Four Years Later: Are We Better Off?

You mean big-names like Brady, Randy Moss, Richard Seymour, Teddy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Roosevelt Colvin, Adalius Thomas, Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren, and Asante Samuel? Many of those guys were free agents BTW.

As for our record, it was 5-11 in 2003 and 9-7 this year. Almost doubling your wins is pretty decent IMO, but maybe that is just me.

Who?

;)

Corey Dillon

4 year ago we were coming out of the OBC era. So yeah we are better off. I don't believe we are where we need to be but we are better off.

I'm proud of this team in 2007 and their accomplishments. I think we may have gotten the most out of the talent on this team.

I'd like to start winning some nfc east titles though. That's going to be where we need to get to. If you do that you're going to get some home field advantage through the playoffs. That's where we want to be and JG knows that. Its too tough to win on the road.

Maybe 2008? That should be our goal.

I'm with Tripp Republic, the team is running in place. The team has talent but has never reached it's full potential. I'm not placing any blame, but that is just the fact. The reason the team has continued to run in place is because of the organization's philosophy of trying to quick fix the team by getting overpaid free agents and trading away valuable draft picks. As a result of try to win now for the last ten years, the team lacks depth and youth. For every good free agent pickup, you can name a bad acquisition. Meanwhile, every year, the team has to do cartwheels to get under the salary cap. This never ending cycle keeps the team handcuffed. Stop the madness!

We are better off. In our hearts we probably think the Skins should be better than they currently are but our heads should tell us that we were a laughingstock franchise 4 years ago and now the Skins are at least respectable. We are in the conversation about good teams in the NFL and no longer in the punchline.

I have been harsh on the Skins but it has been pointed out to me--2 playoff appearances in 4 years speaks for itself. My heart wants us to be the juggernaut that we were in the 80s but I am spoiled and know that step 1 has nearly been accomplished--the Skins should field a consistent playoff team. We are at least going to the dance now with Gibbs. He just needs to pretty us up to be prom queen.

Next year--I will expect playoffs again with sights on the division crown. Trying to get a home playoff game next year will keep the momentum from this seasons going...

We are better off. In our hearts we probably think the Skins should be better than they currently are but our heads should tell us that we were a laughingstock franchise 4 years ago and now the Skins are at least respectable. We are in the conversation about good teams in the NFL and no longer in the punchline.

I have been harsh on the Skins but it has been pointed out to me--2 playoff appearances in 4 years speaks for itself. My heart wants us to be the juggernaut that we were in the 80s but I am spoiled and know that step 1 has nearly been accomplished--the Skins should field a consistent playoff team. We are at least going to the dance now with Gibbs. He just needs to pretty us up to be prom queen.

Next year--I will expect playoffs again with sights on the division crown. Trying to get a home playoff game next year will keep the momentum from this seasons going...

You made a very good point. The Skins have definitely improved if you consider they have gone from a laughing stock (Deadskins) to a respected contender.

We're a better football team than we were in 2004 but I'm in agreement with what others have said, we're still not consistently good. We've made the playoffs twice (sandwiched by 6-10 and 5-11 seasons) with miraculous end of the season runs that coincided with improbable circumstances of other teams losing (NO at home to Philly, GB losing to make the Dallas game meaningless for them) and us hitting a mini stride at the right time. A legitimate argument can be made that we were more lucky than good and were the beneficiary of being the right team at the right time.

Good teams don't have to do that, they take care of business from September-December. If we win games we should have won/closed out (NYG, GB, PHI, BUF) we are sitting at home on Saturday rather than trudging across country on 5 days rest. Those are the differences between good teams that make it deep into the playoffs consistently and teams that occassionaly flash. We are a mirror of Tampa Bay, 6-10 to 10-6 to 5-11 to 10-6 (except we were 9-7 this year) and nobody considers Tampa a strong consistent team. Most prognosicators picked them last in their division this year and if injuries/stupidity didn't decimate their competition (Atlanta-Vick, Carolina-Delhomme & Smith missed most of the year, NO-McAllister, Payton's playcalling) do we really think they are a 10 win team?

Roster wise we are in much better shape with a franchise QB in Campbell, Portis still going strong, Moss, Cooley and Randle-El serviceable at WR (but we need a stud WR, Moss is a #2 at this point and ARE is a #3), the OL is solid, the DL has some good young talent, LB should be a strength in '08 (Fletcher, Washington and I'm calling Briggs a Redskin) and the secondary has 2 solid players in Landry & Smoot with some young depth and hopefully Rogers coming back by midseason..

While I have backed off of my 'Gibbs must go' mantra of pre-Taylor murder, I still think a philisophical change needs to occur offensively to become much more aggressive. We need to model the aggressiveness after the Patriots, Packers and Cowboys (ugh) who attack for 60 minutes and try to hang as many points on the board as they can.

While I have backed off of my 'Gibbs must go' mantra of pre-Taylor murder, I still think a philisophical change needs to occur offensively to become much more aggressive. We need to model the aggressiveness after the Patriots, Packers and Cowboys (ugh) who attack for 60 minutes and try to hang as many points on the board as they can.

When we get an O-Line that can consistently keep our QB clean and open holes in the 4th quarter - the points will come.

We're a better football team than we were in 2004 but I'm in agreement with what others have said, we're still not consistently good. We've made the playoffs twice (sandwiched by 6-10 and 5-11 seasons) with miraculous end of the season runs that coincided with improbable circumstances of other teams losing (NO at home to Philly, GB losing to make the Dallas game meaningless for them) and us hitting a mini stride at the right time. A legitimate argument can be made that we were more lucky than good and were the beneficiary of being the right team at the right time.

Good teams don't have to do that, they take care of business from September-December. If we win games we should have won/closed out (NYG, GB, PHI, BUF) we are sitting at home on Saturday rather than trudging across country on 5 days rest. Those are the differences between good teams that make it deep into the playoffs consistently and teams that occassionaly flash. We are a mirror of Tampa Bay, 6-10 to 10-6 to 5-11 to 10-6 (except we were 9-7 this year) and nobody considers Tampa a strong consistent team. Most prognosicators picked them last in their division this year and if injuries/stupidity didn't decimate their competition (Atlanta-Vick, Carolina-Delhomme & Smith missed most of the year, NO-McAllister, Payton's playcalling) do we really think they are a 10 win team?

Roster wise we are in much better shape with a franchise QB in Campbell, Portis still going strong, Moss, Cooley and Randle-El serviceable at WR (but we need a stud WR, Moss is a #2 at this point and ARE is a #3), the OL is solid, the DL has some good young talent, LB should be a strength in '08 (Fletcher, Washington and I'm calling Briggs a Redskin) and the secondary has 2 solid players in Landry & Smoot with some young depth and hopefully Rogers coming back by midseason..

While I have backed off of my 'Gibbs must go' mantra of pre-Taylor murder, I still think a philisophical change needs to occur offensively to become much more aggressive. We need to model the aggressiveness after the Patriots, Packers and Cowboys (ugh) who attack for 60 minutes and try to hang as many points on the board as they can.

I think down the stretch with Collins we saw a much more aggressive approach. It's amazing how different things are with an experienced QB. We still have some work to do to get JC to that point where the coaches aren't afraid to hand the game over to him, and most importantly, he needs to start throwing TDs in big spots and not INTs.

I see your points Paintrain, but, to quote Han Solo, "I don't believe in luck." To dismiss 9 wins in 9 weeks (5 in 05' and 4 in 07') as lucky isn't fair. Equally true, of course, is the fact that we are solely responsible for our losses.