SportingNews: Team Report

ANT7088 · Post by **ANT7088** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:05 pm

DRAFT DISH

The team wants dramatic improvement on defense, and taking S Sean Taylor makes that possible. He is a free safety with a sprinter's speed, a receiver's hands and a linebacker's mentality. He is the rare player who, if he plays to his potential, will improve the team's pass rush, run defense and coverage. His speed will enable the team to play more press coverage with the cornerbacks. Provided Taylor picks up the nuances of pro offenses as well as he did with college offenses, his reaction time will be quick, and he will be able to detect where the trouble spots are and get to them quickly. TE Chris ey has a chance to start. He was chosen because he filled a need, matching the qualifications for the tight end/H-back position almost perfectly. He has excellent size, decent speed and good hands and has been a reliable intermediate-range receiver.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Whether the team has the talent it needs is uncertain, but it has done a good job of stockpiling players at most positions. The Redskins' needs, at least in terms of numbers, are few. Still missing is a capable pass-rushing defensive end. The team will continue to search for such a player, but it will have a hard time finding one at this point. The team has to decide whether Ladell Betts or Trung Canidate can be the backup running back. Betts has a better chance, provided he can get through the offseason and preseason without an injury.

http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=2353416

skinsfaninroanoke · Post by **skinsfaninroanoke** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:07 pm

Personally, speed wise, I would rather have Trung backing up Portis, as I have said before. I think he would be the perfect punch to kick the opponents flagging defenses in the jaw...

Just when they think - oh cool - Portis is going for a breather - here comes a 4.25 40 speed guy to burn 'em

redskincity · Post by **redskincity** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:09 pm

skinsfaninroanoke wrote:Personally, speed wise, I would rather have Trung backing up Portis, as I have said before. I think he would be the perfect punch to kick the opponents flagging defenses in the jaw...

Just when they think - oh cool - Portis is going for a breather - here comes a 4.25 40 speed guy to burn 'em

Exactly, beleive it or not. Speed kills in the NFL. Trung will do fine with a 2 TE set :wink:

skinsfaninroanoke · Post by **skinsfaninroanoke** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:14 pm

Trung stepped up trying to play on that bad ankle injury. People talk about Coles and Smoot playing through injury... Trung tried to. He played in a pass oriented offense with pathetic run blocking (I mean college plays like the inside draw all the time... sheesh) and still managed to get over 5 ypc and 600 yds.

I believe he will do better than Betts... I know there are Betts fans out there... this is just my opinion... and if it goes the way many of my opinions go, Betts fans will see Trung get cut before camp even starts

#1redskinsfan · Post by **#1redskinsfan** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 12:46 am

betts is the better fit in the system. he is the guy that u pound out n the endzone. like we had when we had riggs. i think that he would be a better fit. trung needs to be n a system where they are a more pass oriented style. where he can get alot of drws and a lot of sweeps to use his speed

skinsfaninroanoke · Post by **skinsfaninroanoke** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 5:28 am

I would love to know why everyone points to Riggs as such a resounding success...

Realistically... Riggs never did much of anything for us

Granted, Gibbs likes to pound the ball, but did that with the likes of Washington and Byner as much as Riggins.

Besides, the counter trey IS a sweep play my man

Warmother · Post by **Warmother** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:24 am

I like Trung and Ladell and I think both could be good back ups. It will probably come down to who picks up the system fastest and stays injury free. Also don't forget Rock I give him just as good a chance as the others and since he already does well on special teams who knows maybe he'll be the top back up.

redskincity · Post by **redskincity** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:50 am

#1redskinsfan wrote:betts is the better fit in the system. he is the guy that u pound out n the endzone. like we had when we had riggs. i think that he would be a better fit. trung needs to be n a system where they are a more pass oriented style. where he can get alot of drws and a lot of sweeps to use his speed

What would you want? A guy who can pick up 3 yards per carry or 5 yards per carry?

I think what it is, everybody is still blaming the bad running game on Trung and it aint his fault. We will see. I personally would get rid of Betts for the fact that we have a pounder in Rock. We would dominate with the speed of Trung on Third downs.

chicosbailbond · Post by **chicosbailbond** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:13 am

trade betts... he is more marketable and keep trung... he will be a serviceable back up...

skinsfaninroanoke · Post by **skinsfaninroanoke** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:15 am

actually, I was misremembering the # for Trung's ypc - it was 4.2... but still .8 ypc better than Hambrick's 3.4 ypc... and .9 better that Ladell's 3.3 ypc.

Sure we can say Ladell will do better in a better system, but so will Trung, IMO

Irn-Bru · Post by **Irn-Bru** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:34 am

We do have Rock, who I think could be a core Redskin (he's got all the characteristics) if he makes the cut for the team.

Besides, when has Gibbs ever really "needed" anything that he didn't make up for with innovation? Those half-time adjustments, his hard work ethic, he always adjusted his way through games and the season. Do people really think that just because Trung is our backup we'll somehow be *worse*?

portis26 · Post by **portis26** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:52 am

Riggs had 11 TD in 1991 as our short-yardage specialist. Byner, Ervins, and Riggs were an unstoppable triple threat.

skins fan in indiana · Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:17 am

I think Rock and Trung would be just fine along with Portis. Thats a pretty deep RB core there. Porits can do it all. Trung coming out of the back field on 3rd downs. And the Rock coming in for those tough yards or maybe if they have a lead just pound it away. Trung and Rock can come in at any time and the game plan wouldn't change at all.

ferryrich · Post by **ferryrich** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:48 am

Now you mention it, Portis, trung and rock does sound like it could be a similar trio to Byner, ervins and riggs. Each is a completely different player and yet the roles could match quite scarily

fleetus · Post by **fleetus** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:51 am

I remember Sultan being pretty impressive during last preseason. We should trade either Betts or Trung, whichever brings the most return. Trung seems somewhat fragile and he will put the ball on the ground some. Betts, while not spectacular, seems better at squaring his shoulders and getting the tough yards. Which is why he will probably garner more interest. Unloading Trung will be more difficult I think. People will say, "if he couldn't consistently produce as Marshall Faulks backup where will he ever produce?" We should try and get a late round pick for him anyway, so we can trade it for another RFA.

Scooter · Post by **Scooter** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 11:20 am

I think Chad Morton is capable of being the spell- 3rd down back. I'm not crazy about Trung, nor Betts, nor McCullough. Morton brings a healthy fire to the line-up and gives great effort.

ANT7088 · Post by **ANT7088** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 3:12 pm

Scooter wrote:I think Chad Morton is capable of being the spell- 3rd down back. I'm not crazy about Trung, nor Betts, nor McCullough. Morton brings a healthy fire to the line-up and gives great effort.

He would and showed some flashes last year, but he also got hurt really fast. I think he's to important for ST to take that chance and remember we don't have Patrick Johnson to back him up.

Champsturf · Post by **Champsturf** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 3:33 pm

No, but we do have Thrash back there to return as well. After all, we only have a stockpile of wide outs.

BigCarter28 · Post by **BigCarter28** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 3:45 pm

we desperatly need to try and trade gardner or betts (or someone) for a pass rushing end

ANT7088 · Post by **ANT7088** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 4:41 pm

Champsturf wrote:No, but we do have Thrash back there to return as well. After all, we only have a stockpile of wide outs.

LOL, I forgot about Thrash, I still wouldn't want him to get hurt being a RB. We are "stockpiled" at RB too, so I don't think it necessary to take the chance. Last year that's what happened (except for the fact we NEEDED him last year), he came in at RB and got hurt and we lost him for a couple of games at ST. Canidate, Betts & McCullough aren's exactly breaking the bank, we can keep all of them and "mix and match" them as we need. I'm sure between the three we can get a decent 3rd down back. O, lets not forget Rock Cartwright for some short pounding yards.

hkHog · Post by **hkHog** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 5:21 pm

Betts is surely going to be the third down back. Morton certainly will not be. He is far too important in special teams and WAY too small to pound the ball! He ran hard last year but he is still too small. Betts can pound the ball! That's what we need. Certainly Trung is useless as a third down back. As soon as he makes contact he goes down. I see many of these guys gatting time in the backfield but Betts is definately getting more time than any of these other guys. He can be the big pounder.

1niksder · Post by **1niksder** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 5:26 pm

One of the reasons Gibbs is so high on Portis is that he played on thrid down a lot last year