The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Like a lot of you, I'm quite sure, the Redskins team has let me down year after year after year. Each year, at the beginning of the year, I convince myself how we have a good (if not great) team "on paper" and I convince myself we'll go to the playoffs.

Where does that get me? 5-11. What the hell?

That is why this year, I am doing my best to temper my enthusiasm about this 2-0 start we are seeing.

Sure, this is a good Redskins team. This is the fastest defensive unit I've seen in 10 years. I'm a huge fan of Jason Campbell. I love Moss, Portis, ey, Randle El. I love our defense. I love everything about this team.

Hell, I even love our beaten up O-line? Why? Because I think that losing two giants like Thomas and Jansen will lead the Redskins to find two new gems that will do quite well on the line. I'm not even worried there.

Still....I am doing my best to temper my enthusiasm.

I'm gonna ride this wave week-to-week.

No game is a "gimme", not even the Giants. Not even the Lions.

No game is a "gimme".

I'm just gonna cheer on this team each week and hope for the best.

You're never gonna hear a "We're gonna be 6-0" comment from me! Never!

What you'll hear from me is:

Wow! I'm so happy we're 3-0 (if we beat the Giants), 4-0 (if we beat the Giants and Lions), etc.

I refuse to pay attention to the media.

If I don't listen to them when the bash this Skins, I'm not gonna listen to them when they tell me that the Skins may be developing into the best team in the NFC East.

This is what I am doing....

tempering my enthusiasm.

With each win, to be sure, it will become more and more difficult..

But I gotta tell ya.

I love being 2-0. I really do.

I just hope this continues.

Win or lose, I'm a Redskins fan 'till I die.

I hope to be "tempering my enthusiasm" - all the way to the Super Bowl.

Right wit cha Bro!

I have been thinking and feeling the same way!

I'm sure a lot of the level headed fans are with you, the ones that weren't calling out 'POSSE GENERATION TWO,' anyway. Cautiously optimistic I like to call it.


On a side note, I DID have a great time razzing all the haters that had their pools against the skins last Monday nite

In the deepest recesses of my shallow mind, I am far more concerned with the Detroit Lions than I am with the New York Giants. Perhaps that is because the Gnats lack the offensive weaponry of Detwit.

In the foremost recesses of my shallow mind, I agree whole-heartedly that we, as fans, need to enjoy each individual victory. And like the team itself, we should take one game at a time. There are no walkover games in the NFL.

From a 5-11 record last season to a 2-0 start this season is a remarkable accomplishment. It does not, however, mean that a realistic fan should begin discussing or comparing this team to the 14-2 Washington Redskins of yester-year. Let's take every victory with enjoyment and realistically expect there will be defeats.

This is a mantra, a chant an entire philosophy which I shall the Gibbsonian approach. Therefore I will adopt a Gibbsonian approach as formulated by the mighty and wise Hog of Justice.

I buy into the hype almost every season...

When we had Spurrier I just knew we'd have an offense as prolific as the Rams. I just knew Trung Candidate would be a feature back, I thought we'd be one of the elite teams in football...

Hell, when I was a kid I thought that Heath Shuler was a future hall of famer, I thought for sure that Marty Shottenheimer would make us a top shelf team...

This season though, with Jason Campbell still learning, and our core of stars with seasons ahead of them, I am perfectly content for a 7 or 8 win season. I am not really expecting anything more, even though it's possible. I'm just ready to take the ride with the team, if they win 10 games, awesome. If they win 5? Then we get another impact rookie...

Skinsfan55 wrote:I thought for sure that Marty Shottenheimer would make us a top shelf team...

I still think that he would have. Not that we would have necessarily won a Super Bowl with him, but he sure did turn the team around even in his first year here. We probably would have been to the playoffs two to three times at least were he still here.

I'd rather have Gibbs, though. . .I don't think he's as likely to choke in the big games.

I go into that tempered enthusiasm for almost every year, even back in 2005 when they made the playoffs, but not this year, I'm staying overly enthused. This team might just be the team we have been waiting for... this might be it.

For the record, I am cautiously optimistic. No game if a gimme ... but I can't wait until the next one. I don't know how I 'm going to make it through the bye week.

I hear you bruh...

I too will take it week to week. I feel good about Sunday because in the two games, we have so far shown that we can finish.


But there are several keys to this game that I think we need to focus on:

1. Do not take their RB situation lightly. Yes Tiki retired and yes Jacobs is out but Ward has the ability to hurt us. So let's not take that lightly.

2. Pressure on Eli. We have to get pressure on him every passing down because of his shoulder and because he is still not there yet as a top flight QB that can still hurt you under pressure.

3. Running Game. Give them a heavily dose of Portis wide and Betts up the gut. I don't think that this Giants defense has the horses to stop two fresh RBs running wide and up the gut.

4. Stretching the field. The Giants don't have the CBs to run with ARE's pass routes or Moss' deep speed. We take a couple of shots early to put them on their heels and then come back intermediate with ey and Portis out of the backfield.

5. In game coaching. It's week 3 and we should start to see the play calling running alot smoother and the adjustments and decisions make alot faster now.....

i just hope we win, thats all i can really do

I, too, am cautiosly optimistic. Especially with out line evaporating into thin air.

Justice Hog wrote:Like a lot of you, I'm quite sure, the Redskins team has let me down year after year after year. Each year, at the beginning of the year, I convince myself how we have a good (if not great) team "on paper" and I convince myself we'll go to the playoffs.

Where does that get me? 5-11. What the hell?

That is why this year, I am doing my best to temper my enthusiasm about this 2-0 start we are seeing.

Sure, this is a good Redskins team. This is the fastest defensive unit I've seen in 10 years. I'm a huge fan of Jason Campbell. I love Moss, Portis, ey, Randle El. I love our defense. I love everything about this team.

Hell, I even love our beaten up O-line? Why? Because I think that losing two giants like Thomas and Jansen will lead the Redskins to find two new gems that will do quite well on the line. I'm not even worried there.

Still....I am doing my best to temper my enthusiasm.

I'm gonna ride this wave week-to-week.

No game is a "gimme", not even the Giants. Not even the Lions.

No game is a "gimme".

I'm just gonna cheer on this team each week and hope for the best.

You're never gonna hear a "We're gonna be 6-0" comment from me! Never!

What you'll hear from me is:

Wow! I'm so happy we're 3-0 (if we beat the Giants), 4-0 (if we beat the Giants and Lions), etc.

I refuse to pay attention to the media.

If I don't listen to them when the bash this Skins, I'm not gonna listen to them when they tell me that the Skins may be developing into the best team in the NFC East.

This is what I am doing....

tempering my enthusiasm.

With each win, to be sure, it will become more and more difficult..

But I gotta tell ya.

I love being 2-0. I really do.

I just hope this continues.

Win or lose, I'm a Redskins fan 'till I die.

I hope to be "tempering my enthusiasm" - all the way to the Super Bowl.

Don't worry, this really is the year. I have already seen to that by tempering my off-season enthusiasm. As opposed to every year since Joe's first tenure, I didn't pay any attention to team matters this past summer. I looked to see who we drafted, but then went back about my business until the first week of the pre-season. So you can sit back and relax, JH, comfortable in the fact that Joe finally has his team in place, and we are once again the team to beat in the NFC.

Irn-Bru wrote:

Skinsfan55 wrote:I thought for sure that Marty Shottenheimer would make us a top shelf team...

I still think that he would have. Not that we would have necessarily won a Super Bowl with him, but he sure did turn the team around even in his first year here. We probably would have been to the playoffs two to three times at least were he still here.

I'd rather have Gibbs, though. . .I don't think he's as likely to choke in the big games.

My thoughts exactly.