[sportscurmudgeon]

#56fanatic:

I hope I fit your description as someone who can look at the team situation objectively. If you went to Las Vegas right now and got the sportsbooks there to post a line on the Redskins winning the NFC East, the Skins would not be even-money. They'd be a long-shot.

The Skins have limitations but they are not insurmountable. The problem here is that far too many fans buy into the "simple/quick fix is all we need" mentality that infests the front office. The fix is not simple and the team needs more than one of them. And here's a news flash: There isn't a "Football Fairy Godmother" who will magically appear and wave a wand and turn a pumpkin into an All-Pro. It'd be nice if there were, but ...

Here are four areas where the Redskins MUST improve next year to get out of the NFC basement. If they significantly improve all four, they might actually win the NFC East. The probability that they will do so is far less than 50/50.


1. The wide receivers have to do a whole lot better. Moss' season was disappointing to be polite and significantly below the worst that could have been expected from him to be more honest. Lloyd is a loser and a locker-room problem waiting to happen. Patten was AWOL for the second year in a row. Randle-El is a third down receiver and a good return man. Frankly, I think their second best receiver this year was James Thrash when you consider his blocking for the running game.


2. The linebacking has to get at least 100% better than it was this year. They need to get a middle linebacker who can actually play middle linebacker without the luxury of a huge DT or two in front of him to keep every blocker on the planet off him. And unless Rocky Boy uses the off-season to figure out what the hell he's supposed to be doing in that defense, they need to find an outside linebacker too because neither Holdman nor Rocky Boy were productive last year. And before anyone talks about Rocky's "potential" let me remind everyone that "potential" means he hasn't done jack-sh*t yet.


3. They must acquire a safety who can cover pass recievers in the middle of the field because they do not have anyone on the roster at the moment who can do this reliably for an entire game. Without that change, the Skins will continue to lead the league in "big plays given up" - and that's a formula for a losing season not a division championship.


4. The current roster has one - as in ONE - defensive lineman who is above average at his position. Unless they change that, they will have the ball run down their throats by the good running teams and they will give up huge gobs of passing yards to the good passing teams. They'll contain the teams who have bad offenses to begin with - - but once again that's not the formula for a division championship.


The draft will not resolve all those problems and if history is any judge neither will the Redskins whirlwind free agency signings during the first week of March. The best thing to hope for is that the coaching staff works a lot harder on the draft this year and acquires several players who actually play and contribute next year on more than the punt coverage team for the entire season. And the second best thing to hope for is sound health for Shawn Springs, Marcus Washington and EVERYONE on the OL for 16 games next year. The roster needs help and getting back-ups for those guys will not happen if the team focuses on its other imminent needs.