How Close?

From The WP:

To boil down the issue, if the Redskins had supported Gregg Williams's superb defense with just 19 points in every game, Washington would have gone 12-4. Gibbs once had a team whose lowest game total of the entire regular season was 23 points. And it didn't even win the Super Bowl. If that Gibbs offense had been matched with this Williams defense, we might have seen a 16-0 season. So nobody knows better than Gibbs how much his offense sank this team.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43334-2005Jan2.html

And if we'd gone with Ramsey instead of Brunell....... :banghead:

As much as it may piss you off RR, at least we know that our team is not that far off.

And I do agree w/ going w/ Ramsey earlier in the year.

From The WP:

To boil down the issue, if the Redskins had supported Gregg Williams's superb defense with just 19 points in every game, Washington would have gone 12-4. Gibbs once had a team whose lowest game total of the entire regular season was 23 points. And it didn't even win the Super Bowl. If that Gibbs offense had been matched with this Williams defense, we might have seen a 16-0 season. So nobody knows better than Gibbs how much his offense sank this team.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43334-2005Jan2.html

And if we'd gone with Ramsey instead of Brunell....... :banghead:

I think Steve Czaban (spelling?) of 980 sports radio said it best after the game when he said he didn't know what emotion to feel...whether to be encouraged at how good we will be next year, or upset at what could've been this year with Ramsey starting instead of Brunell. With Brunell benched, and Ramsey starting by week 4, we would probably have been 8-8 and held the tie-breaker over Minnesota and made it to the playoffs.

No sense in pounding your head against the wall wondering what could have been.

It's not as simple as saying well if Ramsey started earlier we'd be in the playoffs.

We have to consider if Ramsey would have been ready to play earlier. Let's not forget how miserable he looked in the preseason. He clearly didn't have a firm grasp of the offense at that time, and just perhaps that's part of the reason Gibbs kept him on the bench for so long.

Not to mention, Matty, that Ramsey himself said that he was not ready and didn't have a full grasp of the offense earlier in the season.

ramsey is the man in dc for at least the next 4 years.gibbs knows what he's doing,but i bet looking back he would have pulled brunnell out earlier than he did.when brunnell had the hamstring injury in game two,the next game(the mnf against dallas)we could have really seen how much ramsey knew.next year,the skins offense will be the same,but gibbs will work with ramsey's talents to call the plays.i was wrong when i critized ramsey,he is the best qb the skins have had since trent green.next year,will either swim or drown.

Not to mention, Matty, that Ramsey himself said that he was not ready and didn't have a full grasp of the offense earlier in the season.
Exactly.

I think we can all agree Gibbs left Brunell in too long, but I think we also need to consider how much of that was due to Ramsey simply not being ready.

After seeing Ramsey on tape from last year, perhaps Gibbs saw a QB that was a bit shell-shocked and had his confidence shaken. Not to mention the fact he needed to unlearn two years in a very unconventional offense.

Thank god i really was starting to miss our anti-brunell talks

Hahaha

It was obvious that Ramsey wasn't ready in preseason, but even if he still wasn't by say week 5-6, but Gibbs rolled the dice and put him in anyway, I believe he still would have been better than Brunell. And then, who knows, maybe a little more game experience in Gibbs offense and he might have been able to lead the team to a win in one of the close games against Pittsburgh or Philly...which were very winnable....and give the team a real confidence boost to beat the hell out of Dallas. But should, coulda, woulda.....

I agree that this season was disappointing, but you have to admit that this team has a much different "feel" even at 6-10 than it has the past few years at this point. It is a real team, a unit.....that feels it is better than it's record, and will be on a mission to prove it next year. Not a bunch of individuals playing together. Joe Gibbs is soley responsible for that (Williams too...but Gibbs was responsible for getting him here), and that is the reason next year will be an big improvement......without "winning" the offseason!!!