Post Game Discussion: Bills at Skins

[grampi]

I love the Skins, which is exactly why JG needs to go. I want a HC who gives this team its best chance to win. Unfortunately, that's not JG.

[Champsturf]

That just seals the deal for me folks, I want Gibbs gone.

Somehow, I suspected you would end up there. Not really a surprise.

Maybe if you'd get off your soapbox for a moment and actually be on topic, you'd see his point. Gibbs may have been great for the team this week as a person, but he sure wasn't worth a crap as a coach. I would think knowing a rule that most ordinary fans know should be a requirement for the job. It's not just this week either, it's been this entire season. This was just the "nail in the coffin" because we all wanted this win more than anything, for Sean. Yet Gibbs pissed another lead away. I guess he has nothing new to offer the team and it's fans.

[Skinsfan55]

That just seals the deal for me folks, I want Gibbs gone.

Somehow, I suspected you would end up there. Not really a surprise.

Maybe if you'd get off your soapbox for a moment and actually be on topic, you'd see his point.

If you want RIC to get off his soap box you're gonna have to get him a ladder.

[Champsturf]

That just seals the deal for me folks, I want Gibbs gone.

Somehow, I suspected you would end up there. Not really a surprise.

Maybe if you'd get off your soapbox for a moment and actually be on topic, you'd see his point.

If you want RIC to get off his soap box you're gonna have to get him a ladder.

or maybe a cherry picker...either way, show some objectivity...

I mean really, the ending to this game was no different than most of the games this season. I always thought we were looking for progress, not mediocrity. We really need to open our eyes and see what is best for this team, and I haven't seen anything to tell me that Gibbs is (as a coach, anyway.)

[RayNAustin]

It's been a very tough week all around for the team, us fans, and a win today would have been an awfully nice aspirin for the pain. It just makes it that much more painful to have this game slip away needlessly. Not for us fans....but for the players.

And though it is a lousy time for criticism, I just don't see how it can be avoided. Given the circumstances, I think the players came out and played as well as ANYONE could have expected of them. Yes, the O Line played poorly. But in spite of that, we moved the ball in the first half up and down the field. What...3 drives of 10-13 plays each? This, given the circumstances was impressive. The issue that has continued to defeat this team is it's inability to score TD's in the red zone, and today was simply another repeat of that same problem. Frankly, the half time score should have been 21 or 28 to 3, and the game in our pocket.

Why is this happening? We ALL KNOW WHY.

This is not about talent, as one poster suggested. This is about offensive scheme in the red zone, and the continued insistence in using close formations (jumbo) inside the 20. What is so hard to understand, and infuriating really, is that we see no willingness or even recognition that a change in philosophy is needed. Thats the scary part.

Sure, you could say the players need to execute whatever play is called, from whatever formation, but that is way too simplistic an answer. The other teams are also paid to play, and to stop us. We keep doing the same thing over and over again, and everyone has figured out how to stop this close formation, one receiver set we use. By refusing to explore and implement other approaches and methods, it is clear now, after 4 years of poor offensive production that the current staff just doesn't get it, and won't get it. If they were going to, they would have gotten it by now and at least tried other avenues.

Gibbs double TO call at the end wasn't what cost us the game as Gibbs suggested. What cost us the game is exactly what has been the problem all along. Poor play calling and poor schemes on offense leading to ridiculous numbers of field goals instead of TD's.

The conservative, play it safe mentality has killed this team all year, as it did today. With little over a minute left in the game, we run the ball three straight plays when Portis was averaging 2 yards per carry all game long. Just one more first down, and the game is over. But we chose to play it safe, and not put a legitimate effort in getting 10 freaking yards. A couple of safe screen passes, swing passes, ANYTHING that would be high percentage (to keep the clock moving) should have been the MINIMUM consideration. Instead, we put the burden on the defense once again with a depleted secondary (Springs was out) with only 1 starter in the backfiled, and wonder afterward why we lost?. This is just simply poor, poor decision making. Better to risk an incomplete pass and get the bloody freaking 1st down and put the game away. But not this coaching staff. They're too scared to play to win. And the double time out call at the end (however inexcusable) was just the cherry on top of the SAME crap ice cream sunday served up by Gibbs and company each week. And they seem clueless to this, and consequently INCAPABLE of learning from their own repeated failures time and again.

Wanna talk talent? Last week, with 6 stinking turnovers, we still had a chance to win the game. And yes, when a team repeatedly shoots itself in the foot, and loses games that they were in position to win EASILY, the blame lays SQUARELY on poor coaching. Thats what the coaches are there to do. To coach and eliminate these things. That's their job. But they can't correct player mistakes if they can't even correct their own fundamental coaching mistakes such as the 15 yard penalty for not understanding the rules of the game, or the clock management issues, or the half time adjustments that are evidently no longer to be expected.

If ever there was a game that illustrates perfectly what ails the Redskins, this one was it. And I think just about everyone knows now, even those who have remained in denial thus far.

For Joe Gibbs own sake, and to protect what is left of his reputation, a quiet, behind the scene conversation between him and Snyder can no longer be avoided.

However sad, it is perfectly clear that Joe Gibbs and company cannot be expected to turn this around. There is not a single reason to believe otherwise.

[redskingush]

I think I heard 27-35 since the return, and 10-6 was 2005. just as it looked we took a step forward weve taken many,many step back.

[BadgerKing]

I watched the game last night and at the end I was so angry. I thought the players and staff has shamed the honour of Sean Taylor by lamely frittering the game away. I was going to post but I stopped myself and went to bed instead. Its 8:00 am in the UK and I am no longer angry, I no longer think that anyone has shamed the memory of Sean but I am deeply, utterly dejected. I would love the season to be over, just gone how truely awful it has been.

My observations:

Game lost in the trenches, no pressure, no push, no chance
Not enough receiving options but with no push on the running game we had no choice but to throw.
Red Zone Offense, unimaginative and obvious

Net result misery and anger, you nail your pride to a team that are just poor. I do hope Joe goes at the end of the season, I hope he decides to step away with dignity. Snyder should only act if this doesn't happen. Imagine the flak Snyder would get if he fired a Head Coach after a week like this.

I would like to think that I can drop the Skins this week, but who am I kidding I will be back here tomorrow.

[CanesSkins26]

Sunday Night H-Back

There is one question I probably get more than any other, and I never know how to answer it. "What's the mood of the team?" With a 60-man roster, including practice squad, and 20 more coaches, there is a spectrum of opinions and feelings about just about everything.

In a case like this, where Joe Gibbs did not know a rule about consecutive timeouts, it brings out a wide array of responses. I received calls from a handful of players after the game on my way to the airport, and two stood out.

One was from a veteran offensive player, who has been critical privately in the past of the in-game decision making and the ability of the coach to get the most out of his talent. But in this case, as frustrated as the player was with a heartbreaking defeat that likely expunges any real playoff hope, he felt sorry for Gibbs more than anything else.

"He's a good man and he wants the best for us and he treats us great," the player said. "I'm embarrassed for him. I feel terrible for him. After this week and what happened to Sean. Of all the weeks for this to happen. It's awful."

This player spoke to some teammates who heard that some fans were chanting "Joe must go," near the Comcast set during their post-game show (I did not hear this myself in a rush to get to the airport, and you guys would have a better idea about how loud it was, etc.).

There was a sense of deep sympathy in the player's voice and he hoped that the media would not be too hard on Gibbs, all the while admitting that he understood why the criticism was coming.

This player also wanted to know what other players has said in the locker room. He sincerely hoped his teammates, when asked about the timeout blunder, pointed to themselves, and their mistakes. I told him that was largely the case, but that some also vented privately and were outraged that their coach made such a huge mistake in a critical juncture in the biggest game of the season.

I also spoke to a defensive player, who while conceding there players made mistakes as well, was fired up. "That's like the fourth game this year we lost because of game management," he said. "This was the worst one yet." I know that word has gotten around to other players in the league that there are a number of players in the Redskins locker room who are angry about the slew of questionable decisions.

This defensive player, and others, wanted to know what Gibbs had said directly after the game as well. I told him that Coach Joe was a stand-up guy about this and took full blame for the mistake.

I'm guessing, without having time to canvass the entire roster, is that most guys fall somewhere in between the two I spoke to. But I do know from the uncomfortable looks and awkward responses many players gave when asked about the decision to call timeout, that most chose not to embarrass their coach by saying with they really thought about the sequence.

Many players feel like there is 10-win talent on this team - a topic that some personnel execs expressed to me at the start of the season as well - and some believe that coaching has a large role in the perpetual underachievement.

The rest here....

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/2007/12/sunday_night_hback_1.html#more

[SCSkinsFan]

It is unfortunate the it had to finally come doen to hearing JG on the Post Game Locker Room Report say that he took the blame, admitted that it was his fault that they lost the game, and apologized to the team, the fans, and everyone associated witht the Skins.

Unfortunately it should never have some down to that.

For all of us, I'm sure we all feel that it is just not fair.

[SKINFAN]

I can't imagine how we will recover in time for the Bears game this thursday..... It's almost a blessing that the next game has no playoff implications. I love this team, but it is painfully obvious that whatever they have right now is not and will not work. A change is needed, time for some tough love for the players and coaches, maybe even the owner and managers.

[VetSkinsFan]

Apologies don't cut it. I, like a lot of people and some of the players, think Joe needs to go. There's no reason to say the same things over and over. Time mismanagement, Game play calling sucks. Red zone o sucks. Every god forsaken week. Criticize if you will, but think about if you're reacting emotionall without merit or not.

[RedskinjXd]

I can't imagine how we will recover in time for the Bears game this thursday..... It's almost a blessing that the next game has no playoff implications. I love this team, but it is painfully obvious that whatever they have right now is not and will not work. A change is needed, time for some tough love for the players and coaches, maybe even the owner and managers.

the scary part of all this, is with each redskins collapse, so does the rest of the NFC... leaving us with hope week in and week out. the eagles, bears, redskins, and saints all lost. so, we are OFFICIALLY only one game out of the playoffs, chasing 3 teams.... lions, cards, and vikings. we beat 2 of them head to head, and still have to play the vikings. i am not trying to provide hope, i am just stating the facts.... so no need to respond to this with, "we are not a playoff team" i am not saying we are, i am just giving an accurate playoff picture.

[SKINFAN]

agreed, we have a chance at getting in, but I just don't see how far we will get even if we do. I keep hoping that they will come out playing with more moxy, like players possesed, most great teams rebound, and rebound HARD from a tough loss. I see us as coming out the same way after a win or a loss with the exeption of the Lions game. I'm not bashing our beloved team, I'm not being overly negative.. I'm just expressing what I see, I was one of the most optimist fans up until the Jets game. We were embarrased the game before and what did we do the next week, we eeked out a field goal on a 1 win team. I just don't see the fire, the warrior spirit that is a prerequisite in wearing the B&G. And yes, I still say Go Skins, but I'm on the "tempered Optimism" bandwagon.

[NC43Hog]

It seemed yesterday that our kickoffs were landing about the 20 yard line. Was it just me and my TV? Suisham has done a good job this year with FGs and most kickoffs, but yesterday seemed off by about 15 yards.

[Irn-Bru]

It seemed yesterday that our kickoffs were landing about the 20 yard line. Was it just me and my TV? Suisham has done a good job this year with FGs and most kickoffs, but yesterday seemed off by about 15 yards.

He was short on kickoffs yesterday, but that's been a season-long issue that appears to have grown worse with time (weather?). Suisham never kicked past the 15-yard line, by my count, and one fell to the 30-yard line. . .it was a high kick that floated.

The man is money on field goals (with a mid-season slump that he recovered from), but I've never been confident when he tees up for a kickoff after we score.

[Chris Luva Luva]

Im supposed to be pissed... But I truly don't care about football anymore. I was just happy to see my THN family yesterday. I have thoughts and beliefs but they seem so insignifcant. In debating whether or not I really want to watch the funeral.

[crazyhorse1]

This has been a horrible year for us and the NFL generally and it's difficult to believe the tragedies won'tl continue.

Here's what I find hard to stomach:

Injuries are on the rise to the extent I'm beginning to wonder if the sport is viable. The players are too big and too fast-- do the physics. Games are too often won or lost because one team is less crippled than the other. Not my idea of sport.

The money is too insane and player and owner behaviour too disgusting. Who can root for mercenaries?

The price of fame is too high. Players and coaches are targets both for criminals and the press, and players who last any time can expect permanent injuries. Not my idea of good working conditions.

Gibbs football, which means proving superiority and then going into a shell offensively so the other team can catch up and win. It also means mind boggling game errors and errors in handling personnell.

That said, I'll probably keep on being an NFL and football fan for the rest of my days. Still, I think the NFL needs a breakthough in regard to injury prevention (maybe even weight limits), discipline (no more dubious characters), and security, even if security measures involve mandatory home security measures, new rules, and bodyguards .

The Redskins need a new coach.

[mastdark81]

Im supposed to be pissed... But I truly don't care about football anymore. I was just happy to see my THN family yesterday. I have thoughts and beliefs but they seem so insignifcant. In debating whether or not I really want to watch the funeral.

I feel you man. It really puts the "game" in perspective. With all thats been going on I couldn't guarantee you that I would be able to go to work and perform to the best of my ability either.

Some of these people are vultures!