I'm going to throw this out there, and it's my main gripe with this piece...
I don't know of a single Redskin fan that actively roots against this team. I can't do it. I'm sure no one here, or on the other site, can do it either. Hell, I'd love to win with all of our players looking like all pros. Or just win in a positive fashion. Backing into wins does a ton of damage to our team, though. It keeps us in the never ending cycle of mediocrity.
Now, that said, a high draft pick doesn't guarantee you get out of that cycle, either (See: Shuler, Heath). But it certainly gives you a better opportunity than a lower pick.
I won't cheer for the team to lose. Never have, never will. But there is a silver lining to the losses. But, I disagree with the saying "a win is a win". To me it's quite inaccurate when looking at the large picture. A win, and missing on Griffin/Barkley/whoever could very well be a loss in the long run.
A win is instant gratification.
Which is why my stance is simple: You go into the game wanting to see the team play well and take the W home. That's something to build off of. Limited mistakes, solid play. What isn't something to build off of is a pedestrian offense, a decent to good defense and horrendous special teams. In my opinion, that was the Seattle game in a nut shell. People will disagree with me on that assessment, and I really do respect and appreciate your stance. But our team did not play well, Seattle just managed to play worse.
That's not how you want to win for the future. For a team in the playoff hunt, you want those wins. You need those wins. They're important. For a team that's been out of the race essentially for a few weeks now, those wins do nothing. A win where the team puts together a total effort would mean something, however. It means the team faced adversity, slapped that bitch in the ****ing mouth and won one.
We didn't do that. I had a lot of hope at the beginning of the Jet game too, but as the game went on it started to get away from us and you could feel the inevitable Jet onslaught coming.
There are positives on this team. Hurt looks better each week. Riley has been an absolute monster for us (and he's a great guy to interview). Roy Helu has been nothing short of spectacular. London Fletcher, even in the twilight of his career is a stud. So on and so forth (I didn't mention a lot of guys who have done great things. Please don't nitpick here, just trying to show some positive examples).
But our team as a whole needs to improve. And if we're going to win at this point in the season...
like we all would like to see... Then it has to be after a great effort. Not a stinker.
Just my opinion.
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