RI: Portis: No need for Snyder to apologize

[Neophyte]

I don't know guys. I think it's going to take more than another 8-8 season. A late season surge is just going to make losing to the Chiefs, Loins and Panthers hurt that much more.

For us, the guys who get it, yeah. It will make it hurt that much more. For the average guys, including The Danny and The Vinny, it will generate excuses for why things didn't work early in the year, vindication for how the team ran things during the season and a general sense of relief that everything is good.

I'll concede that if we finish strong this year and then go 11-5 or so next year all will be forgotten. And it should be, because it will mean we have figured something out. Just like 2-5 now after an 8-8 season means we haven't.

Exactly. I agree with this completely.

Although I have to say I don't see it happening. In fact, I so don't see it happening that I am not sure I see this team winning two more games. Who is left on the schedule that we can reasonably feel good about beating after losing to the Lions and Chiefs? Maybe the Raiders but with that game being on the road even that is in doubt in my mind.

 

[Henry]

Although I have to say I don't see it happening. In fact, I so don't see it happening that I am not sure I see this team winning two more games. Who is left on the schedule that we can reasonably feel good about beating after losing to the Lions and Chiefs? Maybe the Raiders but with that game being on the road even that is in doubt in my mind.

Well, I was gonna say that myself but I didn't want to be a complete Debbie Downer.

 

[Yusuf06]

I'm dismissive of the 'Fan Carders' because it's a friggin' waste of time.

Do you really think DS is going to sell the team because of what the fans think?

Five straight wins, and all of this non-sense is over...until the next losing streak. Such is the NFL.

Personally, I don't like the guy...but, as a Yankee fan, I never liked George.

DS's biggest problem is not hiring a good GM. I suspect he's afraid Vinny will go back to ESPN and bad mouth him...probably for good reason.

But, DS isn't tight when it comes to spending on players and coaches. No one can fault him for that.

And, if anyone thinks the press in this town isn't slanted against Snyder, they're not being realistic. Did he bring it on himself? Yes. Is there bias in the press? Yes.

I hate being put in a position of defending DS or having to defend JC, but sometimes the emotional outbursts get out of hand.

'Fan carders' and 'paper baggers' need to suck it up...there will be plenty of Steeler, Puke, Philly and Giants fans to fill your seats at FedEX.

Let me see if I'm understanding you correctly. Your point is that Snyder cares nothing of what the fans think so protesting his mismanagement of the team is a waste of time. OK. So please explain how continuing to support said mismanagement is going to help, since according to you he doesn't care either way? At the very least, we have the satisfaction of not putting any more money in his pockets until he does get around to making changes. Conversely, you Danny supporters have the satisfaction of cheering on an inferior product simply to have something to cheer for.

As for the alleged press bias, we can argue that point all day. However, what one can't argue is that Snyder picked a fight that left him only one way of coming out on top-winning on the field. Given how poorly the team has performed under his tenure, that was a sucker's bet.

As for his free spending ways, I don't think anyone has ever criticized him for spending money to bring in players and coaches. What they've criticized him for is spending stupidly. The tired reply to the salary issue is always "Wouldn't it suck more to have an el cheapo like Mike Brown or Bill Bidwill?" My retort is simple. That's a moot point. What is relevant is that since Danny is spending so much more, all things being equal shouldn't we have greatly outperformed perenially cheap teams like the Steelers and Fecals?

It's not what you spend, it's how you spend it and what you spend it on. Snyder could impress me greatly if he opened his wallet for the best GM/VP of Football Operations money could buy much more so than yet another overpriced F.A. bust.

But speaking of sucker's bets, you keep on hoping for that five game winning streak. I hate to bust your bubble but it's just not going to happen. If it does, after I duck to avoid all the flying pigs, I'll donate $500 to any charity we can mutually agree upon...and I'm not using that caveat as a way to weasel out of it. If it happens I will gladly donate the dough. However, there's just some causes I won't give money to.

Sadly, that's $500 that isn't going to get donated. You and I both know that.

Hail Skins, FAIL Snyder!

 

[riggins44]

I may be wrong, but just think even if we go on a win streak many will not forget this mess. Too much has been said and done for a sudden change of heart.

Some will be happy and live in the moment. Just feel in most there will be discontent stewing with how or FO and organization operates.

 

[Henry]

As fickle as this fan base is right now, five wins in a row would silence all talk of change...of any position, coach, GM or management.

Disappointment is one thing...this pitchfork stuff is beyond the pale.

It's embarrassing.

Snyder may be a **** up, but he's a spending **** up.

It truly could be worse.

And, he's probably starting to realize that he's going to have to fire his friend Vinny.

Imagine firing your best friend...it takes time.

I think winning 8 of the last 9 would do it. Five more wins alone won't be enough. We lost to more than one really really really bad team over this first seven.

And I don't think you quite get it. 'Pitchfork stuff' implies pure immediate and thoughtless reaction to something. That's not this. This has been building up for awhile. It's not like the team hasn't had bad stretches before, yet the pitchforks didn't come out during those times. Our fans are actually a very forgiving bunch. But the goodwill has been all but spent. It's not about seven games. Not this time.

As far as 'it could be worse' ... well you're right. We could be 2-14. We're not yet so there's that. But at this moment I don't know how much worse it can get than to be referred to as the Raiders East. That's really about as bad as it can get seven games into a season. All the spending in the world means nothing if all it buys you is The Most Embarrassing Franchise in the NFL title. You think the FANS are embarrassing? The only thing embarrassing about the fans these days is how much sympathy we're getting from everyone else for being stuck rooting for this debacle.

If Snyder fires Vinnie, well, I hope it's not a move made just to appease the masses. Just to get us fans back in line. He needs to truly believe he needs a different approach. Firing Vinnie and hiring Vinnie part Duex will buy him a season or two, but then we'll be right back here, only more angry and less patient.

He needs to get it first. Based on his statement I don't know that he does. If he thinks five wins will make things all better ... well, then he doesn't get it yet.

 

[Boone]

What Henry said.

The fans are overreacting? Are you kidding me???

This franchise is a disaster. And I think what some may be missing is the impact of who our owner really IS on what this franchise has BECOME. Some of our players, even guys like Santana Moss, misunderstand the fans. This isn't about fans turning on players. It's about fans that refuse to be chumps anymore and see who the man behind the curtain really is.

And it's not pretty. And yes - it's beyond embarrassing - just not in the way you're zeroing in on. The Redskins have great fans.

 

[Neophyte]

Management 101 - Everything, and I do mean everything, comes down from the top.

With the Redskins Snyder is the top.

Any questions?

 

[bird_1972]

Also, sitting Portis would shake up a few egos...

Cutting him in the offseason would shake up a few more.

 

[servumtuum]

let him be injured, unhappy and not running like he used to..

For just about every NFL team I have ever heard of, those are considered ample reasons for releasing a running back.

 

[Sarge]

let him be injured, unhappy, dogging out the Offensive line, even when they were decent a season or two ago and not running like he used to and suddenly we want to dump him like a piece of trash and he is a distraction.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Neophyte]

Here is the breakdown, like it or not.

Fact - Portis, when healthy, is the best ball carrier on the team.

Fact - Portis is the best pass protecting back on the team and still one of the best in the league at this.

Fact - Portis wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to help make that happen.

Fact - Portis is not the same back he was when he got here. No question. But then almost no back in the NFL is the same back approaching 30 as they were at 24. Mileage is a bitch boys.

Fact - Portis talks. Too much. About things he shouldn't.

Should this team be looking for a replacement in the offseason? If there were not so many holes on this roster as it is, I would say yes. But frankly, I think if they play their cards right Portis has another good year in him.

He needs some bruisers up front with bad attitudes to open some holes and he needs to stick with the offseason conditioning program. He needs a coach who believes in practicing and who can actually make the passing game work.

Betts maybe a credible replacement but frankly neither of these guys have the best record in the world when it comes to staying healthy a full season so I think the team needs them both.

Finally, I will puke if this team burns any picks, especially anything above the 6th round, on a skill player next year.

 

[Boone]

Fact - Portis wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to help make that happen.


I don't know if he's always willing to do what it takes - I have questioned that myself over the years as he's done some things that seemed to me to be a lot more about Clinton Portis than about his team. But giving him the benefit of the doubt, I really think he's just taken too much of a pounding to be consistently effective any more. No one should minimize the crucial contributions he's made to what success we've had over the past 6 years. Without CP, we'd never have made the 2 playoff runs. And I don't think there's anyone on the roster significantly better - at this point, if Betts is 'better' it's only because he hasn't had to be 'the guy' or sustained the wear and tear Portis has.

 

[bird_1972]

Fact - Portis wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to help make that happen.


I don't know if he's always willing to do what it takes - I have questioned that myself over the years as he's done some things that seemed to me to be a lot more about Clinton Portis than about his team. But giving him the benefit of the doubt, I really think he's just taken too much of a pounding to be consistently effective any more. No one should minimize the crucial contributions he's made to what success we've had over the past 6 years. Without CP, we'd never have made the 2 playoff runs. And I don't think there's anyone on the roster significantly better - at this point, if Betts is 'better' it's only because he hasn't had to be 'the guy' or sustained the wear and tear Portis has.

The Portis situation is one of cost/benefit.

In years past, the benefit he brought to the team in terms of working hard on the field, athletic ability, toughness, and blocking ability made up for his mouth, questionable work ethic, and occasional injuries.

Now, the balance has shifted such that he costs more than he brings to the table.

It is time to get rid of him and his bloated contract during the uncapped year, should we have one.

 

[Sassy Gretsch]

What Henry said.

The fans are overreacting? Are you kidding me???

This franchise is a disaster.

A segment of the fan base is most certainly overreacting. Redskins Revolution? Seriously? That is beyond silly. I see no value is trying to fight Snyder's childishness with our own.

This is a team we all deeply love. It is a team we have rooted for and suffered with and reveled in its moments of greatness. Some of us may even be obsessed. However, Dan Snyder is not the head of a military junta that has brutalized and enslaved a nation, and we as fans are not an oppressed people. We're the fans of a football team. A bad team, no doubt, with an owner who seems to be as clueless as he is egomaniacal, but not a reason to set oneself on fire.

This isn't to say that fans shouldn't speak their mind or resort to other means of protest. In fact, many on this board do, thoughtfully and appropriately, express their anger and frustration with the franchise they have supported, financially and emotionally, throughout the years.

The hyperbole and vitriol of the rhetoric, however, has gone too far, in many cases, and has become as farcical as the man to which it's directed. Some fancy themselves conspirators in a noble and dangerous cause, whose names will endure and whose brave actions will become whispered legends.

This franchise is a disaster, and I see little reason to expect any change for the better. But come Sunday I'll crack a beer, put on my Monk jersey, and watch 'em lose, anyway. I'll leave the Revolution to someone else.

 

[Yusuf06]

Here is the breakdown, like it or not.

Fact - Portis, when healthy, is the best ball carrier on the team.

Fact - Portis is the best pass protecting back on the team and still one of the best in the league at this.

Fact - Portis wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to help make that happen.

Fact - Portis is not the same back he was when he got here. No question. But then almost no back in the NFL is the same back approaching 30 as they were at 24. Mileage is a bitch boys.

Fact - Portis talks. Too much. About things he shouldn't.

Should this team be looking for a replacement in the offseason? If there were not so many holes on this roster as it is, I would say yes. But frankly, I think if they play their cards right Portis has another good year in him.

He needs some bruisers up front with bad attitudes to open some holes and he needs to stick with the offseason conditioning program. He needs a coach who believes in practicing and who can actually make the passing game work.

Betts maybe a credible replacement but frankly neither of these guys have the best record in the world when it comes to staying healthy a full season so I think the team needs them both.

Finally, I will puke if this team burns any picks, especially anything above the 6th round, on a skill player next year.

^^This, in spades.

Portis' act has worn a bit thin with me as well even though overall, I still like him. He's certainly not a scrub, yet. Provided we get an OL to open some holes so he's not having to get yardage on his own and that we spread the carries around more, I think he's still got some gas in the tank for a couple of years or so.

In an ideal world we'd have a breakaway back to pair with Portis. However we simply don't have the luxury of putting any of our resources into such a player this offseason.

If we fix the OL, the rest will follow. Without fixing that gaping hole, we're literally going nowhere but 4-12 land again...assuming we can even get to four wins this year. Heck, we can't even adequately evaluate our offensive "skill" players, including CPo, to know whether they're any good or not without an OL blocking for them.

Priorities.

 

[Henry]

A segment of the fan base is most certainly overreacting. Redskins Revolution? Seriously? That is beyond silly. I see no value is trying to fight Snyder's childishness with our own.

This is a team we all deeply love. It is a team we have rooted for and suffered with and reveled in its moments of greatness. Some of us may even be obsessed. However, Dan Snyder is not the head of a military junta that has brutalized and enslaved a nation, and we as fans are not an oppressed people. We're the fans of a football team. A bad team, no doubt, with an owner who seems to be as clueless as he is egomaniacal, but not a reason to set oneself on fire.

This isn't to say that fans shouldn't speak their mind or resort to other means of protest. In fact, many on this board do, thoughtfully and appropriately, express their anger and frustration with the franchise they have supported, financially and emotionally, throughout the years.

The hyperbole and vitriol of the rhetoric, however, has gone too far, in many cases, and has become as farcical as the man to which it's directed. Some fancy themselves conspirators in a noble and dangerous cause, whose names will endure and whose brave actions will become whispered legends.

This franchise is a disaster, and I see little reason to expect any change for the better. But come Sunday I'll crack a beer, put on my Monk jersey, and watch 'em lose, anyway. I'll leave the Revolution to someone else.

That's fine, HE. I'm in the same boat as you, though I may not bother watching them lose if I've got a sock drawer in desperate need of rearranging. Marching down Main Street with a torch isn't my bag though.

Nevertheless, however we choose to personally react to the suckage, I don't think a minor winning streak will profoundly alter that reaction. Not this time. I think by now most of us realize that our problems are of the long-term variety.

 

[Sassy Gretsch]

. . . I don't think a minor winning streak will profoundly alter that reaction. Not this time. I think by now most of us realize that our problems are of the long-term variety.

I'd like to think so, Henry, but I'm too cynical to think the majority of Redskins fans are anything but short-sighted, knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers. Either that or they just tend to congregate on one internet message board. As others have pointed out, last year at 4-1, Vinny Cerrato was a genius and Jim Zorn was the second (or third?) coming of Joe Gibbs. More astute fans (and I count you and I among them, naturally) weren't as quick to shout hosannas from rooftops.

 

[Yusuf06]

A segment of the fan base is most certainly overreacting. Redskins Revolution? Seriously? That is beyond silly. I see no value is trying to fight Snyder's childishness with our own.

This is a team we all deeply love. It is a team we have rooted for and suffered with and reveled in its moments of greatness. Some of us may even be obsessed. However, Dan Snyder is not the head of a military junta that has brutalized and enslaved a nation, and we as fans are not an oppressed people. We're the fans of a football team. A bad team, no doubt, with an owner who seems to be as clueless as he is egomaniacal, but not a reason to set oneself on fire.

The hyperbole and vitriol of the rhetoric, however, has gone too far, in many cases, and has become as farcical as the man to which it's directed. Some fancy themselves conspirators in a noble and dangerous cause, whose names will endure and whose brave actions will become whispered legends.

With regard to the "overeactions" of the fans, we'll just have to agree to disagree Sassy. Furthermore, I don't think it's childishness. Rather, I think it's a natural reaction by fans, which is after all short for "fanatics", accustomed to reacting in much the same way during the good times. Thus, "Dallas Sucks" becomes "Snyder Sucks", signs displayed to support the team are now signs vilifying the owner, and so on. For the most part, the childishness, unreasonable, and unwarranted responses have come from the team.

With regard to the fans, I think it's only childish, unreasonable or unwarranted to the extent that such activity goes too far. Obviously there's no set definition for the latter, but we all know it when we see it.

Finally, just remember that when you speak of me in the future, it should always be with a respectful whisper...especially on my national holiday. Genuflecting and/or looking skyward are optional.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have noble, legendary work to do...

 

[Sassy Gretsch]

Attica! Attica! Attica! Attica!