Short memories from angry fans

I think if you're a true Redskin fan you have to be frustrated with the way things have gone so far. I also think it's unfair to be comparing our team this year (granted it's been very disappointing) to our teams of the past 12 seasons. What I mean is we should give coach Gibbs the benefit of the doubt. Afterall He inherited a mediocre team (5-11) that's had some key injuries on both sides of the ball. Before we start crucifying him let's be fair & realistic and let him make his adjustments. He's been away for 11 years and it's only 5 games into the season. I'm confident that at the end of the season this team will not resemble the teams of the past 12 seasons. I sure hope it'll come sooner rather than later.

A true Redskins fan will be upset that we're not 5-0, but a true Redskins fan will find positives amongst the miserable.

i'm not trying to compare this team to the teams of the past 12 years. i'm saying over the past 12 years the skins have not done as well as i and i'm sure many others, have hoped and so far this year isn't any different.i agree with skinsguy that a true redskins fan will find positives amongst the miserables but it's pretty normal to point out the negatives when your team is playing bad.

Listen, I just needed to vent. I think things are looking up if in no other way than the optimism that has been around since before preseason. The Skins can do it, I'm positive. But my beef was that some people think that it’s so much better than last year or that you need to be 50 years old to appreciate what Gibbs CAN do. We all know what he can do, regardless of age or how bad/good it has looked this far. There is still a lot of work to do for Gibbs and Co. I'd rather face facts that we aren't that good than think miracle is about to happen. I’ve been let down too many times over the past decade, that's all. And pointing out the negatives only shows what has to be done to get better. Heaven knows that if somehow they were 4-1 now, half the board would be making their reservations for Jacksonville and that's not terribly realistic either.

I wasn't trying to sugarcoat anything. I mean our record is what it is (1-4) 3 games behind the eagles (cellar of our division) and we're only 5 games into the season. We have a offense that can't move the ball. Our special teams continues to be outplayed. A lot of penalties, bad replay challenges, poor clock management, and turnovers that at this point in the season we're not able to overcome.

My point was that Gibbs is going to have problems adjusting. Twelve years away from the game has'nt helped him, thats obvious. But you can't argue his record, it speaks for itself as cpayne 5 has stated. And IMO you have to give a coach at least 2 seasons to turn a franchise around.

......My point was that Gibbs is going to have problems adjusting. Twelve years away from the game has'nt helped him, thats obvious......

I think this issue is so overplayed. The media loves to talk about this. Yes Gibbs has made some mistakes and some of those mistakes are related to his time away. But Gibbs is a smart man and he will figure it out. Nobody is perfect including you.
The bigger point is Gibbs inherited a mega-underacheiveing team. My point of this thread is 'OUR REDSKINS SUCKED LAST YEAR'.
We are now losing close games this season, we are not getting blown away like last year...we no longer suck. Our team is at least doing the little things like blocking and playing defense in a respectable way, while it works out its problems. It is not the end of the world that skins did not come out of the gate running this season.
Some here like to point at Parcells and say he had a great 1st year last season. Well look at him now. His team has regressed from last year. He is not perfect either. They beat us 27-0 last year. This year they barely beat us in Gibbs 2nd or 3rd game back. Thay should prove we are way better under Gibss in comparison to Spurrier.

I agree, when you lose by 27pts as supposed to 3pts there is a huge difference. A 27pt loss to our arch rivals at home and we have Spurrier on the sideline scracthing and shaking his head is demoralizing. I guarantee you ask anybody on our team last year and they would agree.

I've been defending Gibbs because you'll never see him on the sidelines making f***faces when things are'nt going our way. Anyways i'm confident he will get this team on track. And by next year our team will live up to all it's expectations.

Defensewins:

You are on the mark here, my man. The reason this team is 1-4 this year - after a wonderful 5-11 season last year - is that the players on the field are not good enough to be 5-0. The coaching is better; the players as a whole are better but they are still not anything special.

Much of the frustration on this board comes from the knee-jerk reaction of too many fans to take any trade or draft or signing by the Redskins and look at it so unrealistically that expectations cannot possibly be met. Yes, I know, that's what fans always do. But if you temper the reactions just a tad, you don't have to go into a depression when expecations are not met.

Look at the players on this team as if you were the GM of another team that thinks it is only a player or two away from a conference chammpionship or a Super Bowl championship. What Redskins' players would you be frothing at the mouth to add to your team? Don't hyperventilate here:

Receivers: None. Coles is far and away the best of this lot and he is not likely to be the guy to put a team in that state "over the top".

Tight Ends: None. Maybe - I said MAYBE - some day Cooley fits that description but not now. There are 16 NFC teams. As of this weekend he might be the 10th best TE.

Offensive Linemen: Jansen. That's it; that's the list. And Jansen isn't playing this year.

QB: None. No discussion needed here.

RBs: Portis. End of message. Anyone who begins to type out a response that has the word "Rock" or "Sultan" in it is dreaming.

Defensive linemen: None. Do not tell me how much better someone on this line is when compared to the Easter Island Statues who played there last year. None of these guys are difference-makers. None.

LBs: Arrington and Washington. If you already had three good linebackers on your team and thought you needed a 4th as a back-up to get over the hump, you could put Pierce on this list too. But Pierce is not the guy to carry a team to the Super Bowl.

DBs: Smoot (maybe) and Springs (maybe). Both guys play hard and both can have good games but I'm not sure they are guys other teams would be frothing at the mouth to sign.

Safeties: None. Not even Ade Jimoh. Sean Taylor has potential but sadly for Redskin fans this year, "potential" means he hasn't achieved anything yet.

So, you have a 53 man roster and on that squad you have about 4 guys that other teams ought to go after with gusto given the chance and another 4 or 5 who would not be bad guys to add to an already good team. That's why the team in 1-4.

And the reason it hurts a lot of folks so much is that they drank the Kool-Aid when:

Ramsey had a good game last year and then they anointed him as the 2nd coming of John Unitas and

Chris Samuels went to the Pro-Bowl even though he wasn't really that outstanding and

Sean Taylor intercepted two passes in an exhibition game from a QB and to a receiver who may never take a snap in a real game and

Bruce Smith/Deion/Jeff George brought their gaudy stats from long ago to town.

I have to disagree with SC, this team is more talented than the record indicates.

They are not a 1-4 team because they don't have the players to get it done.

Turnovers, a new system, new coaches, a bunch of new starters, Gibbs adjusting to the game after a 12 year layoff, are all key reasons for the 1-4 start.

I'm not saying we have Super Bowl talent, but this certainly isn't a team lacking in playmakers.

Joe Gibbs coached for 12 years, won 3 Super Bowls and yet the Redskins have just one Hall of Famer (Riggins) from all that. They'll soon have two with Green, and should have three with Monk.

My point is that Gibbs' teams were never really about talent per se. They were about playing as a team and maximizing players strengths. Rypien, Ricky Sanders, Ricky Ervins, Fred Stokes, Greg Manusky-I could go on but you get my point (maybe) that these Redskins of the past weren't the most talented players in the league back then either but they found ways to win