A Redskins State of the Union: A Cry for Answers.
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:09 am
I'm a Redskins, born and bred. I'm a girl whose dad taught her one religious stepping stone: "The Father, the Son, and Joe Gibbs." And this year has been hard... I'm sure we can all agree that it was tough. I'm living in South Florida right now, surrounded by fans from all walks of life... Jets fans, Pats fans, and a surprisingly innordinate amount of Cowboys fans. (Boo.) I'm dating a Bears fan. It's hard. It's been hard to go to the sports bar week after week, watching everyone win, and only five times have I been able to cheer for a winning team along with them.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love my 'Skins. I always will. I will support them through the worst of the worst (like right now, haha!) or whatever comes our way. It's the playoffs, and I still wear my Redskins jersey to watch every game. Some say I enjoy the abuse, but I just really love my team.
So I ask you... WHAT IS UP WITH OUR TEAM?! It's hard being so far removed in South Florida, with a bunch of punk Dolphin fans (with the stupidest team song, by the way), trying to figure out what's going on. Here's my rundown:
The root of all evil, of course, is Dan Snyder... now a moneybags owner isn't always a bad thing. An owner with a lot of money who would obviously sell his soul to the devil for a Super Bowl ring isn't always a bad thing. Mr. Snyder, however, has taken it upon himself to dismantle our team, year after year. Every time the team wants to help themselves, he'll come along saying "OMG LET ME HELP U!!!!", and then he'll pull out a gun, and shoot each player and member of the coaching staff in their foot. We have a lot of coaching problems, but good lord, it hasn't been so bad since Dan Snyder. Too much money, too much interference... too much EVERYTHING! GO AWAY! LET THE TEAM DO WHAT THEY NEED TO DO!
Then there's the coaching issues. I don't know what's up with Gibbs. Is he just not that into the Redskins anymore? Is he losing faith in himself as a coach? Is he just not the Gibbs we know and love and were raised to love by our burgundy and gold wearing fathers, drunk uncles, and crazed DC cab drivers from Siberia? I don't know. I don't understand. Granted, there was a lot of pressure for Gibbs to deliver when he came back to Washington, and go him for taking him and our injured Brunell limping into the Playoffs last year. Granted, our team was still, at times, sucking rocks, but we took out Alexander, thus rendering the 'Hawks as sitting ducks for the Steelers. You're welcome, Pittsburgh. But now... who knows. It reminds me of the question posed by Jack Black in "High Fidelity": "Is it better to burn out or to fade away?" I'm starting to wonder if the answer for Joe Gibbs iit was probably the latter, but who knows.
As for the rest of the coaching staff, get Al Saunders out of there. Too many cooks in the kitchen. You can have a lot of cooks and run a great restaurant, but if you have a cook that wants the restaurant to serve good ol' fashion burgers (Gibbs and his run offense/counter trey plays) and a cook that wants to serve Chinese food and foofy French cuisine (I AM TALKING ABOUT YOU, AL!), the restaurant will fail and no one will eat there. Yea, I'm all about the analogies. Greg Williams, I can handle. Our defense somewhat fell apart... okay, yes, we fell apart, but the players actually seem to be behind him, which is more than I can say for the rest of the coaching staff.
This brings me to the players. This year has been sad, folks. I have never seen such little life in a team. We're out there. We're playing. But their eyes are dead. They're going through the motions. That's not a good thing for the 'Skins, who are one of the few teams that are really, at their heart and soul, at one with their fans and seriously driven by morale. We've exchanged quarterbacks, we've had injured players, etc. It's been a bait and switch all season, which is hard to rely on. We blamed Brunell for our issues, but then when Campbell came in (and all of our problems were supposed to be over) we watched Lloyd drop the ball over... and over... and over... and, once more with feeling, over!
We're all running around, pointing fingers, wanting answers.... wanting our team back. Wanting to know what has happened to our 'Skins of years past. We have the most dedicated fans in the NFL. We will live and die for our team. I just hope to the great Burgundy and Gold god that someone gives us an answer, or at least a solution. I think one thing we know we're lacking is consistency. We know we're lacking in time to build a team. Whether it's our coaches, or our players.... or our owner, hiding his horns in his brunette coif, someone needs to stop doing what they're doing. Someone needs to start thinking with the best interests of the team at heart, and not their wallets, or Super Bowl rings that they want so desperately.
It speaks volumes that last year, in spite of our setbacks, we did, in fact, make it to the Playoffs. Who is holding the gun to our head? Why is it that we couldn't simply build in on a team, but insist on deconstructing our team year after year? Someone up there lacks the patience and the understanding that it takes time to BUILD a team. You cannot buy a team. You cannot put a price tag on a dynasty. You have something working and you stay the course, and that is what we are missing.
Building a team takes time. Build the team... the ring will come.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love my 'Skins. I always will. I will support them through the worst of the worst (like right now, haha!) or whatever comes our way. It's the playoffs, and I still wear my Redskins jersey to watch every game. Some say I enjoy the abuse, but I just really love my team.
So I ask you... WHAT IS UP WITH OUR TEAM?! It's hard being so far removed in South Florida, with a bunch of punk Dolphin fans (with the stupidest team song, by the way), trying to figure out what's going on. Here's my rundown:
The root of all evil, of course, is Dan Snyder... now a moneybags owner isn't always a bad thing. An owner with a lot of money who would obviously sell his soul to the devil for a Super Bowl ring isn't always a bad thing. Mr. Snyder, however, has taken it upon himself to dismantle our team, year after year. Every time the team wants to help themselves, he'll come along saying "OMG LET ME HELP U!!!!", and then he'll pull out a gun, and shoot each player and member of the coaching staff in their foot. We have a lot of coaching problems, but good lord, it hasn't been so bad since Dan Snyder. Too much money, too much interference... too much EVERYTHING! GO AWAY! LET THE TEAM DO WHAT THEY NEED TO DO!
Then there's the coaching issues. I don't know what's up with Gibbs. Is he just not that into the Redskins anymore? Is he losing faith in himself as a coach? Is he just not the Gibbs we know and love and were raised to love by our burgundy and gold wearing fathers, drunk uncles, and crazed DC cab drivers from Siberia? I don't know. I don't understand. Granted, there was a lot of pressure for Gibbs to deliver when he came back to Washington, and go him for taking him and our injured Brunell limping into the Playoffs last year. Granted, our team was still, at times, sucking rocks, but we took out Alexander, thus rendering the 'Hawks as sitting ducks for the Steelers. You're welcome, Pittsburgh. But now... who knows. It reminds me of the question posed by Jack Black in "High Fidelity": "Is it better to burn out or to fade away?" I'm starting to wonder if the answer for Joe Gibbs iit was probably the latter, but who knows.
As for the rest of the coaching staff, get Al Saunders out of there. Too many cooks in the kitchen. You can have a lot of cooks and run a great restaurant, but if you have a cook that wants the restaurant to serve good ol' fashion burgers (Gibbs and his run offense/counter trey plays) and a cook that wants to serve Chinese food and foofy French cuisine (I AM TALKING ABOUT YOU, AL!), the restaurant will fail and no one will eat there. Yea, I'm all about the analogies. Greg Williams, I can handle. Our defense somewhat fell apart... okay, yes, we fell apart, but the players actually seem to be behind him, which is more than I can say for the rest of the coaching staff.
This brings me to the players. This year has been sad, folks. I have never seen such little life in a team. We're out there. We're playing. But their eyes are dead. They're going through the motions. That's not a good thing for the 'Skins, who are one of the few teams that are really, at their heart and soul, at one with their fans and seriously driven by morale. We've exchanged quarterbacks, we've had injured players, etc. It's been a bait and switch all season, which is hard to rely on. We blamed Brunell for our issues, but then when Campbell came in (and all of our problems were supposed to be over) we watched Lloyd drop the ball over... and over... and over... and, once more with feeling, over!
We're all running around, pointing fingers, wanting answers.... wanting our team back. Wanting to know what has happened to our 'Skins of years past. We have the most dedicated fans in the NFL. We will live and die for our team. I just hope to the great Burgundy and Gold god that someone gives us an answer, or at least a solution. I think one thing we know we're lacking is consistency. We know we're lacking in time to build a team. Whether it's our coaches, or our players.... or our owner, hiding his horns in his brunette coif, someone needs to stop doing what they're doing. Someone needs to start thinking with the best interests of the team at heart, and not their wallets, or Super Bowl rings that they want so desperately.
It speaks volumes that last year, in spite of our setbacks, we did, in fact, make it to the Playoffs. Who is holding the gun to our head? Why is it that we couldn't simply build in on a team, but insist on deconstructing our team year after year? Someone up there lacks the patience and the understanding that it takes time to BUILD a team. You cannot buy a team. You cannot put a price tag on a dynasty. You have something working and you stay the course, and that is what we are missing.
Building a team takes time. Build the team... the ring will come.
