Grim...

I've been a skins fan and an observer here at the warpath for many years. (though this is my first post...)
I like to be an optimist, but this season looks really grim to me. The skins seem laden with excessive turmoil (uncharacteristic for our ball club over the years,) with the Gardner, Arrington, and Taylor situations...especially Taylor...what is that!!
I feel that the dynamics of the NFL have changed and there are a lot of guys just out for themselves and a big paycheck (all over the NFL and not necessarily just with the skins.)
What happened to the good old days with guys like Joe Jacoby, playing with a broken hand in that big old club cast?! Or Darrel Green running back that punt against the bears with a broken rib?! Guys who really wanted to play and win...
I have faith in the defense...and I'm glad we got rid of Smoot as I think he's one of the paycheck guys I referred to above...(but always questioned losing Champ Bailey.)
I think our offensive line is weak, and our recievers are nothing exceptional. I think Portis is arrogant (have you seen this guy on BET or any other outlet?!!) and I just don't know that Gibbs (though he's truly a class act...Look at his accomplishments!!) can rally this group...and at that if they really want to win....all of this, and a more or less "rookie" at the helm...(the team's leadership position)???
I love the skins but don't have a good feeling about the upcoming season. Somebody help me see things in a new light?

Welcome to the posting population of the warpath. Sorry your first post had to be negative, but you feel how you feel.

1. Sean Taylor is a young angry thug. As long as he stays out on the field,
(and not in jail) I think I can live with that. Thats probably the guy you
want to count on to intimidate and beat up on your enemies. Just look
at how Ray Lewis panned out in Baltimore.

2. You talk about the older guys playing through injuries, and then slam
Fred Smoot. Didnt he play most of the season before last with a cracked
sternum and not hesitate to come up and play the run? I've cracked my
sternum before and I wouldn't even move my arms more than a couple of
inches. Im not one of those guys who was upset that he left, but he was
a decent player while he was here. Champ Bailey is a Bitch.

3. Clinton Portis ran his ass off for us last year despite his stats dropping and
him not reaching his personal goal of a third 1500 yd season. He's a
team player, participating in all of the ota's, speaking to NFLTA, and he
always has an optimistic attitude about this team.

4. Our OL and WR are championship quality. The easiest way to prove this
would be to match them up to the champs player by player. Hell our
talent exceeds that of the Patriots in those two categories.

The only thing that is a worry is the QB position and I have faith that a man who won 3 championships with 3 different QBs can work with what he's got. Ramsey has the physical QB gifts to be an all time great. Musgrave is coming in this year. He played with and coached some of the greatest QBs to ever play the game of football: Montana, Young, Elway, Manning. We've got the goods. We're kickin down the door this year, and if you're not getting excited in the slightest bit... Well, I just don't know what to tell you.

I have faith in the defense...and I'm glad we got rid of Smoot as I think he's one of the paycheck guys I referred to above...(but always questioned losing Champ Bailey.)
I think our offensive line is weak, and our recievers are nothing exceptional. I think Portis is arrogant (have you seen this guy on BET or any other outlet?)

First off, you are glad we got rid of Smoot because he just wanted the money. You do realize Champ got traded because he wanted more money too. You think losing Champ hurt our defense? You must not have paid attention last season.

Second off, how can you think our o-line is weak. Samuels, one of the best at his position. Thomas, another one of the best at his position. Jansen, another one of the best at his position. Then we upgraded our center with Casey Rabach, and Dockery is progressing. We have the best line in the division, probably top five in the NFL.

Thirdly, you think Portis is arrogant. That's a good one. Portis is a team leader, he's been here at all the non-mandatory offseason workouts, he hasn't done anything to hurt us yet, i don't see why you think that.

And also, who cares if he IS arrogant (which he is not)? There's a difference between being arrogant and confident. I think he falls into the confident category. Especially after that one run where he drags like 5 defenders with him and stands up and points to his bicep. I LOVE that highlight.

As far as I am concerned, Portis can be as arrogant and cocky as he wants to be as long as he backs it up. And I believe that he does. He could have very easily turned in to a whiney bitch last year because he didnt like the offense, but he didnt.

Also as for the question if Gibbs can get the team to rally around him is absolutly crazy. All one would have to do is look at the very last game of the season against the vikings. That game meant nothing to us, our players had no reason to play as hard as they did, and yet the team came out and played as if it were the NFC title game. That kind of thinking had to start somewhere, and I am betting that it was Gibbs...

Welcome to the posting population of the warpath. Sorry your first post had to be negative, but you feel how you feel.

1. Sean Taylor is a young angry thug. As long as he stays out on the field,
(and not in jail) I think I can live with that. Thats probably the guy you
want to count on to intimidate and beat up on your enemies. Just look
at how Ray Lewis panned out in Baltimore.

2. You talk about the older guys playing through injuries, and then slam
Fred Smoot. Didnt he play most of the season before last with a cracked
sternum and not hesitate to come up and play the run? I've cracked my
sternum before and I wouldn't even move my arms more than a couple of
inches. Im not one of those guys who was upset that he left, but he was
a decent player while he was here. Champ Bailey is a Bitch.

3. Clinton Portis ran his ass off for us last year despite his stats dropping and
him not reaching his personal goal of a third 1500 yd season. He's a
team player, participating in all of the ota's, speaking to NFLTA, and he
always has an optimistic attitude about this team.

4. Our OL and WR are championship quality. The easiest way to prove this
would be to match them up to the champs player by player. Hell our
talent exceeds that of the Patriots in those two categories.

The only thing that is a worry is the QB position and I have faith that a man who won 3 championships with 3 different QBs can work with what he's got. Ramsey has the physical QB gifts to be an all time great. Musgrave is coming in this year. He played with and coached some of the greatest QBs to ever play the game of football: Montana, Young, Elway, Manning. We've got the goods. We're kickin down the door this year, and if you're not getting excited in the slightest bit... Well, I just don't know what to tell you.


Welcome to the Talk part of the Forum, Everest3K! See what he said, above!

Also, you might look around. You seem to have lost your Burgandy colored glasses, but I see where you are coming from! Even the local radio talk host and all of his partners in prime-time, here in Hampton Roads & Norfolk are saying the Redskins are at best a 5-11 team. Just because they say it, doesn't mean I believe everything they say! And they brought out every point you made!

Even though many of those points that DO get brought up in the news are CRAZY.

And also, who cares if he IS arrogant (which he is not)? There's a difference between being arrogant and confident. I think he falls into the confident category. Especially after that one run where he drags like 5 defenders with him and stands up and points to his bicep. I LOVE that highlight.

I love it when skinny guys show off there guns! I think its hiliarous when Randy Moss does it!

We can't forget that Portis is still young as hell and kind of a nut, so he might give off arrogant vibes.... not everybody can be Curtis Martin!

Also remember Clinton has put on 10-15 lbs. this offseason. He might have a reason to show off those guns.

And yes, when Moss does it, I'm like DUDE WTF.

This thread is just asinine. Everest, welcome to the board, and I hope you participate more. But your post just didn't make any sense.

Bailey was the biggest money grubber of them all! You talk about Smoot?! Leading up to his free agency status, Bailey said the team he signed with would be a business decision. In other words, whoever paid the most money. He had no loyalty to the Redskins.

We're much better off without Rod Gardner, even if we just end up cutting him. The guy can't catch consistently, and he's not a deep threat.

Arrington's situation has absolutely no impact on the locker room morale or on his play. It's a totally separate issue, which he knows he's going to lose, so he's now trying to resolve it. It will be swept under the rug very soon.

Taylor will be in camp. Taylor will play this year since his trial will be postponed till after the season. He needs to clean up his act for sure, but you have to wonder if the media is making a bigger deal of this than it really is. The media loves to say, "oh this will affect chemistry, oh that will affect chemistry. This is a locker room distraction, that is a locker room distraction." Is it REALLY? Do the other players care? Cooley himself said in our chat that it hasn't affected the other players. They just continue to go about their business. And there's no reason to believe Taylor will be distracted in practices and crap like that. The media just loves to create a story when there really isn't one there. After all, that's how they sell newspapers and magazines.

If you're going to be worried about the Skins, worry about how they'll replace Antonio Pierce's playcalling abilities on D. Worry about whether or not Ramsey will click with his new receivers. Worry about Walt Harris or Carlos Rogers performing as well as Smoot did. But man, don't get all caught up in these stupid media events like Taylor's trial and Arrington's grievance. The papers have obviously gotten to you because you're focusing on these stories that they've pumped up, when they won't have half the impact on our win/loss record that Ramsey to Moss and Ramsey to Patten and Ramsey to Jacobs will. Focus on what matters, don't let the papers tell you what to think.

I wouldn't take this thread too seriously, seems to me it's someone just trying to get under our skin...

:Smoker: