The Offense Was Too Conservative

Remember guys...that is why we got Jason Campbell. However, I think it was a great move to have Brunell starting for us this year. Believe me, you'll find that Campbell AND Ramsey benefited a great deal by watching a decent veteran QB run the offense. Sure, Brunell isn't a TOP QUALITY QB, but he is a quality QB who is going to give you a chance in the game. It was a smart move.

Agreed. The book on Campbell before the draft was that we was a terrific prospect who needed time to develop. I think working with Gibbs and his crew and learning from Brunell is a great situation for him. If he can add some of Brunell's knowledge to his physical skill, he has the potential to be our QB of the future.

I agree with the conservative calling. I must say this and i know some people will agree and that is with our running game and yes we did great this year running the ball, but when you cant run inside which is not portis' strong point we need to run the tosses and sweeps for portis he ran much more effective with that style of running today when we did run them plays. I just think we have to run the ball to his style of running and will continue to say that.

Great Year regardless of outcome...... Hail2em :)

we have no choice, we don't have any offensive weapons aside from moss and cooley
we need to upgrade this on the offseason

The offense has been the weak link in this team for 2 years now. The last two games were truly awful, from an offensive standpoint. Our "D" is a championship calibre defense and was the same last year. It's sad to see them play so well, game in and game out, only to be undone by an offense that sometimes shows up and many times does not.

Would love to see another competition at QB at training camp next summer, but my guess is that Gibbs will stick with his man. Brunell played well (even great) for spurts this season, but he has been awful these last few games. The O's poor play and total inability to even move the ball is why our season ended tonight. Bottom line is - Brunell will never take us to a championship.

We also need to upgrade our kicking game. A new punter is needed and John Hall just cannot kick off worth a d*** anymore. On a regular basis, our opponents were starting from the 30 yard line and even more, mostly due to his poor kickoffs. A good kicking game is crucial for the Skins to improve.

Having said all that, this was still a season to be proud of. I, for one, believed they were through when they were 5-6, but they fought back with a lot of guts. Makes you wonder how far we can go if we can only get a higher level of play from our QB?

The offense has been the weak link in this team for 2 years now. The last two games were truly awful, from an offensive standpoint. Our "D" is a championship calibre defense and was the same last year. It's sad to see them play so well, game in and game out, only to be undone by an offense that sometimes shows up and many times does not.

Would love to see another competition at QB at training camp next summer, but my guess is that Gibbs will stick with his man. Brunell played well (even great) for spurts this season, but he has been awful these last few games. The O's poor play and total inability to even move the ball is why our season ended tonight. Bottom line is - Brunell will never take us to a championship.

We also need to upgrade our kicking game. A new punter is needed and John Hall just cannot kick off worth a d*** anymore. On a regular basis, our opponents were starting from the 30 yard line and even more, mostly due to his poor kickoffs. A good kicking game is crucial for the Skins to improve.

Having said all that, this was still a season to be proud of. I, for one, believed they were through when they were 5-6, but they fought back with a lot of guts. Makes you wonder how far we can go if we can only get a higher level of play from our QB?

Not to kiss your butt too much, but I love how much thought you put into your posts. They are always so well written.

Ramseyfan, I think a big reason Gibbs wouldn't come out throwing in the first half is cuz our field position sucked. We started (on average) from our own 10-12 yd line on our first 6 possessions. In the rain, with a wet ball, you don't take chances when you're backed up like that.

Derrick Frost was huge today. I think Tupa's history.

Brunell has been a servicable QB, but with Portis banged up and Randy Thomas out, Brunell's play simply wasn't good enough to win. I think the O-line has been the problem the last 3 games. They didn't play as good as they were against St Louis, AZ, Dallas and NY.

I'm sorry, but to get 3+ turnovers and lose is a disgrace. To get the kind of offensive performance we did in the first half is inexcusable. 3 first downs? 3 first downs? We weren't going against the Bucs, so we can't blame it on the defense we were playing.

Our defense limited one of the best offenses in the league to 20 points at their home. With the turnovers we should have been able to seal the deal.
SHUT UP!

SHUT UP!

Apparently, some people cannot debate intelligently. Instead, they react with pure emotion and no logic. I should have figured that people would attack me personally. Given Wilbon and Kornheiser's articles, which also note the offense's poor performance, I guess we should burn them in effigy.

I understand the thread was ill-timed, but given the offense's performance I thought it would be ignoring the 500 lb. gorilla not to talk about the offense. Isn't this site supposed to discuss things? Perhaps I was wrong?

Apparently, some people cannot debate intelligently. Instead, they react with pure emotion and no logic. I should have figured that people would attack me personally. Given Wilbon and Kornheiser's articles, which also note the offense's poor performance, I guess we should burn them in effigy.

I understand the thread was ill-timed, but given the offense's performance I thought it would be ignoring the 500 lb. gorilla not to talk about the offense. Isn't this site supposed to discuss things? Perhaps I was wrong?

Sorry man didn't mean to attack you maybe its just me but these kinda threadsis what I didn't want to see tonight. I have read your posts in the past and usuall respect you thoughts but as you said I thought is was Ill timed. We are not Tony K. or anyone else in the media whos job it is to criticize we can give at least this one night to be happy where we got this year and look back on a great season. We have six months to think about the future. Again I didn't mean to attack you and appologize if you took it the wrong way.

Ramseyfan - I agree. I've been complaining about the conservative offense all year. It seems until we're behind by 10-14 it's not worth being aggressive. If we do get out to a lead we squat on it, get our offense out of any sort of rhythm they had created, and all around suck and force a tired defense to squeak out a win instead of attempting to put it out of reach earlier. Im certainly not asking for 3 throws when we're up by 10, but at least attempt to get the first downs.

Today our defense was pathetic, I don't care what you say 3 first downs is pathetic. Portis couldn't get going due to their D swarming he run and also, in my opinion, due to a hurting Chris Samuels and absent Randy Thomas.

Playcalling hasn't changed from most of the season, but if the games you're referring to are the games where we actually played some great offense (Giants, Dallas) then look again. Granted, in these games Brunell hit wide open targets. But in these games we tried deep, we hit Cooley with mid range plays a lot, and we mixed it up a lot more. Granted, the sample sizes between these games varied quite a bit, but regardless we still weren't calling the same game.

I love Gibbs as a head coach, the motivation, confidence, and aura of winning he brings to the team cannot be denied. The players would jump off a cliff like a gaggle of lemmings (what do you call a group of lemmings? Maybe a flock!) for him, but I have not agreed with a lot of the playcalling and offensive decesions this year, including Brunell. While Brunell had some amazing games this year I really liked what I saw from Ramsey in the first game and feel bad he never got a shot, while Brunell played good, and in some games great, Ramsey deserves a legitimate shot at showing what he can bring to the team.

Adaption is a must in the NFL and I didnt see it from us today until the 4th quarter when the "Oh shit, we better do something quick" mentallity set it. Then all of a sudden we could move the ball. Did the players all of a sudden decide to execute? I'm voting no for that one. I feel this loss (and what maybe should have been a loss in Philly, and what should have definitely been a loss in tampa -- luckily we squeaked those out.)

I know the common theme on this board is that Gibbs is infallible and god forbid someone have an opinion that isn't sucking the Redskins organization off, but I feel we could have gone a lot farther this season and post-season with a little more balls put into your playcalling. If it's true you really have to scale back your offense that much for Brunell then he doesn't belong in the game.

In closing, I'm happy with the season, we made a playoff appearance which is rare enough, let alone an actual win. I feel the franchise and success will only grow from here and I can hardly wait till training camp coming up. However, that doesn't mean our team is short of problems. I'm willing to bet Gibbs is trying to think right now how to improve the offense and team.