Offseason Power Rankings - # 29

True, I don't believe in questioning someone's "fandom" either

We are a hell of a lot better than 29. HAving the coach we have gets us more than that. A number 3 D last year gets us more than that. The difference between us last year and the Bears of a couple of years ago was the tight games... Winning the tight ones. The bears had everything go right for them... We had everything in the tight ones go wrong. I have to believe that we are going to be more soldi this year than last, Gibbs has a better understanding of the new game, and our continuity in the staff and players will get us better than 29. I think we will be in the top 18 this year and if our O can rank in the top 18 in the league we have a shot to be in the top 10. Our D will be that good again this year...

I think we'll have a domino effect of creamy goodness.

Improved Gibbs understanding of the game leads to;
improved ideas of what can get a better offense which leads to;
signing Rabach and Jansen coming back which leads to;
Portis getting more room to room which leads to;
Ramsey getting more time to throw which leads to;
Moss/Jacobs/Patten getting more YAC which leads to;
teams not having any idea what we are going to run which leads to;
Gibbs having improved understanding of the game which leads to;

Playoff contention.

Daseal, your view of looking at the Skins "realistically" may be different than someone else's.

To borrow from your signature, Apparently having unrelenting optimism means you're not a fan.

Nobody is right or wrong here, there will always be fans that believe you should support the team no matter what, and there will be others that will always look at the team with a cautious eye.

As worthless as a May power poll is, I find it hard to believe the Skins are only better than 3 teams in this league right now. But hey, if anything the poll generated discussion, so mission accomplished ESPN.


I need to know what Gibbs did last season to say we are going to improve this season? I didn't see him adjust all year, same pass patterns over and over. Then he has every expert on the planet scratching their heads with the Campbell pick, and we are to believe outsiders are supposed to see us just jump up and become a playoff contender? Personally I have a strong feeling we will see a lot of the same nonesense on offense we saw last season, I also feel that Gibbs may lay our offensive woes at Ramseys feet and not his own, I didn't see Gibbs do anything significant adjustment wise last season, the stupidity of our offense was as head scratching as the Campbell pick.

For instance with all the pass INT calls, we refuse to throw downfield and take advantage of that, even when it's 3rd and long as if the world will end on an INT. I believe Gibbs coached scared last season, and would like to know why someone outside the Skin's family should believe it won't happen again, and on what basis should they use to believe that a team who would throw away next years draft to take a QB by all accounts is realistically 3 years away, when Ramsey is just coming into his prime? The Campbell pick does not scream confidence in our starting QB. Nor does it send a message to anyone that we believe in him, or his ability to make us more than a bottom dweller.

The way these power rankings work, if we win the SB, I bet we still wouldn't be #1 in a lot of these polls.

Cpayne, just noticed your updated sig. Congratulations! Now you can join the rest of us underpaid, overworked fools in the real world

signing Rabach and Jansen coming back which leads to;
Portis getting more room to room which leads to;


I don't see how these two go together. Portis's main problem was the other team would stack the box, especially since we only had two receivers they could load it up. Having two (though be it great upgrades) still doesn't nullify the fact that until we establish an intermediate passing game (hint - 1-3 long balls a game isn't a passing game) to make them respect the pass, and maybe some spread offenses, I don't see Portis averaging as many yards.

The problem is everyone knows 85% of the time it's Portis, and since our receivers and QB don't exactly get a lot of gametime practice, and our receivers aren't exactly looking to be the next fun bunch, I feel for Portis to improve -- our passing game MUST improve first.

I need to know what Gibbs did last season to say we are going to improve this season? I didn't see him adjust all year, same pass patterns over and over. Then he has every expert on the planet scratching their heads with the Campbell pick, and we are to believe outsiders are supposed to see us just jump up and become a playoff contender? Personally I have a strong feeling we will see a lot of the same nonesense on offense we saw last season, I also feel that Gibbs may lay our offensive woes at Ramseys feet and not his own, I didn't see Gibbs do anything significant adjustment wise last season, the stupidity of our offense was as head scratching as the Campbell pick.

For instance with all the pass INT calls, we refuse to throw downfield and take advantage of that, even when it's 3rd and long as if the world will end on an INT. I believe Gibbs coached scared last season, and would like to know why someone outside the Skin's family should believe it won't happen again, and on what basis should they use to believe that a team who would throw away next years draft to take a QB by all accounts is realistically 3 years away, when Ramsey is just coming into his prime? The Campbell pick does not scream confidence in our starting QB. Nor does it send a message to anyone that we believe in him, or his ability to make us more than a bottom dweller.

The last 5 games of the season the offense was much more productive, I outlined the numbers in another thread but I'm too lazy to dig them up right now.

I'm wondering why people think Gibbs won't make any changes to the offense this year. He's already upgraded the speed at WR, he's said they are going to try out the shotgun, and the staff as a whole has said they realize they need to be more aggressive this year.

With Jansen back and Rabach in at center, the line should be vastly improved already. It's year 2 in the system for most of the guys, so there should be some improvements there as well.

I see we're back on the Campbell pick, it is what you make it I guess. Some are going to say it's because of a lack of confidence in Ramsey, but I see it as Gibbs solidifying the QB position for years to come. Let's face it, Brunell is outta here very soon, and what exactly has Ramsey done so far where he shouldn't have his job challenged? I agree it wasn't a conventional pick, but 2-3 years from now Gibbs could have the last laugh.

i personally would like them to rank us 32, or better yet, add the NFL Europe teams in and rank us right below them. If we are ranked too high then the media has expectations.

Expecations = pressure.

The lower the expectations, the lower the pressure. Look at Rothlesburger and Brees last season. Look at Kitna the season before that. May I mention superbowl MVP seasons for Tom Brady and Kurt Warner. Or maybe even MartyS in San Deigo last season or heck, even Priest Holmes when he moved to the Chiefs.

I don't know about you, but I seem to perform in any situation when the pressure is off and I can just enjoy myself. I would guess that to be true of proffesional atheletes too.

True. Just look at the D last year...

I'm wondering why people think Gibbs won't make any changes to the offense this year. He's already upgraded the speed at WR, he's said they are going to try out the shotgun, and the staff as a whole has said they realize they need to be more aggressive this year.

I think it's because thats the same stuff he spewed at every press conference after a disappointing loss because his offense couldn't move the chains. Yet we didn't see much of any of it. The way we played on offense against MN is the way we need to play all the time. Granted MN's defense wasn't exactly stellar, we spread the field, we mixed it up, it was a pretty good game. We just need to start playing like we have nothing to lose all the time.