We was robbed...we was robbed...go to sleep tiny dance.

Now that the Skins are out of the playoff hunt, barring Yoda manifesting himself from the Force and giving us the power to move things with our minds, we can relax for a week, watch the other bamafied teams "mired in controversy at an inopportune time with an ill-advised throw" (sorry, tried to use some cliches) and then ready ourselves for a fun little game against those skanks in Dallas.

Al Saunders is the tightness. Do not forget this. He is the Architect minus the anamole. He makes people like Priest Holmes look like HOFers. There's a reason Baltimore let Priest go...he sucked. For some reason, we stopped being able to stop the run...weird to me. It's like we went from the one major problem of pressuring the QB to not stopping the run to looking like Larry Michael at an Eminem concert on offense.

For all of you that were like "Run the ball, bread and butter, playoffs nyahnyahnyah", did you WATCH the first quarter? That's why we don't run the ball. They rushed 6 times on a variety and got blown up. ArtMonktotheSticks and I looked at eachother after that and hoped, through telepathy, that you all would pipe down. Also, when you go down 21 in 4 minutes it is hard to run as well. Gibbs said it right...you have to run it "effectively" or else you're in 3rd and 8 and up.

As for Archuletta...my grandmother can give up touchdown passes to Reggie Wayne. My aunt can to. If that were Reed Daughty, he would have been cut.

How nasty is Randle El? Jesus. Now we have one of those. AMTTS and I used to always want one of those. Now we have one. Just tightness like a Randolph Childress crossover and a three spot in your eye piece.

If you need to smile, here's one simple reason: a complete balding bama with a grey beard kicked a 62-yard field goal in Donovan McNabb's mouth. How's that leather taste? Shut up.

BOOYAKASHOT!

Nice work JLC. Thanks for the update.

WE WANT DALLAS!!

By the time we're in week 12, I'll estimate about a third of our starters will be out with various injuries. They'll be nothing to play for and they'll just pack it in. Then Gibbs will blame himself, saying "it's all on me guys, all on me....we've got a great group of guys in this lockeroom".

Jason -
Thanks for the update on the fly.
I appreciate you getting something to us on CP and Moss.
Sounds like a beleaguered, demoralized bunch.
Can we cancel the rest of the season, send the players home to heal and get refunds on our season ticks?

(In the voice of St Joe....)

In some cities there are fans who would rue
Two long weeks with victories too few
But ask and I'll say
Thru this pain there's no way
I'd choose another team's bloggers over you....

I am really depress now. Brunell another week.

jm220,

You need to give up on the Brunell thing....it's been plain as day all along that Gibbs is not going to bench him. It is what it is....or isn't.

We need to rally around our team and show some support for them. The players are obviously demoralized. If the 'Skins know we are behind them and cheering for them, they will have a lot more energy going against the boys. If we are booing and screaming for blood, they will either play tentatively or not care at all.

Let's show the NFL that we are classy fans, come rain or shine.

disappointed,

I'm with you. Win or lose, I still support them.

Lisa

Sweetie you are not helping here.

Jason, thank you for the update. Enjoy the time with the family and thanks for posting even though the travel was difficult.

And as much as I think it may help our cause there is no way possible for me to root for Satan's Team tonight. So that leaves me with another Manning. Ugh.

disappointed -- I love this team and want nothing more than for it to succeed. They have my full (but sometimes pessimistic) support as they have since the early 1980s.

It's time for the team to hold up their side of the bargain and start winning.

jm220 -- this one is for you my man...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6849791459656863842

I was wrong -- he wears the flowered print jersey in the casual day clip.

Gotta love the names too -- Felcher, Du Coque

Listened to the presser--WAFJ. Coach Joe obviously plays this teams sorry a@@ performance close to the vest and refuses to go poatal on anyone. I brushed my teeth twice from hurlin' thru that garbage.

CP and all are glad to be out of town to take some much needed vacation. Vacation from what? They didn't do jack in training camp or the preseason, and it is clearly shown on the field. Hell, this team is 1 and 6 if Moss doesn't catch that JVille td. For those that want to see Redskins Dead errr Live, and see that stupid smirk on Jansen's fat face, have to it. Good thing we sigen an O lineman castoff from Denver. Casey, do you have to hold on every friggin' big gain play? Samuels, ask for help, or slide and block. Pass protection at tackle on this team is PATHETIC.

Coach, in the presser you reminded us that we would not be the team we are without the free agents we signed. I feel much better now that you have admitted we suck because we paid for shmos like archieleftya.

China Springs, I can't help but recall those imfamous words flowing from your jowels last week claiming how soft everyone was, and how the d needed to bring it and stop talking about bringing it. This particularly came to me when you were smoked on that one on the side line. I'm sorry, you haven't been feeling well.
Kenny Wright, shameful coverage. Mr. Rumph, I watched you get picked on at SF last year, but hoped you wouldn't bring that sorry D- coverage to this team. One yard off the goal line and you get so TERRIBLY smoked. I coughed a lung at that moment.

Tackling is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary as, "to take hold of; sieze; to stop". Why can't this team do this? Why does it appear that the D and some sp teams players, have a harder time with this in the second half? I know the Offense can't get its sh@@ together, but, you guys look horrible. Almost like you're trying to miss.

Ok. I feel slightly better.

Late.

Here's the one with the flower print jersey just over halfway through the clip.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8795433536527401243

"You've got mail, baby!"

Amen, coolio -- "Vacation from what?"

Ali Haji Shank

You are the man! Damn that made me feel so much better. I wonder if I show up at my job with The Reaper jersey if everyone would run. lol

"Ain't nobody downsizing this!"

Man I ready to put some pads on and go hit someone. See us old football players and gym rats see things like this and go crazy.

Ali, that was sweet baby. They definately need Terry on this team. I remember last year when the D played like "when its game time it's pain time". Like Triple T said, "I gotta condense the nonsense".

I think we should send this to The Reaper. So he get back to laying people out.

one of the few good things about living in south florida these days is that the dolphins suck...maybe as bad as the skins.
i have never forgiven them for beating us in the '72 superbowl and frequently remind their fans of riggo's famous 4th and 1 td.

is it just me or does anyone else think gibbs has to either coach the offense or step down. i can't believe HE doesn't give us the best chance to win. how can he bear to stand on the sidelines and let somebody else make the calls. gibbs was/is? an offensive genius. al saunders maybe one as well....so why are they both there!!
suffering in south florida!

I haven't read the posts, because I know what they say. "fire gibbs", "brunell sucks", "we need a new kicker", etc.....

Yes, this loss hurts and yes, being 2-5 hurts. But I'll be damned if we cancel the final 9 games of the season just to see what "The Kid" can do. It's still not time for that, boys and girls.

If we lose the dallas game, i may reconsider. But just like i didn't give up on the team when they were 5-6 last year, I'm not going to give up on them when they are 2-5.

I was wrong about us beating Indy, so i won't go making any more wild predictions. But I will say this in Nick Novak's defense: He missed an easy kick and a tough kick, but I really, really, hope he gets another chance with this team. Me thinks they'll bring in some kickers to tryout over the bye week, but hopefully we won't do anything stupid like let this future hall of famer go for a 2nd time...

Barno out.

It is absolutely time to change QB's. The 'Skins have problems everywhere and Campbell is more questions than answers. But the answer to Brunell is: NO. Could it be more clear?

In 2 losses, Brunell didn't lead a TD drive and in 2 other losses, he led only 1 TD drive while it mattered. And we're not talking about the Bears d, either. The key play in the Jax game was the coin flip. Otherwise, 1-6.

In the simple words of John Madden, "You are your record". 2-5 means you are bad.

jason, i was listening to portis on his show today and it just seems like he didn't like any of the skins offseason moves.

he keeps bringing up last year and last year's players and the offensive scheme. and how that was better. even "when we were losing". and the fact that they don't have an identity this year but did last year. and they "needed just one or two pieces".

he mentioned archie, carter and saunders by name when he tried to "wishywashy" his comments about bringing them here but did not mention randle el (as if to say i like that move).

it's as if he's saying that this team's been hijacked by the newcomers.

in other words their big guy, main man(i thought) isn't happy.

the way the seaon's unfolding with saunders saying stuff about portis to the press and now portis questioning the scheme it seems like portis and saunders can't co-exist.

so how much influence does this kid have?

or are they going to do to him what they did to lavar and clark?

welcome home and i hope you get some time off too since it's a bye week. i think we all need a bye week...hopefully the folliage isn't totally gone.

4th, prison break was a filler. grrrrr

"If we lose the dallas game, i may reconsider."

Barno, I feel ya, but this is where I was last week. I was behind Brunell for the Indy game, but no more.

I think it's time to start developing our future on the field. I don't think putting in Campbell is a death sentence, but it is the logical choice right now. Playing Brunell is wasted time and energy at this point.

I was not able to talk to CP today, and missed his show on 980, but that sounds like he's saying what a lot of guys are thinking. They lost their mojo and the new guys, save for ARE, have been bad.
I'm working on a big story on this topic for Sunday or Monday. Should be a decent read if I do say so myself.
Also, I tried to push the issue of a re-structured front office at the presser and thought it was a very apprapos line of questioning. Joe basically shut it down, said their scouts and personnel guys are the best and he feels sorry for Vinny.
Wow.
Any of my editors feeling sorry for me these days? I'm trying to write my guts out, honestly.

I was once full of doom and gloom.
Four loses just made me fume!
But the Monday night game
Makes me think without shame
Perhaps our division has room...

Not my best effort -- but seriously, I am just not all that impressed with the other three teams in our division. Am I impressed at ALL with the Skins? Of course not -- don't be a bunch of silly shibingi! But the Eagles have come back to Earth, the Giants for some reason just don't do it for me, and the Boys look bad. (SPEAKING OF, BOOFER -- YOUR LOVER BOY ROY WILLIAMS GOT BURNED BY SHOCKEY AND THEN ABSO-F'ING-LUTELY RUN OVER BY THE GIANTS FULL BACK ON THAT TOUCHDOWN. BUT YOU'RE RIGHT. I'M SURE HE CAN COVER AND IS A TOUGH GUY....)

So, all things considered, I am giving the Skins a stay of execution until after the Cowboys game. Who knows how the rest of the division fares next week and if we beat the Boys.....

HM/LM, up here you've got to bring your A game. We can't have an inconsistent performance. You have to take it one limerick at a time.

What St. Joe is thinking (perhaps rightfully so) is that the NFC East is pretty mediocre this year. None of the teams has taken control, and perhaps none of them will. If the 'Skins get on a roll and win a few games, 8-8 might be sufficient to win this thing. Sure, you'd be backing in, but you'd get a home playoff game and once you're in the dance, anything can happen.

And monkeys might fly out of my butt.

If everyone in the East loses next week and we beat Dallas the next week, they're 4-4 and we're 3-5. The Eagles are 4-4 and get a bye. If the G-men then lose to Houston, they're 4-4. Which means that even with all this stupid wishful thinking, the Skins are still alone in last place.

And if P. Diddy can do that monkey thing, I expect to see it on a youtube video.

Boofer! Oh Boofer. You know I was going to call you out today. Have you seen Williams chest? Oh I think the running back just took it from him. lol. However, I give your coach some credit. At least he has the heart to pull a old QB that just can't get it done.

Diddy -- LOL. Well done.

I'm trying to write my guts out, honestly.

Line of the week.

I am giving the Skins a stay of execution until after the Cowboys game

I suppose somebody has to actually win that game. Should be a comedy of errors by games end; let's just hope we come out on top.

Ya know, the thing that I was hoping to read this week was that the veterans have called a team meeting and are going to work some stuff out... like they did when they were 0-5 when Marty started here... only to go 5-0 in the next five games. That's the kind of leadership they need now more than ever. We hear all about how they keep saying that that they weren't supposed to be 2-5 and now CP is getting the hell outta dodge as soon as he can. St. Joe is saying that all they need is a few tweaks and all will be good... kinda sounds like "we're gonna coach 'em up" from one Mr. BallsCoach we all remember. Where's the passion? Where's the leadership? What's with this sense of entitlement they seem to have?

BOOOOOOOFER!?? Wow. Welcome to the ranks... Green Bay, San Fransisco, Oakland, Washington. Dallas is right smack in the middle of that group of once great NFL teams that now suck on a regular frequency. Hey, look up friend, at least your not in the always sucked group... those guys should deserve the boo-hoo boxes. Come correct today with some facts and stats and we'll serve you a slice of humble pie. Don't be mislead, Washington is in that group Boof. Not saying we're any better. Last year helped us feel a little better about our team, but until Dallas does something in this century, don't bother calling me out.

BTW: Good luck with Romo. See you in two weeks.

Romo, where art thou?
like a lamb to the slaughter
your time, it has come

To save time, here's the Joe Gibbs presser for the remainder of the season.

"First of all, I want to congratulate [insert team name here]. They played a heckuva ball game. I thought we did some good things in the first half. Mark looked sharp and completed some clutch passes. We had a few penalties that hurt us in terms of field position. We'll be sending those up to the league office to take a look at. Our defense made a couple of key stops on third down, which helped us keep good field position. We bogged down in the red zone, and that's a concern. Luckily, we were able to connect on two of three field goal attempts to keep it close at 14-6. We thought we could come out and do some things in the third quarter. But the game just got away from us. We couldn't stop them on third down. They held the ball for, what, maybe 20 minutes of the second half? It's hard to make plays on offense when we don't have the ball. But credit [insert team name here]. They were able to crowd the line of scrimmage and completely stop our passing game, which contributed to them stopping our run game as well. But hey, we're all in this together. Nobody feels worse than that bunch of guys in the locker room. They fought their guts out for sixty minutes today. We just have to get together as a group and fix some things all across the board. Up here, just a few plays here and there make the difference between [insert current Redskin record here] and [insert opposite record here]. I don't plan on making any personnel changes on offense, because we have to adress everything. One change is not going to turn things around for us [meaning, if we can't wave a wand and fix everything, we won't even try to fix one thing. Sorry, that was my own comment!] With that, I'll take any questions."

Good job Montana'Skins Fan. Buncha super smart guys in this blog.

Lisa,

Brunell is washed up. He's horrible. He makes our offense worse. Is it all his fault? No. Other than Rocky is there any other position where we can switch out players with any thought of improvement? No. If I try something 7 times and only succeed twice I adapt. That and the imposible thumb is all we have.

Al,

I actually had someone try all that logic on me. My response was. "That's true, however, it's also true that if my Aunt had b@*&# she'd be my uncle."

I don't know who watched that game last night and wasn't impressed with the Giants. Tiki, for whom I've never held in high regard runs tougher and stronger than he ever has. He also made Roy "horrible angles of pursuit" Williams look silly on many occassions.

Watching that game made me think that maybe we pull too many guys. Zone blocking is good but we should try a simple pitch where we put Portis out in space and make him beat a guy one on one. Ooops I forgot there is a strong safety there because they play 8 in the box against us. Thanks Mark.

HM/LM, way to rhyme your guts out. Always appreciate the extra effort.

Did anyone else giggle their f'ing ass off when TO dropped the wide open 4th down catch? That was amazing.

Someone said it before the game, and I think it's true, that D's need to hit TO and hit him hard as soon as he touches the ball. I think that's part of the reason that TO was such a non-factor in the 1st 06 WAS-DAL game. Have a corner cover him, and a S lining him up, ready to light him up as soon as he touches the ball. It happened on the sidelines in the 3rd or 4th quarter last night. He went up, got his hands on the ball, got drilled by a S and then dropped it.

I think that's key. And then we just need to have a second, competent CB to cover Terry Glenn... uh oh... and some aware LBs to cover Witten over the middle... uh oh.

My wife, watching Dallas for the first time last night (and cheering against them of course) asked:
"#31 for Dallas, who is that guy? He is horrible. Had one good hit, but it was against a ref.
And he just got the crap knocked out of him by that #27 for the Giants... Aren't the defensive guys supposed to get the good hits of the offensive guys? Golly, he can't stop a runner on the goal line and he can't cover anyone. Whoever #31 is, he otta be cut."

"Did anyone else giggle their f'ing ass off when TO dropped the wide open 4th down catch? "
Still giggling about it....and i loved his little what-the-hell-do-i-say-now smile he had coming off the field. Priceless!!!

Funny. Good call, Skinz, on the horrible angles of pursuit by Roy--did you see the one play where he ran all the way in, but the runner had already passed him and he had to turn around and chase him? I thought that was hilarious. I really got way too much pleasure watching the 'girls, and RoyW specifically, get burned last night. Just great.

I am still on the Brunel bandwagon. It's gettin really lonely--I only see maybe two other guys and they are waaaaay over there and look like they may jump, but still I remain. And I do so b/c we as fans may have given up on the season, but the coaches and players haven't. We aren't even halfway through this year and we are already conceding the entire season? I don't think so. I think you put the best players on the field and try to win, and the coaches think the best chance to win comes with Brunell under center. That's good enough for me. Now if we come off the bye L, L, then it may be time. But the way this division race is shaping up, there is no reason to concede anything yet. There will be plenty of time for Campbell later in the year if things are still going south. For now, I wanna beat the 'girls at home and try to pull out of this funk and go on a tear...

Brunell's numbers, not just in the Colts game but also for the season, are completely misleading.

I was at the game on Sunday. My buddies and I couldn't help but notice that on numerous drop backs Brunell didn't even look at a WR... his head was locked on the RB's, even on 3rd and long. I also noticed this while watching the last couple of drives of the Titans game.

I'm not by any means putting this loss on Brunell, but it's alarming a) how many reads he's missing and b) that Gibbs appears to be fine with this ultra conservative passing attack.

So that brings us to Campbell... if we're sitting at 2-6 and Brunell is still the QB of this team, Gibbs has completely lost it. I'm sorry, but that will be the final straw for me.

Hi JLC,

Thanks for keeping up with the blog. You wrote,

"Joe basically shut it down, said their scouts and personnel guys are the best and he feels sorry for Vinny.
Wow."

Does your "wow" comment refer to the fact that St. Joe will say anything to the press to avoid undermining his staff's credibility? Even if it means avoiding the truth?

Or do you think that Joe is truly delusional?

I can't decide which scenario is worse.

Still giggling about it....and i loved his little what-the-hell-do-i-say-now smile he had coming off the field. Priceless!!!

Yes, that drop most definitely took the steam out of his yapping for most of the night afterwards. It was difficult not to enjoy. Heck, some of the Philly folks might have got a chuckle out of that one, too.

The things that bring people together....

disappointed

May I suggest the following link. It work for me and thanks to my boy Ali. I still in a good mood even though all these Giants fans keep coming past my desk.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6849791459656863842

thanks jason. looking forward to reading your story and insight on what the hell's going on over there.

also dude, they cut the internet feed as soon as joe said "thanks guys". who tipped them!? ;) gosh darn it! it was cool listening to you (beat reporters's candid conversations before and after gibbs). especially kelly johnson. she's so cool.

all, max has really done it to me. he's pulled me back into skinsmania after i thought i was out. (trying very hard not to quote GFIII). we have a really good chance. girls are out cuz they put romo in along with "to" acting the way he is.

skinz, giants aren't all that. just like jim fassel led team i don't see a coughlin led team winning anything. plus LBM so sucks. did you not see that pass into tripple coverage in the first quarter? it's all tiki. and defense. and if you can stop tiki, who's thinking about retirement then ball game.

iggles...that's the biggest question mark cuz you never know if westbrook's going to show up or not or if you gonna get mcnaab's perfect TE passes or skip passes.

btw, did anyone notice lavar make a big play(safety) and then get run over in the next series? and then make a play by tipping a pass then get hurt, again. that's the one decision i agree with in the offseason of the skins. actually that and adding A receiver.

one more thing. i'm not an OC and don't really know as much about football when it comes to x's and o's. but isn't there a rule of thumb that if you're going against a light, fast defense you shouldn't run wide instead you're suppose to run straight at and over them.

so why in the world was saunders running wide over and over and over to start the game? just curious. cuz i know he has a reason to do what he did just like passing on 3rd and 1 in previous games.

Hey all, we will have a playoff team starting on November 1, and we can still root for our Redskins.

so why in the world was saunders running wide over and over and over to start the game? just curious. cuz i know he has a reason to do what he did just like passing on 3rd and 1 in previous games

I think the point of it was to try to force the defense to spread from the middle a little. Clinton has quite a bit of motor coming out of the backfield, and I think Saunders was trying to use it to get the defensive box to widen up a bit. Normally, you'd use the pass ... I'll just stop right there.

I think it's become commonplace to equate starting Campbell with giving up on the season. I am one who thinks Campbell should be starting after the bye week, but I don't think that is giving up on this season. Brunell is managing games right now at best. He's not lighting it up (except in 4th quarter prevent situations). I truly think that Campbell can do the same thing.

Our D will be healthier after the bye week, and will hopefully play better. With an improved D and a new QB managing the game, hopefully throwing downfield once or twice, I think we can win some more games.

I think Campbell can do for us what Brunell is doing now, but his upside is so much higher than Brunell's... and I think we've all seen the low end of Brunell. Isn't Campbell's potential (and hopefully certain future) worth gambling on right now?

Did anyone see Al Saunders Interview on ComcastSportsNet?

I'm starting to look at this team as the Bush Administration. 'Mark had a good game he was 27 of 37 and Peyton was 25 of 35'

Did anyone see how Brandon Jacobs plowed through the Dallas D-line a few times last night? At one point he made a 9 yard gain with 2 or 3 Dallas guys on him, and he stayed on his feet. Skins should learn from that - we spent a draft pick on Duckett, let's use him the way the Giants used Jacobs last night! He's a big brawny RB who can muscle through the line, right?

It was fun to see Dallas demoralized in their own house last night. I do have to admit, though, it was ballsy of Parcells to throw Romo in there after Bledsoe was sacked 4 times. Romo didn't look bad either, except when he threw those picks of course, but you pretty much expected that to happen, and yes, he did get sacked a couple times too, but the fact that Parcells took a chance on him in a nationally televised game should be a confidence booster for the kid. Now you know where I am going with this - why doesn't St. Joe take a chance on Campbell like that? Not saying that Parcells is someone to be emulated - frankly I don't like the guy - but Gibbs is loyal to a fault to Brunell, and it's clear that whatever mojo Brunell had last season has left him this season. So let him tutor Campbell and hold the clipboard, and get Campbell some playing time. I'm not saying that that would solve our problems (which are numerous and on both sides of the ball), but it might be more fun to watch than Brunell aiming for the sidelines almost every time he passes.

The other issues on the team - passer protection and D-line, for example - may not be solved this season. Prioleau, for example, is out for the season, right? Springs still appears to be playing wounded; Rogers (regardless of the broken thumb) has some maturing to do; Taylor is running himself ragged trying to plug the holes; Carter and Archuleta have been ineffective (to put it kindly); Holdmann can't tackle... I guess I could go on, but that's enough. As someone else mentioned, hopefully those free-agent contracts were structured so we don't get screwed on the salary cap next season if and when we let the driftwood go.

*sigh*

Here's to hoping that people heal in time for the Dallas game...

Bucktown Skins Fan

I am with you brother. Because you are starting Campbell doesn't mean you are giving up on the season. He can do the same 5 yard passes that Brunell is doing now. However, Campbell has a stronger arm which will take some of the men out of the box for CP. Right now everyone in the NFL knows Brunell has no arm. And Brunell is not going to be our future.

Boofer-
I'm still waiting for my BOOHOO BOX to cry over my Skinnys, but after last night it looks like you might not have any BOOHOO BOXES to spare...

dealer, why would you pick on LaVar for making some big plays and not others? The guy we have at WLB makes NO plays. How is that better?

I was sorry to see 55/56 get hurt last night. He's still all right in my book. He should still be a Redskin.

thanks 2F. that makes sense. but they were pretty zeroed in on those stupid wide runs though.

if i ruled the world(skins) i would've brought in russ grimm and not saunders.

...Duckett, let's use him the way the Giants used Jacobs last night!...

we have someone better than duckett or jacobs. we have sellers. who's dragged tacklers 10 yards this season. in real games.

Saunders' interview with Michael Jenkins was about as mind boggling as Gibbs' apology to the 4 fans that didn't get "thank you's" outside Redskin Park.

Al, it's 3rd and LONG.. either you should be fired for calling repeated screens and 4 yard dump offs on 3rd and long or Brunell should be benched for checking down to them without even looking down field.

No one appears to be accountable over at Redskin Park, and unfortunately I think we all know that this one does "start with me (Gibbs)", as the coach would say.

I was sorry to see 55/56 get hurt last night. He's still all right in my book. He should still be a Redskin.

It killed me to see Mister Nichols(that's right, I refuse to spell it correctly) making those plays for the Giants of all people. Even worse to find out he got injured (I got lost in the deep trenches of the back part of the cave at one point while on the phone and wasn't watching when it happened); LaVar deserves better.

Maybe we can sign him back when the Giants cut him. Still better than CantgetaHoldman. Meh.

Yes I drink the kool-aid about LaVar. Shaddup.

Well, that's what it looks like when you bring in the kid. Okay, it's only fair you bring in your kid now too. Romo vs. Campbell. I wonder what Bodog would do with that.

Fudge-Ums update:

Ashburn, VA- In what MLB has described as an "embarrassment to the league," Tiger's SP Kenny Rogers has admitted to a love affair scandal with Washington Redskins newly acquired Fudge-Ums. St. Louis Cardinals coach Tony La Russa came out yesterday with the statement, "I don't believe it was dirt" and "It didn't look like dirt" in response to the brown smudge discovered on the pitcher's throwing hand. Kenny Rogers later admitted to the love scandal with Fudge-Ums and his unofficial comments were:
"I rub up Fudge-Ums between the innings and before the game all of the time. Usually when I get done [with Fudge-Ums] there's not much on my hand, but I guess a little bit more than normal... [Fudge-Ums] is always there. I try not to go crazy with [Fudge-Ums] but it's not making my pitches do anything crazy."

The Washington Redskins recently signed Fudge-Ums to a 3 year $65 million dollar contract in hopes that he would replace the Mike Rumpf and help strengthen the struggling secondary. The Washington Redskins wasted no time suspending Fudge-Ums for the season for "behavior detrimental to the team". Dominos has also cut ties with the 3 foot cube of poop, pulling all ads and replacing him with four delicious chocolate chip cookies. Contract negotiations with the Redskins and the four delicious choclate chip cookies are underway to have them replace the defensive line for the 26th ranked defense. Fudge-Ums was not available for comment.

sorry joe. i'm loyal to the team not the owner, coaches or players. i didn't want him to get hurt or anything but 2 defensive geniuses :) couldn't have been wrong about him. and he's not a skin(s) anymore. and he plays for a division rival now. but i did see a nice pick by pierce. sadly he's not on our team either but should be. wrong decision there by the team.
sorry if this is incoherent...it took me 1/2 hour to write this...with frequent breaks...

Skinz: I know we don't nitpick about spelling and stuff on this blog, just wanted to let you know that you said: 'imposible thumb'. I laughed at that. I was trying to picture an 'impossible thumb'. Like, some really small kid playing Street Fighter at an arcade as a crowd gathers around him and one dude is mesmerized by how fast his thumb is and goes: 'That's an impossible thumb!'

Then an older kid walks in who is clearly a bully. he has a toothpick in his mouth and those gloves that cover 3/4 of the fingers that bad guys wore in 80s movies. "Only little kids play street fighter" and he points to the Mortal Kombat machine across the room. Without looking up the little kid goes: "Let's go then".

The crowd starts buzzing as the two stroll over to the machine. The bully takes Sub Zero because he's the easiest one to play with at first so the kid, without missing a beat, picks Scoprion because they are mortal enemies. Before the Bully is entirely aware of what is happening, the kid yells: 'Get Over Here!' as Scorpion does the same and uppercuts sub zero and then does his teleport move and uppercuts again.

"FINISH HIM"

The kid makes Scorpion pull his mask off and breathe fire onto Sub Zero.

"FATALITY...Scorpion WINS"

The crowd goes nuts...

Why am I talking about this? Becauase it's a bye week and I'm depressed about the squad. They are so down right now. I heard CP on the radio yesterday...sounded like a broken man. I hate Dallas like I hate racism.

out.

What an atrocious sports section today. On page 1: Bledsoe benched, Eagles beat Cowboys. Really, they were so bad they lost to two teams? Then Wilbon: You don't often see the the coach of a team with a 4-2 record, playing at home, bench the starting quarterback. In fact I've never seen it. The Cowboys were 3-2. I'm afraid to look at the A sections for what I might find. "President Timberlake Brings Sexy-Back, declares war on Finland". Really awful mistakes.

After yesterday's pressers, all I can say is that I think Coach Joe is engaging in coachspeak. They all do it, especially veteran coaches who are used to a different sort of media (one that publishes once a day and has no "internet." Lord knows there's no ESPN.) And it reveals nothing about what they're thinking or the team's temp. I thought the most telling comments were CP's. This team is about as far from the one that went 5-0 as it could be. Maybe that changes over the next 10 days. But talking about getting swagger back doesn't make it so.
Pokes-Gints was a great game -- a bodybag game. The Skins don't seem to have that in them now. But, they have 12 days to figure it out.
I do like the idea of the starting qbs on Nov. 5 being JC and Tony Romo's the place for ribs.

Why couldn't 2 defensive coordinators have been wrong? These two coaches (I assume you mean Marvin and Man-boobs) are wrong all the time. Lewis constantly reaches for thugs and criminals in the draft that no one else wants. He's wrong about guys all the time. Grill is currently trying to tell you that Holdman, Marshall, and the Jackal can replace LaVar, Pierce, and Smoot. Do you believe it? Of course not.

These guys are good coaches but they're wrong just as much as anyone else. What it tells me is that deeply believe in their schemes to the extent that they let it get in the way of making good personnel decisions.

Bernard King,

Yeah yeah yeah, apposable. That's way off even for me. I rarely spell check/ proof my stuff. But not gonna lie, don't think i'd have gotten close had I. I suffer from that whole ADD thing like you and barely can keep up with my thoughts.

Cant' remember my fav dude in Mortal Combat but I did love the dude who said "Come Here". I worked kids with him and that move.

Final note on Lavar. Dealer is spot on here. If Grilliams (undoubtedly tarnished by this years performance) and Lewis don't really want you then you aren't that good. As Jerry Sienfeld said, we all vote for laundry, as he no longer wears the laundry i vote for I no longer care....that much.

Having said that, I did love Lavar and he was often that single ray of sunshine on many a'cloudy day for many a' year. He's no longer a Redskin however and I would take Peirce or Smoot in a heartbeat over him.

There is no Lavar Kool-Aid. He was a game disrupter who occasionally got burned. He ended Aikman's career. That alone was worth a huge contract. He was done wrong. Nothing Kool-Aid-y about it.

jm220, I watched it again this morning, it just doesn't stop being funny, does it?

"Achtung baby!"

P.S.
I'm with Gov I jumped up and down with my two boys when Tampa's Kicker hit that 62 yarder. Best moment of the NFL weekend for me. Sad but true....

"...I jumped up and down with my two boys..."

I don't know about any of you other guys out there, but that sounds painful to me. You should invest in a jock strap or something...

ha ha I kid I kid

Another game disrupter who gets burned:
Sean Taylor.

Ricky Bobby made some good points. Brunell was staring down Ladell Betts on every 3rd and long. He never even looked downfield. It got even worse when Moss went out.

Unlike Ricky, however, I put the loss squarely on #8. Sure, the defense gave up some plays, but that was bound to happen. It's the freaking Colts, they're going to score. If the O had sustained some drives, they could have minimized it to some extent.

I reject the notion that Brunell gives us the best chance to win. We've been watching this for 3 years and it hasn't improved. If Campbell isn't ready, than give us Collins until the kid gets his act together.

Just settling in and reviewing the commentary this morning (after watching triple T keep office order again) and I made note of this comment by our good friend Barno:

"But I will say this in Nick Novak's defense: He missed an easy kick and a tough kick, but I really, really, hope he gets another chance with this team. Me thinks they'll bring in some kickers to tryout over the bye week, but hopefully we won't do anything stupid like let this future hall of famer go for a 2nd time..."

Future Hall of Famer? Novashank? What?

Did we really declare war on Finland?

Ali

Because game time is pain time. lol There is no question tonight I have to watch as these damn G -Men fans keep coming to my desk telling me how they won and my team is at the bottom. (I am really hating New Jersey now)
The best one Ali is when he chasing the guy and he is yelling and throwing his papers. classic

Barno, you are hilarious in your defense of Novashank. I dig that about you. I felt bad for you when he missed those kicks.

Ultimately, I'm sure it will just be a funny story that they tell at his induction ceremony.

Who wants to bet that the following happens this year:

1. We fall to 3-8 after a home loss to Carolina and Gibbs just now makes the move to.... Collins, not Campbell.

Gibbs low balls Campbell just like he did Ramsey last year. Despite never being allowed to snap the ball in a live NFL game, even in garbage time, Gibby just doesn't feel comfortable with the "young QB". He will continue to be our "future", according to Gibbs, but will never actually be allowed to play in a NFL game for the first 5 years of his career.

2. In the off-season we make another ridiculous free agent signing... at QB.

Gibbs still won't feel comfortable naming Campbell the starter, and with Brunell washed up (and still counting for 3 billion of dead cap money), we go out and overpay (probably throw a few picks at a team too) for another super smart 34-year old QB who is annointed the starter. Campbell continues to sit.

BET ME

Damn it Ricky Bobby! Let me enjoy Terry Tate during the bye week. Hit me with this after the bye week. I got on good behavior by Lord Vader. Don't send me back to the dark side yet.

sorry that should have read got out on good behavior by Lord Vader. Don't send me back to the dark side yet.

jm,

HA... my bad, man. Just frustrated.

oh, and can someone tell me why Gibbs is making excuses for Moss and "Randle"? I don't care if the guy farts in your face, that retaliation by Santata cost the team 3 points. I don't care that "Randle" was excited, his penalty cost the team another 3 points before the half (probably should have been 7).

Roll some heads, Joe!!

Alright, a comment on LaVarr before I move onto more 'serious' questions. LaVarr was never set to become a linebacker in a highly structured system. He was always the instinctual player - he was aware of his position on the field, and he made plays where he would see it. He was NEVER coached at Penn State.

I remember reading, in one of the newspapers back when I was at PSU, an interview with Jerry Sandusky, the D coordinator at the time. He was asked how you coach a guy like Arrington, and his reply was, to paraphrase, you just don't. I think it was when LaVarr came into the Redskins that he was ever coached at, and it pretty much left him stranded.

LaVarr is pretty much the NFL equivalent to a claymore mine - you make sure the side that says 'This Side Towards Enemy' is facing in the right direction, wait, and when the ball's snapped, he'll go off. That's pretty much why 'Two-Face' Lewis and Grilliams didn't like about him. The difference is, Lewis put up with it, as LaVarr found a way to make plays anyway - The Gregg did not, and just benched LaVarr until LaVarr just couldn't take it any more. I'll miss seeing the guy in a Redskins uniform, but alas, things are done, and the path has been woven. We have other issues.

Now, for my point of conjecture for debate and argument. After watching the MNF game, I realized that we don't have a truly dynamic passrusher that can bust into backfields, especially in the linebacker corps. Who in our defense could play that loose cannonball to wreak havoc in the backfield?

I've already crossed out Can't Getta Holdmann and Hari-Khary from that list. Marcus might be the one, but he's always busy with coverage. Marshall hasn't shown much tendency for the blitz. Maybe now that Vincent's in as safety, Archbingus can come up as a blitzing linebacker? I'm out of answers on that one.

And does the Lean Mean Grilliams Machine allow for that sort of thing? I'm not entirely sure. The LBs are so focused on coverage that it's just up to 4 guys on D-line fighting 5 guys or more blocking. Simple math tells you enough, I think. Is it the personnel or the players?

Barno, you are aware that NFL HOF selection is done by Big Media, right?

Archbingus can come up as a blitzing linebacker?

Grilliams has already tried this with him. The results were less than spectacular.

Dorf-
Thanks for the Fudge-Ums update. I have actually heard that his suspension is really related to performance enhancing chocolate suppliments. Of course, the NFL Collective Bargaining agreement makes all that stuff confidential and the torrid love affair b/t Fudge-Ums and Kenny Rogers makes for a convenient excuse to suspend one of our best possible playmakers. However, Fatty McGee Parcarelli got the inside scoop and is reporting that the league was getting ready to suspend Fudge-Ums for four games anyway.

Let's hope he appeals both suspensions! FREE FUDGE-UMS!!!!

To all,

I'm curious -- is it common knowledge who has the NFL HOF vote for the DC area (or any geographic area)?

http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/SelectionProcessFAQ.jsp

Flim,

Couldn't agree more about the pass rush. It's embarrassing.

When you spend 30 million on "pass rushing" DE, you better make damn sure that the guy can actually rush the passer.

But what did we do? We spent 30 million on a injury prone LB moving back to DE. The guy hasn't produced more than a few sacks since like 2001. Even more alarming was the fact that we failed to realize that one of the worst teams in the NFL was giving up on him.

Maybe if we had some of those mid round picks we give away EVERY year, as well as a decent scouting department, we could get lucky and draft a young, cheap DE like Philly has now.

The list of reckless, reckless moves continues on. Don't even let me start on Archuletta or Duckett.

"After watching the MNF game, I realized that we don't have a truly dynamic passrusher that can bust into backfields,"

This is what happens when you have 1 first day pick each year. You have to pick for glaring need rather than specialists like pass-rushing specialists. Of course you could make a run-stopping safety specialist the highest paid player in the league if you wanted but that would be idiotic.

I'm curious -- is it common knowledge who has the NFL HOF vote for the DC area (or any geographic area)?

I have no idea why I think this but I believe that Wilbon is at-large and Shapiro is the one for our area.

joe, i replied to you but my response disappeared...and don't feel like typing again...cuz others pretty much said what i said (i think) OHHHHHHHH i know why...DOH!
*smack to the hand*

i used a bad word (it rhymes with itching) to describe lavar's COMPLAINING that he did when lewis was here and had the most productive season of his carreer.

anyways...'nuff said...

so anyone here who keeps showing up at redskins park? and anyone know what gibbs is giving away to those fans?

Roy Williams is overrated. He took bad angles, covers like Archuleta, and got BLOWN THE F UP. I thought that was his calling card, coming up an smacking someone. Tiki and Jacobs ran into, over, and through him. Bottom line...he is counterfeit.

What a bleak 2 weeks ... *sigh* I'm going to take that little yellow pill and chase it with some good old kentucky bourbon.

"so anyone here who keeps showing up at redskins park? and anyone know what gibbs is giving away to those fans?"

Probably a playbook and some shoulder pads.

anyone know what gibbs is giving away to those fans?

Kool-Aid.

Grilliams has already tried this with him. The results were less than spectacular.

Well, yes, Meg, that's true. But he was playing (and pretending) at safety. Bringing him up then was tantamount to handing him a sign that screams, "Lookie! Lookie! I Britz! I Britz! Ook-ook!"

What I meant was dropping one of the linebackers currently in the lineup, and swapping him in. You know, some guy like, oh, Can't Getta. Grilliams is obviously not going to resort to Rocky, given that he regards him as a kid with the case of the Stupids. Troy Vincent is a servicable safety, so Archubingus might be able to step in.

Sure, Archubingus might be as appalling at coverage, but it's not like Can't Getta was the next Darrell Green. And considering Can't Getta tackles like Deion Sanders, Archubingus would be an improvement. Who knows?

All I want to know is this. Can Boofer come out and play? Almost noon time and not one single word from him. Can we put out a APB on him.

Sometimes I wake up screaming at night thinking that we gave Archuletta one of the biggest contracts in the history of his position. Thank god that was just a bad dream. OH WAIT...

Troy Vincent is a servicable safety, so Archubingus might be able to step in.[...]Who knows?

TFlimFalm, they have nothing to lose trying him out anywhere at this point. Heck, let him trying his hand(foot) at punting--as long as he doesn't take his helmet off he should be OK.

LOL jm

Boofer has gone missing.

We are into the 11th hour and the search is about to be called off. Prayer vigil will be held today at FedEx Field. Bring the boo-hoo boxes.

RIP BOOF

Rick Bob - Since we're intent on predicting the future, how bout this:
3 point loss to Cowboys thanks to overly conservative offense - a la Titans game - causes Locker Room implosion. A.Arch is killed by frustrated Duckett. Clinton joins Rick Will in Tibet. Brunell OD's on Centrum Silver. 2-14 skins are sold by Snyder to Angelos.

Seriously, how worried is everyone that a post seas QB acq is in the works? If I see Phil Simms in section 144 to root on his son wearing B&G, well, I have no problem wearing jail stripes and being called bubbles for 10 to 20.

TC is 2 on the depth chart right? JG would NOT be doing that unless the Paduan was intent on not filling his potential. Let's stop talking about Cambell folks. It ain't gonna happen. Look for a trade or release soon after a 12/30 victory to knock the G-men out of a playoff bye.

See you guys in the blue lot ASAP, I'm the chubby Irish kid playing distracting drinking games involving a cooler to prevent pre game melt downs.

HB,

PG101

Notorious B.O.B.

I told him to be here when his team lose. Just as Skins fans are each and ever week. Year in and year out. Now he needs to man up and come take it. If you are going to talk smack. You better damn well be ready to take it.

AHS,

I was right for once. Here is a link:

http://www.thefootballsearchengine.com/JimMarshall/HOFvoters/

Skinz,

I'm not saying Brunell is the answer - just that he is not the only reason we are losing (defense, hello???).

That being said, I heard an NFL Scout say on the radio this morning that Campbell is not right for Al Saunders offense and that he was not impressed with him at all. That worries me greatly.

Also heard the reason the Skins have not been playing Rocky is that he is having difficulty learning the defense.

The reason they are not changing to Campbell and Rocky is obviously not obstinance but their inability to perform. So sad.....

Oh, and have we been thru the utter dysfunction of the O-line yet? Don't like burning the same books twice.

PG

Skinz you may have someone as good as you.
Pub Golf 101 man you made my day with that post

"That being said, I heard an NFL Scout say on the radio this morning that Campbell is not right for Al Saunders offense and that he was not impressed with him at all. That worries me greatly".

And Brunell is right for the offense. I am sick and tired of them saying this person is not performing in practice. They guys you put out there are not performing in the games. So what they do in practice at this point doesn't mean a damn thing! See Lisa you sending me back to the dark side.

jm220

He needs to take it like a man....just like Ned Beatty in "Deliverance"

"That being said, I heard an NFL Scout say on the radio this morning that Campbell is not right for Al Saunders offense and that he was not impressed with him at all. That worries me greatly."

He can't be any more wrong for it than Brunell. Unless Saunders system calls for qbs to only throw horizontally.

I just read Woodward's "State of Denial". Gibbs-Brunell is akin to Bush-Rumsfeld. Everybody else but the man in charge wants a change and no one can get him to see otherwise.

Skinz, great work. Unfortunately for Barno, it's like a "who's who" of Big Media. Too bad for Novashank.

In times like these, we need to lean on the glory years:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/redskins/history/timeline/wagon/wagnfrnt.htm

Football thought for the day:

In 2006, the third quarter has been Brunell's worst quarter of the game, by far: his yards per attempt average is a measly 5.78 and his QB rating is a paltry 66.9. Accordingly, the Skins have been outscored 43-17 in the 3rd quarter.

In 2005, on the other hand, the third quarter was Mark Brunell's BEST quarter of the game: he averaged a respectable 7.59 YPA and a 101.4 QB rating. Not surprisingly, the Skins outscored their opponents 101-86 in the 3rd quarter.

Whether it's players making plays, or coaches (Al Saunders) making adjustments, playing well in the 3rd quarter is the key to the Skins' turnaround on offense. Moreover, given Gibbs' reputation as a great half-time adjuster, given the results in 2005, and given Gibbs' obvious desire to repair this team, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he takes the bye week to become more involved in the offensive game planning and game-day adjustments. And if this 2nd half offensive mediocrity continues, then all bets are off as to how much control Gibbs regains in his quest to cure what ails this offense.

Re: FudgeUms and Rogers Love Affair

Can you blame the guy? He's really just trying to regain some of that Domino's magic for the Tigers. He's thinking about the good of the team.

FACT: The Tigers won the World Series in 1984 under new owner Tom Monaghan, the man who founded Domino's Pizza.

Lisa,

Point taken. The D is bad. As I said, we have very little options when it comes to changing up personel. If Collins hadn't fought side-by-side with Brunell on Iwo Jima I'd say go with him.

As the song goes "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one your with." or perhaps "If you aint got nuthin, you aint got nuthin to lose" or perh....ok ok i've taken it too far.

That being said, I heard an NFL Scout say on the radio this morning that Campbell is not right for Al Saunders offense and that he was not impressed with him at all. That worries me greatly.

This is meaningless to me. An NFL Scout also once said that Ryan Leaf was worth the #2 pick in the draft. An NFL Scout also once said that Tom Brady didn't have a strong enough arm. NFL Scouts are a dime a dozen. The ONLY way to know if JC can play is to play him.

Lisa and Mark were sitting in a tree
K I S S I N G

Here is why I think Novak will be a great NFL kicker:

most of his long field goals in college sailed thru the uprights with 10-15 yards to spare. You may have noticed that 48 yarder he missed against Indy hit the upright about 2/3 of the way up, meaning it would've gone 60plus yards easily. His accuracy was unprecedented in college, at one point he hit something like 50 out of 55 field goals. His clutchness (is that a word?) was the best i'd ever seen from a kicker, winning several games with last second kicks from long range.

Give him another chance, Coach, and I promise you won't regret it.

Barno out.

Barno,

Your koo-aid drinks kool-aid.

For anyone that is interested in Archuleta's contract, here's what I've gleemed from other websites. A large part of the "record breaking" contract is in the out years of the 6 year deal. That is, the $10 mil bonus is structured as $5M signing (prorated over 5 years) + $1M roster bonus for every year he's on the team.

His 2006 cap number is about $1.5M ($1M signing bonus + $0.5M salary). His 2007 cap number is about $2.5M ($1M signing + $1M roster + $0.5 salary).

That means the lion's share ($19M) of his non-guaranteed salary are in years 3-6. Thus, he will have to re-structure before then or be cut.

Depending on when the roster bonus is triggered, the Skins could cut him after June 1, 2007 and owe him $1M or $2M in 2007 and $3M in 2008.

In short, this is a 2 year deal worth about $7M ($5M signing + $1M 2007 roster + $1M salary). After year 2, the impact of cutting him will be minimal. The "record breaking" moniker for this deal is just so the agent can brag about it.

Is anyone else going to use the picture of the guy from the "Latest Video" link above and make that their IM picture, or dress up as him for halloween. I am personally very amused with that pic. That one look describes the collective mood of this whole chat. Good Times!!

He could be the Redskins BLog official mascot!

The Governor wrote:

Al Saunders is the tightness. Do not forget this. He is the Architect minus the anamole. He makes people like Priest Holmes look like HOFers. There's a reason Baltimore let Priest go...he sucked.

Whoaaa there, Gov. Priest did **not** suck at all in Baltimore. He didn't start a game in his first year, 1997. In '98, he started 13 games, had over 1,000 yards and 7 TDs. The next year, he got hurt, and the year after that, he played behind Jamal Lewis, whom they drafted in the first round. The Chiefs signed him to a cheap contract because *no one* knew what he could do, and he was considered injury-prone, especially after blowing out his knees in the NFL and at Texas, where he played behind Ricky Williams. He got into Saunders' system, and boom, he's a star.

Everyone's complaining about the playcalling, but this is what I've been watching here in Kansas City for the past five years. KC's starting wide receivers, at one time or another while Saunders and Vermeil were coaching consisted of Snoop Minnis, Johnnie Morton, Eddie Kennison (who was the only one who consistently produced), Marc Borechter, Sylvester Morris, Larry Parker, Dante Hall, and Gardner, Rod (I'm sure I'm forgetting some guys), and **none** of them were ever the stars of the system. Hell, most of them wouldn't be found on another team's practice squad, but the Chiefs refused to upgrade that position. It was just never that important to them. The balls went to Priest, and subsequently LJ, and Tony G. When Priest was racking up the fantasy stats, it was because he was taking a screen pass 80 yards for a touchdown, and taking strech runs for 8 yards at a time. Another thing to remember: The Chiefs offensive line was the best in the league. There wasn't a line even close to being as good as that unit, which sent just about all of their line to the Pro Bowl once or twice during that span, not counting the times they sent Will Shields, Brian Waters, and Willie Roaf there **every year**. The line was athletic enough that they specialized in running screens, draws, and stretch run plays where they would run down the field and pancake a DB or LB. They also had Tony Richardson as their fullback, who is one of the best blocking fullbacks in the league. They rarely threw deep down the field, but would eat up big chunks of yards on long runs and dump-off passes to the RB (Priest averaged over 4 yards per carry and over 9 yards per catch), and passes under 20 yards. Another factor was Trent Green, who, I believe, ranks right up there with some of the league's top QBs in yards, completion %, and rating.

The Redskins don't have the OL, especially at the left tackle position where Mr. Samuels is getting schooled week in and week out. Sellers is awesome, but he can't do it all by himself. Brunell isn't winning any awards this year, especially with his suspect decision making. Maybe he doesn't trust his line, so that's why he goes to the check down receiver after only waiting 2 seconds for a play to develop; maybe he doesn't trust his arm or accuracy; or maybe the receivers aren't running the correct routes. Who knows? The one thing I learned after watching the Chiefs under Saunders was that this was not a team that was built to play from behind. They couldn't do it. They rely too much on plays that, whether they work or not, eat up the clock, and they rarely threw the ball deep. If you've got guys complaining about the playcalling, then this team has got some major trust issues. It's cliched, but you have to trust in the system before you can succeed. Portis spent his first year complaining about Gibbs' system, but last year, he didn't have a bad thing to say, and now he wants to go back to the way it was? I understand that the NFL is a "win now" league, but come on...

On a completely unrelated note, I cheered when "Double Nickels From The School Of Hard Knocks" went down. That's what you get for knocking a Hall Of Fame coach with three more Lombardi trophies than you'll ever have, there Crutches. He could have just kept his mouth shut, but no, we had to listen to how Gibbs doesn't know what he's doing, and boo-hoo, how Gibbs and Grilliams didn't like him. Whatever, you piece of garbage.

Barno,

Tough call on Novak. On sunday in the dome pre game he had the ball with kick assist set up on the 30-31 yd line (~40 yd'r). Granted, he was getting warmed up, but he was prob avg'n .650 from there. I was a bit distracted because Rick Bob kept trying to get a hug from Ms. Portis. Regardless, I think you want a kicker nailing them in warm ups less than 50 yds, right?

Anyway, blaming this season on the kicking game is like blaming Jack-o and Presley Jr's failed marriage on the paparazzi...a distraction, yes...the cause...nope.

PG

Skinz: Great morning for you. Just on point. Also, supertight that you recognized my Wizards alias. That makes me happy in my heart.

Braden: I'd like to buy you lunch and have conversations about sports. Do you have a newsletter?

Remember, we cannot lose this week.

Hey Pub Gulf,

Hysterical.

By the way, were you in Indy this weekend? I thought I saw a man fitting that description dancing with a 400 pounder at Have a Nice Day Cafe.

I'll look for you in the blue lot later this year.

OUT

Dealer,

I'm definitely not kissing Mark...he's not my type!

Just saying the blame is not all his fault....we can blame him, the O line, defense, special teams, coaches, and especially the management. Every area is just plain....bad. Now, I'm truly depressed.

Well, I can give props to the WRs -especially Santana.

Barno, just send the rationale you have to the HOF list of voters above that Skinz provided and make sure they have it ready to use when they vote for Novashank in about five years after he gets cut this week. I'm positive that will be all that the Wilbon's and McDonough's of the world need to make sure Nicky boy makes it through.

Or is it six years? I forget.

I'm willing to be persuaded that Priest Holmes didn't suck, but you have not done enough to persuade me. My argument is he sucked, and that there are only two reasons why he was tight for a few years: Al Saunders and the KC Trio of Roaf, Waters and Shields. You put me in that offense and I'll get you 1,200 yds and 10 TDs (Larry Johnson would vulture my goal line carries).

ArtMonktotheSticks knows this argument well. It is along the same lines as my famous "Belichik is Average" argument that infuriates my friends until no one talks to me. But because I have Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube and just bought the Diddy album, I don't care.

1pm No sign of Boofer. Wait! Wait! We have a Boofer sighting. It's just been reported by no heart radio. That Boofer was last seen in Dallas searching with Roy Williams for his chest that got ran over.

Braden - great points. It's rare you find a coach that's willing to adapt his scheme to the players around him. Gibbs had to go 0-5 his first time around before switching to smashmouth with Riggins. Rypien won a Superbowl for Gibbs but wasn't good enough for Norv who wanted Shuler (ugh bad flashback). Hell, even Petibone tried to make Rypien a short-range west coast style QB (ugh really bad flashback). Switching from Norv to Marty to "the ol' ball coach" to Gibbs, to now Saunders under Gibbs has probably totally screwed up the personnel for Saunders "system". They should figure out what works now (smashmouth like last year)for the players they have NOW and stop forcing a "system" that's not working. ADAPT! I hope it's not true that Campbell isn't playing because he's not a Saunders-style QB. He's got a live arm, adapt and play to his strengths and get noodle-arm Brunnell out of there.

This team has been on vacation all year with the exception of the Jacksonville game. I've been a fan all my life, in the grand scheme of things this will be just one season out of 60 or so I will be a fan of. No more excuses, just give me something fun to watch. You remember "5-0 or we don't go" last year? Well this year it's "8-1 or we're done!" That sounds unrealistic, I'm so bitter right now, I hate everything.

Hey Boof and Roy, I know where it is. Roy Williams grillpiece is hanging up in Brandon Jacobs' trophy case.

Along the same lines, would a Mr. Harrison... Mr. Marvin Harrison please report to the desk? Your freshly bronzed pair of authentic Mike Rumph ankles are ready to be picked up.

Check out this article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/21/AR2006102100098.html

She may be onto something (or four) ... thoughts?

I think what we can all agree on is that we've switched "schemes" too often. Look, starting an entirely new scheme is like looking for love on the internet. It should only be done when you are desperate and as a last resort.

I kind of agree with Gov here. Bilicheck isn't average but I dont think he's a genius. he wasn't a genius in Cleveland. He's just got a GM who knew the players to get to fit his scheme. Players with heart. Oh it doesn't hurt to get a once or twice in a generation QB to be sure but Peoli knows how to manage a cap and bring in winners.

In short. Danny, Gibbs coach...good. Gibbs GM...bad. GM who wants to win this year or next year....bad. GM who knows that you are better off trying to be good every year and statistics say you'll win once or twice a decade...good.

In a loss at Indianapolis, he had solid stats and a 106.4 QB rating, but it was all smoke and mirrors because the offense couldn't make enough plays when it counted. Time for a Jason Campbell watch?

from espn.com qb rankings

lisa, i'm just playing. i think we all thought that brunell was the only chance we had to make to the playoffs this year. and we can all agree that brunell can't do it past this year. so what is gibbs hoping to get out of brunell? 2 more wins? 3 more wins? go 8 and 1? ummm no, not with this defense and the offensive scheme they got going so far.

i think the only thing he's doing is killing a very servicable backup qb.

and being 2-5 we all agree it's time to put the kid in. so don't go thru what dallas went thru last night, next year. this is the year to do it. run run run run run run pass.

Do you remember Jim Fassel's famous "playoff guarantee" in the 2000 season? Look what it brought the Giants, an improbable Super Bowl appearance that year.

Now, let's suppose Coach Gibbs decide to guarantee a Skins playoff appearance this year. How do you think our current bunch of "players" will respond to his calling?

To quote JLC:

"Portis says he is looking forward to his bye-week vacation -- I'm getting the hell away from here, Portis said. I know when he says we can go, I'm out of here."

I think I know the answer, ladies and gents! Sad, so sad ...

Did JLC take today off?

Skins fans,
Below is your week 7 NFC East QB comparison. Things to note:

1) Thank god Bledsoe is not our quarterback. That being said, he has thrown as many TD's as Brunell and also has 2 on the ground (in one fewer game).

2) It is true that McNabb has been sacked 16 times. But he has only been picked 5 times, and if you look at his rushing stats, you see that he gets the team more yards on the ground than he loses in sacks. Can't say that about many QB's.

3) Brunell's yards-per-attempt average is high (due to his high percentage passing) but his yards-per-completion average is bad. He's lowest in TD's but also lowest in sacks and INT's.

4) Manning is the real deal. In one fewer game, he has outthrown Brunell in almost every category. Once he reduces the sacks, fumbles, and INT's, watch out.

All of this leads me to say unequivocally that we have the 3rd best QB in the division, and the best we can expect is that Brunell not LOSE the game (and the division) for us. Take from that what you will.

yards per completion:
McNabb: 14.9 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 12.9 (through 6)
Manning: 12.0 (through 6)
Brunell: 11.1 (through 7)

yards per attempt:
Manning: 7.51
Brunell: 7.11
McNabb: 6.77
Bledsoe: 6.64

Passing yards:
McNabb: 2151 (through 7)
Manning: 1518 (through 6)
Brunell: 1465 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 1164 (through 6)

TD's:
McNabb: 16 (through 7)
Manning: 13 (through 6)
Bledsoe: 7 (through 6)
Brunell: 7 (through 7)

INT's:
Brunell: 3 (through 7)
McNabb: 5 (through 7)
Manning: 8 (through 6)
Bledsoe: 8 (through 6)

Completion %
Brunell: 64.1 (through 7)
Manning: 62.9 (through 6)
McNabb: 59.3 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 53.3 (through 6)

Passer Rating:
McNabb: 101.7 (through 7)
Manning: 90.7 (through 6)
Brunell: 90.4 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 69.2 (through 6)

Sacks/Yards lost:
Brunell: 11/83 (through 7)
Manning: 13/95 (through 6)
McNabb: 16/119 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 16/107 (through 6)

Rushing:
McNabb: 23/163 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 8/28 (through 6)
Brunell: 9/25 (through 7)
Manning: 7/7 (through 6)

Rushing TD:
McNabb: 3 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 2 (through 6)
Manning: 0 (through 6)
Brunell: 0 (through 7)

Fumbles/lost:
McNabb: 3/2 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 3/2 (through 6)
Brunell: 4/3 (through 7)
Manning: 4/4 (through 6)

-LWC

Skinz, I agree...and diagree. I definitely agree that we have changed too much...changed schemes, changed coaches, changed players...it just doesn't work with constant change. All I want is continuity and stability. I'm not looking for any quick fix, like changing the qb, or bringing some new high-priced CB in the offseason. I just want the same players and the same coaches, year after year, until we win consistently. Not sure that has to be done with a gm, though. For the msot part, Gibbs' moves have been pretty good. I'm not against a gm, but more than anything we DON'T need something new.

Tom, why are you giving portis a hard time for being honest? He's only been hurt all year with the shoulder and now an ankle sprain and a, presumably, banged up/sore groin. I hope he gets far away for as long as he can and comes back refreshed.

Hey why all the hate for LaVar? I hate the comments he made about Coach Joe but the man got hurt and he was playing a hell off a game up until then. Yeah I drink the LaVar kool-aid(tropical punch)but don't get it twisted, I would rather had kept Pierce(now that's a player).
Well I guess we all know Brunnell will be starting next game but the good thing is if GWilliams has a ounce of brain in his head he will blitz and blitz to we get some ribs from Tony Romo. He has no excuses this game because we should have all our starters in the secondary back. But knowing this idiot he'll play coverage because Romo can scramble.

Question for everyone if Joe Gibbs called it quits who on our staff would get the job Al(I got 700pages of Offensive Fire)Saunders or Greg(No ones bigger than my scheme)Williams or do we do the smart thing and bring Russ Grimm home.

LWC -

Would you happen to have any numbers for Brunell vs. the rest of the NFC East QBs when you take out the 4th quarters of this season's games? I'm just curious as to how those numbers stack up, given that we're usually running against prevent defensesby the 4th quarter in some of the larger losses.

that'll take a sec, but I'll see

WrongDog, Springs has a sore groin. Portis' pain involves his heritage jewelry.

Tom,

I was listening to 980 AM when they had the Portis call in. On that he sounded more like "Everyone needs to take some time off, deal w/ yo personal stuff, and come back next week ready to go to work". He also claimed that execution and timing are the reasons for a failing offense. Not coaching...Watching that game though...it really felt those guys were just beat tired, even in the first half. Without that Randle-El return and the final drive vs the prevent, it was a very flat offensive game. So the question persists, as asked above numerous times: Turn this into a rebuilding year, put JC in and let him grow for '07, or, as JG said yesterday "tweek" some schemes and let's go for saving this season...???

PG

Well, it took more than a sec, but it was well worth it. NFC East QB stats excluding 4th quarter and overtime. Things to note:

1) McNabb is WAY WAY better than anybody else through three quarters.

2) Brunell's yds-per-catch and yds-per-att averages both dropped, which is mud in the eye of Saunders, who bragged on the high yds-per-att average earlier. (Not when it counts big guy!)

3) Brunell is still the best in INT's and completion %.

4) Manning's numbers were much worse, suggesting that he has been having big fourth quarters this year.

1st Three Quarters

Passing yards:
McNabb: 1797 (through 7)
Manning: 983 (through 6)
Brunell: 975 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 891 (through 6)

yards per completion:
McNabb: 15.1
Manning: 12.4
Bledsoe: 12.4
Brunell: 10.95, rounded to 11 to be charitable

yards per attempt:
McNabb: 8.9
Manning: 7.2
Brunell: 7.0
Bledsoe: 6.7

TD's:
McNabb: 13 (through 7)
Manning: 7 (through 6)
Bledsoe: 5 (through 6)
Brunell: 4 (through 7)

INT's:
Brunell: 2 (through 7)
Bledsoe: 4 (through 6)
McNabb: 5 (through 7)
Manning: 6 (through 6)

Completion %
Brunell: 63.5
McNabb: 58.9
Manning: 58.1
Bledsoe: 54.1

Some of the stats, such as rating, sacks, rushes, etc. were going to take longer to pull out, so I gave up. Here's mud in your eye, Al Saunders!

-LWC

I've been reading the posts for a while now, and since I'm having a slow day at work I figured I'd grace you all with my Skins analysis (and no, I don't care about Romo or the Fat Tuna or Jason Campbell)! Here's what I see as ruining our season so far:

(A) Gibbs: He hired Saunders because he was too overwhelmed with all of his various duties (head coach, Team President, GM by default), and didn't feel he had enough time to devote to the offense to fix it and make it a modern day powerhouse after trying for 2 years. It seems to me the problem is that he took himself out of the offense, instead of taking himself away from those other duties. He should have gotten himself a legitimate GM and relinquished whatever other duties he performs as team president (he can keep the title and have final say, just not bother with it on a day-to-day basis) and focused on the offense full time. He's one of the greatest offensive minds in NFL history -- if he put himself in the proper environment to succeed, I'm sure he would.

(B) Saunders: His system has worked wonders for various teams, and nobody questions his success. It's clear that, at least to some degree, our problems on offense stem from learning a new system. Unfortunately, and this goes to my point about Gibbs, we didn't need a new system! All we needed was some help at wideout since Moss was the only one getting open last year. Seeing the offense continue to struggle, Saunders should be stripping pages out of his 700 page phone book and reducing the system to something manageable, and reverting to the same core plays they succeeded with last year (now that they have better talent). Yet, it appears now that Saunders may be going down the path of the Ol' Ball Coach, focusing more on proving his "system" works than adapting it to the players he has and their strengths. That's bad coaching when you're with a team that had super bowl aspirations, as opposed to a team that had zippy going for it at the start of the season.

(C) Williams: Our defensive secondary sucks. No masking that at this point. It is clear that Williams is playing conservative up front to make sure he can provide help in the secondary. But since that's clearly making no difference, why not just blitz the hell out of the other team's offense? If you're going to give up big plays regardless, at least try to wreck the kind of havoc that can lead to turnovers and missed opportunities for the other team through blitz pressure. In my opinion Williams is making exactly the wrong decision in how to deal with our weak secondary.

(D) Terrible O-line play: Brunell may be old and immobile, but how many QBs can really make something happen when they have a man in their face every play? The O-line has failed to protect him, and in my opinion it is completely over-rated! Samuels can't block fast ends or keep himself from jumping offsides. If Jansen spent as much effort playing well on the field as he does attempting to be a team leader in the press, perhaps the line would start getting somewhere. These guys are not getting the job done -- where is Buges?!

(E) Third Down: We all know that Brunell is dumping off passes for small gains on third and long plays. Common sense says that you have to throw longer passes to receivers at or beyond the 1st down marker. So why do some people insist that Brunell "refuses" to throw deeper, or bother suggesting he isn't capable of throwing deeper? We've seen him do it. He did it plenty last year, and he's done it this year. There's nothing wrong with the arm. He's a vet, and he knows where the chains are. If he had a guy open downfield, don't you think he'd go for it?! It seems far more likely to me that either the plays called are being defensed (maybe Al is too stubborn to try changing things up?), or our receivers are doing a poor job of getting open. \

All I know is this is a ridiculous season. I don't blame Danny -- I like having a lifelong Skins fan as an owner, especially one that spends lavishly on the team with one purpose: getting us to the super bowl. Clearly, Danny is never going to challenge Gibbs -- who could in his position? Gibbs is going to have to assess the situation and save it for all of us, by removing himself from non-coaching responsibilities. Hell, get Bobby Bethard in here to fight with him. I still have hope that Coach Joe is going to turn this ship around (maybe not this year, but overall) and teach this organization how to take care of itself and be a consistent winner. Afterall, I think that's really why he came back.

Anyway, I just needed to vent!

disappinted - I think it's kind of crazy to be feeling sorry for your de-facto GM when the team is 2-5, has s history of draft busts and it's 2006 acquisitions save for ARE have basically gone belly up. Seems to me the only people who they should feel sorry for are the fans who pay to this stuff year after year, not the team execs making huge money without ever having a much success.

LWC - Thanks for the numbers! I kept meaning to pool them for myself, but I never seem to have to right resources to pull the numbers together. OK, so DeadSloe has really hit rock bottom and begun to dig, then. A bit frightening, that. Of course, Brunell's numbers aren't all that encouraging, either.