Panic button poll

[JWsleep]

Hammer in hand. Look, I agree with Matty about preseason hype, but ALL the signs seem bad, as far as anything we've put on the field (especially last night). I'm hoping that the signs are not relevant, for the various reasons people have said. But I can't ignore the signs.

[hurrykaine]

Far too early to Panic. If you feel the need to panic, panic on these counts:

1. Special teams - kicking and punting are woefully inconsistent
2. Can the O-line stay healthly? Forget how the starters played yesterday, but if even one of them goes down, we're in trouble.

We played a bad game yesterday - we didn't show up. What could be a bigger indication of that than Moss dropping a pass. It was like the 36-0 beating we took from the Giants last year - where nothing goes right.

G Williams used the same defensive package yesterday - the entire game. He put a DB (e.g., Rogers, Archuletta) one-on-one with Ben Watson the entire game. Do you think this is going to happen in the regular season???!!! They will try not to leave Adam Archuletta one-on-one in coverage. On a couple of plays, GW sent an all out blitz, and Brady (one of the best QB's in the league, arguably one of the best QB's ever) burned us. Any good QB will do that. So what's new? Stop worrying about the defense.

On the Offensive front, if Al Saunders says he's comfortable with the way our starters are picking up the offense during practice, then that's good enough for me. The guy's overseen the league's top offenses over the last 5-6 years - this ain't Spurrier, folks.

Saunders most insightful comment is not that he's shown just 2% of the playbook - its the analogy with the boxing game he pointed to (aka which 2% has he shown). He said his pre-season philosophy is akin to trying to face an opponent in boxing where you're only allowed to use jabs (no hooks, upper-cuts, etc.) to attack the opponent. Will it take time for our starters to feel comfortable with the offense? Sure. Will that prevent us from laying a beating on the Vikings on MNF? Hell no!!

[JWsleep]

Good post Hurrykaine. We came out jabbing and the pats came out with baseball bats... But 41-0? wow.

[onebum]

I don't see any reason to worry, we havn't lost a game yet this year. It will be 3-4 weeks before I even consider that we may not win big this year. Panic right now, not hardly.

[beau_str]

thanks hurrykaine, that post made me feel better. still got the hammer in hand though. still concerned.

[Master4Caster]

Wish there was a milder choice like "Not Paniced but Wondering If There's a Button."

It's not the record that has me concerned, it's the regression from game one. I was looking for progress week by week.

You learn more from your mistakes, so maybe this is a blessing in a very good disguise.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I have the hammer in hand.

This all comes down to one thing...fundamentals.

The Redskins are simply not executing basic fundamentals efficiently. That being said, I have full confidence that the Skins will beat the Vikings opening day, but seeing how the other teams have executed THEIR respective FUNDAMENTALS, my previously optimistic 13-3, 14-2 record predictions may go a bit by the wayside. I still feel playoffs, but rather than Super Bowl bound for sure, I'm a bit more cautious.

If the Skins come out and kick the shit out of the Vikings, I have to question the heart a little bit in the preseason. Also, it'll make me NEVER watch a preseason game again, because my heart can't take it.

[vaoutlaws2006]

holding the 4 pound hammer as i post this. i am growing more and more concerned about out so called team.

[GoSkins!]

I guess Im close to putting the hammer in my hand but...

• Jansen needs help in pass protection against the pats. Not everyone, but he needed it against them. If it were a real game, he would have got a TE to help him, and Brunnell would be completing a few screens to keep the defense honest.
• Have we seen a screen pass yet this preseason? It has been talked about as one of the best plays the offense runs in camp. This helps me believe Saunders is truely saving his best stuff.
• Our coaches are not game planning. I think that our players are good, but our coaches are great. We wont know if our coaches are getting beat until its a regular season game. Period.
• Moss dropped a pass at the 10 yard line. Im glad he got that out of the way before the regular season. Cooley has not been involved much...do we really believe that Saunders has stopped liking the TE?
• The defense has looked worse each game. I take consulation in the fact that with essentially the same players as last year, we cant be as bad as we looked last night. It just is not possible.
• Doughty and Macintosh combined for a fumble and recovery. Finally a rookie looks good! Espy and Farris look good. Maybe Espy can be molded to be the next young Trash.
• Taylor looks like he is playing a little soft (for him), Maybe he has learned a little bit from the Portis accident.

[Longtimefan]

I too am going to check in as not worried, I really don't want to develop an ulcer before the season even starts. We haven't looked very good on a sustained basis so far this pre-season and I'm sure there is more than one reason why. I'm just trying hard not to decome disillusioned by all the "we suck" and finger pointing and complaining, because when we start winning games these are the same people who will be talking SB again.

[724Skinsfan]

Quick! Name all of the teams in the NFL that currently have a better 2006 regular season record than the Washington Redskins?

...tick-tock...
...tick-tock...
...tick-tock...

What? Me worry? Nah.

[Bushead]

Every superbowl champ for the past 10 years has had very good preseasons....but of course, who cares? Its football and anything can happen. If the Redskins hadn't pulled of that winning streak last year who knows what we would be thinking about ourselves right now. The coaching staff has been doing nothing to help its players out; there haven't been any great schemes or trick plays or what not. Obviously they don't care that much or they would be running those flea flickers and reverses like the other teams have been doing.

[skinsguy]

Why worry? It's preseason! One thing I noticed when we were on offense in the first half. The Patriots blitzed almost on every down. There wasn't any game planning to slow the blitz down. After the team got behind, we got pass happy.

All in all, I am still excited about the season.

[Warpath]

relax, if its week 4 of the regular season and we lose those 3 like we lost the first 3 preseason games then I'll be worried. Its Gibbs, Williams, and Saunders who else do want to run your team? They will take care of it.

[Gmanc711]

Hammer in hand, ready to break the glass. Its not that were losing these games, hell I dont even care if were losing these games by big margins...the part that has me worried is our offense has yet to put a point on the board in three games, and our looked like a wet paper towel yesterday.