A thorough ASS WOOPING!!

How the Detroit press perceived the "pass-first" play calling:

"The attendance did not include the 46 Lions players who didn't do much more than watch the Redskins dominate them in every way, using a game plan that was similar to the one coach Joe Gibbs used to beat the Lions for the first time in 1981.

They played it safe. Their running game set up a precision passing attack by Jason Campbell. The pass rush from the defensive line let the secondary choke off the passing lanes."

ROADSKINNED: Lions outplayed in D.C. rout (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071008/SPORTS0101/710080335/1126)

simply put....it seems like JC is more comfortable with more plays, and it showed with the array of playcalling yesterday.....detroit never knew what was coming....the random QB sneak (that really shouldve been a 1st), the Portis QB formations. the quick slant to randle el. the pump fake and pitch, the pump fake to one side, and quick pass to the other.....all things JC told saunders he wasnt comfortable doing in his first few starts. Now that Al and JC have confidence in JC......other teams are gonna have to prepare for everything, our offense was the most threatening i have seen it since brad johnson and stephen davis. And the run wasnt even THAT dominant.......We didnt need 8 yards per carry to maintain drives, we had very few busted plays, and the defense sensed that and displayed their best defensive performance since 2005. May I add...the blind side pass protection has been unbelievable....samuels is having another pro-bowl season...and kendal is proving to be a steal...not to add Bugel is our MVP on our staff right now.

More from Detroit:

Gibbs concocts simple formula (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071008/SPORTS0101/710080337/1126)

"There was nothing fancy. Washington ran 35 times for 118 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Jason Campbell completed 23 of 29 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. His passer rating for the game was 125.3.

Lions cornerback Fernando Bryant thought it was a vintage Gibbs game plan.

'They did what they do well,' Bryant said. 'We didn't get them out of their comfort zone.'

'Joe Gibbs' game plan against you is to grind you. He's going to run the ball. He's going to protect the ball. He's going to be safe and secure in his throws.'"

Guess nobody told Fernando that JG didn't make the game plan. <- Sarcasm font.

he didn't make the gameplan...but he does bring the Gibbs mentality....which definitely has an effect on the gameplans on both sides of the ball

Now now - we all know that Joe only calls the plays when we lose.

Seriously...I mean, I was one of the louder critics last week. Mostly because I didn't like the number of play action passes. Also, I was critical of Betts on the goal line, but to say that Joe turned the reins over to Al yesterday is just stupid.

I apologize if hurrykaine was being sarcastic.

I'm soooo tired of this line of patter. Like they didn't let Al call the plays all season long and all of last year? Why do you think this? Do you really think Joe Gibbs jumps into the headset relay between Al and JC and just calls some other play? Or that during a drive he tells Al to do something different? Or that he said to Al: look, I respect your playbook and all, but don't call this page or that page or that page?

Here's another possibility: Al is calling the plays in the way he wants, given his consultation with the offensive staff and his knowledge of the players we have and the D we play. And some days it works well, and others it doesn't. I know that lots of us think JG is god, he can't be criticized or whatever (this is obviously an exaggeration, but you get the idea), but this idea that Al is god, and that the success is his but the failure isn't is also incorrect.


I think Al did call the plays last year and we stunk up the joint because Brunell didn't know the offense well enough. Not elevating Al to god-like status, but his offense and his play calling are a lot more effective than the high school offense Gibbs, Breaux and Buges ran in 2004.

Now now - we all know that Joe only calls the plays when we lose.

Let me qualify that a little...when our offense scores less than 20 points in a game, you can be fairly certain that Gibbs called the plays, whether we won, or lost.

This is like the Betts vs. Portis debate. There's a reason Portis is the starter, but you shouldn't underestimate Betts' value.

There's a reason Gibbs is a Hall of Fame head coach, but you shouldn't underestimate Saunders' value.

Why can't we appreciate having both Portis and Betts, Gibbs and Saunders?

If we're going to keep harping on 2004, why don't we harp on the fact that someone here said this game would have all the makings of a "typical" Gibbs 2.0 game...get humiliated by a team we should easily beat.

So I guess Gibbs gets all the blame in a loss but all the credit goes to Saunders in a win?

Sounds that way! Lol.

Whatever. I agree with Smooty here--we're at our best if we can use ALL the talent we have, from top to bottom. You saw some of that this week--a Gibbs ball-control game plan with Saunders plays--well executed by the players!--making it happen. And you saw GW dial down the blitz and have Greg Blache and his boys go out and kick some ass. That's what's gonna getter done "up here."