Still Encouraged; Still Love My Skins: Bright Spots

Freddy Davis, Devin Thomas, and Malcolm Kelly

All are starting to find their groove. Every week we see them do the little things right and actually make plays. Malcolm had a very nice catch today lumbering down the sideline, what seemed like forever. Fred Davis had a couple of clutch receptions and he's proving tough to bring down by one tackler. But I'm most impressed with Devin Thomas' recent playmaking ability; mostly after he has the ball in his hands. This guy has nice moves in tight spaces. I think he has the potential to be a very explosive player for the Redskins in the future. You can tell their confidence grows a little every week.

Rock Cartwright

Speaking of coming at you, how 'about Rock Cartwright? This guy grabs his lunch pale every Sunday and brings it. Today Rock had his best day as pro and was definitely the leader on the field today. We'll start our cut Rock threads next summer, but for now the man deserves a tip of the hat. Job well done, sir.

With Rock showing he is capable of being the RB until Portis comes back, i think DT is going to continue to take kickoff returns. Lets see if DT can take over this duty.

No positives to say about Zorn, 12th?

No positives to say about Zorn, 12th?

Actually, yes. I stated this in another thread. I believe while Zorn's play calling has been less than desirable, or to be blunt shitty, this team has responded well to him over the past few weeks. In other words, I don't think there is a leadership crisis at Redskins Park. The spirit and resolve they've shown to compete and win can be attributed to Jim Zorn. I think coach Zorn has grown some and so has the team. The big question within any coach/team relationship is will this team go out and play for him. There's no question in my mind that this current Redskins team believes in their head coach. And to take it step further, it's pretty clear that the defense believes in Greg Blache too.

That said, I think Dan Snyder has a tough decision to make regarding Zorn this offseason. I don't think Zorn not being here next year is gimme like it was three or four weeks ago. It might be popular and resonate with the fan base. But unless you're making some sweeping changes, particarly in the front office and can still maintain a sense of cohesion on the field, you're really starting from square one. Unfortunately, we simply have some personnel limitations, at the moment, that's difficult for a guy like him to coach around. We can bring in the next sexy pick to "turn things around", but I'm just as skeptical of that happening as I am of Jim Zorn staying or going.

I think this has been a good assessment period for all parties involved. We know Zorn's limitations and what they are. The big question is, if they decide to keep him, can and will the organization build around them and turn it into a strength rather than start from scratch.

As much as it pains me to say and admit it, it just might wise for Dan Snyder to keep Jim Zorn for another year.

I don't think the players are as supportive of Zorn as they are just supportive of the idea of having a head coach who's not overly demanding and disciplined. They know that if Zorn is gone the hatchet could start to come down on any one of them. They know there could be a Marty type here again.

I don't think the players are as supportive of Zorn as they are just supportive of the idea of having a head coach who's not overly demanding and disciplined. They know that if Zorn is gone the hatchet could start to come down on any one of them. They know there could be a Marty type here again.

If true, then that tells us alot about the type of guys we have on the team and further reinforces the notion that we do need to rebuild this thing from the ground up.

That's right you haters, I still love the Redskins. So don't come in this thread bitchin' and hatin':}

Seriously, I just wanted to point out a few bright spots, starting with our top three picks from a year ago.


Freddy Davis, Devin Thomas, and Malcolm Kelly

All are starting to find their groove. Every week we see them do the little things right and actually make plays. Malcolm had a very nice catch today lumbering down the sideline, what seemed like forever. Fred Davis had a couple of clutch receptions and he's proving tough to bring down by one tackler. But I'm most impressed with Devin Thomas' recent playmaking ability; mostly after he has the ball in his hands. This guy has nice moves in tight spaces. I think he has the potential to be a very explosive player for the Redskins in the future. You can tell their confidence grows a little every week.

Jason Campbell

I wanted to give a big ups to Campbell for a gutsy performance. How that guy passed for over 250 yards with Cowboys draped over him most of the day, I will never know. I mentioned this is another thread, and I was glad to see Troy Aikman alude to it in his own way, but we're going to have a hard time shipping Campbell out of here without a bonafide option at quarterback. Guys, there's only three really, really good quarterbacks playing in this league right now. All the others are probably benefiting from a supporting cast that Campbell just doesn't have at the moment. I hope the Redskins realize this when they re-visit Campbell's future here in Washington.

Deangelo Hall

For the record, I've been very critical of him and still feel he can improve his game in some areas. But Hall, warts and all, seems to always be around the ball when we need it the most. He's proving to be a game changer at the corner position. Something we've lacked here, quite frankly, since Champ Bailey was here. Don't be surprised to see Hall get a Pro Bowl nod this year.

Team Heart

This team after losing Portis for a few weeks, playing without Haynesworth, then Betts, then Chad, you name it. They just line up and keep fucking coming at you. After Betts and Chad went down, they could have easily packed it in and called it a day, and no one would have blamed them. The best team did not win today that's for sure. As with last week, I'm proud of their effort this week.


Rock Cartwright

Speaking of coming at you, how 'about Rock Cartwright? This guy grabs his lunch pale every Sunday and brings it. Today Rock had his best day as pro and was definitely the leader on the field today. We'll start our cut Rock threads next summer, but for now the man deserves a tip of the hat. Job well done, sir.

agree..still love the skins and was still bitter when they lost....loved the fight the team showed.

I don't need to watch the games closer. I just want to see POINTS AND TOUCHDOWNS. I want to see Thomas make plays that Jackson makes for Philly. I want to see a 7 or 8 catch day for 100+ yards. I personally don't think Kelly is any good so he's already a bust in my book. I like what I'm seeing from Davis but I want more. Maybe my expectations are too high.
After reading this I'd say you do need to watch the games closer still. DT hasn't had the opportunities that DJ has.. let's not worry about DT becoming Desean.. let's worry about DT becoming what he can be.. and right now, when given the opportunity, he's done very well. We're not running him on the same routes that Philly runs Desean often, so you won't see the same plays. You HAVE seen him fighting for extra yards, breaking tackles, and holding onto the ball which is exactly what you want out of him, this isn't Tecmo Bowl.

Kelly doesn't get targeted a lot but I'm thinking that that will change. There's not much reason to not use him to his strengths and that's an issue that we've had with our receivers. If a guy doesn't know every part of the playbook yet then figure out what he is doing well in practice and let him be the playmaker that he is. They're starting to do that with Kelly and it's working. He would've had another nice catch yesterday had Campbell put the ball in the right spot, but instead it got tipped up because it went in front of Kelly, where the defender was.

I don't know what more you want from Davis, he stopped trying to hurdle everybody, he's tough as nails and reliable.

You're just being unrealistic with your expectations. If this was a better team we'd be scoring touchdowns, but I for one will not blame the WR corp anymore because when they've been used properly they've been effective.

It doesn't show in the box scores, but Tryon has been pretty solid in the slot
Agreed.

Funny, I was just looking at the stat sheet and as porous as the offensive line we only gave up one sack.It's the good Campbell vs. bad Campbell difference. Campbell has shown in the past that he can be a franchise quarterback, and he spend about 6 consecutive games this year looking like a guy on his way out of town. Yesterday, he beat the sacks with a quick release.

There's not a whole lot of control that we have as a team over performance factors like making sure Campbell sees everything that is happening on the field, but him not getting hit much in the Denver game certainly had a lot to do with it.

There are guys in this league who will look very, very effective even when they are getting banged around all the time. Those guys are the true franchise performers who are in such high demand. Most teams, most super-bowl winning teams, don't have such a player (after all, Peyton has one title in eleven pro seasons, and Brees/Rivers have none). So you have to manufacture good QB play sometimes. The Redskins could do this, if the committed to it, but in the absence of a full-out committment to the current group, a rebuilding of the offense would be a better option than maintaining the status quo and getting four of these games a year.

I don't think the players are as supportive of Zorn as they are just supportive of the idea of having a head coach who's not overly demanding and disciplined. They know that if Zorn is gone the hatchet could start to come down on any one of them. They know there could be a Marty type here again.
Yep, I don't know if it was on here or in talking with my stepfather that I mentioned that, they definitely like having a guy that gives it to them a little easier. I think it might have been my thread about the easier pre-season maybe contributing to this. We've got a lot of good guys on our team it seems, but it's easy to like a coach that caters more to his players, no doubt in my mind.