Would Brunell have taken us to the Playoffs?

[DEHog]

Before you say no, hear me out.

MB did not have the luxury of the running game and the pass protection that I see JC getting. Not sure when the Skins braintrust decided we were a pass happy, trick play offense. Our identity under Gibbs has always been run first, and protect the QB. I don’t understand why we got away from that and then waited till we were 3-6 to change it.

MB was 3-6 while starting but only got 127 rushing yards a game, if you take out the 234 against the Texan it’s a little over 100. JC has been getting 155 a game.

MB was completing 62% of his passes while JC is only completing half...this is were I think the biggest difference is… JC misses wide open receivers too much.

MB was sacked 12 times to JC 5 OK I’ll give you this one JC is more mobile, I still say the pass protection has been better.

JC has more int’s 5-4 then MB and TD passes are the same at 8. I believe JC has benefited from the running game.

I'd be willing to bet that if you got Gibbs alone and asked him if he knew 8-8 would make the playoffs would he have made the switch he’d say NO!!

I just feel we would be competing for a playoff spot this Saturday had we keep MB and made the same changes.

I’ve listen to so many Skins fans say that JC should have been it all along…I’m not buying that. While I don’t want to see MB come back, I’m not ready to say JC is the man either. I love the kid and hope he does well!!

[John Manfreda]

It sounds good but in reality, no it wouldn't have made a diffrence.

[Irn-Bru]

This will be a chicken - egg debate, methinks.

[Mursilis]

MB was 3-6 while starting but only got 127 rushing yards a game, if you take out the 234 against the Texan it’s a little over 100. JC has been getting 155 a game.

I'd say going to JC is what has opened up the running game. His mobility has bought him more time, and his arm strength has forced opposing defenses to respect the deep pass which Brunell lacked the arm strength to throw consistently. Mr. Dink and Dunk rarely threatened defenses deep, which is why opposing defenses could always play us tight and shut down the run. While JC's completion percentage needs improvement, he never had the full offseason that Brunell had to develop timing with the receivers. I expect it to improve markedly next year.

Bottom line is, sticking with Brunell would NOT have gotten us to the playoffs this year. Now maybe going with Campbell from Day 1, well, one can only dream now . . .

[Chris Luva Luva]

No.


The running game and pass protection didn't just magically appear when Jason popped on the scene. JC had a lot to do with the offense's surge.

The offense was scaled back for JC but JC does more with less than MB did with more. JC is pushing the defenses backwards, they now HAVE to cover the entire field. With MB at the helm, they only had to cover 8 yards.

Run, Run, Dump off pass 3 yards behind the LOS is gone!

[aswas71788]

No! NO! and NO! A THOUSAND TIMES NO!!!!!!

Brunell would not have taken the Redskins to the playoff or even to the record they now have. There has been a marked difference in the offense with Campbell in as quarterback. The scores have not shown it but the difference in the type of plays called is like night and day. Brunell as a starting NFL quarterback is done and was done last year. If Brunell had remained in as the quarterback, it would be one more year of futility and one more year before we went through the Campbell learning curve. Better Campbell this year than next or the year after.

[Chris Luva Luva]

I'd like to add that our WR's have been dropping passes left and right, JC's stats should be a bit higher. JC has to work on his accuracy but I've seen EVERYONE WR in our stable drop some easy catches for conversions and TD's. The ONLY thing I feel this offense needs right now is a healthy CP and a tall possession WR. A tall WR would help us in the redzone, I've seen ARE and Moss not be able to get certain passes because of their height.

[Redskin in Canada]

I will not speculate. I concede that Brunell might have won some games but playoffs? Not at all. For the -last- time: this season went down the toilet for more reasons than the bad play of Mark Brunell.

We have one of the worst defenses in the league. Our special teams have improved but they were inconsistent for most of the season. Portis never got going due to injuries and nobody trusted Betts six weeks ago.

And yes, Brunell could have thrown less interceptions and managed time and the game a bit better due to experience but this was his last season. We had to start Jason and I prefer to have started now than next season.

[Mursilis]

I'd like to add that our WR's have been dropping passes left and right, JC's stats should be a bit higher. JC has to work on his accuracy but I've seen EVERYONE WR in our stable drop some easy catches for conversions and TD's.

For the record, Campbell never finished a season at Auburn with a completion percentage under 60%. He set the record for freshmen his first year, and finished with a nice 69.6%(!!) his senior year, despite having worked with his fourth offensive coordinator. He was and will be in the future an accurate passer. He just needs an offseason to develop timing with his receivers, which is why some people were calling for him to at least be given a shot last offseason. While this team has many flaws, so many games have been close this year, and due to the sorry state of the NFC generally, I seriously and honestly believe if Gibbs had made the gutsy call to name Campbell the starter at the end of '05, we'd still be in the playoff hunt now.

The ONLY thing I feel this offense needs right now is a healthy CP and a tall possession WR. A tall WR would help us in the redzone, I've seen ARE and Moss not be able to get certain passes because of their height.

All this offense needs is time. JC needs to go into the offseason knowing his coach is behind him as the starter 100%, and he'll put in the work required to make the passing game a serious threat again. He's already said he's going to work with all his receivers 1-1 to get this O in gear. I can't wait to see him as the starter in '07.

[SkinsJock]

I will not speculate. I concede that Brunell might have won some games but playoffs? Not at all. For the -last- time: this season went down the toilet for more reasons than the bad play of Mark Brunell.

We have one of the worst defenses in the league. Our special teams have improved but they were inconsistent for most of the season. Portis never got going due to injuries and nobody trusted Betts six weeks ago.

And yes, Brunell could have thrown less interceptions and managed time and the game a bit better due to experience but this was his last season. We had to start Jason and I prefer to have started now than next season.

I will speculate - a little. I think we would have done better with Brunell but we would not be better off now with Brunell. Campbell is going to need time and that process has begun.

I also will say the reason our record is so bad has very little to do with Brunell or our offensive production - this is primarily because of the defensive lapses.

In today's NFL there are very few low scoring games - the rules favor the offense - the defense has to give the offense a chance to win the game not the other way around. Defenses have to give the offense the ball with a shorter field, they have to create turnovers and they have to limit the completed passes and yardage on the ground. These are all basics but these are not attributes of the Redskins' defense this year.


Houston drafted Williams instead of Young or Bush because they wanted to have a chance to beat the Colts. They were not going to do that by being better offensively. The Houston FO were categorically put down by a lot of fans for taking Williams - all those fans (and a lot here at THN) know little to nothing about the NFL - Houston is now 1-9 and the draft pick was the right choice. Is Houston better than the Colts? No, but they have a chance if they get a better defense. They had never won a game against the Colts and they would have no chance if they kept trying to improve offensively and not placing more effort on the defense.

The pukes at this time have a better offense than the Eagles - The Eagles beat Dallas because they played better defensively - the pukes lost because of their defense.



We have the better QB playing now (he was not the better QB in September) but we did not get to where we are now because of our offense, or lack thereof.

[oneman56]

wouldn't matter who played QB with the defense we've put on the field.

[Chris Luva Luva]

For the record, Campbell never finished a season at Auburn with a completion percentage under 60%. He set the record for freshmen his first year, and finished with a nice 69.6%(!!) his senior year, despite having worked with his fourth offensive coordinator. He was and will be in the future an accurate passer. He just needs an offseason to develop timing with his receivers, which is why some people were calling for him to at least be given a shot last offseason. While this team has many flaws, so many games have been close this year, and due to the sorry state of the NFC generally, I seriously and honestly believe if Gibbs had made the gutsy call to name Campbell the starter at the end of '05, we'd still be in the playoff hunt now.

I agree that he will be. Its obvious because sometimes he's too low, sometimes too high. You can tell he's trying to over compensate and work things out. The offseason will remedy that.

All this offense needs is time.

A tall WR would do nothing but aid this offense. Its ridiculous that we dont have one. The Skins need to go with the flow instead of bucking against the trend and failing for it. Just get a cheap one. Remeber Colston from the Saints? Rookie, cheap, great WR, 6th round pick. We too can get good draft picks if we'd put effort into it and give them a chance to play.

[roybus14]

For the record, Campbell never finished a season at Auburn with a completion percentage under 60%. He set the record for freshmen his first year, and finished with a nice 69.6%(!!) his senior year, despite having worked with his fourth offensive coordinator. He was and will be in the future an accurate passer. He just needs an offseason to develop timing with his receivers, which is why some people were calling for him to at least be given a shot last offseason. While this team has many flaws, so many games have been close this year, and due to the sorry state of the NFC generally, I seriously and honestly believe if Gibbs had made the gutsy call to name Campbell the starter at the end of '05, we'd still be in the playoff hunt now.

I agree that he will be. Its obvious because sometimes he's too low, sometimes too high. You can tell he's trying to over compensate and work things out. The offseason will remedy that.

All this offense needs is time.

A tall WR would do nothing but aid this offense. Its ridiculous that we dont have one. The Skins need to go with the flow instead of bucking against the trend and failing for it. Just get a cheap one. Remeber Colston from the Saints? Rookie, cheap, great WR, 6th round pick. We too can get good draft picks if we'd put effort into it and give them a chance to play.

That's called "developing players" my friend. But for us to get a tall WR, our best bet IMO is that we wait until the draft is over to see what tall WR is left undrafted and sign him as a FA. We need to use our lone pick we do have on drafting a defensive player. It might also be a good idea to tap the mind of our Director of Player Development, John Jefferson's brain. After all, he was one of the most exciting WR's in the late 70's/early 80's with "Air Coryell" in San Diego. Giving guys like Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes fits. To of the best cover corners of all time. Get that tall wideout and left JJ and the current WR coach, coach him up.

But then again, getting a tall WR and trying to fit him in will be hard because of the decision we made to go get two high priced WR's when we only really needed one. We could have gone without signing Lloyd and giving up that pick and just signed ARE and have the room for that tall 3rd WR. It's not like Lloyd has done anything significant since he has been here anyway...

[REDEEMEDSKIN]

I have no doubt in my mind that Brunell would have taken us to the playoffs.

[UK Skins Fan]

The Redskins weren't going anywhere before Brunell was benched, and I don't think that things would have improved significantly if he had been kept in.

[riggofan]

No.

[redskinz4ever]

no

[Ownzone46]

Obviosly Brunell didn't feel comfortable in the new offense. Maybe if we gave back the offensive playcalling to Gibbs we would of been seeing a higher record with MB this year and even playoffs again.

[crazyhorse1]

Before you say no, hear me out.

MB did not have the luxury of the running game and the pass protection that I see JC getting. Not sure when the Skins braintrust decided we were a pass happy, trick play offense. Our identity under Gibbs has always been run first, and protect the QB. I don’t understand why we got away from that and then waited till we were 3-6 to change it.

MB was 3-6 while starting but only got 127 rushing yards a game, if you take out the 234 against the Texan it’s a little over 100. JC has been getting 155 a game.

MB was completing 62% of his passes while JC is only completing half...this is were I think the biggest difference is… JC misses wide open receivers too much.

MB was sacked 12 times to JC 5 OK I’ll give you this one JC is more mobile, I still say the pass protection has been better.

JC has more int’s 5-4 then MB and TD passes are the same at 8. I believe JC has benefited from the running game.

I'd be willing to bet that if you got Gibbs alone and asked him if he knew 8-8 would make the playoffs would he have made the switch he’d say NO!!

I just feel we would be competing for a playoff spot this Saturday had we keep MB and made the same changes.

I’ve listen to so many Skins fans say that JC should have been it all along…I’m not buying that. While I don’t want to see MB come back, I’m not ready to say JC is the man either. I love the kid and hope he does well!!

I don't agree at all with the above. We have a running game because Campbell's in there and the defense can't just stack the line. To think that the Skin's line just all of suddenly ceased looking like slugs and became one of the better OL's in the league (even with Portis out) is akin to magical thinking. The variable is Campbell presence and Brunell's absence. The players had no confidence in Brunell, nor should they have.
His percentage of completions was built on uncontested dinks and garbage time after big losses. The man was terrible and would have continued to make us the laughingstock of the league.

[RedskinsFreak]

Agreed. No. JC is the reason for an improved run game.

Betts doesn't get anywhere close to his 1,000 yards if he has to go head-first into a defense that has no need to play anyone deeper than 15-20 yards.

[mastdark81]

Before you say no, hear me out.

MB did not have the luxury of the running game and the pass protection that I see JC getting. Not sure when the Skins braintrust decided we were a pass happy, trick play offense. Our identity under Gibbs has always been run first, and protect the QB. I don’t understand why we got away from that and then waited till we were 3-6 to change it.

MB was 3-6 while starting but only got 127 rushing yards a game, if you take out the 234 against the Texan it’s a little over 100. JC has been getting 155 a game.

MB was completing 62% of his passes while JC is only completing half...this is were I think the biggest difference is… JC misses wide open receivers too much.

MB was sacked 12 times to JC 5 OK I’ll give you this one JC is more mobile, I still say the pass protection has been better.

JC has more int’s 5-4 then MB and TD passes are the same at 8. I believe JC has benefited from the running game.

I'd be willing to bet that if you got Gibbs alone and asked him if he knew 8-8 would make the playoffs would he have made the switch he’d say NO!!

I just feel we would be competing for a playoff spot this Saturday had we keep MB and made the same changes.

I’ve listen to so many Skins fans say that JC should have been it all along…I’m not buying that. While I don’t want to see MB come back, I’m not ready to say JC is the man either. I love the kid and hope he does well!!

Short term Mark probably would have won more games because he tends to turn the ball over alot less. Long term we needed to go this route because i don't think Mark is good enough to win us a superbowl Jason has that potential in the future.

Playoffs? Maybe....but who know's like the another guy said it was alot more then the play of the qb. Defense has been horrible this year.

[Chris Luva Luva]

So people think it was circumstance that the ENTIRE offense improved with JC at the helm.

Its circumstance that as he gets more experience the offense seems to look better and better?

What created the running game surge?
What aided the pass protection?

JC spreading the ball around and going down field. Its that simple. JC is doing more with less playbook than Mark did with more playbook. He's spreading defenses thin. They can no longer only protect 10 yards of the field. How many dump passes have you guys seen since JC has been in? When MB04 was at the helm defenses ONLY had to protect agaist the run and the dump off pass.


Eli did the same thing to us last night. He went deep but did not connect. The fact that he was going deep forced us to respect it and we couldnt get help to aid the running game (like it would hve mattered).