Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[B]Redskins Reality Check[/B]
[I]Oct. 23, 2008[/I]

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 [I]job [/I]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 ...

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Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

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

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

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???

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

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.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

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.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

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+.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

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.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

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.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

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

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=EternalEnigma21;493028]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???[/quote]
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 [I]expecting[/I] 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.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=irish;493032]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.[/quote]

Ditto. Yes, the Lions are a bad team, but even putting aside the any-given-Sunday cliche, the fact is that the league is tight this year. No doubt, the Titans are off to a great start, and the Giants look tough, but are either of them "dominant" teams right now? The Giants needed overtime to beat the 0-7 Bengals AT HOME and lost by three touchdowns to the Browns. With regard to the Titans, none of the six teams they've played currently has a winning record. The fact is that this is a season in which, league-wide, no victory will be taken for granted. After the Eagles game, I may have been a little tempted to look ahead to the game against the Lions as potential blowout, but after the Rams game, I know better and just want to walk out of Detroit with a win.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

good article... but the media is always trying to either build teams up or tear them down. we all know that. however that doesn't mean that this isn't the best team we've had in years. new or not, this team has done some amazing things so far, and most definately has the potential to really stir things up later in the season. Who knows, maybe we'll have a good run in the playoffs this year. i absolutely refuse to even say the "s" word until playoffs tho... no thoughts on that.

Im excited to see how we do this week. I would love a blow out, but a win is a win. Lets just take this one week at a time. GO SKINS!!:spank:

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=-Om-;493047]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 [I]expecting[/I] 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.[/quote]

You're probably right.

I think an interesting discussion could be had on why we as Skins fans, are so hyper-sensitive to negativity of our team but on the other hand we seem to wallow in it pretty consistently. Of course these are generalizations but it seems to me that our fan-base is somewhat hypocritical in this regard.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=dmek25;493046]OK. ill say it again. a win, is a win, is a win. [B]can anyone remember any of the scores of the 1991 championship season?[/B] 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[/quote]While we may not remember all the scores in '91, that team took care of business against lesser teams. They put opponents away early and buried them (the average margin of victory that year was 15 points). The only close calls that I remember that season (aside from the two losses) came against the Oilers and the Bengals.

As a fan, yes, a win is a win, but if this Skins team keeps living dangerously by letting lesser teams hang around, they will eventually lose their share of close games, as exhibited against the Rams two weeks ago. Detroit has POOR talent overall. There is no reason why the Skins shouldn't win this game by double digits [U]unless[/U] they play down to the competition's level.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

I could care less about laying the wood to the Lions. But when Romo comes to town.......

Let's just say nothing is better than seeing Wade Phillips in his skirt (with a star on it) and his Pom-Poms, wipe'in the tears out of Romo's eye's! Well maybe one thing; T.O. going to a nice D.C. Jail cell.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

i just worry because in the past,winless teams often have'nt got a win until they have played the redskins!

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

I think we all need to not overanalyze here. We have a much better team than Detroit. Much better. Will i be happy being 6-2, yes. Did I think that we'd be 5-2, 6-2, or 5-3 at the beginning of the year? No. The first 7 weeks of the season has told us we have a pretty good team w/ wins on the road in the division against good teams. I think good teams should beat bad teams, really bad teams by a decent margin, and I think we have a good team.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

The bar has been moved by the team itself, not the fans.

Expectations by fans should be high. There's nothing wrong with that. The redskins have earned higher expectations this year and that's not a bad thing.

When you have a QB approaching the mid season point with 0 ints, you expect him not to come out and have a 4 turnover performance.

When you have the leagues leading rusher and a league MVP as a backup, along with a stellar O line, you expect to have success running the ball.

When you have the #6 D in the league after playing several of the top 10 offenses in the league, you never expect ANY team to hang 30+ on you.

The media didn't make one of those things happen. They could all write this team off or sell us as the next 70s steelers. It won't change what this team has accomplished and acheived thus far.

And, if you have all these things working for you as we do, how can you not expect to destroy the lions; a terrible team with a terrible record. I don't see how we can just be content with our record and throw theirs out when coming up with expectations for this game. Not to mention if you asked me at the beginning of the year (or even after week one, hell) what I predicted for the skins lions game, I would have still predicted a stifling skins victory.

Ill be happy with a win either way, but if we squeak this one out I'm going to be worried and rightfully a bit disappointed. Shame on me.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=Mattyk72;493039]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.[/quote]

PLAYOFFS!? PLAYOFFS!? Yeah baby. PLAYOFFS!

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=dmek25;493046]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[/quote]

YES! The Redskins killed detroit 45-0 first game of the year. I also remember them shutting out their first 3 home opponents.

The good teams put teams away.
The pretenders play down to their opponents.

I hope the Redskins prove they are a good team tomorrow.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=Mattyk72;493039]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.[/quote]

Well, the last two times we made the playoffs there were a lot of people right here on this board who didn't talk about us actually making the playoffs so much as to how we "backed in" or "lucked in" There are definitely people who will wonder why we didn't stomp through the competition.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=FRPLG;493052]You're probably right.

I think an interesting discussion could be had on why we as Skins fans, are so hyper-sensitive to negativity of our team but on the other hand we seem to wallow in it pretty consistently. Of course these are generalizations but it seems to me that our fan-base is somewhat hypocritical in this regard.[/quote]

Because they're our kids and only we can discipline them

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=SmootSmack;493088]Well, the last two times we made the playoffs there were a lot of people right here on this board who didn't talk about us actually making the playoffs so much as to how we "backed in" or "lucked in" There are definitely people who will wonder why we didn't stomp through the competition.[/quote]

Yep, some people are just never satisfied I guess. One man's playoff run is another's backing in, whatever that means.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=EternalEnigma21;493073]The bar has been moved by the team itself, not the fans.

Expectations by fans should be high. There's nothing wrong with that. The redskins have earned higher expectations this year and that's not a bad thing.

When you have a QB approaching the mid season point with 0 ints, you expect him not to come out and have a 4 turnover performance.

When you have the leagues leading rusher and a league MVP as a backup, along with a stellar O line, you expect to have success running the ball.

When you have the #6 D in the league after playing several of the top 10 offenses in the league, you never expect ANY team to hang 30+ on you.

The media didn't make one of those things happen. They could all write this team off or sell us as the next 70s steelers. It won't change what this team has accomplished and acheived thus far.

And, if you have all these things working for you as we do, how can you not expect to destroy the lions; a terrible team with a terrible record. I don't see how we can just be content with our record and throw theirs out when coming up with expectations for this game. Not to mention if you asked me at the beginning of the year (or even after week one, hell) what I predicted for the skins lions game, I would have still predicted a stifling skins victory.

Ill be happy with a win either way, but if we squeak this one out I'm going to be worried and rightfully a bit disappointed. Shame on me.[/quote]
You were fine right up until you casually dismissed the homestanding Lions as "a terrible team with a terrible record."

Week in and week out, year after year, teams that "should" win a given game based on paper comparisons get their butts handed to them by a team with a crappy record and crappy stats. Why? Because it's the NFL and there is no such thing as a "terrible" team--not on any given Sunday.

Two weeks ago, the undefeated Giants got thumped by the winless, "terrible" Browns.

Last week, the 4-2 Cowboys got thumped by the "terrible" Rams.

And a week before that, the very Redskins we're talking about, streaking at 4-1, handed away a game they dominated to the same, then-winless, "terrible" Rams.

The Skins have won their 5 games by an average margin of 4.6 points. Their largest margin of victory in any of those wins was 7.

"Expecting" them to "blow out" [I]anybody[/I] right now is certainly your right, but it's also based on statistics and records. The NFL doesn't work that way.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=SmootSmack;493089]Because they're our kids and only we can discipline them[/quote]

All in the family huh?

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=dmek25;493046]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[/quote]

box scores for 1991 we beat detroit 45 to o we were a very good team that year blowing out most teams cardinals 34 to 0 eagles 23to0 cleveland 42to17 steelers 41to14 check out profootballreference.com

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

Clicking on this thread and reading these posts.................We have a championship caliber team. Its been a while, but we got one. I'm not saying superbowl. I'm just saying we have a team that can go. In the 70's and 80's we had a team that was championship caliber. We only won it three times, so its tough to do it. But we got one of those teams again.

I mean, we're sitting here and wondering Would it be okay if we DON'T blow the Lions out?!?!?!?! Will we still be alright if we just barely win??? Would we still be a contender if we only win by a touchdown???

This is hilarious!!! I just can't believe that we're actually talking like this again! This thread right here has me thinking how deep in the playoffs this team is going to go.

Me, Personally, I want a blow out! Blow outs are cool! They're fun to watch! The last team we blew out was Dallas in 07. We need another one of those. But, at the same time, we'll still be contenders for the division title if we just win by a touchdown or a field goal. The lions are a team that never quit. Even when we started to run up more points on them last year and the game was definetly over. They still kept driving. Kept trying. They didn't stop until the clock stopped. Blowing out a team like that is tough. Very tough. We did do it last year and I would love to see it again this year!

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

we need to win this game.one game at a time just win baby

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

[quote=redskinjim;493121]box scores for 1991 we beat detroit 45 to o we were a very good team that year blowing out most teams cardinals 34 to 0 eagles 23to0 cleveland 42to17 steelers 41to14 check out profootballreference.com[/quote]
i meant without looking them up:confused:

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

Good article. Agree with every word of the author.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

I liked the article, and like another poster, it is sobering, brought me back to earth. At the start of the season my crystal ball couldn't tell me if the Skins would be 12-4 or 4-12. New Coach, systems, young, older, OF, DF Coords, who the heck knows what's next. Go figure. We're 5-2 and we want more of course, I sure do. We should win in Detroit, that's a given, we should. But I also figure on Detroit might want to win this game. They aren't going to roll over because everyone expects them to get hammered. I was listening to "the Hurd" on ESPN and they passed over the Skins/Lions game, didn't even say 3 words about it. Detroit is coming into this game dissed and if they lose to the Skins, whoever is playing them next week better watch out because they are coming again and so on....until they win. I'll take a

17 Skins
14 Detroit any day

Now about blowing out teams. Cowgirls, top of the list.

Re: Om Field: Redskins Reality Check
 

27-12-skins