12th's Five Reasons To Be Encouraged

Hey, we're 2-1. If we win 2 out of every 3 games for the rest of the year, we'll have 11 or so wins. :)

We should beat the Lions, Cards, Jets, Bucs, Bills, Vikings the Giants next time and yes, even the Bears who look horrible. Favre looks great but they have no RBs, can they keep THAT up? The Pats and Cowboys won't win every game, maybe we can ensure that. Anything can happen in the NFL.

With that said, we should have beat the Giants, the team was horrible and in absolute dissaray, no excuse for that loss at home. The Lions and Cards both have explosive recievers which doesnt bode well for Carlos Rogers, Im still on the C-Los bandwagon, I love the kid and think he has a world of talent, but he needs to start showing it. The buccaneers is nowhere near a (we should beat) game, they are improved and absolutely dominating teams, there really good. This is the first time in a long time that we have a quarterback with a ton of talent and a monster defense, my only problem is that our coaching staff doesnt seem like there up to the challenge, Joe Gibbs is the man for the job and I dont think we should have picked up Al Saunders. Constantly reverting back to the cover-2 is killing this defense in important situations, I just dont understand it. Im very optimistic about this team, there just seems to be too much talent to lose, but we have had teams like that before. Were always the team that plays up to the competition and then the next week down to the opposition, it was sad to see the Giants jumping around on fedex field like they accomplished something great, if the players dont start taking this season seriously theres going to be more sundays like that.

im encouraged that despite our terrible start. (2-1), i can still grill 100 steaks while drinking 10 beers.

With that said, we should have beat the Giants, the team was horrible and in absolute dissaray, no excuse for that loss at home. The Lions and Cards both have explosive recievers which doesnt bode well for Carlos Rogers, Im still on the C-Los bandwagon, I love the kid and think he has a world of talent, but he needs to start showing it. The buccaneers is nowhere near a (we should beat) game, they are improved and absolutely dominating teams, there really good. This is the first time in a long time that we have a quarterback with a ton of talent and a monster defense, my only problem is that our coaching staff doesnt seem like there up to the challenge, Joe Gibbs is the man for the job and I dont think we should have picked up Al Saunders. Constantly reverting back to the cover-2 is killing this defense in important situations, I just dont understand it. Im very optimistic about this team, there just seems to be too much talent to lose, but we have had teams like that before. Were always the team that plays up to the competition and then the next week down to the opposition, it was sad to see the Giants jumping around on fedex field like they accomplished something great, if the players dont start taking this season seriously theres going to be more sundays like that.

You know, you guys are pointing out a lot of "intersting" things in these so called arguments.

The Giants are horrible, this and that. Whatever. First of all, stats mean very little to me during the first three games. And for the record, I personally picked the Giants to finish last in the division this year, but I hedged myself by mentioning this team can explode on any team on any Sunday. We saw it against Dallas and we saw it against the Redskins.

Fact is, somebody in our division will be 1-3 come Sunday night, and it won't be the Redskins. So If we want to bitch and moan, there's something to bitch and moan about.

You know, you guys are pointing out a lot of "intersting" things in these so called arguments.

The Giants are horrible, this and that. Whatever. First of all, stats mean very little to me during the first three games. And for the record, I personally picked the Giants to finish last in the division this year, but I hedged myself by mentioning this team can explode on any team on any Sunday. We saw it against Dallas and we saw it against the Redskins.

Fact is, somebody in our division will be 1-3 come Sunday night, and it won't be the Redskins. So If we want to bitch and moan, there's something to bitch and moan about.

No, the Giants were a bad team missing there starting RB, not to mention the bickering back and forth in the locker room, and the talk of firing Tom Coughlin running rampant. The Giants were dismantled the week before at home by the Packers, its not bitching and moaning, it was a game we let slip away, if someone is not allowed to be upset about it, then whats the point of being a fan, are we just supposed to walk around with a smile on our face all week? It sucks to lose like that, but I will never leave the Redskins side, there my team, Im just not always happy with them.

No, the Giants were a bad team missing there starting RB, not to mention the bickering back and forth in the locker room, and the talk of firing Tom Coughlin running rampant. The Giants were dismantled the week before at home by the Packers, its not bitching and moaning, it was a game we let slip away, if someone is not allowed to be upset about it, then whats the point of being a fan, are we just supposed to walk around with a smile on our face all week? It sucks to lose like that, but I will never leave the Redskins side, there my team, Im just not always happy with them.


Was it a game we should have one, absolutely. But not because the Giants are so horrible, but because we just let them off the ropes.

I'm a bit concerned now that we've given them just the boost they needed to climb back into this thing.

Another positive (don't know if this has been mentioned): Rock and ARE's returns were great. We really wasted a good specials day out there, but it's nice to see that facet, at least, working pretty well.

I agree there are reasons to be encouraged although I think its better to refer to them as 5 silver linings b/c for every one of those 5 reasons we have a bigger, recurring problem.

1) Injuries to a line: No matter who we fill in as a stop gap solution the fact is that we are missing 2 VERY GOOD lineman from the beginning of the season (and one more if you count Dock's departure from last year's squad). For a team that prides ourselves on running the ball like we say, its important to have talent on the O-line. Ppl will cite the fact that we have had some great rushing performances but I think that a) they were against poor run defenses b) the rushing success came at the cost of the teams overall offensive production...we had a lotta attempts so we got yards...but we weren't exactly successful at putting points on the board and putting the game out of reach

2) Jason Campbell and the receiving corps' chemistry: Call me crazy, but for some reason our passing game is not clicking. That could be a product of not enough reps in the preseason (but by the 3rd regular season game that theory is pretty much disproven). Campbells immaturity and hesitance to trust receivers enuff to throw it before they break is another big indication of this. Balls are being overthrown left and right and it just looks sloppy

3) Inability to put the game away: In every game this season and what was symptomatic of last year's team, we can't hold a lead. Though our Defense is talented we can't rely on them to shut down a team in the 2nd half (its like they are getting tired and defocused). Also the offensive isn't helping them out by sustaining drives in and putting points on the board in the 2nd half. If it wasn't for Landry's hit we very well could have lost that eagles game as well.

4) Lack of leadership: Offensively and Defensively, to me it seems like the skins don't have an emotional leader (at least vocally) who is getting people fired up on the field. Yes, when landry or mcintosh make a big hit people get fired up and jump around. But when we are on our heels and the game is on the line, it doesn't seem like anyone is smacking people on the helmets and getting the troops riled up. JC is a young QB so he may not be in the position to do this, but nobody else on Offense is stepping up...Clint Portis would be the guy but this new strategy of splitting time with betts makes it seem like he is distant and kinda outta the game. Defensively, there is nobody calling out defensive adjustments and putting people in the place they should be...there is just not enough communication. Which leads me to my final point

5) Confusion: Our football team looks like they are really confused sometimes. The whole situation in Philly when JC couldn't get the play in on time was a debaucle and it is indicative of the confusion of our players AND coaches. It's like they aren't thinking in advance and they are sitting back and watchin to see if the last play was successful. Also this confusion might be the reason that JC seems a little hesitant and probably is the reason why he holds the ball for so long (almost second guessing himself). In addition, when we line up defensively it seems like we wait until the last second for the DB's to find the receiver they are supposed to cover. This confusion also adds to an overall trend that we are not playing as fast as we are. We lose a step when players are second guessing their assignments & coverages and i think this is what is happening. We used to be a swarming defense in 05 (and even in preseason, though it isn't a fair comparison, but we were really gang tackling ppl). It doesn't seem like we are a very cohesive bunch that is beating with one heartbeat at this point. This may also be attributed to our injuries forcing guys who havent gotten reps with the 1st team to be thrust into game situations.

The silver lining as i see it is that most of these problems are fixable with reps and practice, if everyone gets on the same page. But they are not gonna get fixed on their own and certainly not if we don't acknowledge that they are there. The best way to put it is that looking back on these 3 games in retrospect, i am more RELIEVED that we are 2-1 not upset. That in itself is not very reassuring to me because we have our toughest games yet to come and if we play like we did in any of those 3 games against teams like Dallas, New England, Green Bay, (even) Chicago, and others we may not be looking at very many more wins.

12thMan, I'm sorry that your intention of starting a thread to focus on the positives has been ignored.

12thMan, I'm sorry that your intention of starting a thread to focus on the positives has been ignored.

It's all good. I'm sure I've pissed on few good ones myself:)

Another positive (to get back to the POINT!!!):

The response from the players has been all-for-one, one-for-all. They are not sniping at each other. Most notably, CP's defense of Ladell, but it's not just that. I think this team is going to use this as a rallying point, a chip on the shoulder. They read the papers, and, yes, they use the internet. They see what's being said. It's gotta sting.

Check out Portis's interview on the John Thomson show. It's linked in a thread at extremeskins (Mods: don't know if it's not kosher to link to them--remove if necessary):

EXTREMESKINS.com - Anyone Just hear the entire Portis interview? (http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213563&page=2)