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What a Difference a Year Makes

GSF

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What's up fellas. Long time no post.

I was just thinking today about what a difference a year makes as far as my opinions and enthusiasm about our Skins. After the first pre-season game last year, I had pretty much decided that I couldn't spend another season wasting Sundays, watching the Skins go 4-12 or worse. I would still pull for the Skins of course, but I was going to cancel my Sunday Ticket and move on. Griffin had only played 2 series in the first game, and somehow managed to get sacked or hit what I seem to remember being at least 25 times ha ha.

I was convinced at that time that Gruden would start Griffin the whole season, as he had been ordered to by The Dan, the team would suck again, Gruden would get fired, rinse, repeat, ect, ect. I had visions of DJax and DHall giving up and saying all kinds of terrible stuff to reporters and on twitter. I really expected a complete coming off of the wheels a la Jim Zorn's final season as head coach.

Then a little something happened I never expected: Gruden named Cousins the permanent starter for the season. My initial reaction was well, at least we'll be competitive. So, I decided I would keep my sunday ticket, and probably watch most of the games.

So, you guys know the story, there were some ups and downs early on, but when the "you like that!" game happened I knew we were on to something.

Fast forward to now. Everything feels completely different to me. This Redskins team is primed to make a run deep in the playoffs imo. The first game of this preseason felt completely opposite of last season's. Cousins only played a handful of plays, but he looked completely poised, sharp, and confident to me. I am sure the usual hand-wringers were probably a little upset about how the back ups looked, but to me the starters looked sharp and that's all I really worry about at this point. I turned the game off late in the first quarter.

This whole team just appears to ooze confidence right now from what I've seen in my limited exposure. Gruden is a different guy now. What he did with RG3 last year took guts, but he pulled it off, and it feels like his team now, not "The Dan's".

The team has good reason to be confident imo. When you look at what I consider to be some of the most important positions in today's game, the Redskins are pretty stacked:

QB that can put the team on his back and make plays, check.
Stud Left Tackle, check.
Deep threat that can stretch defenses, check.
Playmaker TE, check.
Shut down corner, check and check.
Ball hawking Free Safety, check.

Also, I think the Skins are solid in other important areas. I don't think the pass rush is tremendous, but I do think it will be pretty good. Same with the oline, which I believe will be much better this year when Lauvao comes back, and the right side continues to develop. I like Compton at inside linebacker to continue to improve as well. The only area that concerns me is NT, but I believe that the Skins will be in more of a 4-3 look this year. I can envision the run defense being a little weak this year, but I believe the Skins will score a lot of points, so opponents will have to throw the ball to keep up. I also think we'll be able to play a lot of 8 in the box defense with Norman and Breeland in man against the better running teams.

I feel pretty good about the Skins' chance to win the NFC East again. I think the Skins will play at least one playoff game at home, and I think they'll be more successful in the playoffs then they were last season. I think Skins fans are going to come out in force this year, and that FedEx is going to be a very tough place to play, even for the elite teams. Imagine that for a second.

What a difference a year makes.
 
Nice post, GSF.

Been feeling pretty good about the direction we're headed myself. Not so much that I'm optimistic we're looking at a deep run into January--I think the loss of Gallette and continued lack of a premium pass-rusher is going to be a problem late in games against good QB's--but that the overall arc seems solidly pointed upward.

The keys for this season will be health, the continued development of Cousins, and just how improved the secondary proves to be. I'd be really surprised to see a noticeable backslide this year, where the wheels come off and we end up with 4 to 6 wins and right back on the roller coaster. But I do expect we'll win some tough games and be a factor down the stretch competing for a playoff spot. At this point in the Gruden/McCloughan regime, I'd consider that right on course as we continue to build.
 

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