ESPN the Mag TRASHES the Redskins

[Skinsfan55]

Okay, we shouldn't get too wrapped up in what the media thinks, and generally whenever someone is uncomplimentary towards the Redskins I figure we've earned it with 20 years of mismanagement, but ESPN the mag just did their season preview issue and absolutely unloaded on the Skins. Here's some lowlights:

2011 Prediction 3-13

The biggest defecit in DC might be found on the Skins depth chart, the gap between Washington and the rest of the league is growing wider each season.

Tim Hasselbeck: But what Washington is about to do on offense is more important. Shanahan's saying, "We feel like our system is good enough that even though [John] Beck isn't a guy anyone wants, he'll be successful here."

Pass offense- Is this the NFL's worst personnel? Could be. Beck struggles outside the pocket, a problem in a system that will emphasizes rollouts and bootlegs. But if Beck's not the answer, neither is Grossman.

The oddsmakers say the Skins will win 6 again even though they did little to improve a weak offense and the 31st ranked D. What gives?

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Just an entire page of bile thrown our way. I hope the Redskins got the message and put this up in the locker room. Even though I'm arguing against no one in particular I feel the need to point out:

-McNabb was a disaster last year. I don't think Beck would have much of a problem beating his numbers. For the record I love a redemption story. There are plenty of players who got one brief shot and failed, yet they learned from it and still have the talent to play every day. Happens in sports all the time. Beck could be that guy who finally gets a second chance and shows what made him a 2nd round pick (out of BYU no less.)

-We added Hightower and a universally agreed upon sleeper pick in Helu to the backfield. No question we have better personnel there than last season. Also, TE remains strong and we have MUCH better wideouts than in 2010. To the line we not only have an improved Trent Williams but a healthy Jammal Brown, retained Lichtensteiger (who beat out Dockery mid-season) and Montgomery (who beat Hicks mid-season) but we also added Chris Chester and got rid of the weak spot in our line, Casey Rabach.

-On defense we massively upgraded the defensive line. No more Haynesworth, Kemo, Daniels... Mismatched personnel. We have Bowen (a star in the making), Barry Cofield (impressing everyone so far), Carriker, Jenkins, Bryant, etc.

-At linebacker we added a 1st round pick opposite Orakpo. We added depth to the position so players can stay fresh. We also upgraded from Carlos Rogers and signed Atogwe.

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I know I am a Redskins fan, so I'm going to be biased of course, but I'm not sure how anyone could look at the team and think the Skins are 3-13 quality. If we went 3-13 Shanahan would be fired and we'd be back at square one.

Then again, what can you expect from a publication that also predicts the Cowboys to go 9-7 while calling them the second most talented team in the division and a "legit upset pick". Talk about a team that's done NOTHING to improve themselves. (Getting rid of Roy Williams, signing Abraham Elam? That's about it.)

[KazooSkinsFan]

Okay, we shouldn't get too wrapped up in what the media thinks

ESPN's been bashing us all offseason, nothing new

[redskinz4ever]

Okay, we shouldn't get too wrapped up in what the media thinks

ESPN's been bashing us all offseason, nothing new

every year its the same ol song and until our skins get a few solid years and a winning organization up and running thiis is what said every offseason.most of it true.

[Red_One43]

I know I am a Redskins fan, so I'm going to be biased of course,

You might be biased, but your analysis is realistic and more realistic than the biased author who has to sell advertising spots with sensationalism.

but I'm not sure how anyone could look at the team and think the Skins are 3-13 quality.

Can you say RedskinsRule56? He certainly can. I bet he is the one who has the author's ear.

If we went 3-13 Shanahan would be fired and we'd be back at square one.

The only way that this team could go 2-14 or 3 -13 is if we had a scenario like Dallas last year with Wade Phillips as coach. Phillips let the players do as they pleased - not happening under Shanny's watch. Another scenario for us to go 3-13 or worse is if Shanny loses the locker room. The players want to be here and that was the case in Denver. Despite Plummer's criticism of Shanny, he wanted to stay in Denver and retired only after he was traded. Shanny's not losing the locker room. If either one of those scenarios took place, Shanny or any coach would be fired just like Wade even though he was in the play-offs a year before.

I can't even see the injury bug devastating this team bad enough to go 3 -13, Even an injury prone season like the Packers last year, wouldn't knock us down that low. Not saying we would survive and make theplay-offs or win the SB like the Pack, but we wouldn't go that low.

I keep pointing out the last three games of last season when Shanny had back ups almost the entire games. Those back ups proved that if a team plays hard, they will be competitive with anyone and pull off some surprises. Does anyone including RR56 think that our team hasn't improved in personnel over those last three games? Continuity with each other and the schemes are are also a factor.

[skinsfan#33]

Okay, we shouldn't get too wrapped up in what the media thinks

ESPN's been bashing us all offseason, nothing new

every year its the same ol song and until our skins get a few solid years and a winning organization up and running thiis is what said every offseason.most of it true.

Usually the media is fairly realistic in their appraisal of the team, even if I think they are on pessimistic side of realism. Deep down I usually can understand and somewhat agree with their reasoning.

This is beyond that, this borderline on irresponsible journalism. No way anyone in their right mind can have us going 3-13. They also go on to say we have done very little to improve the team. That is simply a flat out lie!

Let me play their game for a second and assume the team hasn't improved. They had a much harder schedule last year, tons of internal strife and distractions, a QB that refused to run the offender the way the coaches wanted him to, and a D that was new the 3-4 system. So how do they regress?

The team has never been 3-13 under Snyder and the last time they were that bad it was Norv's first year. The ball coach's worst season was 5-11 and he quit on the team 2/3 of the way through the season. Heck, Zorn was 4-12 and he was publicly castrated by the team of dumb and dumber halfway through that season. MS has never had back to back losing seasons and has never finished worse than 6-10.

It is retarded to think that this team will finish worse than last years!

[aswas71788]

So, we will be 3 - 13? This is from the guys that have hyped the Cowboys as the Super Bowl winners for the last 3 years? If they are so accurate, how many Super Bowls have the Cowboys won in the last 3 years or even how many divisional championships? <- ZERO

Come on guys/gals, give the media thier due, they are the renowned experts.

To them, I say

[SkinsJock]

I used to get as irritated as anyone about the 'media reports' and 'predictions'

I must admit that I concur with those here that have constantly counseled that everything will be fine when we've shown that we are not who 'they' (media) think we are

this will take time - it's going to be OK - NOTHING these twits write is very accurate at any time

[riggofan]

This is beyond that, this borderline on irresponsible journalism.

hah. This borders on ludicrous hyperbole. But don't let me stop you!

I kind of think all preseason predictions are stupid. Every year the guys on ESPN radio will make their playoff predictions, and every year oddly enough they predict the same teams who made the playoffs last year to make the playoffs THIS year. When does that EVER happen???

[fleetus]

All that matters is Wins. We need to win games and then it won't matter what the talking heads say. I do believe this is a very poor analysis. But if you're an NFL anlayst and you have to cover 32 teams after a lock-out, I can undertsand where there is not much "on the surface" to get excited about in Washington.

Most of us that are excited about the Redskins had our own doubts about Beck/Grossman, the O-line, the WR's, the defsense. We are starting to get excited because we can see the QB's are better than expected. The O-line is starting to gel. The defense is stronger.

But these guys at ESPN have probably spent about 5 minutes seriously looking at the Redskins. Their analysis is almost always B.S. That's why I never buy their magazines or their "Insider" access. They have less knowledge about any one team than the average fan does.

Redskins need to win games and that is all that matters.

[KazooSkinsFan]

every year its the same ol song and until our skins get a few solid years and a winning organization up and running thiis is what said every offseason.most of it true.

I agree on the first part and have made the same point myself that we're not really going to have credibility we're good until we prove it on the field. But please, we did little to improve our D? We signed a good free safety which was a major gap, replaced our corner who can't catch to save his life with one who can, used our #1 on an outside LB and have an actual 3-4 D line. To say 3-13 and that we did "little" on D is just ignorant. Had they said they're not convinced we're improving on our 6 wins it's defendable. That we did nothing and we're winning half the games is ridiculous.

[redskinz4ever]

every year its the same ol song and until our skins get a few solid years and a winning organization up and running thiis is what said every offseason.most of it true.

I agree on the first part and have made the same point myself that we're not really going to have credibility we're good until we prove it on the field. But please, we did little to improve our D? We signed a good free safety which was a major gap, replaced our corner who can't catch to save his life with one who can, used our #1 on an outside LB and have an actual 3-4 D line. To say 3-13 and that we did "little" on D is just ignorant. Had they said they're not convinced we're improving on our 6 wins it's defendable. That we did nothing and we're winning half the games is ridiculous.

3 - 13 is pretty crazy and we did improve on the D side of the ball reporters tend to overstate things a bit ....... but we as an organization have done very little to sway the tide of negative press.
looking for this season to be that first step in addressing that situation.