Well, the verdict is nearly in. It's far from official, and even less of a surprise to anyone who has even casually followed the Redskins this season:
We're not a good football team.
In fact, we're pretty bad.
And we're getting worse.
This pessimistic outlook goes completely against my grain, but the facts are nearly indisputable. After a 3-1 first quarter that gave rise to all kinds of now-absurd speculation, the B&G have, in order, lost to
1) A reeling Eagles squad at home 20-13. The 1-4 "Dream Team" outgained us by nearly 140 yards and held the ball almost twice as long as they righted the ship on their way out of the NFCE cellar.
2) The toddling Panthers (!?!) 33-20. Though we were only outgained by 50 yards this time, and held the ball only 11 minutes less, once again a team with only one win, led by a true rookie QB, beat us.
3) A solid but unspectacular Bills team 23-0. Yup. Blanked. Shut-out. Goose-egged. For the first time ever in Mike Shanahan's long and storied career.
4) A rising, overachieving 49'ers unit led by their highly caffeinated, super-testosterone-charged head coach, 19-11. Again at home. And it wasn't even as close as the final score indicated.
This 4 game tailspin should and probably will end soon; two of our next three games are eminently winnable, whether we do so or not. Starting in Week 13 though, we face an extremely tough 3 game stretch against, in order, the Jets, the Patriots and the Giants. In the last half of the season we play only 4 games in which we should be favored and should win if we play the way we have been. Of those four we figure to lose at least one - that's just how it is in today's ultra-parity NFL. Discounting any big upsets in the other matchups, that means we may very well finish these last 8 games with a 3-5 record. Again. Meaning another 6-10 season. Again.
Yay.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought we were re-building here? Onward and upward, that whole bit. I might not know the definition of progress word for word, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't include back to back 6-10 seasons. I know it hasn't happened yet, but it is highly probable that it will. It might even be 5-11 or worse, who knows? In fairness I realize it could also be much better than I anticipate, but I'd lay odds it won't. When the dust settles I see us exactly where we were one year ago. And that, as I said earlier, is not progress. It's being stuck in the same old same old.
So who's to blame for all this? If we're not really building or re-building anything, where does the buck stop? With such a wide range of dysfunction and disarray, it's not an easy task assigning blame in this situation. After all, there are so many targets to choose from; where does one begin? Let's start here...
Click here for rest of story
http://yourdaddysredskins.blogspot.com
We're not a good football team.
In fact, we're pretty bad.
And we're getting worse.
This pessimistic outlook goes completely against my grain, but the facts are nearly indisputable. After a 3-1 first quarter that gave rise to all kinds of now-absurd speculation, the B&G have, in order, lost to
1) A reeling Eagles squad at home 20-13. The 1-4 "Dream Team" outgained us by nearly 140 yards and held the ball almost twice as long as they righted the ship on their way out of the NFCE cellar.
2) The toddling Panthers (!?!) 33-20. Though we were only outgained by 50 yards this time, and held the ball only 11 minutes less, once again a team with only one win, led by a true rookie QB, beat us.
3) A solid but unspectacular Bills team 23-0. Yup. Blanked. Shut-out. Goose-egged. For the first time ever in Mike Shanahan's long and storied career.
4) A rising, overachieving 49'ers unit led by their highly caffeinated, super-testosterone-charged head coach, 19-11. Again at home. And it wasn't even as close as the final score indicated.
This 4 game tailspin should and probably will end soon; two of our next three games are eminently winnable, whether we do so or not. Starting in Week 13 though, we face an extremely tough 3 game stretch against, in order, the Jets, the Patriots and the Giants. In the last half of the season we play only 4 games in which we should be favored and should win if we play the way we have been. Of those four we figure to lose at least one - that's just how it is in today's ultra-parity NFL. Discounting any big upsets in the other matchups, that means we may very well finish these last 8 games with a 3-5 record. Again. Meaning another 6-10 season. Again.
Yay.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought we were re-building here? Onward and upward, that whole bit. I might not know the definition of progress word for word, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't include back to back 6-10 seasons. I know it hasn't happened yet, but it is highly probable that it will. It might even be 5-11 or worse, who knows? In fairness I realize it could also be much better than I anticipate, but I'd lay odds it won't. When the dust settles I see us exactly where we were one year ago. And that, as I said earlier, is not progress. It's being stuck in the same old same old.
So who's to blame for all this? If we're not really building or re-building anything, where does the buck stop? With such a wide range of dysfunction and disarray, it's not an easy task assigning blame in this situation. After all, there are so many targets to choose from; where does one begin? Let's start here...
Click here for rest of story
http://yourdaddysredskins.blogspot.com
