POSITIVES from the game...

No Turnovers.

Good defense, considering the injuries and bad calls.

Brunell emerged as a quality qb tonight.

Rod Gardner playing like a high draft pick.

No more serious injuries, (unless Bowen is hurt bad...)

Great effort from the team, no letdown in effort as the game was getting away. They regrouped and fought back for a chance to win at the end.

Cooley continued to look like a good 1st rounder, let alone 2nd round pick. :httr:

Thanks for this thread, Bleed. It was sure OVERDUE!!!!

I agree, and would add the general statements:

- The offense finally opened it up. We should see a lot more of that.

- This team does not give up!!! Great comeback effort. (Well, I guess you already said that!)

- No one lost their cool or got sidetracked in reaction to completely disgusting, one-sided, incompetent officiating.

Well I'm still pretty furious about this loss but I'll add a couple of things

-James Thrash getting more involved in the offense

-Taylor Jacobs catching a pass in the endzone-granted it was a 2 point conversion, but still

-Can't say enough about Shawn Springs this season

Besides the huge improvement in Mark Brunell's play, two words: Rod Gardner. If he keeps that up, he'll be playing in Hawaii in February. I was getting discouraged about him in terms of consistency, but I think this guy is worth being patient about. What a talented player!

I loved the way we fought our way back into the game. It was classic Joe Gibbs. He showed his great leadership keeping us together and you know that guys want to win for him. We lost the game but I felt good about what I saw out there tonight, and I love Joe Gibbs, always have. Any mistakes we made were correctable.

I loved the offensive innovations we used, bunching the receivers together like that, using surprising formations.

This season, to me, is to get the ship on the right course, and get us prepared to make a real run at it in 2005.

I agree... there's no need to panic just yet- during the game, i didn't have that sense of dread when down by two scores... it just feels different this year. We'll work out the kinks (including getting the plays communicated easier from the sideline so we can get the ball off before a TO is called).

Time of possession: 35 minutes to 25 minutes.
Total yards: 384 to 287
Rushing yards: We doubled Dallas on the ground.

Yes, the important number (the score) didn't go our way... but the skins did not look like the skins of old (although losing to the 'boys didn't change).

Better clock management, communication, and system execution all come with time. Brunell finally looked like he was starting to get a groove. Just be patient.

Gardner finally played with guts, determination and emotion.

Did you see his reaction when he couldn't get out of bounds and realised it was over - and that was after taking a monster hit too.

I hope he keeps this going, I was really pleased for him.

The biggest positive to me was the offense really started to come together. You could almost see a light going on for them. Brunell started to look like the guy we had in mind when we brought him in, RG finally stepped up, Portis had a good game, all around you could really see the offense starting to 'get it'.

It sucks to lose one like that, but I'm staying focused on the positives, and to me they by far outweigh the negatives right now.

Cooley continued to look like a good 1st rounder, let alone 2nd round pick. :httr:

Or a third round pick

The Good:

#1) Rod Gardner, RodGardner, Rod Gardner is our best WR so far this year. I think he silenced the angry mob for now. I am sure next time he makes the smallest mistake or doesn't tie his shoes correctly the calls to cut him will start again.

#2) Walt Harris, WOW! Welcome! I am glad he is healthy, he had a great game. That was a really bad pass interference call against him. We now have 3 great CB's. He is an excellent addition. I am glad the coaches had the patience to wait for him to get healthy.

#3) Ron Warner - this guy is playing great. He is partcularly strong at rushing the passer, something we desperatley needed. Another great addition.

#4) Cornelius Griffin & Joe Salavea - Two great additions. They played great last night. Why does Redskins web page (depth chart) still list Noble as the starter over Salavea? That is a slap in the face to Salavea who is playing great and deserves some props.

#5) Renaldo Wynn got yet another sack last night. He is doing alot better this year.

#6) James Thrash- great to have you back.

#7) The Old Man - Ray Brown is playing mistake free. Guy is a solid vet, unspectacular at his age, but still solid.

The Bad:

#1) Who the hell is #25 safety Ryan Clark? The guy got scored on more than a whore in a whore house. Why was Andre Lott not in there instead? Was Lott hurt? I am willing to give Mr Rayn Clark another chance, but he was really bad last night.

#2) We really missed#56 Lavar Arrington.

#3) #66 Derek Dockery had a bad game. Some key penalties that put us in a hole.

#4) Ade Jimoh - had a couple of penalties on special teams.

The Good:

#7) The Old Man - Ray Brown is playing mistake free. Guy is a solid vet, unspectacular at his age, but still solid.


Uhh, the "old man" got smoked for a crucial sack late in the game against Greg Ellis. He was part of a line that got burned for five sacks, and couldn't get it done in short yardage situations. Not their best effort.