Training camp and team practices

[rickmmrr]

I have a few questions about how teams in general and specifically how our team gets ready for games.

I’ve been thinking a lot about last season and even now it’s hard to swallow just how anemic our offense was last year. Especially when you compare it to our defense.

And this is where my speculation begins. If our offense plays against our defense to get ready for games did the defense whip their asses all season. And if that’s the case did Williams know we were going to suck all year? Could he see what play were coming next just as easily as Cleveland said they could?

Or did the scale tip back and forth in practices. Sometimes the offense did good sometimes the defense did good.

Do the scrimmages against your own offense and defense have any bearing at all with regard to how the team is going to fare on game day?

And one other thing that really got me thinking was what Janson said on draft day. That our offense was playing a 1990’s style system and that screwed us up in the beginning of the year. I really was surprised at that statement. And he said it with such conviction. Like it’s so obvious when you look back at it now. That sounds like RipVan Winkle to me. Coach Gibbs didn’t sleep during his years out of football.

It seems to me that coach Gibbs is more then capable of determining the differences between the modern NFL and the 1990s NFL.

I’m still not comfortable with his statement. I had decided for myself that aside from Brunnel one of the reasons we sucked so bad was that Gibbs offense is so complicated and the team was still trying to get a handle on it. So coach had to water it down so they could run the plays without screwing up.

Also I think Gibbs system rests heavily on a really good front four and we just didn’t have it last year.

Anyway I can’t wait for the games to begin again.

Your thoughts.

[mooby]

neither can i. but while i wait, there are videos of the ota's over at redskins.com. yesss!! hopefully this time goes by fast.

[giacomo2]

Originally Posted by mooby

neither can i. but while i wait, there are videos of the ota's over at redskins.com. yesss!! hopefully this time goes by fast.

well the question i have is...did the offense suck all year because gibbs wouldn't run any plays in preseason? just a thought....HTTR!!!! :headbange

[skins009]

You shouldn't be surprised at what Jansen said cause it is exactly right. Our offense sucked for two reasons last year. One no quaterback, untill late in the year with Ramsey. Two real poor scheme, which you can only blame Gibbs for that. Our scheme was crap last year, protections were outdated, routes were shitty. Having said that Gibbs is going to change things this year. I think thats part of the reason he brought in Musgrave. He's really gonna help in things like how to run a screen the right was and a draw the right way and the shotgun formation. Gibbs will change the 90's offense to the 2005 offense.

[JWsleep]

Good post, rickmmrr. I agree with your take on it--I'm just kinda restating it in my terms:

I don't think Gibbs really opened his full playbook last year, and I think there are a few reasons for it (this isn't an excuse for Gibbs, just my thoughts on what happened).

1. He had a new team, and had to teach them the playbook. It's complex, and Gibbs went slow.

2. He was conservative in trying new stuff in training camp and preseason, because he was very worried (paranoid?) about tipping his hand before the season.

3. Becuase he didn't get a chance to teach the whole scheme, when Brunnell sucked, and the offense didn't really work for Portis, or against the new blitz-all-the-time schemes, he had nowhere to turn in mid-season. He couldn't call more complex new plays, becuase he didn't feel the offense (especially with a nervous and less practiced Ramsey taking over) could handle it. Plus, he couldn't just re-write the whole deal mid-season.

4. So he went ultra-conservative, thinking that with our D, we ought to win some games, so long as we keep it close and don't turn it over. It almost worked. We were right on the edge of being 8-8 (G-bay, cowboys), and then we would have made the playoffs without an offense. It didn't work, but at midseason, it wasn't a bad move.

5. My bet is that the D kicked the offense's ass in practice.

6. And my bet is that Gibbs has fully revamped the offense, especially to open things up for Portis, and to get time and open receivers for Ramsey. We'll see a very different offense this year, and it's not just the shot-gun and Musgrave. Gibbs saw what was happening as well (if not better!) than anyone else. He just felt that changing it all midseason, given the D and the weakness of the NFC, would have been a mistake.

(Not that I'm in any way a Nunyo fan, but his online chat on the post website made this point, and it seemed like a good analysis. Oh, and notice that he said he was wrong about the Fred-ex to washington story--that was obvious from here. About time Nunyo fessed up!)

[rickmmrr]

JWsleep you make a lot of good points and I hope your right about number 6.

[Daseal]

Good posts guys - I hope you're both right. Time will tell.

[monk81]

Great Stuff guys.........Gibbs was re-entering the NFL and needed some time to learn what had changed in the NFL. But I think he went way retro.....back to the George Allen days...when the defense won games, and the offense performed very conservatively. This year, I think we will see a more creative and aggressive offense. I'm excited about this season.......