What's Our Weakness?

I seriously disagree there, they have 4 decent wr's; Branch, Hackett, Engram & Burleson. None are pro bowl caliber other than maybe Branch, but all have their strengths & can get open. Anyone of those guys could start as our #2.

See this article on Engram, he put up some big #s:

ESPN - Almost 35, Engram endures thyroid illness, roster attrition and thrives - NFL (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs07/columns/story?columnist=sando_mike&id=3174465&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1)

Sure, they all produced against weak opposition. Branch is possibly one of the most overrated WR's in recent memory, and the rest of those guys are decent but unspectacular. It's a team full of WR2's and 3's.

Besides, saying any one of those guys could start as our #2 is like saying anybody here could become the chief trash collector for the city of DC. It might or might not be true, but in either case it's not particularly impressive :)

Believe it or not Bobby Engram had 94 catches for 1147 yards and 6 scores.

A tad better than your typical #2.

They have a solid and deep WR corps. Our secondary should have it's hands full.

I'm not too worried about the secondary or the defense. Realistically, we've been shutting teams down. I don't know how much longer we can expect to put up the type of numbers we have defensely.

But to Schneed's point, if there is a weakness, I would say Collins' lack of mobility. My main concern is that giving up turnovers and sacks on the road allows the crowd into the game and gives the other team momentum. It's just a tough thing to overcome when playing on the road. But is there anything this team can't overcome?

Depth and Consistency.

We can't afford to lose Olinemen, DB's or Linebackers.

Also, We need to be consistent with overall play. Seattle is going to dink and dunk all day. We need to find a way to get off the field on 3rd downs on defense and convert 3rd downs on offense.

I'm not too worried about the secondary or the defense. Realistically, we've been shutting teams down. I don't know how much longer we can expect to put up the type of numbers we have defensely.

But to Schneed's point, if there is a weakness, I would say Collins' lack of mobility. My main concern is that giving up turnovers and sacks on the road allows the crowd into the game and gives the other team momentum. It's just a tough thing to overcome when playing on the road. But is there anything this team can't overcome?

Good point, right now it's tough to say yes to that.

Whenever something doesn't go their way, they just keep their heads up and keep plugging away until things do go their way.

This team just doesn't get flustered.

Sure, they all produced against weak opposition. Branch is possibly one of the most overrated WR's in recent memory, and the rest of those guys are decent but unspectacular. It's a team full of WR2's and 3's.

Besides, saying any one of those guys could start as our #2 is like saying anybody here could become the chief trash collector for the city of DC. It might or might not be true, but in either case it's not particularly impressive :)

"Decent but unspectacular" - well that about equates to what I said; none are pro bowl caliber but they get open. Particularly Engram. If the weather isn't crazy (see the weather thread) & we're playing cover 2, watch for Engram to find the seems in the middle of the zone. He didn't catch 94 passes this year just because they played "weak opposition."

Branch may be overated, but if he's healthy is a legit deep threat & LL will have to pay extra attention to him if he's playing free safety in cover 3.

As for your trash collector analogy, point taken; so it's not saying much to be the #2 WR in wash. We can agree on that, so I'll rephrase; any of those guys could start for about half the teams in the league.

I don't know that we have any glaring deficiencies. I would agree that our secondary is exploitable with the right matchups and that Collins needs protection which may or may not be an issue again depedning on matchup. I'd say as good as our running game has gotten it isn't all the way there. We seem to get stuffed a little more than I'd like. I think we have lost some playmaking ogf defense which hurts. These are all minor quibbles and rely on really good coaching and matchups to exploit.

The one thing I am worried about is our ability as a team to simply lay an egg. We seem to have trouble with success for a while now and I guess I am jaded enough to keep waiting for it to happen. We need to stay motivated and focused. We alos need to stay confident. Confidence is a key. We have it and have to simply believe in waht we are doing in the face of anything and believe that we are better than the guys across the line.

No team that has glaring weaknesses could do what the Redskins have done over the last month. However, my concern against Seattle is that Holmgren will find ways to exploit the youth of Landry/Doughty in the passing game. He has a proven scheme and a QB who can run it. It's sort of like facing Andy Reid but with an accurate QB instead of one who throws the ball into the dirt half the time.

I'm really concerned about Heyer this week. So far he has been very solid. But this week he's going to have to deal with a very very loud stadium with speed pass rushers. We had better give him some help, even if it hurts the passing game. We can't afford to have our qb gettting hit and fumbling the ball. I remember the 05 game and the O-line really struggled w/out Thomas.

I'm also concerned with the emotional state of the team. After the last 5 weeks these guys have to be emotionally drained. Can they get re-focused, travel across country on a short week to play a good Seattle team? Seattle is one of the toughest places to play in the NFL. I'm not going to bet against these guys, but this is going to be a very very tough task.

I think this is a great point - the Skins only have a couple of days to prepare for the Seahawks. The Skins game with the Cowboys ended around 7pm on Sunday night and I would think from a practice standpoint Gibbs would have to give the players Monday off to recouperate (maybe I am wrong - anyone know if the SKins practiced Monday?). So with that the players could only really practice Tuesday-Thursday and than they have a long flight to Seattle Friday. I guess with the win against the Bears the team showed they can play against anyone with minimal time. The one nice thing about the Saturday game is that if the Skins do win it the get an extra day to prepare for the Cowboys.

I think this is a great point - the Skins only have a couple of days to prepare for the Seahawks. The Skins game with the Cowboys ended around 7pm on Sunday night and I would think from a practice standpoint Gibbs would have to give the players Monday off to recouperate (maybe I am wrong - anyone know if the SKins practiced Monday?). So with that the players could only really practice Tuesday-Thursday and than they have a long flight to Seattle Friday. I guess with the win against the Bears the team showed they can play against anyone with minimal time. The one nice thing about the Saturday game is that if the Skins do win it the get an extra day to prepare for the Cowboys.


To be honest, I'm not terribly worried about the team travelling or this or that. They took a few days after Sean's funeral and kicke the Bears in rear, so they know what that feels like.

I think this team is in a zone right now and the only way Seattle beats them is for them to actually beat them. I don't forsee the Skins caving in, giving up a second half lead, turning the ball over, or giving up untimely penalties. All of this could happen, I'm just not expecting it to happen.