Om Field: Redskins Reality Check

Redskins Reality Check
Oct. 23, 2008

It’s one thing for “the media” to lose sight of reality—it’s what they do. They have bills to pay and sponsors to appease; it’s their job to create drama, ignore context and blindly compress the marathon NFL season into weekly hype segments.

It’s another thing when fans and followers of a given team—those who take it seriously enough to read, listen and talk it up on a daily basis—let ourselves fall into the trap.

As “serious” Redskins fans, we’re supposed to know better.

Listening to a large percentage of callers to local sports talk radio, however, reading the blogs and message boards and even just batting things around in line at the grocery story, I’ve discovered there are many among us focusing this week on all that could go wrong when the 5-2 Redskins travel to 0-6 Detroit to play the Lions on Sunday.

The mantra I’ve heard more than any other, and find most jarring, is the one I’d like to address today:

“They have to win this one big.”

I beg to differ. Before getting into my reasoning, a brief overview is in order ...

CLICK HERE (http://www.theomfield.com/2008/10/redskins-reality-check.html) to read more

Nice read...I'd still like to flatten them though. I nice 35+ point outing would be sweet.

Completely disagree. There's a reason we want bigger margins of victory. The rams game is a glaring reminder of that. Dominating a team statistically in a loss hurts more than just getting beat. The players themselves will tell you that... that's why they speak of games they "should have won".

You write a lot of great blogs that I usually enjoy and look forward to reading, but once again you can't help but try to call out and divide up a fanbase that, at the moment, seems pretty united. Lavar is gone, Gibbs is gone, we're winning... damn let's call out people who want to see the skins win big against an abysmal opponent. Shame on them??? Seriously???

All they need to do is win. Whether its by 1 in OT or by 30 in regulation. This is the NFL not college. How much a team wins by isnt important.

I agree with the article. A blowout isn't necessary to prove this is a good team. Whether they win 35-0 or 17-10, a win is a win at the end of the day and nobody has to apologize for being 6-2.

Good article. However, I disagree. We've seen thru the first 7 weeks of the season that we're pretty good. We boast a top defense and a very good run game. Not to mention some elivated QB play and passing game. A top D and a good O. Hmmmm..all of these things together makes us a tough team to beat. Why not take advantage of these things and make a run for it?

A win is good no matter what, but listen, a squeeker that we win 13-10 ain't doing it for me. I think we have more talent and are playing better than that. We've got a shot at this thing. This year. 2008. After seeing the first 7 weeks, we should beat the Lions by 10+.

And the end of the year is anyone going to look back and wonder why the Skins didn't blow out Detroit? You count up the wins and go from there into the playoffs.

I agree with the premise that we don't need a blowout. I don't agree that fans should know better. Our team has been the shits for almost 2 decades. There is an entire generation of young (read: blog-type) fans who barely remember this team being good for more than fleeting moments. It is a fan base jaded by years and years of disappointment. Until we win and win consistently the fan base is going to be rightfully skeptical and grasping for definitive proof that we are any good. I swear we could win every game from here on out and we'd all be just as trigger happy on the negatvity as we are right now once the playoffs start. We've got a need for confidence and the only cure is a SB.

OK. ill say it again. a win, is a win, is a win. can anyone remember any of the scores of the 1991 championship season? no, but i bet alot of us remember the record that season. the margin of success in the nfl is so slim, that ill take them any way i can get them

Completely disagree. There's a reason we want bigger margins of victory. The rams game is a glaring reminder of that. Dominating a team statistically in a loss hurts more than just getting beat. The players themselves will tell you that... that's why they speak of games they "should have won".

You write a lot of great blogs that I usually enjoy and look forward to reading, but once again you can't help but try to call out and divide up a fanbase that, at the moment, seems pretty united. Lavar is gone, Gibbs is gone, we're winning... damn let's call out people who want to see the skins win big against an abysmal opponent. Shame on them??? Seriously???
Hmm. Due respect, but did you actually read the piece? Because what it looks like is you picked a couple buzzwords out of any context they might have had in support of your contention that I'm about "calling out and dividing up" the fanbase.

If it's true you've read and enjoyed my stuff in the past, first, thank you, and second, I'd like to think a fair reading is that that ain't what I'm about at all.

Nor was this particular piece about people not "wanting" to win big against Detroit. Trust, me, nobody wants to see us turn the Lions into a smoking pile of goo more than I do. My point is that expecting that--or reading a possible failure to accomplish it an indictment of the Redskins for not meeting expectations--is premature by at least half a season.

I think a fair reading of the piece would have made that pretty clear.