Riggo Blasting Skins.

A lot of the so called 'experts' have picked Seattle to go to the Super Bowl this year. Enough said. I am beginning to like the chip I am constructing on my shoulder... I wonder if any of the players are.
It will all be evident on Monday night, 2nd game of the season!
:dallas:

Honestly, I'd prefer a small defense dropoff in trade for a huge offensive output. Maybe top 10 and top 15 in offense.

I think Riggo raises valid points. I would quibble with the "1700" or losing record deal and the statement that we downgraded our WR corp but I would admit that I don't think we upgraded talent wise at WR and Portis DOES have to have a good year for the Skins to be successful. In the case of the WRs I think it can be argued they upgraded by changing the strengths of the WR corp rather than adding overall talent. That remains to be seen though. And the statement about Portis...no kidding! Every team has to have their best players play well to win. That is no surprise. I pay no attention to what the talking heads say since the NFL is so darn close in parity. As bad as the Skins were last year it is conceivable that with a break here or there they were a playoff team. The GB game was stolen from us for sure and in several other cases bad luck prevailed. My point isn't that the Skins were any good last year...they weren't really.... but in the end they weren't that far off. It is completely inconcievable to me that they haven't upgraded the team this past off season. They lost three players of consequence. Smoot, who it is hard to argue wont be effectively replaced by Rogers. Coles, who had lost much of his athletic advantage when he refused the toe operation and who would have been a complete distraction this season. Pierce, argueably the biggest loss but were talking about a guy who ahd one good year. One good year from a nobody on a defense that allowed several other nobodies have good seasons. Is it possible that Pierec is easily replaced? Yeah it is. Other than that they have added everywhere they felt they needed an upgrade. Plus they are reworking the antiquated offense. There are as many reasons to be optimistic as there are to be pessimistic.

Riggo does a show on Sirrius NFL radio called the Afternoon Blitz. On my way to work in the morning (between 12:30 and 4 AM depending on the day) I often hear part of the replay. In short this is what he said:
1) Thinks Dallas is the team in the division that can take the Eagles if anyone can. Thinks their defense will be great and offense will be really strong too. It was a consensus that the 'Skins would be last in the NFC East and the Giants/Cowboys would fight for 2nd place.
2) If Gibbs has a winning record he should be nominated for coach of the year. Said he has to completely reinvent himself and doesnt know if he has the talent to do what he wants to do.
3) Thinks if Portis has 1700 yards that the skins may have a shot at a winning record, especially with the playaction.
4) Says Ramsey is playing for an NFL career and not a Redskins career. Said he wouldn't be suprised if with all the shit they've put him through he says no if they extend his contract. They bring in Brunell and give him the cold shoulder. Brunell fails miserably, then they give up A LOT to get a first round pick to get Campbell. He mentioned that it doesnt exactly ooze confidence of your starting QB. (I must say I agree with this point.)
5) Pretty much said that there were huge downgrades at receiver (also agree) and though faster they're either little, unproven, or both. We dont have that possession Art Monk guy. No one knows if McCants will see the field.

Now, you guys know what a pessimist I am. He had me saying no way and yelling at the radio. At 3AM.... I got some odd looks.. However every show has the skins coming in last in the division. What do you guys think about this. Are we that big of a homer site? Or are they simply part of the "media bias" against the Redskins.

At the risk of repeating some points already made:
1. I really don't understand this line of thinking (i.e. Dallas is the only contender). Did they have a very good offseason? Yes. Did they improve? Probably. Is their QB, RB, O-line, Defense, WR corp, or Special Teams better than the skins? I really don't think so.
*So if we have a better o-line (and we do, even if they did add Marco Rivera) and a better RB (Jones was good, but he's no Portis), then we are a better running team.
*Bledsoe v. Ramsey?: I'll take anyone over Bledsoe, and our WR corp is better than the sorry excuse for WRs they have in Dallas. Keyshawn big-mouth, overhyped Johnson? No thanks. Terry Mr. Inconsistent Glenn? Pass. Heck, I don't even know who their third WR is without checking the depth chart. So I think we're a better passing team.
*Our Defense was head and shoulders above theirs last year, and this is their first year switching to an entirely different defensive scheme (4-3 v. 3-4)......and I still, wholeheartedly believe that a 3-4 will not be successful in the NFC East. We lost Pierce (who never even started until last year....trust me, it's the system, not just the players), and Smoot (that may be tough to deal with), but we've got back a healthy Daniels and Arrington (a pro-bowler long before G. Williams arrived), so I just don't see much (if any) drop-off. Advantage: Skins.
*We've added a ton of talent and depth to our special teams, and the concentration that Gibbs seems to be putting into them leads me to believe we will have a strong advantage there as well.
So how is it that Dallas can compete with the Eagles, but we can't? Last year the Eagles beat the Cowboys by a combined 33 points over their two games (28+5). They beat us by 25 (22+3). But somehow, we can't compete but the Cowboys can? This just doesn't make sense.
As for the Giants? I could enter into a similar analysis, but I don't think I can come up with a single area in which the Giants are a better team than us with the exception of their WR corp. Again, I don't understand why they are battling for second with the Cowgirls, but we're destined for the cellar. Weren't the three of us all 6-10 last year? So where does he get this stuff?

2. Nothing about Gibbs concerns me. It's his second year back, let's see what they look like on gameday.......then talk to me.

3. Of course we'd have a winning season if Portis goes for 1700.....and coming off 1300 grueling yards in last year's disfunctional system, I don't think that 1700 is all that unbelievable.

4. I like Ramsey, but I wouldn't blame him for holding a grudge against the skins if it doesn't work out. He's been jerked around, in and out of different systems, corrupted by Spurrier in the most important time of his career development-wise, and pushed from starter to bench to starter to bench to starter so many times he probably feels like a yo-yo.

5. I still don't understand the downgrade at WR from last year. Last year Coles was anything but 100%. He failed to get separation and couldn't burn down the field like he has in the past. Comparing Coles from LAST YEAR, I'll take a healthy Santana Moss over an injured Coles any day. Maybe he would have been healthy for this year, but if we're comparing what we had last year to this year, there's an upgrade. Gardner belongs on the Seahawks WR corp for all the balls he dropped last year. Again, he's not a burner, couldn't get downfield and didn't get decent separation consistently. Patten should be able to do that better than Gardner. Finally, all our WRs had Mark Brunell throwing the ball at their feet for 9 games last year. This year we come right out of the gates with Ramsey, who was much more effective than Brunell in our final 7 games (almost 500 more yards, 3 more TDs, and a passer rating almost 11 points higher in 7 games versus Brunell's 9). So while some may say our WRs are downgraded, I'd argue that compared to last year, we have largely upgraded the entire passing game.

Not to give the Cowboys ANY credit, but remember WE went with a brand new scheme that HAS to be more confusing than any switch from 3-4 to 4-3 and vice versa. Provided their talent gels, they MAY have a pretty damn good defense.

I'm sure the Cowboys will improve from last year, I just don't see them, alone, challenging the Eagles however. I still believe it's goiing to be the Eagles leading the pack, and the rest of the pack not too far behind, but all bunched up again.

I guarantee the Redskins' offense will be vastly improved from last year.

Very true MC, but THEY don't have Gregg Williams.
I also think they have huge holes in pass coverage and a lot of their success will depend on how quickly their rookies come along. No doubt, they will almost certainly be better than last year, but I just don't see them having a dominating defense like ours was last year. Just my opinion.
I just can't wait to see if I'm right. How many more days til the first preseason games? I can't wait for some live football action (read: hitting, hitting and more hitting).

The talk that Gibbs can't adjust or the game has past him by is just idiotic. He was a proven winner in football for I think 12 years and three SB. He went into racing which he new everything about and was a winner pretty quickly. (which he new everthing about) was a joke he new nothing about the sport. Last year was his learning curve. He is very smart and can now look back over last year and learn what was working and what was not. Last year he just had to let it play out because there was no way he could just change the whole offense in mid season. He has surounded himself with some of the best coaches in the league to help right this ship. Let them talk all the BS because now Gibbs has even more to prove than last year. If portis has 1700 yards our WR's will be having a field day as D's have to stack the line. Last years we just did not take advantage of them doing this. We had big toe Coles and 50/50. We had bounce it to them Brunell. Things will change for the better just wait and see.

I've got 3 words for everyone... even "Riggo" ..... SAN DIEGO CHARGERS!

Hello.... do all of the reasons the Redskins 2005 are going to finish last sound eerily similar to the reasons EVERYONE picked the Chargers of 2004 to be in last ... or is it just me??

A) Rookie QB supposedly coming in for a 3 year vet who has been "under-acheiving" and causing a "QB Controversey" (Rivers-Brees; Campbell-Ramsey)

B) Top 5 Running Back in the backfield (Tomlinson; Portis)

C) A bunch of small, no-name (or old) receivers (Keenan McCardell? Reche Caldwell?; David Patten? James Thrash?)

D) A top 10 ranked defense

E) Ok so Antonio Gates came out of nowhere, but Chris Cooley could very well have a somewhat similar season himself here in DC! (or even Darnarien McCants if they'd bulk him up and make him a TE! He was a basketball player in college! lol)

Think about it... Did anyone at all picke the Chargers to win even 9 or 10 games? No. Did anyone at all pick the Panthers to challenge for the Super Bowl 2 years ago? No.

Hardly EVER are preseason predictions right... so I say ... that's a GOOD thing to be picked last...

Shottenheimer is a good coach... but is he better than Gibbs? I definitely think that if Marty can figure it out with the "SuperChargers" .... then Gibbs definitely can figure it out here...

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!

Dallas and Philly have owned us for almost a decade. If we want to have a winning season--it starts with our play in the NFC East. And until the Skins at least start splitting games with these foes, I think a 3rd or 4th place prediction is fair...