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Blognosticator - SilentThreat
Week 15 vs the New York Giants...
I've spent the better part of the last 5 days trying to figure out how I was going to compose this little bundle of joy. There are a countless number of directions we all can go in that would not only stimulate an elephant droppings worth of heated debate, but also make some people actually re-evaluate their friendships. Do we really need to re-visit all those frustrating, drama filled, vomit inducing, feather ruffling shenanigans? Eh, I'd rather not. Instead I'm going to take the next few paragraphs to outline a couple of the positive spins I can find.
We're all hurting right now. Our beloved Redskins are in a very bad spot, and the road ahead has MULTIPLE different directions we can chose. All that being said... WE'RE ALL REDSKINS FANS. We still have our team and each other. As frustrating as it gets, we can still get together and talk about it. Some of the best memories of my entire life are directly related to the Redskins and have ZERO connection to the play on the field at the time. My best man and one of my groomsmen at my wedding are only a part of my life because of a last minute decision I made to pack myself up, load up a guy I had never met at the time, and drive 8+ hours to Canton Ohio to watch a couple Redskins players get inducted into Hall of Fame. A moment that no matter how bad things get, I will have forever.
Another positive? Once again we find ourselves with one of the better LBs in the league. Honestly, whoever is our LB scout needs to be promoted to head of talent evaluation. If there is one position we have had any consistent talent at, it's been that one. Ryan Kerrigan has been a very bright spot in an otherwise dismal defense. He's the kind of guy who can play multiple positions, from multiple different angles, and he can be effective. You can build a defense around him.
How bout' Desean Jackson. One of the few free agent acquisitions we've made in recent history that has actually lived up the hope of what it would become. A revolving carousel of QBs and he's still been effective. He is one of the few legit threats that we have ever had, who anytime they touch the ball they have the ability to take it the distance. He's done everything right with the media, outside of the drama caused by an instagram post that was very vague. He has not, to this point, appeared to be any of the negatives we heard about him coming out of Philly, and he does his job. I did see him and Garcon give up on that super awesome, top play nominee that Colt pulled off vs the Colts but hey... I'm trying to be positive here
One more positive and I promise I'll get to the game this weekend. The next 6 months is going to give us the actual evidence of how Snyder is trusting his football people to make football decisions. There have been some decisions made by Gruden that are frustrating. He's handled them in an odd way. We've disagreed with how he's handled them.. But GRUDEN has made those decisions and, at least to this point, Snyder has backed off and let him make them. Rumors are swirling about the future of the team but if Snyder has finally decided to stay out of the locker room, it's going to be very, VERY good for the future of our beloved football team.
I know this is a very, VERY vague blognostication... but hey, we've got 20 threads on the front page to debate the turmoil of this team. All I would be doing is piling on.
Ok, onto the epic NFC East battle we are preparing for. As these two monsters of the gridiron prepare to go head to head in what can only be expected to something that closely resembles a war waged between.... oh who am I kidding... This will most likely look more like a pillow fight then a real one. At the time of writing this, McCoy's status is uncertain and Griffin has been said to be starting if McCoy can't go. Jackson's status is still a little suspect but I would imagine he's going to give it a go.
The Giants have middle of the road offensive and defensive numbers, but they have an x-factor. Odell Beckham Jr is proving to be a hell of a football player. He's the only thing on that team that TRULY scares me. Andre Williams had a really good game last week, and if Coughlin continues to utilize these two rookies, it could be along day for us. We HAVE to slow down Beckham. I don't see Haslett being able to do it schematically so it's going to come down to raw grit and effort. Kerrigan and co. will have to get to Eli and early. We all know he can be rattled, and if you get him off his game then he likes to forget which color jerseys his team wore to the stadium that day.
On our side, it's going to be a shot in the dark at how to beat them. They are ranked 10th in yards, so taking the top off might be a little more difficult. Jackson is expected to be back, which should help, but we're going to need Pierre to show up again this week as well. It's been frustrating to see him completely disappear at times.... that cant happen this week. Hopefully Jordan Reed's development continues (another positive as long as he stays healthy) and our QB, whoever it is, can get ALF the ball. He had 8 carries last week... 8! That is not ok. One other thing of not is we need to get Helu the ball in space. Every time he touches it, he makes a play of some sort. If we're going to run that crazy pitch play, I would like to see him get it. He's a little more elusive then Alf, and I feel like he can get the edge better.
Now for the prediction.
My heart: Redskins rally for evaluation purposes, pull off the division game 27-17
My head: Redskins lose a heartbreaker on a final drive... might be them scoring, could be a failed attempt on our end.... 27-21
Week 15 vs the New York Giants...
I've spent the better part of the last 5 days trying to figure out how I was going to compose this little bundle of joy. There are a countless number of directions we all can go in that would not only stimulate an elephant droppings worth of heated debate, but also make some people actually re-evaluate their friendships. Do we really need to re-visit all those frustrating, drama filled, vomit inducing, feather ruffling shenanigans? Eh, I'd rather not. Instead I'm going to take the next few paragraphs to outline a couple of the positive spins I can find.
We're all hurting right now. Our beloved Redskins are in a very bad spot, and the road ahead has MULTIPLE different directions we can chose. All that being said... WE'RE ALL REDSKINS FANS. We still have our team and each other. As frustrating as it gets, we can still get together and talk about it. Some of the best memories of my entire life are directly related to the Redskins and have ZERO connection to the play on the field at the time. My best man and one of my groomsmen at my wedding are only a part of my life because of a last minute decision I made to pack myself up, load up a guy I had never met at the time, and drive 8+ hours to Canton Ohio to watch a couple Redskins players get inducted into Hall of Fame. A moment that no matter how bad things get, I will have forever.
Another positive? Once again we find ourselves with one of the better LBs in the league. Honestly, whoever is our LB scout needs to be promoted to head of talent evaluation. If there is one position we have had any consistent talent at, it's been that one. Ryan Kerrigan has been a very bright spot in an otherwise dismal defense. He's the kind of guy who can play multiple positions, from multiple different angles, and he can be effective. You can build a defense around him.
How bout' Desean Jackson. One of the few free agent acquisitions we've made in recent history that has actually lived up the hope of what it would become. A revolving carousel of QBs and he's still been effective. He is one of the few legit threats that we have ever had, who anytime they touch the ball they have the ability to take it the distance. He's done everything right with the media, outside of the drama caused by an instagram post that was very vague. He has not, to this point, appeared to be any of the negatives we heard about him coming out of Philly, and he does his job. I did see him and Garcon give up on that super awesome, top play nominee that Colt pulled off vs the Colts but hey... I'm trying to be positive here
One more positive and I promise I'll get to the game this weekend. The next 6 months is going to give us the actual evidence of how Snyder is trusting his football people to make football decisions. There have been some decisions made by Gruden that are frustrating. He's handled them in an odd way. We've disagreed with how he's handled them.. But GRUDEN has made those decisions and, at least to this point, Snyder has backed off and let him make them. Rumors are swirling about the future of the team but if Snyder has finally decided to stay out of the locker room, it's going to be very, VERY good for the future of our beloved football team.
I know this is a very, VERY vague blognostication... but hey, we've got 20 threads on the front page to debate the turmoil of this team. All I would be doing is piling on.
Ok, onto the epic NFC East battle we are preparing for. As these two monsters of the gridiron prepare to go head to head in what can only be expected to something that closely resembles a war waged between.... oh who am I kidding... This will most likely look more like a pillow fight then a real one. At the time of writing this, McCoy's status is uncertain and Griffin has been said to be starting if McCoy can't go. Jackson's status is still a little suspect but I would imagine he's going to give it a go.
The Giants have middle of the road offensive and defensive numbers, but they have an x-factor. Odell Beckham Jr is proving to be a hell of a football player. He's the only thing on that team that TRULY scares me. Andre Williams had a really good game last week, and if Coughlin continues to utilize these two rookies, it could be along day for us. We HAVE to slow down Beckham. I don't see Haslett being able to do it schematically so it's going to come down to raw grit and effort. Kerrigan and co. will have to get to Eli and early. We all know he can be rattled, and if you get him off his game then he likes to forget which color jerseys his team wore to the stadium that day.
On our side, it's going to be a shot in the dark at how to beat them. They are ranked 10th in yards, so taking the top off might be a little more difficult. Jackson is expected to be back, which should help, but we're going to need Pierre to show up again this week as well. It's been frustrating to see him completely disappear at times.... that cant happen this week. Hopefully Jordan Reed's development continues (another positive as long as he stays healthy) and our QB, whoever it is, can get ALF the ball. He had 8 carries last week... 8! That is not ok. One other thing of not is we need to get Helu the ball in space. Every time he touches it, he makes a play of some sort. If we're going to run that crazy pitch play, I would like to see him get it. He's a little more elusive then Alf, and I feel like he can get the edge better.
Now for the prediction.
My heart: Redskins rally for evaluation purposes, pull off the division game 27-17
My head: Redskins lose a heartbreaker on a final drive... might be them scoring, could be a failed attempt on our end.... 27-21