Insider article

[Bergman14]

Here are some excerpts from scouts inc. via insider, they know their stuff:

It may be time for the Redskins to replace QB Mark Brunell. He had a miserable day against an undermanned Bears defense, completing only 8 of 22 passes for 95 yards. His decision-making has not been good, and what is even more alarming is how his declining arm strength is getting him in trouble. His ball floats, and defensive backs are jumping his routes on a regular basis. Patrick Ramsey has much better arm strength to take advantage of WRs Laveranues Coles and Rod Gardner.

Washington RB Clinton Portis was much more patient on Sunday. He let his blocks develop instead of hitting the hole too quickly, which he has been doing for most of the season. The Redskins' run game features traps and pulls, which take time to develop, and the timing is critical to the success of the play. Portis' 36 carries for 171 yards also show a renewed commitment to the run game by the Redskins.

i was talking on the other thread about playing ramsey, but i wanted to start a new one cause i thought this was good stuff..

[Big C]

i mean its true. brunell throws the ball away a lot and will take less sacks, but if u throw the ball 22 times...u gotta throw for triple digits. hes not what we need. we need a change.

[redsk1]

I was skeptical when we signed Brunell for HOW MUCH MONEY? This guy couldn't win the starting job at Jacksonville? He was a great player, was. This is why Dan S. is not a great owner he overpays players that used to be good. He has done it for years now. What happened to getting your own talent? Look at the most successful teams in the last 5 years...Anyways, the offense is dreadful. We played the BEARS and almost lost w/ our defense giving up 3 points!!!!!!

[WashingtonWarrior]

It was Joe Gibbs, ALL JOE GIBBS, who wanted Mark Brunnell. Please believe that. Im so sick of some of you Redskin fans blaming D. Snyder for all our faults. Granted we should have been had a GM but I would much rather have a owner who will Spend than one who will not. Alot of you people listen to these commentators on TV and you must realize these people dont even watch all the games before commenting. Alot of them go by what others say. In other words they no Crap. Realize this, Danny loves his team like a fan, like me and you, and he is just trying to do whatever he can do to Win......

[SkinsRock]

Originally Posted by WashingtonWarrior

It was Joe Gibbs, ALL JOE GIBBS, who wanted Mark Brunnell. Please believe that. Im so sick of some of you Redskin fans blaming D. Snyder for all our faults. Granted we should have been had a GM but I would much rather have a owner who will Spend than one who will not. Alot of you people listen to these commentators on TV and you must realize these people dont even watch all the games before commenting. Alot of them go by what others say. In other words they no Crap. Realize this, Danny loves his team like a fan, like me and you, and he is just trying to do whatever he can do to Win......

First of all: Welcome to the Warpath! The BEST Skins fan site!

Second of all: Thank you. I have said the same thing numerous times, but some people just seem to have it out for Snyder, so anything bad is his fault, and anything good isn't, which is a load of crap. Yeah, the man has made his share of mistakes, but he brought Gibbs back...enough said.

[Redskins_P]

Originally Posted by WashingtonWarrior

It was Joe Gibbs, ALL JOE GIBBS, who wanted Mark Brunnell. Please believe that. Im so sick of some of you Redskin fans blaming D. Snyder for all our faults. Granted we should have been had a GM but I would much rather have a owner who will Spend than one who will not. Alot of you people listen to these commentators on TV and you must realize these people dont even watch all the games before commenting. Alot of them go by what others say. In other words they no Crap. Realize this, Danny loves his team like a fan, like me and you, and he is just trying to do whatever he can do to Win......

Welcome to the warpath, warrior. Nice first post. I agree with everything you said.

The Danny has made some mistakes, but we can't blame him for everything. Gibbs went out and got Brunell himself. All Danny did was sign the check.

[d151b]

brunell misses the easiest passes i've ever seen! EVER. he almost threw about 7 or 8 picks that were dropped by the defense. oh, and lets not forget the, what has become standard, brunell giving the other team another touchdown on defense. absolutely UNacceptable!

i believe, please correct me if i'm wrong, that brunell has given the opposing defenses more scores than our offense. even if it's close, that's friggin' unbeleivably BAD!! brunell has got to go.

speaking of paying people, McCants(tied for most td catches last year) signed a 5 million dollar deal in the offseason and he hasn't even played a down this year! What's wrong with this picture???????????????

[Redskins_P]

Here is Mike Wilbon and his weekly chat on the WPost.com talking about who we should be playing at QB.

Washington D.C.: Is it just me, or does it seem like Mark Brunell cannot throw an entire game? I think he tries a couple deep throws in the first half just to keep the defense honest, but as the game progresses his arm is thrown out. Gibbs should get Ramsey ready these two weeks so we can have a decent passing attack. That is the strenght of the offense, our receivers.

Michael Wilbon: Okay, as I look at the question que, I realize about 30 percent of these questions concern 1)Brunell 2)the offense 3)playing the third-string guy.
So, we'll do One Big Quarterback answer right here.
For starters, Brunell ain't what he used to be when he was a strong-armed, mobile machine of a quarterback who was leading Jacksonville to two AFC Championship games. At that time he was sort of a poor man's Steve Young, and I don't mean a real poor man. The guy was a stud. But injuries have taken away most of his physical attributes.
Now, I watch a lot of football and I know some stuff independently. But largely, I rely on listening to smart players and ex-players, coaches and ex-coaches...and I've had defensive players from the Giants, Browns and Bears tell me that this Brunell ain't the guy they played against six and seven years ago. They say they prepare, during the week, to stuff Clinton Portis because they see on film that Brunell cannot get the ball downfield with any accuracy or consistency.
Again, these are defensive players I trust telling me this, and in one case a coach.
Now, do I think Ramsey is the Big Answer?
I don't. The kid's got a huge arm and a huge amount of courage, the way he stands in there. But, opposing players don't think he has any feel for the game and they think he holds onto the ball way, way, way too long.
Why do you think Gibbs was intent on getting a quarterback when he came in. What, Gibbs didn't see the same stuff on film these defensive coaches saw?
Yes, I'd be getting Hasselbeck ready. I would. He's shown himself to be fairly mobile, like his brother. And while he doesn't have a cannon, he appears to be fairly accurate.
Having said all that, I wouldn't do anything going into the bye-week and coming off a victory but put Brunell back in there...I'd see what a week off and a week to prepare for another ordinary team--Green Bay--will do for Brunell. He's not that old, at 34. But maybe the injuries took more a toll than many folks (including me) expected.
By the way, Riggins says that Ramsey would be more certain of himself if he wasn't looking over his shoulder at Brunell or anybody else. Perhaps we'll see. Until then, it's defense, defense, defense and Clinton Portis...

[That Guy]

i think its like 48-55 points off turnovers we've given up this year.... we're #1 in the league, sad sad stat...

[redsk1]

I was trying to make the point that we overpay alot of players that used to be good. Most recently, Brunell. Hey, I know Dan S wants to win, but he has gone about it the wrong way in the past. Maybe Brunell was Gibbs, but its happened before. Its just frustration on my part and everyone that has to watch this offense.

[That Guy]

this year besides brunell, the FO has done well... griffin and marcus are looking good... and williams has played bowen to his strengths so he looked 100x better than last year.

we got a lot of players making above standard wage, but thats nothing new...

[backrow]

Originally Posted by Redskins_P

Here is Mike Wilbon and his weekly chat on the WPost.com talking about who we should be playing at QB.

Washington D.C.: Is it just me, or does it seem like Mark Brunell cannot throw an entire game? I think he tries a couple deep throws in the first half just to keep the defense honest, but as the game progresses his arm is thrown out. Gibbs should get Ramsey ready these two weeks so we can have a decent passing attack. That is the strenght of the offense, our receivers.

Michael Wilbon: Okay, as I look at the question que, I realize about 30 percent of these questions concern 1)Brunell 2)the offense 3)playing the third-string guy.
So, we'll do One Big Quarterback answer right here.
For starters, Brunell ain't what he used to be when he was a strong-armed, mobile machine of a quarterback who was leading Jacksonville to two AFC Championship games. At that time he was sort of a poor man's Steve Young, and I don't mean a real poor man. The guy was a stud. But injuries have taken away most of his physical attributes.
Now, I watch a lot of football and I know some stuff independently. But largely, I rely on listening to smart players and ex-players, coaches and ex-coaches...and I've had defensive players from the Giants, Browns and Bears tell me that this Brunell ain't the guy they played against six and seven years ago. They say they prepare, during the week, to stuff Clinton Portis because they see on film that Brunell cannot get the ball downfield with any accuracy or consistency.
Again, these are defensive players I trust telling me this, and in one case a coach.
Now, do I think Ramsey is the Big Answer?
I don't. The kid's got a huge arm and a huge amount of courage, the way he stands in there. But, opposing players don't think he has any feel for the game and they think he holds onto the ball way, way, way too long.
Why do you think Gibbs was intent on getting a quarterback when he came in. What, Gibbs didn't see the same stuff on film these defensive coaches saw?
Yes, I'd be getting Hasselbeck ready. I would. He's shown himself to be fairly mobile, like his brother. And while he doesn't have a cannon, he appears to be fairly accurate.
Having said all that, I wouldn't do anything going into the bye-week and coming off a victory but put Brunell back in there...I'd see what a week off and a week to prepare for another ordinary team--Green Bay--will do for Brunell. He's not that old, at 34. But maybe the injuries took more a toll than many folks (including me) expected.
By the way, Riggins says that Ramsey would be more certain of himself if he wasn't looking over his shoulder at Brunell or anybody else. Perhaps we'll see. Until then, it's defense, defense, defense and Clinton Portis...

However, I do not agree with Wilbon's assessment of Hasselbeck! At all! The man is not an NFL caliber QB!

[Shane]

My concern about Brunell going into the season was that I wasn't sure he wanted to win enough to be the guy we could hang our hat on for at least this season. I do believe however that he is "fighting his guts out" and that he is potentially still an excellent quarterback. I really doubt that injuries have permanently disabled his capacity to play with real effectiveness.

There is also a lot of talk about his arm strength, and I really think that it's baloney. Troy Aikman and Rod Gardner agree and I am sure Joe Gibbs as well that Mark can throw the hose. I am not impressed with these unnamed sources of Wilbon.

The offense has been struggling for a host of reasons, yet people seem to want to boil it down to one variable, the chosen scapegoat of the moment, Mark Brunell. All the other factors - the line, the running game, the receivers and the strategy - all of that is generally ignored. Right now Brunell is in there at an unfortunate time and it taking the criticism.

With the Chicago game, the Gibbs and the staff demonstrated, as I knew they would, a new strategy that has dramatically opened up the running game. With Brunell having more time to get healthy with the bye week, and other teams now unable to put so many players in the box, our passing game will likely begin to open up.

We will see, however. If it does come down to it, Joe Gibbs will make a change at quarterback if it appears that Brunell is no longer our best option.

If Gibbs had gone with Ramsey from the beginning this year he would have been traumatized. He is not developmentally ready to be the starter in my opinion and his career would have been badly damaged.

I do agree with Wilbon on one thing however, and that is that Ramsey is not the person I would turn to if I were to change quarterbacks. Hasselbeck has a lot of life, leadership and spark, and one day he will get his chance. I don't know how he will do, but he does deserve a very serious opportunity at some point to show whether he can realize his potential.

[MTK]

Wilbon was on the right track until he suggested Hasselbeck.

[That Guy]

hasslebeck is the only of the three QBs to throw more ints than TDs, and he has a short arm too

he'll never be a starter, though right now he'd beat brunell...

shane, i seriously doubt ramsey would be traumatized, how can you say that and then suggest hasslebeck? ramsey's had way more experience and has done better across the board in comparision.