RAMSEY = OUR MAN

[wonker]

WEll, mark SkinsJock as a passionate Joe Gibbs fan. Let's see how the team plays against Philthy. I for one, put absolutely NO value into the performance against the Gints. That team is absolutely ravanged by injury and dreadful.



wonker

[Redskin in Canada]

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am still in NY today. Let me tell you. By chance, perhaps no that much, I have been in NY for BOTH games against the Giants. I think I told you what it felt to be here in a sports bar the first time around. It was the lowest point in my football life.

Well, well, well, Can you imagine what it was to be here in the same sports bar with ONLY two other Skins fans? It was SWEET!!! I can not tell you about the harrasment at the beginning and just before the game. But the game took place as you saw, and it was SOOOOOO sweet to see the bar begin to VACATE slowly but surely to the point that the Skins fans (plus the fans of other teams) were a vast majority in the bar!

A few observations:

1) Joe called the perfect offensive game.
2) GW called the perfect defensive game.
3) Patrick executed a fantastic passing game and he fooled evryone around a few times.
4) Our receivers did not drop passes!
5) Two defensive penatlties against M. Washington and S Taylor were nothing but BS. We still have the zebras against us.
6) I have no confidence in our Special Teams coach. Too many problems, too long and no fix in sight.

For those who still doubt Joe and Patrick, I have only one thing to say: Too bad it is going to take longer for some of you guys to feel as confident as some of us are.

It is -your- problem, not ours. I -do- love the opportunity to see what happens next week against P.

Through thick of thin
ALWAYS a Redskin

[die cowboys die]

let's see how excited we all are after another loss, instead of the great win we saw yesterday.

there can be absolutely no sensible argument that half of this season wasn't WASTED on a crappy QB. the "progress" we saw on offense yesterday never happened until ramsey took over. that was not a coincidence. in fact, the offense got progressively WORSE throughout the first half of the season under brunell.

anyways, i am happy that we won yesterday. but does that one win make for a good season? no. i'm sick to death of losing all the time. i believe that was only the 6th time we've won out of the last 25 games! sorry, but that hardly atones for all the misery.

[Redskin in Canada]

let's see how excited we all are after another loss, instead of the great win we saw yesterday.

You know what?
Some of us like it just the way IT IS.

We loved to witness the progress that has taken place. We loved to see come from complete disarray and become the team you saw yesterday. We loved the effort and the pain. We loved the win as a sign of progress but we would have loved the progress even without a win.

You can spend any amount of time second-guessing your coach and your team. Anybody can choose to feel miserable if that is their choice. It is a matter of perspective. Some of us deal with the FACTS as they are. This is the coach and players that took us where we are. These are the guys that will take us where we are going. They will have my support 100% when they are on the field.

You can choose to call it a wasted season. I feel for you. Not because I agree, I do not. I feel for you as a fan who wishes to choose a negative angle in this glorious process. I wish you would join us to celebrate a GREAT process, the transformation of a team with no spirit last season, into a team with character and an iron will. A TEAM in the true sense of the word.

Join us, it is more fun anyway.

[Scottskins]

I for one am very pleased with this season. Seasons of past have left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and no direction. For the 1ST TIME since I can remeber we have leadership, we have a plan, we have a vision and a way to go about it in an effective manner. That alone makes me feel that this season has not been a waste.

I didn't understand the whole Gibbs hoopla at 1st because I wasn't around for the 1st go round. Im still do not have that blind sometimes stupid imo faith that some people have achieved but I do understand why he is so highly coveted. Im enjoying every day of it because his shoes are going to be hard to fill and thats evident with the coaches who followed after him.

We still have a ways to go but we have seen that with Gibbs its always forward and never backward. With the coaches before it'd be a step forward and then two backward. With Gibbs it may be half a step forward and it may take a while but we'll never regress but have constant improvement.

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!

Very Nice Chris. It's so gratifying for me to see a young man such as yourself who wasn't around for Gibbs 1, start to see and feel the magic that is Joe Gibbs. The stuff your seeing, is exactly the same stuff that made us older-timers believe in Joe Gibbs, and as you said it, gave us this blind faith in him. For the unbelievers(wonker ), or should I say, cautious believers it will just take a bit more time. Nothing you can do, but watch the games and think how this team would be doing with any other coach. Gibbs is the reason and the answer.

Blind faith? Yep

[cvillehog]

The fact is, one win does not improvement make.

After 5 years of horrible year after horrible year, they are going to have to show some consistency before I think we can say it's a "fact" that they have shown improvement.

However, what we CAN say, is that we all HOPE yesterday was a sign of improvement.

[dlc]

I AM a fan, but I do trust and REMEMBER what I've seen. I REMEMBER last year, and unlike many of you, I recall many people praising the flashes of brilliance Ramsey had at times before he became a tackle dummy for defensive lineman. Support the team? Well give the kid credit, he's got talent and people forget that he's shown it before. Weren't we in it to the very last play against the Eagles one of the games he played? Didn't he beat the Pats last year? Do I think he's going to be good because of one game? Nope, I saw the heart, toughness and arm the kid had ALL last year, and it's more than I've seen out of any QB that's come through the Redskins in a very long while. Ramsey was mobile within the pocket at key moments and even ran for a couple first downs. last year. For fans, you obviously don't remember ESPN championing Ramsey as a possible future star for a few weeks.

I liked Brunell on the Jags, but even at the beginning of this year, it was obvious that Ramsey had more of an upside than Brunell, and what was the downside, he'd get rattled from getting hit?

I recall even the greatest of players, like Aikman (did I really compliment a Cowboy?) his first year and Young in Tampa, look horrific when they didn't get protected. Ramsey looked better last year than either did in the beginnings of their careers, yet he gets no credit. Somehow Gibbs gets credit for his talent. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Gibbs made a mistake. No need to sugar coat, cause he surely doesn't believe any differently. He will make more mistakes, but I do trust he'll end up on the better side a lot more times than he has this season. He's a decade behind every other coach in the league, but I expect he'll surpass them in two seasons. Why? How many other coaches have won three Super Bowls with three different QBs and three different RBs? Many he can get a 4th QB in there, and I think Ramsey is one who can do it.

[Redskin in Canada]

I AM a fan, but I do trust and REMEMBER what I've seen.

Guilty, guilty by association!

Yes, that is the verdict! And I confess too. Guilty! I am guilty of associating with optimists like you. People that see progress through the very small details that build a team. People who appreciate the long process, not to make a single player, but to see ALL players come together as a team.

Patrick plays well when -everybody- plays well around him. Surprise, surprise...

If the OL does its job, he playes well!
If the receivers do not drop passes, he plays well!
If nobody makes stupid penalties, he plays well!
If the RBs break away with good runs, he plays well!

Surprise, surprise... No a win does not make progress. It is the combination of all factors that make progress.

[JPFair]

You can choose to call it a wasted season. I feel for you. Not because I agree, I do not. I feel for you as a fan who wishes to choose a negative angle in this glorious process. I wish you would join us to celebrate a GREAT process, the transformation of a team with no spirit last season, into a team with character and an iron will. A TEAM in the true sense of the word.

Join us, it is more fun anyway.

Very well said, RIC. I fail to see how any of us can be angry enough to consider it a wasted season. I think it's been fun.

[JPFair]

let's see how excited we all are after another loss, instead of the great win we saw yesterday.

there can be absolutely no sensible argument that half of this season wasn't WASTED on a crappy QB. the "progress" we saw on offense yesterday never happened until ramsey took over. that was not a coincidence. in fact, the offense got progressively WORSE throughout the first half of the season under brunell.

anyways, i am happy that we won yesterday. but does that one win make for a good season? no. i'm sick to death of losing all the time. i believe that was only the 6th time we've won out of the last 25 games! sorry, but that hardly atones for all the misery.

A wasted season? I don't see how we can consider watching Clinton Portis adjust to Joe Gibbs' offense a wasted season. I don't see how we can consider Fred Smoot having a breakout year a wasted season. Watching Smoot and Springs become a formidable pair is wasting a season? Seeing Chris ey, in his rookie year, become an integral part of a Joe Gibbs offense, is that wasted? Seeing James Thrash and his work ethic the way it is? Is that wasting a season? How bout on a much broader scale seeing what Greg Williams has done to this defense?

Brunell may have been a bust, but that doesn't mean that if Ramsey was in there that he would have played like he did yesterday. If that was the case, he would have played like that in the first Giants game. If Ramsey can play half as well as he did yesterday, he'll have a great game against the Eagles. Even still, he has room for improvement.

I agree with RIC.

This team has accomplished more in one short season than any Redskins team since Joe Gibbs first left. So we won't make the playoffs, but we have to crawl before we can walk. This team is slowly and steadily improving, and it's a hell of a lot of fun to watch. To say that this season has been wasted is negativity that I don't want to be a part of. Let's look at this season in a positive light. We're witnessing the beginning stages of our long climb back to respectability. We dug a hole so deep, there was no way we could climb out after a few games. But, now we've started to climb and we're getting there.

KEEP THE FAITH!!!

[Montana Redskin]

The fact is, one win does not improvement make.

After 5 years of horrible year after horrible year, they are going to have to show some consistency before I think we can say it's a "fact" that they have shown improvement.

However, what we CAN say, is that we all HOPE yesterday was a sign of improvement.

Amen....It'll take consistency, as in game after game for quite some time for me to consider improvement. How many? Ohhh, try 3-5, maybe a rough one in there, mixed in with 1-2 awesome ones and a couple so-so's...We've had basically 11 games of garbage offensively, except for 3 good Portis games, which were....hmmmm, wins.

Until we have a leader at QB, we ain't going nowhere. Is Ramsey up for it? We'll see, last week won't hurt a bit. Will someone step up at QB when Portis is having a rough time gaining yards? We'll see..

Kudo's to Ramsey, can't ask for anything better than what he did yesterday, I mean, Ramsey 19/22 ie. 86%, 3 TD's, 0 Pics??What's up with that? I'm digging that. I'll I care for is a CONSISTENT say, 18/28, 200, 2-3 Td's, and a pic...I'm cool with that. He puts up decent #'s like that and we'll be on track.

[SkinsJock]

I am biased! But, I am seeing improved play and an improved team! This team is so much better than last year. This is begining to look like a team.

Enjoy it, have fun with it! Why be so ready to find fault with a team that has so many players busting a gut to make a future for themselves and help their team.

Ther are only 4 games left before we go through the agony and ectasy of anticipating next year.

You really can't undo all the stuff thats happened so why not enjoy what you are seeing now.

Sure the Eagles will be a test, Bring 'em on! If we're not going to get credit for beating "easy" teams let's take down the good ones.

Welch will tell you - there are no easy division games and we looked pretty good against a team that has given us fits.

[welch]

Not only can you not undo the past, but sometimes -- most times -- you have to go through rough times to learn and improve.

This team has gotten better. Gibbs and staff have gone at least 2/3 of the way toward fitting their pieces into place, toward getting their players to play Redskins football.

The offense is mostly an expression of the OL. Forget what the sports entertainment talkers say, the Washington equivalents of Mike & the Mad Dog here in NY. It's mostly in the OL. As the line gets more coherent, everyone else plays better. Gibbs and Bugel and Breaux release more of the offense.

The OL is still thin, but we saw what happens when they play an ordinary defense.

This is good.

What baffles me is this:

- when the Redskins lose, Gibbs is a senile dope

- when the Redskins win, and not only win, but play as Redskins, (a) it's all because of Ramsey, one skill player. Not the intricate machinery around him. And (b) Gibbs is a senile dope for not going to Ramsey in game 3, and (3) that was only the Giants...the Eagles will destroy the Redskins.

This is truly baffling. Losing is bad and winning is bad? Or: who needs improvement and learning -- why didn't they play this way from week 1? (Social workers call this "magical thinking").

As a question: if the team had been capable of playing in week 1 the way they played in Giants II, wouldn't they have done it?

RIC and others are just right. This is not yet a playoff team, but they are getting there, and Giants II showed that.

I will continue to enjoy each game.

For Eagles II: they used to call it "smash-mouth football". This team has played through every sort of problem, has played hurt (see Smoot and Thomas, and others), has played reserves, and has never quit in any game.

Who can predict the future, but Eagles II should be interesting.