Four Years Later: Are We Better Off?

I think down the stretch with Collins we saw a much more aggressive approach. It's amazing how different things are with an experienced QB. We still have some work to do to get JC to that point where the coaches aren't afraid to hand the game over to him, and most importantly, he needs to start throwing TDs in big spots and not INTs.

Exactly. This is a QB driven league; give Gibbs a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, or Carson Palmer and everyone will be praising Gibbs the way they praise Dungy and BB. Hopefully, JC makes strides between now and August.

Let's also remember that in 2006 we also had some pretty catastrophic injuries all the way around AGAIN.

Springs, Portis, and the list goes on... We had freaking TROY VINCENT at one point. Our record this year with even worse injuries is indicative of how good this team COULD be next year with (hopefully!) a healthy season.

I see your points Paintrain, but, to quote Han Solo, "I don't believe in luck." To dismiss 9 wins in 9 weeks (5 in 05' and 4 in 07') as lucky isn't fair. Equally true, of course, is the fact that we are solely responsible for our losses.

Yeah I don't buy the luck thing either, not in 2005 and certainly not now.

You don't get lucky in this league and win 4 or 5 straight.

I voted Tripp but I feel like we're moving towards the right thing. As for the whole Look at our Roster - I feel like sometimes we get rid of guys and then bring in guys who are just the same caliber as the old guys or worse (Lloyd) and then in the end we just end up dropping the ball. I'm not one of those whole "Blow up everything" kind of people, in fact I think in order to get better we need to keep as many core people as we can. But it feels like the same old song and dance lately - Make a run to the playoffs then blow it. It's like year after year we're either really bad or decent. This year was a decent year, especially after everything the team had gone through. But I'm ready for a good one. And when I say good, I mean one where we don't have to come from behind and save our asses. One where we can sit back on top of the NFC East and not have to win games by the skin of our teeth.

But in all honesty, I can't say I know where to begin as to fixing that problem.

If we had any good luck this season, we would not have had the multitude of catastrophic injuries, and our Premier Safey murdered.
You make your own luck, and that's what they did. They FORCED their will on others down the stretch with a banged up piecemeal, duct tape and chewing gum team. Healthy, I cannot imagine what they can do?

I think down the stretch with Collins we saw a much more aggressive approach.
It's amazing how different things are with an experienced QB. We still have some work to do to get JC to that point where the coaches aren't afraid to hand the game over to him, and most importantly, he needs to start throwing TDs in big spots and not INTs.

I agree, with Collins having 10+ years in the system we saw a different gameplan.. You were among the corp group saying the playcalling wasn't conservative or a problem in the late game losses, will you now agree that the playcalling WAS more conservative since we've seen a difference?

I think (as his teammates also indicated) Campbell can handle more than was given him, as shown by his production the times they opened the gameplan up & went with more no huddle and downfield passing game. Yes, he threw more INT during that stretch than we'd want, but that's going to happen with a young QB still feeling his way. I think his growth was stunted by not allowing him to have the whole playbook from game 1. I'd rather have seen those bad plays in September when he had a chance to learn and improve later in the season than taking the handcuffs off in November when it was almost a desperate move.

I hope '08 sees us picking up offensively where Collins left off (with JC at the controls of course), not where they had Campbell tip toeing thru the gameplan.

To my comments about 'luck' I probably should have said we benefitted from fortunate circumstances each time, not neccesarily random luck.

most importantly i think it is the sense of consistency that will pull us next year. I love all the players we have and when healthy we will be great. Our O-line was depleted the last couple years. Lets hope for an low injury season next year and we are real contenders in my opinion. Campbell is going to get better and better. Collins has the brain and campbell has the physical ability. Just put his brain in campbell and we are good to go. Hopefully collins teaches him everything he knows. I am really happy at where we are at.

Hopefully the reports by JLC of williams interviewing for miami won't lead to anything. Williams wouldn't leave this defense now. He loves it here but maybe parcells gained respect for williams after playing against him for those few years

Redskins Insider (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/)

better. old guys are older, but the young depth is MUCH MUCH better... and campbell is in, giving us hope that he can become a franchise type.

You mean big-names like Brady, Randy Moss, Richard Seymour, Teddy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Roosevelt Colvin, Adalius Thomas, Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren, and Asante Samuel? Many of those guys were free agents BTW.

As for our record, it was 5-11 in 2003 and 9-7 this year. Almost doubling your wins is pretty decent IMO, but maybe that is just me.Only Moss, Colvin, and Thomas I think.

I think we got a lot of significant pieces between January 2004 and September 2004, something I did not consider when I first voted. Though this team was 6-10 in 2004, it just simply lacked the balance of a great offense. Since day one, Gibbs and Williams made the defense a priority and have enjoyed a level of sustained success that we never could before.

Due to this misunderstanding of dates, I'd like to strip my own republic, and recast my vote for being better. We may not be much better on the whole than in 2004, but the quality of loss in 2004 was just so much higher than in 2003, especially late in the year.

Had Brunell been healthy that year, thats likely a playoff team.

For those undecided out there, our poll says it all. At this moment, 10:45 p.m. on Monday night, our poll says 73% for Joe Redskins better off.

And that's the way I voted.

Two (2) PO teams in four (4) years says it all, since we had little to brag about during the two previous coaches tenures.