Running game will be vastly improved

You can point your finger at the line, running back, new system but the real problem was the lack of respect for our passing game. Teams stacked the line and every team will have problems running the ball when your opponents can stack the line on allmost every play except obvious pass plays.

Agreed. I'm hoping that Gibbs' system last year was a response to injuries to the line and sub-par QB play. If this was the case, then this year our offense could be significantly improved. BUT, it may be that Gibbs really does want to stick with the system he had in place last year, in which case we'll suck mightily again.

You can point your finger at the line, running back, new system but the real problem was the lack of respect for our passing game. Teams stacked the line and every team will have problems running the ball when your opponents can stack the line on almost every play except obvious pass plays.

Agreed, Which bring's us back to square one, will Gibbs do what's neccassary to make the offense work? You don't neccassarily have to throw, but the team your playing needs to know that if they don't respect the pass you will burn them with the pass, which in turn will keep them from stacking the box. and help open up the running game, in Gibbs first tenure teams new late in the game they were going to get a heavy dose of Riggins, but they also knew if they overcommitted to stop him we would play action and burn them with the pass, that fear kept them from stacking tha box like teams did last year.

Agreed, Which bring's us back to square one, will Gibbs do what's neccassary to make the offense work? You don't neccassarily have to throw, but the team your playing needs to know that if they don't respect the pass you will burn them with the pass, which in turn will keep them from stacking the box. and help open up the running game, in Gibbs first tenure teams new late in the game they were going to get a heavy dose of Riggins, but they also knew if they overcommitted to stop him we would play action and burn them with the pass, that fear kept them from stacking tha box like teams did last year.In Gibbs past he was a great second half coach and did a great job of adjusting. Hopefuly he is also a great second year coach and makes those needed adjustment. We can only believe that Gibbs is working long hours studying film and learning from his past mastakes.

Hhhmm...with the talk of the offensive line, and those backing up the OL, I understand that the Redskins signed some undrafted players from the rookie minicap. Now, this by no means suggests they'll make the team, but a couple of those guys were offensive linemen. If they continue to impress, we might have some good young players who can add depth to our OL - maybe not rely on the 42 year old Ray Brown!

I would agree with anyone that says Portis did not have a great year. We all DO know he is a great back and will be a stud for us given that we have good blocking and good schemes for him now.

No one is blaming him, but the fact is undeniable that he wasn't at his best last year.



i tend to disagree with you. when you think about how pathetic the skins offense was last year, with bad line play, bad wr play, bad qb play and the oppossing defense game planning on stopping the run. in my opinion, portis had a pretty darn good year.

if the skins can have even a decent passing game this season portis should really explode fo some big ganes.

I'm in the optomistic camp on this one. I love having a healthier (Jansen) and improved (Rabach) line with a second year under the master (Bugel). I also think that while we may have downgraded in overall quality of WR (Coles v. Moss), the WRs we have now can better stretch the field and back the safeties up. Coles is a better WR, but he's not faster than Moss. And Patten adds a lot more speed on the other side than Gardner was going to give you last year (remains to be seen where we line him up this year). Final piece of the puzzle is having Ramsey as the starting QB from game 1 on, who has a much stronger arm than Brunell. It's been said a million times, but as long as Gibbs isn't afraid to open it up a little downfield, I think the running game could see a huge improvement over last year. I'm really starting to get excited for the season to start!

You're just now STARTING to get excited... ;)

I was excited right after the Super Bowl.