Heyer Injured

[coggs]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

I'm going to give you a very unbiased opinion (which I don't expect you to have nor a lot of us here, since this is a Redskins fan forum)...

Both the Redskins and the Giants have strong defenses, and both are going to wreak havoc against each other's offense.

I'm speculating here, but, I would say that the Giants and Redskins had somewhat similar fates last season. The Giants offense had a great first half of the season (with Burress), but fizzled out late late in the second half of the season. Of course, their offense was better, because it complimented their great defense and got them to the playoffs. But the G-Men did miss Burress during the loosing streak and ended up being one and done in the playoffs.

We all know the story of the Redskins offense last season, and unfortunately our offense did not compliment our good defense enough to get us to the playoffs or give us a winning season.

Both the Giants and Redskins had similar offseasons. The Giants are still without a #1 receiver and it would have made a lot of sense to trade for Boldin or Edwards (I mean the team has a history of succeeding with a FA WR after all). Instead, the Giants put all their resources on their already strong defense, while losing their #1 WR, a good #2 WR, and a strong component of their running game.

For the Redskins it would have made sense to add a stud lineman with their #1 pick or go after a pro bowl lineman during the offseason. Instead they used their resources to add to their already strong offense (just like the Giants). However, if you do an unbiased comparison in the player loses/acquisitions between both team, I would have to give a nudge to the Redskins.

Redskins offense added Dockery and brought younger depth to their o-line; their defense brought a Pro Bowler DT, a young stud DE/LB, and kept a possibly Pro Bowl CB. However, the Redskins losses were not that great, and most of the people that were released were old players

The Giants did add Nicks at wideout, but he joins a young/inexperience WR group. On defense they added Canty, Bernard, and Boley, but I don't think these guys compare to Haynesworth and Hall, or even Orakpo (if he lives to his potential). New York losses were big, no Burress, no Ward, and no Toomer.

Now, are the Redskins better than the Giants or vice versa? It's hard to tell. I would say they are pretty equal, giving a slight nudge to the Giants right now if I want to be unbiased (plus we have to play them in NY once again in week 1). However, I wouldn't say that one is going to kill the other. Each team has question marks (Giants receivers, Redskins offensive line, no Spags in NY, JC's last stand season) that can make them or break them. You might disagree with me b/c your biased, but I would say this is as unbiased of an opinion you are going to get here.

Now, this is an intelligent and fair assessment. Mattyk, this site could use an "honors forum" where people such as myself, Ruskins, dmek, and the other intelligent people can hang out to discuss football. Anyways, I wanted them to go after Edwards or Boldin, as well. Even with Edwards dropped balls, a DC still has to account for him and respect him lilke they did for Burress. Opens up the rest of the offense. However, the Giants believe Hixon and Smith are ready to take over. Boldin, I don't think Arizona really wanted to trade him. I think it was a bunch of posturing and their demands were ridiculous. Similar to the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay. Losing Ward is not going to be as big as it seems. Bradshaw was a huge part of the running game in 2007, but was not used much in the offense in 2008. He'll be able to step in. They also have Danny Ware who would be a #2 on most teams ready to compete for the #3 spot if they decide to go with the 3-headed monster attack.

Last year, it wasn't just the loss of Burress. The DLine was also banged up. In 2007, and the first 10-11 games of 2008 they had a rotation of dlinemen to keep everyone fresh. That is why they added Canty, and Bernard, and with getting Umenyiora back, they are stacked again. A DE rotation of Umenyiora, Tuck, Tollefson, Kiwanuka, Canty and a DT rotation of Canty, Alford, Robbins, Bernard, Tollefson will give opposing OLinemen problems.