We are going to be fine this year.

[SkinFan 0-16 or 16-0]

Everybody knows the story from last year (Geat Defense, Sorry Offense). Well the 1st team D was absolutley on fire tonight. The Bengals were getting nothing until they came out. And we were missing key starters and reserves who will see significant playing time this year. (Matt Bowen,Ryan Clark,Brandon Noble, Artrell Hawkins, and the beast himself LaVar Arrington.)

You throw these guys out there with the starters/second unit. And we have a very good/deep defense. We have nothing to worry about there.

What surprised me though was the performance of the offense and special teams.

Ramsey made a couple poor decisions. But he also showed me a lot He looked off coverage. He looked more poised in the pocket, and he threw the ball DEEP.

We relaly took some shots down the field. Our Recievers are soooo fast. Moss, Patten, Brown, and Thrash all looked great. With Ramsey's arm and the new shotgun formation we will have a lot more deep balls this year. The o-line is much improved.Only 3 sacks in the past 2 games. We will open it up this year.

Our running game was also looking better tonight. 5.1 a carry. On the vanilla running schemes we ran. (But I did notice a few stretch plays. They seem to be run nicely.)
When Portis gets back I am seeing huge things. Espescially now that there's a good chance the deep ball will stretch the field enough to get the eigth man out of the box. (Nemo and Rock will make the team)

On special teams we also looked great. Antonio Brown is so fast. I read an artcle about he says he's the fastest player in the league yesterday. I believe him. He had some blocking tonight. And taht will only get better. He could have a Daunte Hall type season. Our coverage on special teams was good as well.

Only 6 penalties. Good for the 2nd pre-season game.

Even though we lost I honestly see big improvements in only a week. By the time the regular season starts we ill be good to go.

We just have to work on turnovers. That's what killed us. That's what will continue to kill us if we don't fix it. If we can fix that I see no reason why we can't make the playoffs.

[hkHog]

I didn't see the game but after Charles Mann kept saying "Ladell Betts looked fantastic!" I think that not only shows us what a good player he is but more importantly how well our line must have been blocking. I can't wait till Portis gets in there and it seems like we have a lot of backs who can really play with Rock and Nemo. Rock obviously isn't making it easy for Nemo to take his job.

[die cowboys die]

our "starting" D (still minus 3 or 4 important starters) gave up 59 total yards or so in the 4 series they were in. They forced 3 punts and made an interception. they were just manhandling the bengals. i have a feeling our defense might just be even better than last year...

how different might the game have been if santana moss had caught sight of that pass in the 1st series? ramsey lofted a beautiful touch pass perfectly in front where only moss could get it. moss had good seperation from his defender and would've taken it all the way into the endzone. that's just a matter of chemistry, familiarity. hopefully that will come in time.

ramsey would've thrown for a gorgeous TD pass during the 1st series. that sure would've made a strong impression, both on the fans and probably on his own psyche.

i don't know what to make of him. he made some incredible throws. hopefully his remaining problems can be coached/worked away.

all i know is this:

despite the questions about ramsey, i feel 10 times better about our team going into this year than i do last year. think about it like this: last year for whatever reason brunell couldn't hack it, and we hardly moved down the field before having to punt. well, with ramsey playing like this, at least we moved down the field before we turned the ball over. how is that different from a punt? at least it gives us a CHANCE to score (though obviously brunell is making a case for hs ability to help us score this year).

all we need is one more TD a game. i feel hopeful that we'll get it this year.

[hatsOFF2gibbs]

think about it like this: last year for whatever reason brunell couldn't hack it, and we hardly moved down the field before having to punt. well, with ramsey playing like this, at least we moved down the field before we turned the ball over. how is that different from a punt? at least it gives us a CHANCE to score (though obviously brunell is making a case for hs ability to help us score this year).

all we need is one more TD a game. i feel hopeful that we'll get it this year.

Yup, we should be definitely better of with Ramsey. I'm in favor of keeping Ramsey as the starter (as long as he produces more than Brunell would)...but personally, I think we should give some more playing time to Campbell. HE is the definite future of the team. He's the guy that'll lead us to great seasons!

[Shabba]

The defense can't get it done alone again. The offense has got to start doing something to help and I'm sure they will. At least they better.

[SkinsFanInHawai'i]

our "starting" D (still minus 3 or 4 important starters) gave up 59 total yards or so in the 4 series they were in. They forced 3 punts and made an interception. they were just manhandling the bengals. i have a feeling our defense might just be even better than last year...

I like the sound of that. I seriously think Rogers will replace Smoot and become a much better Corner(Smoot as much as I liked him was always the #2) than him. MLB, I like the fact that they are letting existing players on the squad step up, play, and prove themselves worthy.(Signing stars that do not know the system was getting old) I only heard the radio broadcast, but McCune sounded like he was in on a lot of plays. He might not start this season, but I would not mind this man taking over the MLB spot soon.(wouldn't that be awesome to have a 5th rounder really contribute?)

Getting back on topic, I think our D will be just fine this season. Who cares if Smoot and Pierce do not won't to be here this season,(I hope they have succesfull careers but rot with their existing franchises while the skins return to glory), they will be replaced. I can't wait to see both have subpar years, when they are out of the skins system.

Williams will prove again this season that it is not just the players but the scheme that makes a good D.(O too, comeon Gibbs!)

[Redskin in Canada]

Forgive me but I will ONLY know if the team will be fine when I see them play -during- the regular season. Somehow, somewhere, somehow the pre-season and the regular season are two completely different things. Maybe that is why they call it the -regular- season when wins and losses really count.

I try to be a realist. I have seen some encouraging signs and I have also seen some discouraging signs. We are at a time where a few tweaks and choices could make us very good and winners or very bad and ... have another -regular- (as in the last 10 years) season!

Of course I have no advice. That is why Joe makes a lot more money than I do at this. All I know is that he wants to win as bad or more than I do. He will not tolerate fools or incompetent players for long. He is hungry (some say angry, I don't). It is a big season for him. I love every second of it.

[RedskinsFreak]

Ramsey's picks trouble me. He hit two wide-open guys. But they were wearing black shirts.

(I attribute that to Gibbs' unsettling wearing of a black Redskins hat. Black must go -- it's NOT a Redskins color)

P-Ram still has too many bad plays that go along with the "WOW, what an arm" plays, like last night's TD to Thrash and a long sideline pattern to Patten.

He must increase his WOW!-to-Whaa? ratio.

[wonker]

What is fine?

I'm not fine with 8 wins, and that's ALL I see this team getting.

The WRs are a total joke. James Thrash is our best performer this pre-season and Philthy just tossed him away.

The line looks good, definitely not great. Ramsey never looks comfortable, and I lay that blame on either the line or, less likely, the coachees.

G.W. will do great with defense. But so what? Dallas and Philthy both have good defenses as well.



wonker

[NikiH]

The only reason Thrash is not still an Eagle is because of T.O. He is an awesome player if it that means he's an Eagles throw away, we need to start picking through their garbage a little bit better. If more players stepped up and played like he did we'd have a hell of an offense. I don't like your attitude that he is second rate in any way, shape, or form, HE IS NOT!

And I saw Ramsey look comfortable on more plays this week then he did last week. It's a progression and you need to give it time to work out. There are new parts to this offense and they need to learn to work well together. Did you see any short passes to ey last night?? Nope, you know why? That is a weapon we know we have, we know it works. They are working out new players, new combinations. Have patience!!!

[ArizonaHOG]

Everybody knows the story from last year (Geat Defense, Sorry Offense). Well the 1st team D was absolutley on fire tonight. The Bengals were getting nothing until they came out. And we were missing key starters and reserves who will see significant playing time this year. (Matt Bowen,Ryan Clark,Brandon Noble, Artrell Hawkins, and the beast himself LaVar Arrington.)

You throw these guys out there with the starters/second unit. And we have a very good/deep defense. We have nothing to worry about there.

What surprised me though was the performance of the offense and special teams.

Ramsey made a couple poor decisions. But he also showed me a lot He looked off coverage. He looked more poised in the pocket, and he threw the ball DEEP.

We relaly took some shots down the field. Our Recievers are soooo fast. Moss, Patten, Brown, and Thrash all looked great. With Ramsey's arm and the new shotgun formation we will have a lot more deep balls this year. The o-line is much improved.Only 3 sacks in the past 2 games. We will open it up this year.

Our running game was also looking better tonight. 5.1 a carry. On the vanilla running schemes we ran. (But I did notice a few stretch plays. They seem to be run nicely.)
When Portis gets back I am seeing huge things. Espescially now that there's a good chance the deep ball will stretch the field enough to get the eigth man out of the box. (Nemo and Rock will make the team)

On special teams we also looked great. Antonio Brown is so fast. I read an artcle about he says he's the fastest player in the league yesterday. I believe him. He had some blocking tonight. And taht will only get better. He could have a Daunte Hall type season. Our coverage on special teams was good as well.

Only 6 penalties. Good for the 2nd pre-season game.

Even though we lost I honestly see big improvements in only a week. By the time the regular season starts we ill be good to go.

We just have to work on turnovers. That's what killed us. That's what will continue to kill us if we don't fix it. If we can fix that I see no reason why we can't make the playoffs.

I did not get to see the game but followed every play on nfl.com. I got the same read on the game. The turnovers worry me. Ramsey got sacked a couple of times from the shotgun, which says to me that more work is needed. But, the defense will be fine. On offense we're getting lots of yards. It seemed the offense was really working on the passing game. Add Portis and a solid running game, better special teams play and we'll be fine. Next week's game is on TV here so I'll get a better look.

[NikiH]

Just curious Arizona Hog what flaws you saw on Special Teams? I was there and neither JF or I noticed any major issues there, as a matter of fact if Tupa doesn't step it up we have one hell of a back up waiting in the wings.

Just wondering if we missed something you saw?

[crazyhorse1]

Everybody knows the story from last year (Geat Defense, Sorry Offense). Well the 1st team D was absolutley on fire tonight. The Bengals were getting nothing until they came out. And we were missing key starters and reserves who will see significant playing time this year. (Matt Bowen,Ryan Clark,Brandon Noble, Artrell Hawkins, and the beast himself LaVar Arrington.)

You throw these guys out there with the starters/second unit. And we have a very good/deep defense. We have nothing to worry about there.

What surprised me though was the performance of the offense and special teams.

Ramsey made a couple poor decisions. But he also showed me a lot He looked off coverage. He looked more poised in the pocket, and he threw the ball DEEP.

We relaly took some shots down the field. Our Recievers are soooo fast. Moss, Patten, Brown, and Thrash all looked great. With Ramsey's arm and the new shotgun formation we will have a lot more deep balls this year. The o-line is much improved.Only 3 sacks in the past 2 games. We will open it up this year.

Our running game was also looking better tonight. 5.1 a carry. On the vanilla running schemes we ran. (But I did notice a few stretch plays. They seem to be run nicely.)
When Portis gets back I am seeing huge things. Espescially now that there's a good chance the deep ball will stretch the field enough to get the eigth man out of the box. (Nemo and Rock will make the team)

On special teams we also looked great. Antonio Brown is so fast. I read an artcle about he says he's the fastest player in the league yesterday. I believe him. He had some blocking tonight. And taht will only get better. He could have a Daunte Hall type season. Our coverage on special teams was good as well.

Only 6 penalties. Good for the 2nd pre-season game.

Even though we lost I honestly see big improvements in only a week. By the time the regular season starts we ill be good to go.

We just have to work on turnovers. That's what killed us. That's what will continue to kill us if we don't fix it. If we can fix that I see no reason why we can't make the playoffs.

I hate to be so optimistic, but on the basis of this one game, I have to agree that we look pretty good. The scores against us seem of no significance...all against reserves...and our offenses seems to be improving.

[Scottskins]

I hate to be so optimistic

that's the funniest thing you've ever said on here crazy...

Glad you've got a little joy this week

[1niksder]

I hate to be so optimistic, but on the basis of this one game, I have to agree that we look pretty good. The scores against us seem of no significance...all against reserves...and our offenses seems to be improving.

Optimizim isn't something we are use to from you around here.
I guess you just like going against the grain and since the post have been mostly negative... this fits right in.

However you are correct this time about the offense seemingly improving. The Bengals starters had little sucsess against our starters.

Our offense seem to be the thing that has everyone in a uproar, but there is no reason for it.

Our starting line gave up a few sacks in game two but they are playing solid as a unit. Truth be told this is were our season will be made or broken. This is a go sign for us

Ramsey is the starting QB going into the season and I don't see that changing. There are a lot of crys for Brunell, because of the way the to are playing in the pre-season. Ramsey supporters are saying Brunell is playing against 2nd/3rd stringers. Ramsey bashers are saying that doesn't matter. If we switched roles for Ramsey and Brunell I suspect the out come would be the same (Brunell would struggle with the starter - Ramsey would excel with the backups).

WHY???

The starters are focusing on the passing game to get their timing down and use to each other. When the backups take over you see a run game that is allowing the passing game to open up. On 4th and one with the starters in the game Friday we saw Ramsey hand the ball off to Rock, who didn't get it. Brunell handed off to Nemo 3-4 in a row in the 3rd quarter.
Who do you have higher on your depth chart when you need 1 yard? Rock or Nemo

Ramsey did very little with play action over the last two weeks and linebackers always seem to be in pass coverage, and Brunell has been able to use it to hold LB long enough for receivers to get behind them.

These aren't excuses for Ramsey or a knock on Brunell, but another example of the many things that go on during traing camp and the pre-season.

Like the Fat guy with the man-boobs coaching that team in Texas said last week "you see it, but you really don't know what you see".

[ArizonaHOG]

Just curious Arizona Hog what flaws you saw on Special Teams? I was there and neither JF or I noticed any major issues there, as a matter of fact if Tupa doesn't step it up we have one hell of a back up waiting in the wings.

Just wondering if we missed something you saw?

Sorry....I did not mean that I saw any flaws in special teams....but now that I read what I wrote I see how you understood it that way. What I meant to say is that I think our special teams have improved over last year, and adding that to better offense means we'll be fine this year. Friday night it seems our special teams did very well. Our return game produced good yardage, our coverage teams were solid, and the kicking game was decent. Thanks.

[NikiH]

Oh ok, I was honestly just worried that not having the wonderful coverage (sarcasm) on television I was missing something. We are now watching the replay and Theisman is horrible. And they seem all over the place. They are saying the players names wrong they are not even talking about key stuff going on half the time. I guess Redskins tv gets a big from me. Their coverage blows.

[crazyhorse1]

I'm not worried about Ramsey. He always starts slowly. The Ol is looking better than I expected and Nemo looks like the short yardage guy we have to have. If Patten's for real (I cross my fingers), we could score some points.
I still don't believe in Moss, however, or our TE's and am very disappointed in Taylor's continued fragility-- it could be a career long thing. I'm losing patience with it. I also hear that White is not working out- a loss we can live with, if what I hear is true.
I'm delighted Gibbs is keeping ey and Portis under wraps: I don't want a darned thing given away.

[1niksder]

Ramsey can start slow if he has someone to hand the ball off to a few times until he gets going. That really hasn't been a option this pre-season with all the focus on the passing game.

Portis, ey and it looks like Patten should help Ramsey out a lot.
As far as Moss goes I stand by my original statement. (Moss is a add on due to the departure of Coles). Patten seems to be in sync with Ramsey and Patrick has said the see things the same way.

The offense is looking better regardless of the naysayers.
12 plays over 15 yards on Friday is a step in the right direction.(7 were for 20 or more)

The offense line is the key, and it looks like we might have some good depth there too.

[runbillo]

Greetings from NYC: The D looked great in the 1st quarter and the offense seemed to be greatly improved. I love our new wide outs. It looked like we were using plays out of the Rams playbook the way we were throwing the ball downfield. I cannot wait till Mr Portis gets behind our new and improeved O line!! 11 and 5!!!

[JansenFan]

I guess Redskins tv gets a big from me. Their coverage blows.

What do you mean? Charles Rogers, Carlos Brown and company enjoyed the coverage I'm sure.

[Fo_Block]

I hate to be so optimistic, but on the basis of this one game, I have to agree that we look pretty good. The scores against us seem of no significance...all against reserves...and our offenses seems to be improving.

when did carlos rogers become a reserve? he was toasted on consecutive deep balls by cincy's #2 and 3 receivers.

i am telling you, as a non-blind homer i watched that game and saw very little from the redskins to make me think they will be any good this year. the d looked good because they blitzed every play and the bengals didn't have a game plan in, they were just trying to get some guys a look (what preseason is for!). once the bengals adjusted to the aggressive d they moved the ball much more effectively.

ramsey looks terrible - he very well may be the worst starter in the league. brunnel looks pretty good but why is he in the 4th quarter? these are the only reps campbell will see all year and gibbs is giving them to brunnel? why - b/c ramsey's days as starter are numbered.

[SkinsJock]

That is about as grim a picture as could be made. I am suprised that you still want to be a supporter. Maybe you are here to just be anti anything possibly good about the rebuilding effort that Gibbs is trying here?

If being a "blind homer" is someone who prefers to "see" things as possibly being better this year rather than finding all the faults possible in games that do not count for diddly except as they give the coaches information to be able to decide who to keep, then I am one as another here likes to bore us all with.

We just might surprise you both this year. I think Joe knows a little more about winning than either of you ever will.

[SkinsJock]

..ramsey looks terrible - he very well may be the worst starter in the league. brunnel looks pretty good but why is he in the 4th quarter? these are the only reps campbell will see all year and gibbs is giving them to brunnel? why?

Probably because Gibbs knows a little more (just a smidgin, but a little more!) about getting a team and especially his QB ready, than you or me.

[SKINZ_DOMIN8]

..ramsey looks terrible - he very well may be the worst starter in the league. brunnel looks pretty good but why is he in the 4th quarter? these are the only reps campbell will see all year and gibbs is giving them to brunnel? why?

Probably because Gibbs knows a little more (just a smidgin, but a little more!) about getting a team and especially his QB ready, than you or me.

Gibbs is giving Ramsey all the rope he needs to hang himself. He's doing quite fine so far.