Redskins Robble, Robble, Robble

by Skin Patrol on Jun 6, 2007 10:59 AM EDT in Redskins News

Per the Redskins Insider Clinton Portis was more contrite than ever for his prior comments on dog fighting. I'll let the quote speak for itself:

"When I made those comments I didn't understand the seriousness behind it. I didn't know it would affect that many people and didn't think what I said was that offense But after doing some research and seeing how serious people take this, I shouldn't have made the comments. Hopefully it will die down and people will understand that at that time I had no idea the love people have for animals and I didn't consider it when I made those comments."

The Insider also has an injury update. CP's knee is "recovering well", Marcus Washington joined full practice for the first time yesterday since surgery and offseason rehab, and Mark Brunell is also moving along well from his shoulder surgery.

Ben calls bullshit on Stuart Scott's suspect attempt at distancing himself from any knowledge of computers, iPods, or blogs. The entire post is hilarious, as per usual. I will encourage reader(s) to go read the entire thing at Curly R by not stealing a tidbit and posting it here.

Greg at Hog Heaven compares the 2007 Redskins with the 2006 Saints. I don't know how apt this comparison might be, but Greg does an excellent job of breaking down a few key statistics in an interesting manner. I would say we compare favorably on defense to the 2006 Saints but, even optimistically, we're well short of them offensively.

Here is what Clinton Portis should have said, regarding pit bulls.

War Cry! and HailRedskins.com release their Inaugural Redskins Hall of Fame Class: Joe Jacoby, Dexter Manley, Art Monk, Darrell Green, Charles Mann, and Russ Grimm.

Redskins 360 reminds that the betting lines are already open on Week 1 of the 2007 season and comments: "What a country." As a degenerate gambler (the kind who never wins, not the kind who bets his child's college futures on the Washington General's against the Globetrotters, because they're "due") I concur.

Skinsaphrenia returns! Then takes stock of our secondary, with Shawn Springs back at practice and still with the team even after June 1st, and realizes how much stronger this unit looks than last year's. Shawn Springs - Carlos Rogers - Fred Smoot - David Macklin is a much better unit than any that includes "Mike Rumph".

Dan Steinberg is on top of the Redskins/Ravens Charity Paintball event with pictures and quotes and etc. The good guys lost. Team "Anthrax" won.

This has nothing to do with the Washington Redskins. But, why not?

That's all I've got this morning.

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Now that's a quote...

Antonio Pierce: short, sweet and to the point.

by TexSkins on Jun 6, 2007 12:11 PM EDT reply actions

As far as the Saints comparison...

I don't think it's very apt. In the article, Greg Trippiedi makes his projections based on arbitrary numbers from JC, including a 58% competion percentage and 7 YPA (yards per attempt).

According to ~~espn.com~~ my sources, JC had a 53.1% and 6.27 YPA last year. I fully expect JC and his humbers to improve, but 58% and 7?

Using Brees as an example, his numbers actually dipped his second full year playing, from 60.8% to 57.6% and 6.2 to 5.9 YPA. But David Carr (the completion percentage leader last year at 68.3%) saw his numbers jump from 52.5% to 56.5% and 5.8 to 6.8 YPA from his rookie to second season. The great Peyton Manning saw his numbers jump from 56.7% to 62.1% and 6.5 to 7.8 YPA.

All I'm trying to show is that the progress of QBs is hard to predict. Jumping up 5 percentage points seems a risky projection. I'm more willing to accept the 7 YPA, but even that prediction is still just that... a prediction.

In 2003, while still at Auburn, JC had a 61.8% and 7.7 YPA. In 2004, his numbers were 6.9.6% and 10.0 YPA. So he has shown the ability to improve his numbers from year to year, but predicting what he'll do in his second year starting in the NFL by using what he did between his junior and senior seasons at Auburn seems yet another risky generalization.

So I guess the conclusion I'm driving at is that the team doesn't look anything like the Saints of 2006, nor should they. This team has a young QB just coming into his own, not a veteran who signed a FA contract.

Instead of turning over the offense like the Saints did before 2006, the Skins are returning almost everyone.

They have the second year in Saunders' offense and the continuity of Gibbs at Head Coach, unlike the Saints with their new Sean Payton regime in 2006.

The Saints needed to pass early and often, with Bush being a rookie and McCallister coming back from blowing out his knee. Brees ended the year with 554 passing attempts. Washington as a team combined for only 470 attempts. I'm not a mathlete, but that works out to 84 more attempts... divided by 16... carry the 2... 5.25 more attempts per game.

If Campbell has to throw 554 attempts, that means the Skins are trying to come from behind in every game. With a (presumably) healthy Portis and Betts coming off a career year, the Skins should run the ball. And then run it again. And then run it some more. As a team, the Skins had 490 attempts with a 4.5 AVG last year... compared to only 472 with a 3.7 for the Saints. With a (presumably) healthy Portis, that number should be well over 500 and the 4.5 should stay about the same.

If this offense tries to be the 2006 Saints, then I think we as fans should be prepared for another top 10 pick. I don't want the Saints of 2006... I want the Skins of 2007.

by TexSkins on Jun 6, 2007 2:10 PM EDT reply actions