Boswell's accurate appraisal

Man it seems like we keep going down the same roads--- overrated vs underrated, gameplan vs execution, offiss vs everybody. We need a big win over the eagles to give us something to talk about...

To be honest, I think the fact that we're an average NFL team comes as a revelation to many, many people on this site.


I agree, as Ive gotten into many debates for calling the Skins a mediocre team. Despite a 5-3 record, they just aren't that good right now. They need a solid WR and to build both lines.

I think he's right on the money. I think the key to the rest of our season is wether or not Portis can be a threat. I don't have any expectation that the passing game will dramatically improve, but if Portis can do what he's done throughout his career (run fo 90-something yards per game) then I think we can find a way to get 250 yards from Campbell and be in position to fight for a wild card.

Also, the best way to overcome red zone difficulty is to take more shots to the house between the 40s. They need to start doing that more. We don't get nearly our share of PI calls and I think they need to at least give the refs the chance to throw a flag.

Thinking positive is great, it basically stems from an emotion... hope. We all hope the 'Skins make the playoffs, there is no doubt about that.

But thinking positive, or feeling hopeful, is completely different from what you actually think about the team. In order for opinions to be valid, everyone here needs to strip the emotion away, and evaluate the team as if you didn't care about them. Once you do that, it becomes clear we're average. If you don't do that, then right or wrong, your opinions tend to get dismissed as homerism.

Then once you realize we're average, you bring the emotion back come gameday, and you root for Joe Gibbs to accomplish something great - taking a team with solid talent and ravaged by injuries deep into the playoffs.

Thinking positive is great, but if you see the team for what it really is, you just might be able to enjoy the accomplishment Joe Gibbs is about to make. I see us for what we are, a middle-of-the-road football team. But I also see us for what we can be, a really good football team, and my excitement, hope, and vision exists explicitly because of our Hall of Fame coach. I think it's best to see us for what we are, but be hopeful for what we can be.I was speaking more of the everything is a negative poster I see posting day in and day out. I know what the Skins are as a team but that does not mean I have to sit around and moan and groan as some do. It does not do one bit of good. I'm fine with pointing out the negatives but its not all negative so I don't JUST dwell on the negative.

I was speaking more of the everything is a negative poster I see posting day in and day out. I know what the Skins are as a team but that does not mean I have to sit around and moan and groan as some do. It does not do one bit of good. I'm fine with pointing out the negatives but its not all negative so I don't JUST dwell on the negative.

That's true. The sense of 100% doom and gloom are the emotions that result from unrealistic expectations. When you love your team like crazy, and you want nothing more than to see them win a Super Bowl, and the team doesn't deliver, the natural emotional response is going to follow the person's predilection for glass half empty or glass half full.

The glass half fulls are going to tend to overlook every problem and insist blindly that the team will win it all. The glass half empties will overlook all positives, and insist that the organization needs a major overhaul of coaching staff and front offices. Neither are correct, as both are emotional overreactions.

To understand the team, you have to leave your emotions out of it. That helps set appropriate expectations. Once you've got the expectations in place, then hope like crazy for them to beat those expectations.