Boswell's Article Was Nice But..............

[bulldog]

there are still too many sacred cows on this team and too much that is 'let slide' for me to believe we are on the verge of a move of significance as an organization, at least not yet.

Boswell noted the Skins have played better the past few weeks as regular after regular has been replaced in the lineup by backup players that have looked hungry and determined to make a contribution. And the team has not quit.

All true.

But then right after the Miami game, a close one point loss, we read about Bruce Smith and his comments about not getting enough playing time, questioning the gameplan of the DC and indirectly, the HC.

You see players such as Keyshawn Johnson, Daryl Gardener get suspended or deactivated for public comments critical of their team's coaching and organization, and you wonder why that, or even a benching, doesn't happen here?

This is not the first, but the THIRD time that Smith has made public his pique over his log of minutes this season.

It would be tolerable if Smith were still a 14 sack player making 70 tackles, but Smith is not even the leading sacker on what is by my estimate one of the worst pass rushing defenses in modern Redskins history.

The other situation(s) that bother me are the ones where we see players intentionally free lance from the gameplan and cost the team wins.

Yet again, there is no real accountability. Yes, the players admit their mistake in the newspapers (Arrington and Trotter are prime examples) but those mistakes don't seem to have any effect on their subsequent play.

In other words, there doesn't seem to be any LEARNING and MATURING going on.

What must be apparent to outsiders viewing the team for the first time is that the players just don't have a healthy dose of fear and respect for their coaches.

George Edwards may be 'liked' by the players as they indicate he is. But evidently, the players 'like' him as they would like an indulgent uncle or grandfather who dotes on them and denies them nothing. He is not able to persuade, force or otherwise cajole his charges to change their APPROACH to the game for the better.

The repeated weekly collapses of the defense in crunch time are symptomatic of this fact of life.

The Giants game was lost largely on a blown assignment.

Ditto for the Carolina game.

Against Miami the Skins allowed Ricky Williams to sweep their defense late in the fourth quarter as Champ Bailey and LaVar Arrington were again caught out of position, sucked inside.

For Bailey, who has struggled in the open field trying to support the run, this is nothing new.

Earlier, safety Ohalete allowed 260 pound TE Randy McMichael to get open for a potential TD and was forced to interfere with him to prevent the score.

Again, a matchup, given McMichael's skills, should have favored Washington's secondary.

The Redskins may indeed be getting some unlikely bright performances from unheralded players such as Hasselbeck, Cartwright and solid play from some veterans who usually get little notice such as Jessie Armstead and Renaldo Wynn.

But is this truly the sign of a team nearing entry to the show or merely a team of now low expectations around the NFL that is able to a degree to sneak up on clubs the past few weeks after getting blown out of the water against Tampa, Buffalo and Dallas?

[great28]

Earlier, safety Ohalete allowed 260 pound TE Randy McMichael to get open for a potential TD and was forced to interfere with him to prevent the score.

Although you have made several good points, I must disagree with the whole. I think the article that Boswell wrote absolutely nailed it on the head. I mean because if you think about it, we are only a few plays from being 9-2. The only two games this season that we've played, that we absolutely got our asses handed to us, was Tampa and Buffalo. We only lost by a touchdown to Dallas, so I would't say we got blown out of the water. All the others were games that we were within one play of winning. Against Philly, you have an overthrown pass in the end zone to tie the game and send it to overtime. The Dallas game kills me because Dallas turned the ball over at least 4 times, yet we couldn't convert. The same with the Carolina game, turnovers that we couldn't convert. The game against NY, because of a stupid personal foul penalty, a touchdown got called back. The game against Miami, if we catch that punt who knows what could have happened. The truth is, we are really close to being a good team. We just haven't been able to get over that hump of mediocrity.

[bubba9497]

if people look hard enough they will find what they want to see.

tomorrow is another day, and I anticipate what it shall bring

[Tarhog]

Originally posted by great28

I mean because if you think about it, we are only a few plays from being 9-2.

Next season, I'll be as pumped as ever for another season of my beloved Skins, praying that this year will be different. I'll be a believer, and I'll hold onto that for as long as I can. I made it to 4-6 this year, and most of the way through game 11.

But we are NOT a few plays away from being 9-2. We're 5 games away from 9-2. Think about that. 5 games. If you want to say, you know....we've played some close games this year and were more competitive...or we lost to some good teams because its early in the rebuilding process...or we need to learn how to win the tough ones....I'd be willing to buy into any of those statements.

But a few plays away? Nope.

[inmate running the asylum]

Tarhog,

Absolutely right......... no way we are a good team or a 9-2 team.

You guys that look only at the scoreboard and think that just because the score is close, we are competitive -- Dallas 21 Skins 14 etc -- are out of touch with reality. :laugh:

The Skins are a BAD TEAM and also have been badly coached. Dallas and Carolina blew us out of the water -- something like 480 yards to 180 yards. Thats domination. The only thing that kept it from being a rout, were the 4 turnovers. And you have to be pretty bad when you still can't win in spite of having a plus 4 turnover ratio in a game!

Detroit last year was the worst team in the NFL at 3-13. But if you check the scores of their games, they lost 8 games by 8 points or less. Doesn't mean a thing. They were still a bad team. Scores mean little. Yardage is a better indicator of who is getting pushed around in a game.

[jbooma]

Originally posted by inmate running the asylum

Scores mean little. Yardage is a better indicator of who is getting pushed around in a game.

Inmate you are so wrong it is funny

Talk to the Giants about all the yardage, they can't win after outgaining everyone they play. Ask New England, the barely ever outgain anyone yet still always win.

Scoring means the most in the NFL because that is how you win the games. They don't remember who wins the yardage battle all they care about is the score.

If we could take advantage of all of our turnovers we would easily be a 10-6 team.

[The Wicked Wop]

I think so far you all have missed the point.....fact is it shows how close 9-2 and 4-7 teams really are. We are not 4-7 because we are a very bad team. In all honesty football is very competitive and a play here or there lets you win or lose those close games...unfortunatly we've been the team committing those errors at the wrong time and costing us wins. This can be seen with the Bears a few years back when they had something like 13 wins.....but weren't a very good team....just made the plays when it counted….Then a year later with the same team the caved and barely played an good ball. Now maybe we haven’t set the world on fire all season…but atleast on offense we’ve looked capable of exploding and some of our offensive woes have had to do with playing a 2nd year QB.

I like most have been dissappointed in our coaching this year. I believe Spurrier at his word that he is upset about this teams performance is wants to turn it around.....and I don't think their are any lack of respect issues on that side of the ball. The defense is another story and thats what really worries me....especially if he comes back.

I'm all for giving everyone every opportunity...but in all honesty Edwards has been painfully out-coached and seems none the wiser......hell it took the guy 8 or 9 games to realize our D-line sucked and we need to blitz to bring pressure....then it took him 2 more games to actually come up with blitzs where the QB got atleast hit to some degree....this is not good.....and seems a little to much like OJT to me. Maybe he learned from all this and maybe he can effectively run the defense. But at the same time is it worth possible risking next season on this. Granted he has had to deal with a poor line, but he didn’t seem to make any adjustments to guard against this through the first half of the season.

[great28]

Originally posted by inmate running the asylum

Tarhog,

Absolutely right......... no way we are a good team or a 9-2 team.

You guys that look only at the scoreboard and think that just because the score is close, we are competitive -- Dallas 21 Skins 14 etc -- are out of touch with reality. :laugh:

The Skins are a BAD TEAM and also have been badly coached. Dallas and Carolina blew us out of the water -- something like 480 yards to 180 yards. Thats domination. The only thing that kept it from being a rout, were the 4 turnovers. And you have to be pretty bad when you still can't win in spite of having a plus 4 turnover ratio in a game!

Detroit last year was the worst team in the NFL at 3-13. But if you check the scores of their games, they lost 8 games by 8 points or less. Doesn't mean a thing. They were still a bad team. Scores mean little. Yardage is a better indicator of who is getting pushed around in a game.

We may be a undisiplined, but we're not a BAD TEAM IRTA. And maybe you guys didn't quite get what I was saying. But to clarify, somewhere on this forum, someone blasted Ohalete made a bad play when it was D. Terrell. The guy gambled on a play, that had it gone the other way, people would be saying how great a play that was. I mean it was inches, inches away from being 6 the other way. It's simple, it only takes ONE play to change the outcome of a game, and you can't honestly say that we have sucked for the majority of the time.

And the point about the yardage being a better indicator is a bunch of malarky. I would rather have a team that would allow yards out the yin yang and have a goal line stand than to allow that one big play that breaks a teams back. Because what matters the most is within that redzone. Yardage don't mean squat. Yeah it might look bad in the stats, but what does that W/L column look like? Last time I checked, games are won by POINTS not yardage. :2cents: