The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

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[B]Mark Brunell:[/B] Since coming to the Redskins in 2004, Brunell has been a lightening rod of criticism and controversy amongst the Redskins faithful. Brunell suffered through a miserable 2004 season, easily his worst as a pro. Despite bouncing back with a strong 2005 season in which he helped orchestrate a playoff season, he was still unable to shake the doubt from the minds of many Redskins fans and "experts" in the media.

In 2006 he faces a nearly impossible mission. Super Bowl or bust. Whatever failures the team may encounter in 2006, look for Brunell to be the first player the majority of the fingers are pointed towards. Frequently in football, the QB receives too much credit when things are going well and too much blame when things are going bad. It seems in Brunell's case, the scales tip towards the blame side much more often than they do to the credit side regardless of the situation.

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[B]Derrick Frost:[/B] Wow, look at this classic shot of two Redskins scapegoats captured in one picture! Frost has been a very inconsistent performer for the Redskins in his short time in Washington, and a lot of the criticism has been well justified. Still, Frost receives my scapegoat mention after the opening game against the Vikings. After a poor first punt, he went on to have a solid evening with a net of 37.0 yards. Yet he was quickly pointed out during the postgame discussions as having had a bad game and he was one of the reasons for the loss. Obviously some fans don't like to do their homework before they post or they would have known that Frost grossed 43 yards per punt on 5 attempts, and helped pin the Vikings deep in their own territory when he dropped a punt inside the 5 yard line. 1 bad punt out of 5, and Frost was quickly singled out as a bad performer. Tsk, tsk Redskins fans. Welcome to the scapegoat club Derrick Frost!

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[B]John Hall: [/B]Hall has been under fire the past couple of seasons in Washington. He has battled leg injuries that have caused him to miss 14 games over the past two seasons. The injuries appear to have taken their toll on his leg strength, and many are wondering if he has what it takes anymore to be a quality NFL kicker. The opening Monday night game did nothing to quell those worries as his 48 yard miss at the end of the game sailed wide and his scapegoat status reached Mark Brunell proportions in the postgame discussions. Despite hitting 3 out of 4 on the night, the miss cancelled out the makes and Hall's head has been on a stake all week. Hometown hero Nick Novak is sitting home and is only a phone call away. But one has to wonder, if he's sitting home right now, how much better can be he than Hall right now? Yes I know, silly question to ask. The other option is always better. :rolleyes: Be on alert John Hall, you could overtake Mark Brunell as public enemy #1 very soon!

[B]Honorable mentions:[/B] Al Saunders (one game and we didn't score 40?! Bust!), Andre Carter (one game and you didn't record 5 sacks? Bust!), Adam Archuletta (one game and no picks or big hits? Bust!), Brandon Lloyd (one game and you didn't catch anything! Bust!), Chris Cooley (Where are you?).

Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

Great Job Matty!

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Oh, come on now...how could you forget Carlos Rogers? He's [I]already[/I] in his second year and he can't completely shut down WRs on an island! Sheesh, I knew we shoulda drafted Mike Williams...we desperately need a possession receiver.

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Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

My vote goes to the rest of people in my section(129). Why do I need to be the only guy screaming for my defense? Ok maybe not just my section, but I mean c'mon people your defense is on the field in the biggest stadium in the NFL. Lets make sure the opposition knows it! Was the 12th man flag even out monday night? The wife and I were looking for it and didn't see it. Today (Saturday) Im finally going to watch the game on dvr to transfer it to dvd. I'll definitely be watching and listening to see how the crowd came across the tv. They sure didn't impress me when I was there. Hail.

Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

My section (112) was loud and proud...I cant speak for the stadium as a whole, but we definitely brought it the best we could...

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Props to you Matty! I will admit I have been very critical of Frost, only because I feel there is ALOT more pressure on the QB for the MOST part, and also more pressure on the field goal kicker as opposed to the punter. It's just that in all my years of watching pro football, I've seen more shanks from our punters in the last couple of years, than I have altogether --- at least it seems that way to me.

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After the Vikings game there have been a lot Chicken Littles running around. It's too early to make any solid predictions. I imagine learning a 700 page playbook might take some time. Hall didn't lose the game. Not capitalizing on 3rd downs did. However, I remember one quote about Hall after the game that totally cracked me up.

"Maybe we could package deal him in a trade with the Jets. In return they give us a hot dog and an usher." author unknown

Sorry, but that was a good one.

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The Coaching staff is the main focus thus far..if this team fails it will be an organizational failure..up and down..they were headed in the right direction
and if they do a U-turn..they have to answer why..I have every bit as much faith they will
do the job as I did going into Seattle last year..this team will win..

Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

Personally, I blame El Nino.

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I blame monday night's loss on one thing and one thing only. Ineffectiveness in the red zone. You cant go into the redzone and come away with 1 td and 3 fgs and expect to win. With a 700 page playbook there has got to be better plays for use in the redzone.

Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

Here, here!

Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

Scapegoat:

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Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

[quote=RiggoRules;216000]Scapegoat:

[IMG]http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/ent/news/eo/20060828/115682010000_2.jpg[/IMG][/quote]

Damnit, it's always Maverick's fault! *shakes fist*

Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

Tom Cruise IS the scapegoat. For all the money Danny's giving to him to finance his movies, there's absolutely no reason he shouldn't be able to put on a uniform and enter the game as a decoy. I guarantee you if Cruise put on a Redskins uniform and entered the game, the Vikings would've been so distracted we could've thrown as many touchdowns as we wanted to.

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[quote=DynamiteRave;216014]Damnit, it's always Maverick's fault! *shakes fist*[/quote]

What I'd like to know is which one is wingman? Snyder or Cruise?

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[QUOTE=vaoutlaws2006;215966]I blame monday night's loss on one thing and one thing only. Ineffectiveness in the red zone. You cant go into the redzone and come away with 1 td and 3 fgs and expect to win. With a 700 page playbook there has got to be better plays for use in the redzone.[/QUOTE]

I agree, but that isn't the only thing that lost the game for us. The offense is going to improve barring any major injuries. We have to cover better on defense, and we have to play better special teams.

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frost may have gotten AVERAGE distsance, but his hang time and kickoffs still aren't any good.

this is a nice weekly feature though.

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i think if we try hard enough we can blame bill clinton for this loss. seems as though its his fault for just about everything else:)

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[quote=dmek25;216068]i think if we try hard enough we can blame bill clinton for this loss. seems as though its his fault for just about everything else:)[/quote]


there you go again. dmek makes a post and outlaw laughs again. its a conspiracy if you ask me...damn that bill clinton

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Great post, Matty.

I think the tendancy for a lot of fans to pin all the blame on the QB, punter and kicker is because those positions show weakness on a very individual level. Someone who knows very little about football and sees their offense not scoring much immediatly pins it on the QB because well, he touches the ball every play, so it must be his fault, right?

Same with the punter and kicker - if a kicker misses, no matter how long the kick and despite the fact that he never should have been placed in the situation, it's his fault we lost the game.

Like Matty alluded to, those three guys are the "obvious" and easy scapegoats for Joe Blow fan who doesn't know any better.

Identifying weaknesses in blocking, line performance, etc. is beyond the realm of your average fan, so instead they scream for Mark Brunell's head when things don't go right.

Re: The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006
 

[quote=DynamiteRave;216014]Damnit, it's always Maverick's fault! *shakes fist*[/quote]

And what was Maverick really up to?

[url=http://www.godamongdirectors.com/scripts/sleep.shtml]Sleep With Me Monologue[/url]

The link is to the funniest piece of dialogue in a movie hardly anyone has ever seen.

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[quote=mheisig;216079]
Identifying weaknesses in blocking, line performance, etc. is beyond the realm of your average fan, so instead they scream for Mark Brunell's head when things don't go right.[/quote]


if you want weaknesses in blocking, go back and re-watch game1 while focused on dockery... he either had a very bad game, or he's not all that great. lots of falling at the feet of the people's he's trying to block (a 360lb OG trying to shoestring people??). It wasn't very hot.

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[QUOTE=That Guy;216139]if you want weaknesses in blocking, go back and re-watch game1 while focused on dockery... he either had a very bad game, or he's not all that great. lots of falling at the feet of the people's he's trying to block (a 360lb OG trying to shoestring people??). It wasn't very hot.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it's like asking Shaq to stand behind the 3-point line and shoot jumpers. It just made no sense what Dock was doing.

Shouldn't we blame Dan Snyder for signing Jeff George and Bruce Smith...6 years ago?!

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[quote=TAFKAS;216224]
Shouldn't we blame Dan Snyder for signing Jeff George and Bruce Smith...6 years ago?![/quote]

that's a pretty popular thing to do. we might be able to blame the staff for the 2006 offseason if this continues though.

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Frost has officially dropped off the watch for now. Hall is maybe an honorable mention now, Brunell is holding strong at #1.

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saunders has to be in question right now too... but congratulations go to the skins for making me completely forget or care about any kicking or punting issues we may have. good job.

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haha funny stuff. i vote brunell i guess.

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I send Saunders to the top of the list.

700-page playbook and we get 3 points from the offense? At that rate we'll need about a 7,000 page playbook to ever beat an opponent

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Brunell, Frost and Hall have all been relieved of their scapegoat status, at least for this week.

Now on the hotseat: Archuletta, Carter, and those yellow flags the guys in stripes keep throwing on the field.

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I concur, Arch and Carter have to be on there.

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brunell can get off the list for quite a while if he shows well this week. hall and frost are off until further notice.

arch and carter though.... lloyd and cooley have been quiet too, not bad, not scapegoat, but below expectations.

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what the hack happened to frost? makes the coaching staff look like they know what they are doing. i didnt expect much out of aa, so my scapegoat, at least this week, is carter. pretty much non existant

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Archuleta is numero uno on my list at the moment. He has yet to make a big play, and i see him getting plenty of tackles, which isn't a good sign for a db, and he got burnt yet again by Andre Johnson. I'm a little disappointed by Carter too, i'll give him a couple more games to make a sack or a play before i call him a waste of time.

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The fact that Carter couldn't get to carr at least once puts him at the top of my list with a big fat bow on his head. He really has not shown me a single thing. At least Arch is usually close to where the play happens (although that's probably because he overran it); Carter gets himself out of the way double quick.

As for LLoyd, I thought he was making some nice down field blocks for the running game on Sunday, so that made me sort of happy I guess.

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Arch and Cater, no doubt, are the biggest dissapointments.

I don't blame LLoyd--he's the outside WR and a deep threat. And he's not one of MBs comfort guys--they still are getting to know each other. So the juy is out there.

ARE is the real deal.

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carter is really disappointing me. I mean, he's a physical freak right? why can't he get into the backfield? strength? technique? what the deal, yo?

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yeah, lloyd's contract is a bit high for a good downfield blocker though.

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[quote=GhettoDogAllStars;220364]carter is really disappointing me. I mean, he's a physical freak right? why can't he get into the backfield? strength? technique? what the deal, yo?[/quote]

he's not heavy enough and he only has one move (crappy hand stuff without real drive). I'd guess it's mainly due to the fact that he's a workout warrior (like arch) and not really a football player :/.

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[QUOTE=That Guy;220365]yeah, lloyd's contract is a bit high for a good downfield blocker though.[/QUOTE]
Ha, I'm just trying to look for some positives hee because it's not like the ball's really come his way all that many times downfield. The only one I really remember was at the end of the first game, but I think it was too far over his head for him anyways.

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As far as Lloyd is concerned, I think he's caught MAYBE everything thrown his way, even the ones out of bounds. I really want to see Brunell throw a jump ball to him.