Pour Some Sugar On Me - I Said What? A Look Back at Redskins and League Predictions and How They Have Fared

by Sugar on Oct 13, 2009 4:00 AM EDT in Pour Some Sugar On Me Comment 27 comments

In today's episode of PSSOM, I look back at 10 predictions/statements/preseason quotes out of yours truly.

10 Yard Fight: Ten Chances to Make One Good Point

1) "Matt Hasselbeck will be up for comeback player of the year." OK, so I started off on one that I look good on. On Sunday, Hasselbeck proved that if he can stay upright, the Seahawks are capable of scoring and looking very impressive. Even their defense played better with him under center.

2) "Buffalo is in trouble. Trent Edwards has been somewhat schizophrenic." This Bills team came out gangbusters against the Patriots in week one, barely losing by a one-point margin. They stuck it to the Buccaneers, before losing in succession to the Saints, Dolphins, and...uhhhhh...the Browns. They lost 6-3! That's a score from a set of tennis! They are in fact in trouble.

3) "Kyle Orton looks as good as he ever did...in Chicago...where he didn't look that great..." See? I can admit when I was wrong. I mean, Orton did look pretty terrible in the preseason at times, but the truth of the matter is that they stripped him of Brandon Marshall and then he hurt his hand. I ripped on him because it was there, but Orton is a guy who can play ball and he is proving to be a leader and an extension of Josh McDaniels on the field.

4) "I'll say it again--Kurt Warner just doesn't look like he is playing his best football right now." Hmmmm...I guess what happens in the preseason stays in the preseason, eh? Kurt Warner has thrown for 1,165 yards and 6 touchdowns thus far, completing 66.3% of his passes and carrying an 89.7 QB rating. The Cards are hanging tough in an AFC West that looks worlds better than the disaster it was a year ago. I would have bet Warner would be done for the year by now after the second week of the preseason. I would have lost that bet.

5) "The Giants are the class of the NFC East and I don't think it is close." This one doesn't go in the books as one of the all-time boldest predictions, but I seem to recall the Cowgirls and the Eagles stealing a lot of headlines this offseason. The Giants are a legit Super Bowl contender. I hate it but Eli looks simply spectacular.

6) "I think a team that will make a huge leap this year is the San Francisco 49ers, but I am not sold on their passing game, and wonder if they can score the points necessary to get into the playoffs..." Does this count as a nice prediction? I watched very San Francisco preseason game and I simply loved what Mike Singletary was doing. I never got the sense this team saw itself as anything less than capable of winning games all season long. And the defense flashed this preseason as well. Patrick Willis is a beast.

7) "...there is plenty to suggest that they (the Redskins) could be this year's version of the Atlanta Falcons." Ouch. This one was just way off. Even if the Skins turn it around, they wouldn't be last year's Falcons. That Falcons' team was pretty good right out of the chute. The Skins have not done very much at all offensively and the defense has not played up to expectations. I was wrong.

8) I picked the Titans to make the playoffs out of the AFC, with these words about Jeff Fisher: "...he rocks a killer 'stache." I stand by my Jeff Fisher thoughts, but the Titans at 0-5 are a prohibitive longshot to get to the postseason.

9) Here was a bad call by me: Alfred Fincher is our top defensive backup. Keep in mind, I made this statement on May 16th. That doesn't make it any less stupid-looking though. Who is our top defensive backup by the way? I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments section.

10) I saved the best for last...I had this to say about the Cincinnati Bengals: "I actually like this team to win the AFC North." YEAH! That was on on July 15th, before I had seen any episodes of Hard Knocks and before I had seen Carson Palmer return to the field. Here was my Carson Palmer thought: "If Carson Palmer can return to form--and it says here that he will--then this team will score plenty of points, and they will be able to do it against the defenses in their division and the rest of the AFC." Lots of season left, but this one looks good so far.

Give Me the Numbers, Stat!

I am sitting here watching the Jets-Dolphins game and something about Braylon Edwards reviving his career and reputation in front of my eyes has me thinking positive, hopeful things. I was shocked to see that the Redskins are tied for 5th (with the Steelers) in the NFL in yards per game. We are 9th in scoring defense (3 teams ahead of us have had their bye week.) What has killed us is of course obvious to all who watch: we are 23rd in 3rd down percentage, allowing opposing offenses to convert 41% of their 3rd down attempts. On offense, we only convert 33% of our 3rd down attempts, good for 21st in the league. These are the two stats we need to work on and improve upon if we are going to have any chance to keep the sun from setting on this season. As Bob Dylan sang, "It's not dark yet, but it's getting there."

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No question

Best backup player = Reed Doughty.

by KevinE on Oct 13, 2009 7:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Who's now the starter

Making Horton best backup player

by dr WNC on Oct 13, 2009 8:52 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

haha, yep...who's the worst backup?

Barnes?

by KevinE on Oct 13, 2009 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Renaldo Wynn

or Henson for his dumbass tweets

by pas493 on Oct 13, 2009 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah

Horton is the best backup, with Jarmon as 1A.

And I STILL think Horton should be the starter. Reed has done well, but not enough to change my mind. The reason Horton was put in the starting lineup in the first place is because, while him an Reed have similar numbers, CH gives you more big plays. That hasn’t changed, even WITH him coming off the bench.

by CJHutch on Oct 13, 2009 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I beg to differ

At least on the fact that the Redskins defense isn’t pulling their weight. The two turnovers they caused Sunday resulted in 14 points for the Redskins. The defense is playing well, maybe not great, but well. Put this defense on any team in the NFL with at least an average offense and you have a consistently winning team. Yes, our offense is so poor that nothing our defense does can keep us in the game even when they get us turnovers resulting in 14 points (offense only needed 21 yards to get those 2 TDs because of the turnovers). Our offense needs to sustain and finish long drives. Let’s not jump on the defense when our offense can’t score more than 20 points against winless opponents.

by Kurtstack on Oct 13, 2009 8:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Reality check...

Our bottom third offensive statistics have come against 1 good team and four teams whose combined winning record is 2-22, with their ONLY wins against us.

Put this defense on any team in the NFL with at least an average offense and you have a consistently winning team.

Same goes for the Defense – we played a bunch of losers and look just OK and bad at times.

Bottom line – No team has had (based on win/loss record of opponents) an easier 5 (will be 6 come Sunday) game start to their season in NFL history – and we can barely compete having not scored more than 17 pts. Would love it to see things improve, but the last half of the season looks like shooting fish in a barrell – to our opponents.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

by Scott E on Oct 13, 2009 8:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

#7

Just a bit outside…“Major League” or

Wide right…“Florida State”

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

by Scott E on Oct 13, 2009 8:49 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Don't worry Sugar, Fincher is tearing up the UFL

by pas493 on Oct 13, 2009 9:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I would settle for being the inverse of last years Redskins.

Waking up at the halfway point and finishing out the season at 6-2 would seem a dream scenario at this point.

Check out these games:

Multiplayer Baseball: http://www.mmobaseball.com/createaccount.aspx?ref=9687

Multiplayer Football: http://goallineblitz.com/game/signup.pl?ref=16986650

by matthiasstephan on Oct 13, 2009 9:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Please do not wish for this...

It will only serve to set unrealistic expectations for next year and semi-validate in Snyder’s mind that he knows what he is doing. Trust me… as painful as this is, we are better off going 3-15, picking up some decent draft picks (even trading down for good O-linemen, etc.) and rebuilding our core players. Let the rest of the year be for playing our young kids and seeing who is going to be a player for our future.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

by Scott E on Oct 13, 2009 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yea don't root for your team to win!

by pas493 on Oct 13, 2009 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well a win against the 'Girls...

in the Dumbo-Dome is mandatory. And if we can beat them at home, I’ll take it. The basic point is that what we’ve got is not working. If our kids can win…so much the better – just not realistic to expect otherwise. And, since we don’t have a long term strategy for building a winner, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and hope that bottoming out will force change that brings improvement. Or, we can just mindlessly follow along waving pom-poms as the sewage flows back and forth across the field. Pick your poison.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

by Scott E on Oct 13, 2009 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well how about this then Scott:

What if I root for the Skins really hard for every game this year, like I do every game. But what if they lose the next two weeks and Zorn is gone during the bye week? So we’d be 2-5 can I then root for them to win and finish out 11-5?

by pas493 on Oct 13, 2009 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What...11-5, the inverse of last year

If last year the team would have lost every other game, and gone 8-8 would it have been better?
Or did the end of year collapse highlight Zorn’s ineffciencies more than anything.

by dr WNC on Oct 13, 2009 11:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think we should just win some games, it would probably make a couple of people happy around here.

by pas493 on Oct 13, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's a matter of....

short term semi-satisfaction and disappointment vs long term success and ever-loving joy!!

And I will say, up to this point it hasn’t really been a matter of winning or losing with me – it’s the fact that my team stinks. We are talking highly paid professionals playing lower division college ball and some of the players seem to be tanking it as well.

Is that what you signed up for when you became a fan? I expect 60 minutes of intensity, well executed blocking, and attacking O and D with hard hitting all around. Not everyone is on that page on this team (players/coaching/mgt/owner) and that’s the kind of thing that pisses me off the most.

We are heading into game 6 of the season and we don’t have an identity? Well boohoo. If you are not sure, just go out and hit someone.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

by Scott E on Oct 13, 2009 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

O we have an identity, just not a positive one

by pas493 on Oct 13, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Giants

Kenny, let me stop you now before you do any more self-lauding with the Giants. They’ve played the Redskins, Cowboys, Bucs, Chiefs, and Raiders. None of those teams are a test except for the game @ Dallas. Let’s see how the Giants do against a winning team first….this week against the Saints.

You conveniently left out your prediction the Eagles would stink it up, and to throw it in, I thought they would too. It’s amazing the injuries this team has, yet they continue to pound teams.

Fun fact: The Eagles have 54 more points scored than the Redskins and they’ve played 1 less game.

Another kick in the nuts is their two WRs picks are blowing it up their FIRST years. Ugh….

by KevinE on Oct 13, 2009 10:08 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ditto on the Giants'...

1st and 2nd year receivers making Plax a thing of the past. Nice of him to help them out like he did, though. Just to refresh: Mario Manningham makes our D = Fools on 30+ yd run and catch down the sideline.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

by Scott E on Oct 13, 2009 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Another kick in the nuts...

and I’m voting for an 8 game season or at least to go comfortably numb.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

by Scott E on Oct 13, 2009 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

True on the quality of the competition

but look at the results. Other teams (like the ‘Girls) struggle or get scored on by the Chiefs, and Bucs. The Giants slap them up and down the field and then relax in the fourth quarter. I’m worried about the Saints game because they are at home AND coming off of a bye, but it will definitely be a great game and a true test.

Homer: Aw, twenty dollars! I wanted a peanut!
Homer's Brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!
Homer: Explain how!
Homer's Brain: Money can be exchanged for goods and services!
Homer: Woo-hoo!

by bigbluethruandthru on Oct 13, 2009 8:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Waste of time

Nothing else has worked, so the next course of action is to “stop”

Stop buying tickets & parking
Stop buying merchandise
Stop posting about the team on the internet
Stop calling into radio shows
Stop everything

There really is no hope so long as Danny’s cash train keeps on rolling. If you love this team, just “stop”. Hi-def TV is about a million times better than seeing a game at FedEx anyway.

by Mixmy1200s on Oct 13, 2009 11:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No one will do it.

Skins fans love Wasting millions and millions of dollars on crap. Just read some posts " I will go out to FedEx and Root my boys on no matter what!" That is Music to the Thief’s ears. Even on local radio, an insider was counting how many more years of tyranny we have. AT LEAST 40 MORE YEARS!!! Then his kids get the team!!!!!!

Welcome to the new OHIO!!!! the new state of crappy football!!!!!

by brettpedigo on Oct 13, 2009 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

question for you

not trying to bust your chops but if this team all of a sudden stopped making money. do you think danny is more likely to sell it? or move it to another market where they don’t have a team?

I'm to young to Die Danny...don't make me do it tomorrow....

by Rekka on Oct 13, 2009 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good Question...

The League has to approve a move to another market. That would never happen. Also, He doesn’t need to lose money, just make a little less. This Franchise is worth more than the freakin Yankees!!!!! The only reason they are not worth more than the stupid cowboys is the new stadium! the Devil is smart. He will tell Danny to make the people happy if they stop paying for season tickets, and stop going. Can you EVER imagine a blackout?? Or looking up into the stands and seeing two or three sections closed because the people stopped going? This is DC… That would send the whole league into a tizzy. Make a statement. Stop settling. Besides, The game looks great in HD, compared to the nose bleeds anyway.

by brettpedigo on Oct 13, 2009 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs