Daseal's take on the game!
 

I know what you guys are expecting, but you may be suprised.

I've been a Gibbs basher for a while now. Even after the win in game 1 I thought there was a lot of work left to do, and obviously there was a lot of work to do. I've been very vocal in his piss poor clock management and playcalling decesions over the last few games. The game against the Ravens Gibbs did everything in his power. This game goes soley on the shoulders of Mark Brunnel. I've seen enough and want to see a quarterback with an arm. Let's cut our losses and cut Brunell after the season.

The offensive line has been horrible as of late. Well, not horrible. They've done an excellent job in pass-protection, but the run blocking could be performed better by the tinyest groom and his 4 midget brothers. They get run over by the front 4. I know we don't exactly have the most atheletic guys in Ray Brown and Kenyatta Jones, but we have talent on the O line. I'm not knowledgable enough to know if this is on Bugel or if it's simply players not doing their job. But something isn't happening.

That brings me to Portis. I don't think he's a "system back" but I certainly think Denvers system made him look amazing. I think Gibbs needs to adapt his system for Clinton and his strengths. He's put the ball on the ground which has killed us, and I hope to see him cease that yet. It's too early to say what will happen with him.

Our receivers. I've been impressed with Gardner. He's dropped some balls, but not near the amount Coles has. Gardner has also made a few amazing catches, as has Coles. I'd like to see Jacobs, Trash, and McCants get some more play time. Let our receivers block up field and let other receivers (Jacobs/Coles) use their speed to break away. We need to do anything we can to let our playmakers get into the open field.

Chris Cooley has a great attitude and has played well so far this season, especially for a rookie. I'd like to see us throw more balls his way.

Defense: GREAT JOB! Even through injury we stay strong. Nothing can be said about this group of guys. If we had the defense we had last year, it would be a scary, scary proposition.

Just my two cents.
I will say one thing. We had more rushing yards this time last year. Which is somewhat scary under a Spurrier (my boy!) offense.
I'm not saying I don't love Joe Gibbs, and I think he'll turn it around. It will just take time, just like it would have taken Spurrier time. Remember. At least Gibbs had coached NFL before. Spurrier was making a larger leap!

I must say, great take on things Daseal. I have to agree with you on a lot of things like Brunnel's slump, the O-Line's run "stopping" (rather than blocking), and the fact that Portis would work out better if his strengths were catered to more.

I remember when Gibbs first got hired thinking that Spurrier might become Offensive Coordinator since Gibbs had not hired one yet (I actually thought that your boy would be pretty good in that role...he just lacks some of the skills for a head coach at this point). Do you ever think they would give him a chance at some point in the future?

Very good job, Daseal. Excellent post.

I agree particularly about the line. I think it would quite a bit different without that devastating injury to Jansen in the preseason.

It all starts up front, until we can consistently run the football, this offense isn't going anywhere.

Spurrier's team last year started off strong, then took a nose-dive. This year's team (the offense that is) is basically starting at the bottom and trying to "find itself" and dig out of the hole. I truly believe that they will....it's just taking longer than many of us had anticipated. Replacing Brunell with the "young gun" Ramsey is a step in the right direction, but I wonder if/when Gibbs will actually do it. I wouldn't exactly call the pass protection "excellent", but it has been good for the most part. As I've stated in other threads, if Ramsey was starting, Samuels would be protecting the blind-side, as opposed to Jones/Brown. They are adequate, but they are no Jansen or Samuels. The run "blocking" has been horrendous. Of course they go hand in hand....If there was more of a running game, it could help open up the pass, and vice versa.
There were some hints of some new wrinkles last night with Jacobs in there and the H-back lining up more as a fullback.....hopefully this will continue and we'll see even more different things the next few weeks.

Right now the o-line and Brunell are just not getting it done. How many times has Portis been hit in the backfield? No system or back will be successful if they have to dodge tacklers as soon as they get the handoff.

The Ed Reed stuff of Portis on 3rd and 1 goes squarely on Brunell. He's got to vary his snap count, change protection, or even change the play if he sees someone sneaking up to the line of scrimmage. That's on the qb, get the guys in the right play.

Against the Cowboys, at least we put together a couple of drives on offense. But since then, I've seen nothing at all from Brunell besides ball pats. Why is it that we don't seem to ever have anybody open? No receivers catching the ball in space, even when we dump the ball in the flat to Portis there is always one or two guys bearing down on him. And why is Brunell getting happy feet in the pocket? Five step drop, he pats the ball five times and takes a sack or throws it at somebody's feet.

But it's not the time to bench Brunell. We'd just be starting all over with Ramsey and I'm not ready to see Crazy Patrick throwing picks quite yet. We've got to get some continuity. Look the playoffs were a pipe dream, this was a team that won five games last year and had no history of recent success. So we're not that good of a football team. But we can't be this bad, we just can't be. So far the team has been playing below the sum total of its parts. We've got the wideouts, the running back, the h-back, 4/5 of the line (so I thought) and yet we can't even get first downs let alone score touchdowns.

Portis is a special back, however he's only 22 and dealing with his first bit of adversity. I think he'll show us how special he is one of these Sundays, hopefully before November hits.

[QUOTE=Mattyk72]It all starts up front, until we can consistently run the football, this offense isn't going anywhere.[/QUOTE]

yeah but teams are just stacking on us... we all know if goes hand-in-hand if you can't threaten the team with a pass downfield then don't expect to be able to run with anyone.

[quote]The Ed Reed stuff of Portis on 3rd and 1 goes squarely on Brunell. He's got to vary his snap count, change protection, or even change the play if he sees someone sneaking up to the line of scrimmage. That's on the qb, get the guys in the right play.[/quote]

not only that, the big play by reed was also a failure to read the defense... when a safety lines up within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, he's either playing man on a receiver, or he's coming to blitz... guess how many times safeties playying man vs WRs yesterday? that's right zero... brunell should have known better... even so, its entirely betts fault for not blocking it and not continuing the play (i doubt betts has as much practice reading Ds though)

How come whenever we refer to Ramsey it is only based on the one bad game Ramsey has this season? He's not usually like that, atleast not from what I watched last season. His three picks were a fluke...He was rushing to get us back into the game. He also wanted to prove himself at that point still being disappointed that he wasn't the starter...My point is, Ramsey shouldn't be known as the guy who threw three picks vs. the Giants. He's better than that and we all know it. Remember, he was actually moving the ball down the field in that game. Eliminating the picks would be easier if he starts because he won't be playing from behind and now he knows that he is that he is the guy Gibbs wants in there.

Ramsey is not going to throw 3 picks a half (if he was then had he started this year by now he would have thrown 30 picks by now). He has shown he is better then that and he was keeping us in the Giants game.

Brunell is the heart and soul of the offence and right now he is sucking the life out of the unit . It is not his personality or locker room cancer which is a problem but he is simply not executing. IF/when we loose to the Bears then it may be time to stick a fork in us 1-5 is turnable but right now we are just as likely to be 1-15 as 10-5.

The O line needs TACKLING drills since they(The offense)have given up more points than the D and I think it was "The Littlest Groom"Originally Posted by Mattyk72
It all starts up front, until we can consistently run the football, this offense isn't going anywhere.TRUE TRUE Until they can give Portis a Viable CHANCE at a hole our O can't be expected to actually succeed.I think Ramsey would be ruined if they put him in now,he's already clearly gunshy from the pasting he took last year(Had everything but the taste knocked out of him)put him behind THIS line NOW and he will be the next Heath Schuler.His confidence will not be repairable.I still believe Ramsey is a Diamond in the rough and with proper progression he WILL be a superstar QB for The Skins,just not this week. Claimer

this line has been fine in pass protection... much better than last year, i don't see how not getting sacked constantly is going to ruin his confidence...

[QUOTE=NY_Skinsfan]How come whenever we refer to Ramsey it is only based on the one bad game Ramsey has this season? He's not usually like that, atleast not from what I watched last season. His three picks were a fluke...He was rushing to get us back into the game. He also wanted to prove himself at that point still being disappointed that he wasn't the starter...My point is, Ramsey shouldn't be known as the guy who threw three picks vs. the Giants. He's better than that and we all know it. Remember, he was actually moving the ball down the field in that game. Eliminating the picks would be easier if he starts because he won't be playing from behind and now he knows that he is that he is the guy Gibbs wants in there.[/QUOTE]
I totally agree. It's funny how everyone that supports Brunell remaining the starter keeps pointing out Ramsey's three picks in the Giants game, but completely forget that he still managed to throw more TDs than INTs (14 to 9) as a starter in 11 games last year, despite the offensive struggles that the Skins had (and the complete battering he took) under Spurrier. Despite the rushing woes, this O-line is actually pretty good in pass protection-- a heckuva lot better than last year's version-- and the protection schemes are better. If you give Patrick a week to prepare as a starter, and maybe one game to get comfortable, I think the "gunshyness" and "shellshock" will wear off.

But the whole point of this debate is this: what do we have to lose at this point? How is keeping Brunell in there actually going to help this offense? Is it enough to justify keeping Ramsey on the bench while the team continues to lose?

I'm not basing my opinion of Ramsey only on the Giants game, how about the entire preseason where he looked totally lost?

How about going back to last season after the first few weeks of the season when his play declined dramatically?

Granted he was getting the snot knocked out of him and it was more of a system problem than anything, but still, he appears to have carried that shellshocked look over from last year to this year.

I still believe in Ramsey and I think with time he can still develop into a quality QB, but right now I'm not sure we'll be any better off with him in there.

I'll admit I'm on the fence right now, Brunell's over cautious approach isn't doing anything for the offense, but Ramsey's inexperience could be just as harmful.

I guess we'll see how this thing plays out.

Matty - personally I'd rather see our offense move the ball and make mistakes. Than not move the ball and not make mistakes.

[QUOTE=Mattyk72]I'm not sure we'll be any better off with him in there.[/QUOTE]

I agree but what's the point of keeping Brunell in there now...The team is going nowhere with him. If Ramsey starts he practices with the first team. It may take a while for him to become used to the offese and get his confidence back but I would rather have him do that now so he gains the experience. THe sooner the better.

[QUOTE=Daseal]Matty - personally I'd rather see our offense move the ball and make mistakes. Than not move the ball and not make mistakes.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. Mistakes can be learned from and corrected. The fear of making mistakes has a paralyzing effect and inhibits progression. Gibbs doesn't want his quarterback to take any risks, so he keeps Brunell in there, because he knows Brunell will obey that primary directive. Gibbs has been promoting the philosophy of protecting the football and not putting the defense in bad situations. Ironically, that philosophy has backfired, producing a neutered offense that has been completely impotent, and putting the defense in the position of having to completely shutdown and shutout the opposing offense. This defense is good, but it obviously isn't [i]that[/i] good.

Maybe Mark Brunell can lead this offense to dominance, but it won't happen as long as Gibbs single-mindedly promotes the dogma of rigid cautiousness over measured aggression. My feeling is that Ramsey is a natural aggressor as a quarterback, and is far better suited both mentally and physically for the purpose of mounting an aerial assault than Brunell at this point.

The only arguments that can be made against Ramsey replacing Brunell are based on a fear of failure:

"What if he throws interceptions?"
"What if the defense blitzes?"
"What if he gets sacked?"

[i]"What if we still lose?"[/i]

The fear of failure paralyzes, and inhibits progression. You can't succeed without risking failure. There's been plenty of failure this season. It's time for Coach Gibbs to let go of his fear.

"What if he wins, Coach?"

[i]"What if he wins?"[/i]

[QUOTE=joecrisp]Exactly. Mistakes can be learned from and corrected. The fear of making mistakes has a paralyzing effect and inhibits progression. Gibbs doesn't want his quarterback to take any risks, so he keeps Brunell in there, because he knows Brunell will obey that primary directive. Gibbs has been promoting the philosophy of protecting the football and not putting the defense in bad situations. Ironically, that philosophy has backfired, producing a neutered offense that has been completely impotent, and putting the defense in the position of having to completely shutdown and shutout the opposing offense. This defense is good, but it obviously isn't [i]that[/i] good.

Maybe Mark Brunell can lead this offense to dominance, but it won't happen as long as Gibbs single-mindedly promotes the dogma of rigid cautiousness over measured aggression. My feeling is that Ramsey is a natural aggressor as a quarterback, and is far better suited both mentally and physically for the purpose of mounting an aerial assault than Brunell at this point.




The only arguments that can be made against Ramsey replacing Brunell are based on a fear of failure:

"What if he throws interceptions?"
"What if the defense blitzes?"
"What if he gets sacked?"

[i]"What if we still lose?"[/i]

The fear of failure paralyzes, and inhibits progression. You can't succeed without risking failure. There's been plenty of failure this season. It's time for Coach Gibbs to let go of his fear.

"What if he wins, Coach?"

[i]"What if he wins?"[/i][/QUOTE]


Wow....maybe we can get Gibbs to read this somehow. He might change his miind. Great post joecrisp

I can respect Gibbs'decision to start Brunell. We're only five games in after all. And no, he's not entirely to blame for the offense's struggles. But more often than not QBs that are benched (non-injury benchings) are not entirely to blame. But the nature of the position dictates that when you need to get something going from the offense you can make changes at RB (we shouldn't), WR (we should), or wherever but it doesn't have the same effect as changing the QB.

Ultimately Brunell's true value to the team will be something that will be difficult to the measure. Several reasons were given for acquiring Brunell-veteran QB, QB depth-but I think one of the biggest reasons is that it gave Ramsey the chance to observe the offense and learn the playbook without feeling like he has to carry the team on his back with every snap from game one. At least it was supposed to. Let's see now if he's learned anything so far.

[QUOTE=NY_Skinsfan]Wow....maybe we can get Gibbs to read this somehow. He might change his miind. Great post joecrisp[/QUOTE]

I assume this was intended to be facetious. Does anyone really think comments by a fan are going to modify his coaching plans?? Spurrier, maybe. Not Gibbs, Parcells, Belichick, Dungy, etc, etc, etc. They have a plan. And if the plan is not working, they make the adjustments they need to, and get it working.

Gibbs may change QB's. If he does, it most likely will be over the BYE break. Not likely now or in the middle of a game. I'm confident all these backup plans are somewhere in that great mind of his...

[QUOTE=Hogskin]I assume this was intended to be facetious. Does anyone really think comments by a fan are going to modify his coaching plans?? Spurrier, maybe. Not Gibbs, Parcells, Belichick, Dungy, etc, etc, etc. They have a plan. And if the plan is not working, they make the adjustments they need to, and get it working.

Gibbs may change QB's. If he does, it most likely will be over the BYE break. Not likely now or in the middle of a game. I'm confident all these backup plans are somewhere in that great mind of his...[/QUOTE]

ya think?

Of course no head coach of any professional sports team is going to use comments by a fan in modifying game plans...

My point to that post was that I was really impressed with how JoeCrisp used his words..the man really writes well and I enjoy reading all of his posts. But hell, it would be great if Gibbs saw what JoeCirsp and the rest of us sees from the stands.

Oh, and JoeCrisp I hope you uderstand that I wasn't being "facetious" or had any intent other that I was really impressed with what you wrote.

[QUOTE=NY_Skinsfan]Oh, and JoeCrisp I hope you uderstand that I wasn't being "facetious" or had any intent other that I was really impressed with what you wrote.[/QUOTE]
No offense taken, NY, and I truly appreciate your kind words.

I don't think any writer undertakes his work with the pretense that his work will somehow alter the course of his subject matter. The motivation for most writers who are passionate about what they do is a compulsive desire to seek out the truth on a subject, to distill it and express it in words. Often we're way off base, but hopefully sometimes, we strike upon and expose a small nugget of truth.

My compulsion to write and seek out the truth is equalled by my thirst for knowledge of the game I love. I never feel as if I know enough about the game and its intricacies, and so I'm constantly driven to learn more, to glean as much knowledge as possible from as many sources as possible. That's what makes forums such as this so fantastic for people like me. Quite simply, it's a nexus of football knowledge...

...and I'm [i]not[/i] being facetious!;)

No offence intended to anybody but I will always put the judgement of Joe Gibbs a long way in front of any writer, if he is happy for Mark Brunell to continue as starter then that's good enough for me.