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ANOTHER LOSING SEASON AHEAD FOR THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS?

Sally Jenkins in the WashPost:

Yet after all the big windup, out crept a cautious mouse of a game plan, led by a viscerally careful and at times uncertain quarterback who still doesn’t know quite what he’s about in the pocket. They averaged six yards per pass attempt.

This commentary is not being written by a sports expert or a sports nut, so anyone who believes they are in those categories may now tune out. It is also being written with an awareness that sports broadcasters do consider themselves experts in the sports they cover and look down, haughtily, on anyone who presumes to comment. (Reading this, Vern?) So be it.

The Washington Redskins, from most indications picked up in the first game of the season, appear to be headed toward yet another, yet another, depressing, losing, messed-up disaster of a season. From what I saw, they will be lucky to finish 50/50 and, more likely, they will finish something like 30/70 or 20/80. You know, bad.

They don’t look like a football team. They look like a bunch of overeager, talented dudes out there running around, trying to keep their jobs and trying to become a football team.  Why, I would ask, should they be anything else? They’ve got a new coach and far too many new players and their QB, RG III, is coming off the disaster of his second season. Robert Griffin is supremely talented, capable, at once overly sure of himself and not sure enough. He is not what’s wrong with this team, but he is part of it and his talents alone will never be enough to make winning happen.

Real success is most often built on developing the talents you have on hand, not bringing in a ton of new people and trying to shape them. Bringing in a new team and a new coach takes, at least, two or three years for everything to gel. Besides, there is a good chance that new will never gel, that a few people stand out and stay around while the new guys are replaced by newer guys until the whole thing seems to click.

Admittedly, the ‘skins were up against a hugely talented defensive player in the person of  J.J.Ward (I hate writing that name, it seems childish). Still, the defensive line has to protect the QB and it looked at times that Griffin III was sacked within an inch of his life. When he wasn’t sacked badly, he was sacked because he couldn’t get the ball off quickly enough or couldn’t get away from the tacklers when there were chances to do so. Once he seemed too brave, too bold, now he seems the opposite, too timid and downright scared.

If I were placing bets, I think it would be pretty safe to bet against Washington all the time. Of course, living in the DC area, I have an interest in putting down their chances, because, having seen major parts of yesterday’s game, I don’t want to be taken down the road of hope and disappointment yet another time. The local area sports writers have long blamed the team’s troubles on the owner, Dan Snyder, who, they say, tries to be too much of a hands on participant in making decisions that properly belong to coaches. How many completely new, changed! teams can we take? This seems like the 15th version of the team that were supposed to start winning consistently.

 From my perspective, this team is messed up every season, just messed up in new and different ways. There’s too much change, not enough continuity and no steady hands at the wheel. The last time they won a playoff game was when Joe Gibbs came back to town, but he had the good sense to get out before things turned really, really bad. The likelihood is they will not only fail to have a winning season, they will sacrifice the talents and grand potential of RG III, either to injuries or terminal burnout. This is a disaster in the making. I don’t want to watch it unfold.

As for the controversy about the Washington Redskins name, I think they should change the name to the Washington Snyders. That way, once it is established beyond any doubt that the team can never win under Snyder, the new owners down the pike would have to change the name permanently.

I might be echoing something written by real sports writers when I say this (not sure), but it would take a minor miracle to turn around the Washington Redskins this season and miracles are in short supply.

Doug Terry, 9.8.14

Sally Jenkins in the Wash Post:

No amount of fair-minded early-season optimism can wallpaper over the fact that Washington flunked in every phase, except for its admirable running game. Gifting eight points on special teams was obvious. Happy talkers will say the defense showed improvement, but it too faltered at the most critical juncture, allowing the Texans to work fully 6 minutes 32 seconds off the fourth-quarter clock, and convert on six of eight third downs in the second half. It would be one thing if it Peyton Manning did it to them, but this drive was led by Ryan  Fitzpatrick, a very fine Harvard man but hardly the most lethal quarterback in the NFL.

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