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Redskins, Patriots leave us speechless

We’ve been beat worse than that [Chicago, 73-0, 1943 Championship game], so take that, Boston fans.

There is no shame in losing to the New England Patriots, but come on guys! If you forfeit the game, you would have improved by 51 points. You owed us more of a fight.

This loss will be laid at the feet of old Joe Gibbs. It goes with the territory. He is the coach and the score suggests the team was not prepared. However, I saw hustle by the Redskins and did not see any glaring coverage mistakes. The Redskins lost to a team that is seven times better than we are.

Now the real coaching begins. How does Gibbs pick up the pieces to get the team ready for the Jets?

My one criticism of Joe Gibbs is that the Redskins lost this game before the season began. The Patriots are flat out better at scouting and valuing college and veteran talent than the Redskins. And they do it without sacrificing middle tier draft picks. 

Example, the Patriots go out and get Randy Moss and Wes Welker for two draft choices each. They make immediate contributions. The Redskins trade two draft choices for Brandon Lloyd. Need I say more?     

Example, the Patriots had 34 draft picks in the Gibbs II era. They’ve seeded their team with starters now [Ben Watson 2004, Laurence Maroney and Stephen Gostkowski 2006, Brandon Meriwheather 2007], and squirreled away talent for depth and for the future. Under Gibbs, the Redskins have used 21 draft picks and traded the rest for talent.

We hoped that Gibbs would turn around the owner’s misguided team building concepts. Instead, he seems to have bought into them.    

After four years, we should be better than we are. Yes, we are better off than under Steve Spurrier, but we are just approaching what we might have been under Herr Schottenheimer in 2002. As fans, we put up with these frustrations because its our beloved Uncle Joe. If the name were Joe Cowher, or Joe Parcells, we would be after his scalp [non-PC pun intended].  

Joe Gibbs is going to step down at the end of this season, or next when his contract expires. Before the owner spends one second searching for the next big name coach, or spends a single big buck to sign him, he needs to find a legitimate general manager/talent evaluator he trusts and can work with. Then he needs to seriously upgrade scouting for college and pro talent and listen to them.

The Redskins are not going to have a Super Bowl caliber team until the owner gets it that a big time front office is more important than a big name coach.

Unless the name is Belichick.

The Good

• London Fletcher-Baker in deep coverage to break up a pass to Randy Moss in the first quarter. The unconventional use of players is vintage Gregg Williams, but that middle linebacker Fletcher could do it . . . .
• The Redskins converted on fourth and two in the first quarter.
• Campbell to Cooley touchdown in the fourth quarter to avoid a shutout.
• The Redskins are 5-3 and poised for a 9-7 or 10-6 record.

The Bad

• Yo’ momma.

Yo’ Fat Ugly Momma

• Patriots 52, Redskins 7. If you must see a stat analysis, go to the NFL Gamecenter.
• Who is this Mike Vrabel guy? Isn’t he a linebacker? Vrabel lined up in the Patriots goal line package to block then slips into a pass pattern, uncovered, to catch the winning touchdown from Tom Brady in the first quarter. Later, Varbel would defeat backfield blocking by Mike Sellers and Clinton Portis to sack Jason Campbell and force the fumble that was recovered for a touchdown. I never ever expected to see anyone beat both Sellers and Portis on a block in one play.
• Jason Campbell, three fumbles lost.

You’ll have to excuse me. I’m late for grief counseling.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 10:41 am and is filed under Bill Belichick, Redskins, Washington Redskins, Joe Gibbs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.