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Originally Posted by Daseal
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.
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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.