AP Article: Redskins offense back to square one!

Whatever they have been doing it doesn't work. Back to basic sounds like a fantastic idea to me...that's how good teams operate. They line up, no shifts no trickery, and just play.


Also, I not sure what these changes mean for Saunders but I can't imagine them being a good thing for his career. Could he be on his way out after the season?

He should have been out last year!!!

Personally I'm just getting tired of people pointing to the Patriots and saying, why can't we do what they do, or why can't we be like them?

The answer is there are 31 teams in the league that are NOT the Patriots. If it were that easy everyone would be doing what the Patriots do. The fact is the Patriots are a perfect blend of talent, drive, coaching, and execution. What they've done not only this year but in this decade is rare.

I'm not really convinced that that is what people are saying here. Nobody believes what the Patriots are doing can be duplicated.

What bothers me is that after nearly four years -- plenty of time in football terms -- the gap between the progress of the New England Patriots and the progress of our team is absurd. They are light years ahead of us. And before anyone says the same is true for every other team, just remember: The Pats haven't beaten anyone as bad as they beat the Redskins.

The fact remains that we should have been closer to New England than what we saw.

Forget the pats--we've got to clean up our own house right now.

My feeling about the "back to basics" thing is that it may not be back to Gibbs' basics as much as back to what this team can do--I don't think they have the o-line to smash many mouths, but they may have the o-line to do other things. In fact, it might be that they STOP trying to smash it, and start trying to move a bit more and use the athletic ability of people like Rabach, for example.

As for progress ,we're 4-3 with the season ahead of us. One thing that's often lost here is how much of football is momentum and confidence. We don't have either right now. But when we get that (if we do), lots of things that are not working now will work. It's a game of inches, and if we can find a way to get that inch, things will open up, IMO.

As for Saunders--we'll see. I'm not convinced that he and Gibbs cannot work together, and that's something they've got to figure out, fast, if they are messing radically with things. My feeling is it won't be so radical, but it will still be Saunders. That may ham-string Saunders with his big playbook, but it may give us a chance to finally execute some of his plays, which we haven't done to this point, at least not consistently.

I'm not really convinced that that is what people are saying here. Nobody believes what the Patriots are doing can be duplicated.

What bothers me is that after nearly four years -- plenty of time in football terms -- the gap between the progress of the New England Patriots and the progress of our team is absurd. They are light years ahead of us. And before anyone says the same is true for every other team, just remember: The Pats haven't beaten anyone as bad as they beat the Redskins.

The fact remains that we should have been closer to New England than what we saw.

The Pats are light years ahead of the majority of the league, let's not kid ourselves.

"If you can run it, draw people to the line of scrimmage, then you can pass it. They go hand in hand."

No, they don't go hand in hand. Not anymore Joe. This is the 80's early 90 mentality. Gibbs is never ever going to adjust to today's NFL. When is this guy ever going to realize that it is a passing league now? The rules beg you to pass it. DB's can't even breathe on the WR's yet we don't have one single wr with a passing TD. You should be able to pass it with the guys you brought in here w/out having to run it all the time. Same old crap.

Hey does anyone have an image of the T-Shirts Cartwright came up with fromt he article? I would love to get my hands on one. If not I would like to see it. I love the quote.

"If you can run it, draw people to the line of scrimmage, then you can pass it. They go hand in hand."

No, they don't go hand in hand. Not anymore Joe. This is the 80's early 90 mentality. Gibbs is never ever going to adjust to today's NFL. When is this guy ever going to realize that it is a passing league now? The rules beg you to pass it. DB's can't even breathe on the WR's yet we don't have one single wr with a passing TD. You should be able to pass it with the guys you brought in here w/out having to run it all the time. Same old crap.

Tell that to teams like the Steelers and Jags who still play a smashmouth, run first style of play.

Tell that to teams like the Steelers and Jags who still play a smashmouth, run first style of play.

Or to our 11th ranked 2005 offense which ran the ball over everyone and their momma. I believe Gibbs called the plays for that offense.

I like it a whole lot. But honestly I thought that is what they were doing and they were just getting stopped.

I hope this means Run alot, spread out and run, go over the top and hit Cooley in the middle. Run again and again and again and when they stuff it hit them over the top and then run again.

"If you can run it, draw people to the line of scrimmage, then you can pass it. They go hand in hand."

No, they don't go hand in hand. Not anymore Joe. This is the 80's early 90 mentality. Gibbs is never ever going to adjust to today's NFL. When is this guy ever going to realize that it is a passing league now? The rules beg you to pass it. DB's can't even breathe on the WR's yet we don't have one single wr with a passing TD. You should be able to pass it with the guys you brought in here w/out having to run it all the time. Same old crap.

What? They do go hand in hand. You run the ball to setup your passing game...that's Football 101...it has been, it is, and will forever be.