Why It's Not as Simple as Ws vs Ls

Is it just me or is it the fact we lost to the Giants at home the reason it stings so much?

MOST of us expected to be 2-1 at this juncture anyway. Would we be singing the same tune if we had lost to the Eagles and beaten the Giants? We'd still be at 2-1.

Is it just me or is it the fact we lost to the Giants at home the reason it stings so much?

MOST of us expected to be 2-1 at this juncture anyway. Would we be singing the same tune if we had lost to the Eagles and beaten the Giants? We'd still be at 2-1.In many fans eyes, you are only as good as your last game....or last play.

In many fans eyes, you are only as good as your last game....or last play.

I prefer to think you're only as good as your NEXT game.

Is it just me or is it the fact we lost to the Giants at home the reason it stings so much?

MOST of us expected to be 2-1 at this juncture anyway. Would we be singing the same tune if we had lost to the Eagles and beaten the Giants? We'd still be at 2-1.


I think it was the fact of how the skins lost, they showed so much promise in the first half, only to lose a game which they should have won. This "protect the lead" conservative game that JG gibbs (and staff) plays is almost like a prevent def, attacking the other team is what got you the lead, continue to attack til its over.

Good points Schneed. I agree with the point that we have to consider the big picture and too many people are focused only on the fact that we lost.

And is any one really shocked that the Giants played well against us? They always seem to raise their game a notch against us, and considering their backs were against the wall and their season was on the line I can't say I was too surprised with the way they played.


I'm not surprised the Giants played well against us, at least in the second half. They do always seem to rise to the occasion. However, I would expect that at home we would put these teams away, backs against the wall or not. They step it up a notch, we step it up a notch higher. That is what good teams do.

I'm not disappointed in our record, there are only five teams in the NFL with a better record right now. I just need to let go of the fact that we should probably be 3-0 and we aren't. The season is young, and we'll get another shot at the Giants. Hopefully we'll have the killer instinct and play like our backs are against the wall in that game, whether they are or not.

Good thread, Schneed.

Here's my 2 cents: Redskins fans are very fragile (myself included!), because of what happened last year, and over the last decade. We start with promise (2-0), have it all lined up with a chance to FINALLY assert our rightful dominance, and then we fuck it up, in the most painful way imaginable (or close).

And then it's: we've seen this before, now we collapse, lose to shitty teams, don't show up in big games, play anemic offense and weak defense, and fail to make the playoffs. (Note: I AM NOT ENDORSING THIS SCENARIO!). We've been conditioned like Pavlov's dogs to react like this. We've been burned too many times before. That's why you get the sky-is-falling routine. And why you get a failure to look on the bright side, or to see the good with the bad. We're like a beaten spouse--we're locked into a negative mentality.

(Sorry for the long post... don't hit me! ;) )

I've got a problem with the bolded part.

You can consider teams as legit playoff contenders all you want. But in the end, what fans perceive or consider you to be matters NONE. What makes you a playoff contender at the end of the year is having more wins than the other teams.

By your logic, we couldn't be considered playoff contenders after we lost to the Raiders in 2005. Do you think Joe Gibbs cared what they were considered at that point? Hell no, he went out and won 5 straight, made the playoffs, and shut the naysayers the hell up.

There are 13 more games for us to show we're playoff contenders. Based on what I saw this past Sunday, I see no reason to say we've got no shot at the playoffs. In fact, I love our chances.


In 2005 after the Raiders lost, fact is we were not considered playoff bound. it took a great 5 game stretch to make it. Not a lot of teams could have done that. Gibbs is a great motivator and kept his team fighting "their guts out!" what i am saying is for a team to be a constant winner and playoff bound year in and year out is they win the games they should win. We did that in 2005 against teams we should have beaten. We didn't last year. I have no idea what the rest of the season hold, no one does. But, if we beat the teams we should, then we will be in great shape. I thought we were taking a HUGE step forward by going into Philly and beating them physically, and on the road. Then we take a step back by losing to a team that was beaten horribly the first two games. Add to that the fact we lost at home with their QB hurting and WR hurting, bitching about the coach and a defense that was absolutely horrible. That to me is a step backwards. people that dont see it as a let down are blind. I hope we come out with some extra motivation and fire when we play the lions in two weeks.

In 2005 after the Raiders lost, fact is we were not considered playoff bound. it took a great 5 game stretch to make it. Not a lot of teams could have done that. Gibbs is a great motivator and kept his team fighting "their guts out!" what i am saying is for a team to be a constant winner and playoff bound year in and year out is they win the games they should win. We did that in 2005 against teams we should have beaten. We didn't last year. I have no idea what the rest of the season hold, no one does. But, if we beat the teams we should, then we will be in great shape. I thought we were taking a HUGE step forward by going into Philly and beating them physically, and on the road. Then we take a step back by losing to a team that was beaten horribly the first two games. Add to that the fact we lost at home with their QB hurting and WR hurting, bitching about the coach and a defense that was absolutely horrible. That to me is a step backwards. people that dont see it as a let down are blind. I hope we come out with some extra motivation and fire when we play the lions in two weeks.


correction : We beat good teams down the stretch in 2005. I mistyped above. we did not beat the teams early in 2005 we should have beaten which put us in the 5 in a row or we dont go mode. To Gibbs and co. credit, we got the job done. Which, I believe we will get the job done this year. I still think we have a ton of winnable games on the schedule.

I think it was the fact of how the skins lost, they showed so much promise in the first half, only to lose a game which they should have won. This "protect the lead" conservative game that JG gibbs (and staff) plays is almost like a prevent def, attacking the other team is what got you the lead, continue to attack til its over.
All I here is that we went into this type of prevent O which is total bull. I have said this in about every thread but it seem to get ignored. We had a bunch of wide open WR's in the second half which our young QB missed. I'm not saying he threw a bad pass he did not throw the ball their way. It seemed to me that in the 2nd half we had about 8 plays were we had a guy wide open for an easy 10 to 20 yard gain and the ball went else where. JC has average around 200 yards per game and thats with atleast one big play in each game so either our WR's are not gettin open or he is not seeing the open guy. Sunday was the first game I have seen but I saw him miss a ton of open players. So before we go blamming others maybe we need to realise that JC is still young and is going to miss those plays and cost us some games. I think the fact that he did not trow an int. makes people not look at his performance as a big part of our loss against the Giants.

The minutia of the game is unimportant. It doesnt matter if the line blocked well or the WRs ran great routes, the team lost and last time I checked that's the only part of the game that really counts.

Like they say in golf, its not how, its how many. The Skins didnt have enough on Sunday.