Why I feel there is reason for concern:

Now, before you blow this post out of proportion, I'm not saying our season is over or anything silly like that, but I simply can't stomach the "It's preseason" jibberish I hear every time someone mentions how awful we've looked at times. Yes, I realize it's preseason and the offense is vanilla, but guess what else is vanilla -- the opposing defense. The thing about the preseason is you can see how your teams can execute in one vs one situations. That means you can really see O/D Lines work, you can see WRs and CBs work, and you can see if QBs can make the simply throws without worrying about complex coverage schemes.

First problem: Our division. I've watched every team at least once, and these guys look good when their first team is on the field. Dallas, Philly, even the Giants look strong throughout with their starters. They just seem to have something we don't. Maybe it's another new offense we're adjusting too, maybe not. I don't really care "what" it is, Im just curious if between now and opening day if we can get our execution fixed. We just don't seem to execute. Our starting offense has scored 3 points in two preseason games. It's preseason, but a touchdown would be nice. Show us something from the starting offense.

Second Problem: Brunell -- I seriously question if he can lead us to wins. I've never been a big Brunell fan, that's no secret. He played very well for quite a few games last season. I'm curious how quickly Saunders might be willing to pull the trigger if (when) Brunell gets that nagging injury that turns his play into what we saw in the Tampa playoff game. I really think it's time for the Campbell era to begin. The guys from NFL radio talked about this in depth for a while the other day. They talked to Campbell, people around the skins, and watched him practice/play and say not only do they think the skins not lose anything making the switch, they think they gain something. I don't have the confidence that Brunell can take this team where we all want it to be.

Third Problem: Our defense let the Jets go all over us. Yes, they used two gadget plays. Big deal. Just shows that gadget plays kill an aggressive defense even in preseason. I love our defense, but we MUST watch the flea flickers and reverses, etc. Taylor especially is known to bite hard on that, and from what I've seen from Archelletta, so is he. I think that the Jets' running game looked much better when Griff went out. He's so crucial to our team it's ridiculous.

This team DOES NOT have time to adjust from preseason to season. We need to hit the ground running to make a play for the playoffs. We're in the toughest division in football, a slow start or weak finish could possibly send us from the penthouse to the basement within 4 weeks (I think it will be THAT close). This 3rd game is crucial that the starters show us... something. Anything. Maybe have a receiver make a catch that doesn't require an amazing dive to catch.

That said. I like how our pass protection along the line has been. Better than I thought. The run game is looking poor regardless of who's in there. Hopefully that will be fixed.

Our defense looks really great. I think our pass rush with the front 4 will be much better, hopefully that translates into more take aways if we can drop the safeties and LBs into coverage on occassion.

In closing, I just feel it's ignorant for us to say that we're the class of the division when we don't do ANYTHING in preseason and don't even keep the games close. Every other game I've watched, minus very few, I've seen better preseason performances from every other team, and I feel that says SOMETHING. This week is crucial.

Has the season started yet? Seriously, I can't wait.

I agree about one thing, this week is crucial. The 1st half of the 3rd preseason game is tune-up time.

But overall, I know you might not want to hear it, but it's the preseason. It's evaluation time, there's no gameplanning going on right now, very little in way of schemes on either side of the ball, and the only people that care about the scores are the fans.

I just find it odd that we don't play what we practice. I am sure that is why we look so bad in the preseason. I am still excited to see what we will be in this season--we haven't seen any of it yet.

I don't have a problem with these concerns because they are legitimate. However, keep in mind that two pre-season games do not a season make. We've all seen some good looking pre-season's turn into crap and thanks to TAFKAS we were reminded that Gibbs was 0-4 during the pre-season and went on to win the Super Bowl. You're right, we look terrible but I'm tempering my concerns until after the first two regular season games.

Really nice post Daseal. I think you make some very valid points. I know this may sound little " the glass is half full" but I think all of this will help our team and mainly our fan base. Aside from the injuries I think, we has fans needed to get a wake up call. I live and breath Redskins football and with all the additions I was thinking we would waltz to a 12-4 record or better. We need to remember all of what you stated in your post and be realistic.

I still have faith in Gibbs and the team he has built. We will do well this year but I also think this season will be a marathon not a sprint and we have to take are hard look at who we are as a team and fans and be real about our expectations.

Honestly, I wouldn't be the least bit concerned if all the other teams in our division, who also aren't game planning, just going out and tossin' around the ball are looking great. That's my real concern. If everyone else looked like us, I wouldn't think twice about it, but they haven't.

matty, isnt this still preseason? some valid points made but like anything involved in change, our offense will take some time to adapt. i would be very surprised if in this weeks game the team as a whole doesnt look and play like a playoff team. in a couple of weeks we will be looking at threads like this one and having a good chuckle, thats how confident i am of coach gibbs and the entire staff

Every team plays the preseason differently.

Some teams show more than others.

Some teams don't want to show anything.

It's tough to make any direct comparisons right now.

i see how u can feel that way. we haven't seen, well really anything from the offense. the defense has shown flashes but the 2nd and 3rd string guys haven't shown anything. the special teams didn't even bother showing up saturday. they better get going already. i've watched the other teams in our division and they do look like there paying good. although they are not trying to learn a new offense. but u can't base how good they are in the pre-season b/c u don't know what the other teams are doing. u know. i need to see improvement this week or i will be worried alot more than i am now.

Every team plays the preseason differently.

Some teams show more than others.

Some teams don't want to show anything.

It's tough to make any direct comparisons right now.

I just can't help but have a gut feeling that the players know what is to come, and it is so far different from what is being seen on the field in pre-season that their momentum is gone in pre-season. It's a feeling like they know what they are doing out there (not showing the other teams their real stuff) doesn't even come close to what they are going to be doing in the real season, so their "fight for it" attitude is just sitting on the bench. That's my gut feeling. I'm going with it and hoping that on 9/11 our Skins prove me right!