Quote:
Originally Posted by 12thMan
If you ask ten different people what's wrong with the Redskins, you'll probably get ten different answers. You ask ten different Warpath members and that number shoots to twenty!
First of all, let's face it. There's no good way to lose, and no one is truly happy or satisified when their team loses - no one. I believe it was Malcolm who best summerized our frustrations with the Redskins this season, if it 'aint one thing, it's another. (paraphrase)
But if you break down this team individually, you really start to scratch your head. We have a middle linebacker who leads the NFL with 84 tackles (not a typo). A running back in Clinton Portis, who is now third in the NFL in rushing with 766 yds rushing, and might be breathing down Adrian Peterson's in a couple of weeks if he keeps this up. Speaking of which, I want to see if Peterson can respond to his recent injury in the same manner Portis has been doing all season. On top of all of that, we boast the baddest safety in the NFL - Sean Taylor. If Taylor doesn't leave the game early, you have to wonder if McNabb and Westbrooks rip down the middle of the field like they did Sunday.
Then there's Jason Campbell. Who, lately, has been making lemonade with a bunch of lemons. And doing so behind a makeshift offensive line that has yielded an impressive 14 sacks this year. Go look for yourself, it's one of the best totals in the NFL. Not too shabby if you ask me.
But let's get down to the brass tacks here. What do we really want to know? Can the Redskins make the playoffs and can they win once they're in? I believe that the answers are yes and yes.
I don't care if this team gets in by the hair of their chinny, chin, chin. Furthermore, if they do make it, I believe with all my heart they can be dangerous once there. Some might say, well, if you play poorly during the regular season, you play poorly in the playoffs too. Well, that might be sound reasoning, but what has been sound and reasonable about the Redskins this year? The only thing or things that have been constant,
I've already mentioned above. But there's more than meets the eye with Redskins, and it can't be underestimated. I believe two magical words will translate into a happy ending for Joe Gibbs' team: "playoff team". Those two words can validate one team and affirm who they were all along, while giving new life and identity to another. My gut tells me, the Skins fall into the latter category. This team desperately needs something they can now identify with; something more concrete to hang their hat on.
Could it be that this team stumbles, side steps, and zig-zags from now through December only to find themselves hosting a playoff game at FedEx? Could it be we have to suffer through several more weeks of roller coaster endings from the Redskins, only to wake up Monday morning to the latest "Fire Joe Gibbs" thread? How many more of those must we suffer through? It's quite possible that real Redskins won't show up until, God forbid, the playoffs? We'll see, but let's not write this team off just yet. If the Redskins go down to Dallas and snatch one from the high flying Cowboys, those two words won't seem so far fetched.
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Very well put, 12th.
All this crap flying around about who's a fan and who isn't, who's an optimist and who isn't is really starting to piss me off, to be quite honest.
I'm completely with 12th - that's exactly how I feel about this team. We look SO damn good on paper and we ARE performing and we ARE "in the hunt."
That doesn't make a loss feel any better, in fact it makes it feel worse. I can't find one good reason we lost to the Eagles - it just doesn't make any sense to me. I'm not calling for Gibbs head, I'm not calling for Snyder to move to Argentina, I'm just a fan who lives and dies every Sunday by whether my team wins or not.
Losses suck, losses like the one to the Eagles REALLY suck. I'm pissed off and my hopes for the season took a dive. I'm cautiously optimistic about Dallas for the only reason that when it comes to Dallas the records and stats don't seem to matter. Yeah, I'm pissed we blew a lead and gave up 20 4th quarter points to a team that we had beat. Yes, something is terribly wrong when you blow a game like that. But I'll be damned if I won't be there next Sunday, cheering on the Skins and hoping for an upset.
All this mudslinging about who's a pessimist, who's not, who's drinking kool-aid and so on is just ridiculous. I'm as equally sick of the people who have nothing to do but complain no matter what happens as I am with the idiots who have their head stuck in the sand and think we're one first down from being better than the Patriots.
We're a good team. We're in the playoff hunt. We're above .500. The injuries have been absolutely brutal, which makes our current position all the more incredible. We've got a lot of talent and a lot to build with.
We also do some inexplicably stupid stuff sometimes. The clock management is bewildering on occasion, the penalties and turnovers are frustrating to say the least.
Why can't we all just approach this as it is? A good team that's got it's problems but is still in the playoff hunt? Point out the good things, point out the bad things - that's the way it should be.
The mudslinging and namecalling shouting about who's a fan and who's not and requests for people to be shot really need to come to an end or this entire forum is going to be a miserable place to hang out.