12th's Five Reasons To Be Encouraged

Monday's are just THE worst day to start thread after a lost to a divisional rival. Now that everyone has calmed down a bit, myself included, I think we can get our perspective on. (I know that's not good grammar, but oh well) Here are five reasons I think we can feel good despite what happened Sunday.


1) It's only one game: Anyway you slice it or dice it, it's still one game and one lost. Not one of us here expected this team to go 16-0. Heck, we're not even looking for 12-4, to be honest. I'm willing to bet, we'll win one or two games that we're "supposed" to lose too. Isn't that the way the NFL really works, any given Sunday? Tom Brady are you reading this?

2) This could be the worst game the Skins play all year. I'm glad we got this stinker out of the way in the third week, instead of the 12th or 13th week. If and when we lose another game, we probably don't stink it up like quite like this. Chances are we'll punch everything in from the one yard line here on out.

3) Bye Week: Contrary to popular belief, these guys read the papers and listen to the media. We'll have a week to lick our wounds, look at what went wrong, and get pissed off for Detroit. Not to mention work out some kinks on the right side of the offensive line and timing with the receivers. And don't forget our divisional rivals play each other this week, and the high flying Cowboys face a winless Rams team. Somebody's falling to 1-3 this week folks.

4) The NFC is upside down this year: If I had told you five weeks ago, the Redskins would be in second place in the division, and that Chicago, New Orleans, and the Rams would all have losing records, you'd be pretty encouraged. I'm starting to like our chances of getting in the playoffs. Hey, I know it's only week three but let a brotha dream.

5) See reason number 1: While I haven't been overly impressed with our coaching staff's ability to make half-time adjustments, I do feel confident they can make proper adjustments between games. It's only one game, and hopefully, hopefully, we come out of week four 3-1. Three and one! Now that one doesn't sound too bad afterall.

I'd like to point out that were were one yard from tying the game and sending it to overtime.

I've been saying this in thread after thread, but I'll say it again, the line between winning and losing in the NFL is VERY thin. We were in position to win on Sunday, and we should be in position to win most of our games the rest of the way.

Also, if you told me the Skins would be at the other team's 1 yard line, with one minute to play, and had 1st and goal, I'd tell you we'd punch it in for a TD 8 or 9 times out of 10.

This was just the one time we lost out in that situation. I still like our chances going forward.

Also, if you told me the Skins would be at the other team's 1 yard line, with one minute to play, and had 1st and goal, I'd tell you we'd punch it in for a TD 8 or 9 times out of 10.

This was just the one time we lost out in that situation. I still like our chances going forward.

Same here. Noted on the one yard line:)

I can't reiterate enough the fact that the Eagles or the Giants are going to be playing catch up for the rest of the season.

Also, if you told me the Skins would be at the other team's 1 yard line, with one minute to play, and had 1st and goal, I'd tell you we'd punch it in for a TD 8 or 9 times out of 10.

This was just the one time we lost out in that situation. I still like our chances going forward.

I agree to an extent.. I firmly beleive we didn't get in to the endzone because of playcalling, not the opponent's defense. I have some concerns that we wouldn't see much difference in the playcalls in an identical situation.

Here's sort of 5 more.



1) With the emergence of Antwaan Randel El as a quality, top tier #2 WR in the NFL right now, this speaks wonders to the opportunities that present themselves.

2) WR Reche Caldwell will get the opportunity to attack the doubters. He'll be given a legitimate chance to earn some playing time, and knock any naysayers that think he isn't a legit threat on the field.


3) TE Chris Cooley will get the chance to improve his blocking, and will have more opportunity to be incorporated more in the passing game. I feel as if Cooley has been hurt by the loss of Randy Thomas more than any other weapon we've got. Does this mean he'll benefit from the addition of Demulling the most as well? With the o-line working together for a few weeks, this gives our offense, especially the minds behind it, the chance to work on some new strategies.

4) This bye week appears to be located at a particularly useful time. There are many players nursing injuries, and this team needs to suck it up... and get the train rolling. This team isn't going to blow anyone out yet, but has the propensity for winning ugly. Don't be surprised when we beat the Patriots 17-10. That's right, I said it.

EDIT: Don't forget, it's huge for a team like ours to have a decent kicker. So far Swisher Sweet has looked damn good, and that's a staple for the kind of team that wins by 6 or less.

5) Turnovers. No-one appears to be talking about the great job our defense did last week forcing turnovers. I expect our defense to come out with that same fierce attitude from the first half of the Giants game against Detroit. They will certainly try to beat us deep with their threats at WR, and I think we're due for a Shawn Springs interception.

I agree to an extent.. I firmly beleive we didn't get in to the endzone because of playcalling, not the opponent's defense. I have some concerns that we wouldn't see much difference in the playcalls in an identical situation.

I couldn't disagree with you more on that one. The Giants blew off the ball like nobody's business on the 4th down play. They got so much penetration that they knocked Sellers back into Betts, and Betts tripped over Sellers at the 3 for a loss of two yards.

Playcall or not, the Giants got into our backfield against the stronger side of our offensive line.

The spike on 1st down was questionable, there was no need to hurry so much on 4th down, so that was questionable too. But I'd run left all day long given the status of our team right now.

Also, if you told me the Skins would be at the other team's 1 yard line, with one minute to play, and had 1st and goal, I'd tell you we'd punch it in for a TD 8 or 9 times out of 10.

This was just the one time we lost out in that situation. I still like our chances going forward.

fair point, but it should have never come to that...and in the end, the yard may as well have been 99, because we didn't get it...football ain't horseshoes

Here's sort of 5 more.



1) With the emergence of Antwaan Randel El as a quality, top tier #2 WR in the NFL right now, this speaks wonders to the opportunities that present themselves.

2) WR Reche Caldwell will get the opportunity to attack the doubters. He'll be given a legitimate chance to earn some playing time, and knock any naysayers that think he isn't a legit threat on the field.


3) TE Chris Cooley will get the chance to improve his blocking, and will have more opportunity to be incorporated more in the passing game. I feel as if Cooley has been hurt by the loss of Randy Thomas more than any other weapon we've got. Does this mean he'll benefit from the addition of Demulling the most as well? With the o-line working together for a few weeks, this gives our offense, especially the minds behind it, the chance to work on some new strategies.

4) This bye week appears to be located at a particularly useful time. There are many players nursing injuries, and this team needs to suck it up... and get the train rolling. This team isn't going to blow anyone out yet, but has the propensity for winning ugly. Don't be surprised when we beat the Patriots 17-10. That's right, I said it.

EDIT: Don't forget, it's huge for a team like our to have a decent kicker. So far Swisher Sweet has looked damn good, and that's a staple for the kind of team that wins by 6 or less.

5) Turnovers. No-one appears to be talking about the great job our defense did last week forcing turnovers. I expect our defense to come out with that same fierce attitude from the first half of the Giants game against Detroit. They will certainly try to beat us deep with their threats at WR, and I think we're due for a Shawn Springs interception.

On the turnovers note, does Phillip Daniels get more blocked passes than any other DE or what? He can't sack a damn thing, but he can get those hands up there.