Well, that Mursilis, AND that I would take the Skins' odds over the lottery any day.
Possibility is a matter of degrees. . .at this point it isn't unrealistic to say that the Skins could recover and make the playoffs. It happens in the NFL (though not often).
SkinzCanes wrote:You write in this thread that the season is over. I respond by pointing out that it isn't. You respond with sarcasm. . .but without any new, substantive arguments. Your point about making the playoffs being a long-shot is taken (it was last time), but I have yet to see how longshot = impossible. (And rolling eyes don't really constitute an argument. . . Wink
You want an argument for why we wont make the playoffs? Well lets see
1. We are 2-5 and would have to go 8-1 the rest of the way to have a chance.
8-1 would get us in. Very few teams go 10-6 and don't make the playoffs. . .and they almost always have to play in a division where 2 other teams in the same division make the playoffs. Especially in an NFC that has been weaker in recent years, 10-6 will get us in.
2. Our defense can't stop anybody from scoring. The rest of the way we play against some very good offensive teams and unless the defense can somehow overhaul 90% of its roster they aren't going to get better.
I still can't figure out what happened to the D that shut down Cincy in preseason and had my mouth watering.
90% is a bit dramatic but the D needs something to happen aside from people recovering from injuries. We might have the weakest coverage secondary in the league right now.
3. Offense. The offense is inconsistant at best and terrible most of the time. Jansen and Samuels are playing terribly, Dockery is inconsistant, and Rabach is playing as if he's being paid to collect holding penalties. Portis is banged up and isn't getting enough carries. We can't help the oline passblock with our backs because those are the only people that Brunell throws to on 3rd and long. We have a system that doesn't work with the qb that we have.
The line has been performing OK, aside from maybe Sammuels and the penalties that they incur. I can easily see them turning things around, and I'll give two examples: (1) Last year's final stretch. . .the oLine absolutely dominated. (2) In our 2 victories this year, and even in some losses, the o-line has shown the potential to play well.
4. Special Teams. Our punter is an idiot and inconsistant. We cut our kicker only to replace him with a guy that missed 2 relatively easy kicks in a dome.
Can't agree on the punter. He's been inconsistent, but mostly in the games where he did double duty with kickoffs. Forget his baggage from last year and he hasn't performed poorly. Check out his stats. He's had some good long punts, plenty of inside the 20 kicks, and a so-so average. Not quite "idiot" status.
I agree about the kicker, and hopefully that improves, but Hall appeared to be healthy coming into this year. Sometimes a team will hold onto damaged goods because of how much they paid for them. . .this is probably the case with the Skins. We hoped that he'd get better; we lost the dice roll.
5. Team unity seems to be waivering. You have Saunders questioning Portis for taking himself out of the game and saying that he has to change his system bc of the qb. Meanwhile Brunell and others have questioned the need for the new system. Arguments among players are starting to surface.
ey/Sellers during the Giants game after
ey was frsutrated for not getting the ball when open. Randle El and Lloyd getting into it yesterday.
Those descriptions are stretching it out. . .I think you pulled out every shred of evidence of disunity that you could. I don't put any stock in the playcalling "contraversies," that Saunders quote doesn't say anything good or bad by itself.
The player 'disputes' are expected when your team has had the frustrating season that we have. From all appearances in interviews our guys are showing 100% class and seem to be sticking together. There is very little evidence otherwise, honestly, and we all know that winning cures many ills.
Of all problems, locker-room cancer is not one--this is the weakest criticism IMO.
6. Coaching problems. Lack of discpline among the players. Lack of halftime adjustments. GW said they did the same thing in the second half on defense as they did in the first half. Hello?!?! They're called adjustments. The other team adjusted, you have to also. Terrible clock and in-game management and decisions. The decisions to go for it on 4th and 1 agaisnt the Titans, delay of game penalites, etc.
I agree with this point almost entirely. We make adjustments but other teams seem to outplay us.
7. Injuries. Even when fully healthy this team isnt that good. Springs, Rogers, Portis, Randle El, Moss, Salavae, Griffin, Marshall are all banged up to some extent.
This is true. Hopefully the bye week helps, and you never know what the rest of the season might bring. I'm going to remain optimistic.
8. Tough schedule. The rest of the way we only play 1 team with a record below .500 (Tampa Bay). And unlike us they are progressing as the season is moving on and we will certainlty be underdogs in that game.
Carolina hasn't played great teams and we get them at home. One of our road games is against our weakest opponent. Division games are just that--we went 3-0 against division opponents to close out last year, and there are times when we can't beat a vastly outmatched division opponent to save our life. We'll see.
This schedule is hard but it is by no means undoable.
I can think of more arguments for why we wont make the playoffs but I got tired of typing. So tell me how all of those problems can be fixed and maybe then we can begin talking about the playoffs.
I hope that you'd admit that it isn't a one-dimensional case. Call the season over if you must, but there are good reasons to maintain hope as a Skins fan.
I can't think of any, but that doesn't prove anything.
