To my fellow Skins fans

This still keeps us on a pace to have a higher draft pick to blow :)

it is just amazing that everytime we get something going our way it takes an immediate turn the other direction! just when i think we cant screw it up the unbelieveable happens we could be up by 21 with 2 minutes left and i would still be on the edge of my seat wondering when or how were going to screw it up!! your right though were not the lions and things do come around just when??

I expected to get blown out of the water but that wouldn’t have been the bitter torture that was provided. It’s looks to me like this is the year we prove we can find a way to not finish a game in any circumstance. We have a lead and blow it, we have a chip shot FG and blow it, we give up a last minute drive after shutting a QB down for an entire game. Is this an attempt to become the anti harlem Globe Trotters of the NFL?

I hope Lombardi (at the National Football Post) is wrong that VC will still have a job with us next year. He also claims Shanahan will be the next coach which would be an improvment if they let him coach and not treat him the way Zorn has been treated. Then again, could the coaching get worse?

Campbell, Thomas, Kelly, Davis, Betts, Cartwright, Mason have all shown that they can play in this league and make a difference – and even Randle El is benefitting! Don’t do like ’99 and overhaul again after missing the NFC championship by one bad snap! If Dan S overhauls this team and drops Zorn – I am 100% serious that I will drop this team after being a lifelong fan – For the first time since Joe Theismann and Riggo etc…I am identifying with these guys and want to see them win AS REDSKINS. Remember Joe Theismann was crap for a long while and kept losing last minute to Staubach and Danny White against the Cowboys. Imagine if they keep this team together and eventually win? It will be just as exciting and meaningful as the 82 Redskins..These guys WANT to stay together.

This is what they need to do and it doesn’t take a Doctorate of football to figure it out:

I love Cooley and respect Portis – But trade them and get 3 Solid proven O-linemen. These three guys combined with the line they have now kept together give them the depth on O-line that they need.

Now Campbell can utilize 5 step and 7 step drops and let Kelly, Thomas and Moss work of each other downfield!

Problem solved! Now Dan S can say to the world that his executive team HAS done the right thing building through free agency etc….with two simple trades!

Think about it – Zorn has kept these guys together through incredible controversy and they are still playing Hard with nothing to gain – almost Joe Gibbs like. And he has kept his poise and class. And they are playing hard because they love him! He said that it would take two years for his guys to get it and Joe Theismann even said that he agreed – once it becomes 2nd nature and they can utilize their talent without "thinking"-watchout! That is exactly what is happening – you can see it happening week after week. Watch when they play NY and Dallas again – it will be different. I am proud of this team – don’t mess it up!!

Dan Schneider should be booted out of Washington next year if he does something stupid like firing Zorn and bringing in ANOTHER coach while keeping Campbell – just the type of Crap he will do because he ends up having a personal issue with Zorn or something?

Great post.

I agree that it’s encouraging that we are playing tough, against good teams, banged up, and with nothing to play for, for a probably lame duck coach.

On the other hand, I think you can read too much into “moral victories”, and especially when the games don’t mean anything anymore.

The time to put forth an amazing effort is when the games actually matter. Like earlier in the season, before we were eliminated from the playoffs.

Like in Game 1 agaisnt the Giants, for example.

Now that we’re playing basically exhibition games, we seem to playing harder. Is that good? I’m not sure.

So I guess I’m happy we appear to be playing better, but until we do it in 2010, and until we start beating good teams, I can’t get too excited about anything this year.

Remember that the skins played against teams that needed to win to keep themselves in the playoffs. These games were far from being exhibition games for Dallas, Phil and to a lesser extent NO.

The fact that the Redskins played the way they did against playoff bound teams bodes well for their future. The injuries to their so called star players, has given their rookies a chance to play. Portis didn’t have a single 100 yard rushing game over 7 games this year, constantly eluded to the weakness of the O-Line and yet Betts and Cartright run for 185 yards against Denver’s then #3 defense against the run. I am finished with players like Portis, who doesn’t practice with the team. Forget his injuries. There have been rumblings of comments from players on the Skins who are tired of him being given a pass.

Stop starting over. It’s killing me. Campbell and Zorn are above board, class acts and guys I am proud to cheer for. People like Andre Carter saying the team will never give up, is what the franchise was known for.

The skins of the late 70’s and very early 80’s (before Gibbs) were known for this kind of play, and yet they built a team out of consistency. Don’t start over. Don’t draft another damn qb, bring in another coach, or new offensive philosophy. These rookies need their space and time to grow. Let them with a qb whose above board approach and resilience speaks volumes with his teammates.

Keep them together!

IF YOU BELIEVE IN FATE: Good teams get the good bounce, the needed pick and the zebras’ questionable calls — Bad teams get the short end of all of these

IF YOU BELIEVE IN CONSPIRACIES: Apparently it was all over Twitter, and the rest of those time-swallowing sites last night, that someone threw the game. One player cannot throw the game (unless the place kicker has a new Rolls), but it always seems that game-changing calls are made by zebras in favor of teams that are generating lots of interest=revenues…

THE REALITY: It was great to see the ‘Skins almost beat the Saints. As the clocked ticked down, however, we all knew how it would end… We’re not good enough yet, even as well as we played yesterday, to beat good teams.

www.savetheskins.com

Does anybody remember the days when we were complaining about poor red zone production from our offense?

We’ve put up 24 or more points in 3 of the last 4 games. I’d say Sherm Lewis looks like a genius at this point given all of the injuries he’s working around offensively.

Listen everyone, Zorn never should have been asked to run the offense, and be a head coach, when he was never ever more than a qb coach. When you look at the Redskins of past glory, ask yourself why you respected them and what it was about their team chemistry that made average players win 3 superbowls in 12 years? It was a coach like Joe Gibbs who put greater emphasis on character players, than star power. He had a GM who gave him what he needed, and above all else, he was class and decent in the face of adversity. You can’t blame Zorn for a front office that doesn’t draft for the O-Line in and always thinks the next player is avaialble in free agency. The fact is, Zorn is the closest thing to Joe Gibbs (in terms of professionalism and class) that this organization has had in a damn long time. Jason Campbell is exibiting the kind of leadership and " this is my team until someone takes it away" attittude we’ve been missing for years. Every year this guy’s been in the league his QB efficiency and ratings have increased with nothing more than 1 serious WR, and a sub-par O-Line, not to mention numerous offensive schemes from Gibbs, Saunders, back to Gibbs,and then Zorn’s west-coast offense. It takes several years to build up knowledge of a new system. Along the way, QB’s suffer until they get it right. But this guy has improved year over year, in the face of advsersity and hasn’t bitched once about how he’s been treated or pummeled for 30+ sacks. There is no QB enterring the draft that can immediately make a difference and unless you fans are willing to go through another 2-3 years of ’rebuilding" and going in a new direction, then you better hope they remain consistent, keep Campbell and Zorn and dump some of their dead weight. Build an O-line and keep it growing.

that equates to a wish and a prayer…..

I am in no way equating Jim Zorn to Joe Gibbs. That’s clearly not the intention. What I am saying though is that the one quality that Joe Gibbs had was the ability to will his team to work hard for him regardless of their record or situation. In 2005 with a 5-6 record, they won 5 straight with the saying " 5 in a row or we don’t go’ in 2007 at 5-7, they did the same thing. Jim Zorn has a lot to learn about being a head coach, but I don’t think it was a coincidence that he was the first coach hired after Gibbs second tenure. He has the same “us against everyone who doesn’t believe we can do it” attitude and that’s why he was hired. He’s come a long way, and yes these last three games were clearly winnable. It is not a stretch to say that if they had the kicker, they would easily be 6-6. The team could have packed it in a long time ago. Most teams would have, but all the time you heard on consistent theme – Don’t give up. A team that plays for a coach regardless of the situation or how bad their record is, speaks volumes. This is even more tru when everyone around the team are saying the coach is gone, the owner is interviewing potential head coaches, and yet here’s Zorn standing there fighting. Especially considering how bad the front office has been and how they haven’t helped with the O-Line. Gibbs got an average team into the playoffs 2 out of 4 years because of this one undeniable quality – never give up! Zorn isn’t there yet, but he has more possible weapons coming up through the system. We haven’t had a 2nd WR in years, which makes our first option, Moss easily defendable.

The important thing is to remain patient. Gibbs was 0-5 in his first season and ended 8-8. People were clammering for him to be fired then, and the owner went out of his way to support him.