My thoughts

[Zen-like Todd]

I'm sure I'm echoing the thoughts of many, and they have probably been written in previous threads, so forgive me for going over previously trodden ground.

I am extremely concerned about the near term future of the franchise. I don't really care about being 0-2. What I care about is that ESPN article stating vets currently on the team are telling people to stay away from the Redskins. This is a horrible development, and matches everything we heard over the summer but refused to believe. Of course Irving knows what's up, he was on the damn team last year!!

I am also extremely concerned that this is a situation that can't improve with the current head coach, and his attitudes. Not only is he (yes, I am beginning to think that Raye is a Schotty mouthpiece) incapable of implementing an effective modern NFL offense, but that he has too big of an ego to fix the problem by bringing in a real offensive coordinator. Remember, just 2 years ago, in the year of 1999, we had the number 2 ranked offense in the league. Two years later, after 2 games, we are dead last.

I worry that we won't be able to attract the people we need, and that the few talented players we have left will jump ship. I worry that our team is in serious jeopardy of being in the dolrums for the next 5-7 years because of this. I now fully believe we should have given Robiskie his shot, and done everything in our power to keep Ray Rhodes here. And above all else, brought in a real GM.

I worry.

On to happier (ha!) thoughts. As badly as we suck right now, this is an eminently winnable game. And it's so damn simple too. You run. Then you run some more. Then you run some more. Then, you take Stephen Davis out. You replace him with Ki-Jana Carter. You run some more. I want to see forty carries between the two of them today. If that happens, we will win. Not only will we take time off the clock and keep the defense fresher, but we'll get first downs, improve our field position, and begin to draw in the defense, allowing us to go down the field. Right now, we're playing pee-wee level football.

The other day, a friend of mine who barely knows a thing about football came up to me and said the following:

"Why doesn't Marty throw downfield? If you run and throw short, the defense will just sit near the line of scrimmage. Don't you have to stretch them out with the threat of a deep pass?"

And like I said, this is not someone with a deep knowledge of the game.

[Art]

Your friend has it right TCO.

When we audible to a pass play with the bad guys put eight in the box, we are audibling to a short pass play in that box where eight guys are playing. We are dead ducks with these calls. Our receivers are being drilled just as they catch these 4-yard passes. We have to get the defense a little less bunched up to be successful. Marty can't produce the 31st ranked offense on this team, which has proven to be a highly capable offense when healthy. It'll crush him if he does so. He has got to open it up a little and give the team some hope because right now, the bad guys are in our pocket.

------------------

Doom is in the box.

[Mickalino]

If this is true about current players telling other players in the league not to come here, then it doesnt worry me. Just look at our past decade : One of the major causes of our ruins is over-priced, over-ego, lazy-@ss free agent busts. We need to start buiding from within, at some point.

Number one, we probably cant afford the types of guys that these "comments" are keeping away from the Skins. Number two, we dont NEED them. Not only because we need to shy away from big-priced free agent route, but also if they are dumb enough to believe our players, and lazy enough to avoid a REAL workout, then we SURELY dont need them

[ by Mick on September 30, 2001.]