they went with Gruden, who has an accomplished brother but little experience of his own….”

Gotta say I always laugh the most at people putting down Gruden's credentials or saying he's riding his brother's coattails.

Have any of them looked at Jon Gruden's career before being hired? How long he was a coordinator?

Jon Gruden's 3 total years of experience as Eagles OC:

1995: 25th in Yards, 21st in points
1996: 4th in Yards, 9th in points
1997: 5th in Yards, 19th in points

Jay Gruden's 3 total years of experience as Bengals OC:

2011: 20th in yards, 18th in points
2012: 22nd in yards, 12th in points
2013: 10th in yards, 6th in points

What drastically different track records, right?

[SWFLSkins]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/football-insider/wp/2014/07/21/here-are-some-nfl-experts-who-dont-think-the-redskins-will-stink-this-year/

 

 

Last week, the D.C. Sports Bog featured a roundup of NFL preview magazines’ takes what Washington will do this season, and it was far from complimentary. This group of NFL experts — Fox Sports Live’s roundtable, including Jay Glazer, Randy Moss, Brian Urlacher and ex-Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb — thinks the team could be pretty good this year. If you make it through the video, which runs almost nine minutes and isn’t boring, despite what you might think of the analysis skills of some of the panelists, you’ll even see at least one of them pick Washington to win the division.

[pjfootballer]

If you look at my prior posts in this thread, you'll see a couple of things. Most importantly, the particular power ranking from USAToday that everyone is complaining about was first published in early May. The article that had them at 7-9 was written by another author (who came up with his rankings by guessing on each game played throughout the season) and was published in early June. As Hail2skins found out from his research, these articles and others were compiled into a single publication sold in late June. There is a reason they publish new power rankings every week once the season starts - everyone, even the experts, are clueless at the beginning of the season. Things change pretty rapidly in the NFL.

I doubt anyone puts a whole lot of thought into nailing the power rankings in May.

If you look at my post #46 which compares the preseason ESPN power ranking of the Skins to their eventual actual ranking at the end of the regular season, you can see that they are wildly off at times, in both directions, but overall they have been pretty fair. They ranked the Skins #10 last year in week 1 (the week before the first game) - no one here was complaining that the ranking was too high.

Just to let you know, I wasn't chastising your post. I was agreeing with it. Sorry for the miscommunication.

[Alaskins]

Well, we're losers until we prove them wrong by winning.

 

Time to get to work boys.

[Boss_Hogg]

The name "debate" has a lot to do with the hate.

Who cares, those assholes predicted 3-13 in 2012 and 12-4 in 2013.

[KingGibbs]

Until the Skins can win consistently for a few seasons this is what we are relegated to.  Winning is the only way out.

Why 'skins fans can't acknowledge that is beyond me.

[returnofthefunbunch]

Being "hated" or underestimated does not bother me one bit.  Honestly, we don't deserve a great deal of respect after the years of pure incompetence associated with our beloved Redskins. 

 

Hopefully, Gruden and Allen can bring back the respect we all so desperately hope for.

 

It's a new season.  Bring on the "hate".  That will make each victory that much sweeter this year.