Shocker that the Redskins were shut out of their first preseason game of the 2009-2010 season, 23-0, just a shocker. I mean, when you have one of the most unproductive offenses last season and just pray that the players you have get better…well this is what you’re going to get. I’m not even discussing the offensive line, which surprisingly played adequately, I’m talking about the skill positions.

No Clinton Portis meant the Redskins had to hope that Ladell Betts looked like the betts of 2 seasons ago. The Redskins had to hope that Rock Cartwright could start to be anything else than a mediocre kick returner and look like an actual running back. They had to hope that, with Santana Moss sitting this one out, one of their 2nd round draft picks would step up to the plate and play up to their draft position. They had to hope that Antwan Randle-El could be something more than a nice guy and a #3 receiver…or at the very least he could be productive in the slot. Finally, they had to hope that one of the veteran receivers and inexperienced running backs they signed could make a big play and prove they belong on an NFL roster.

Not at all surprising but, none of that happened. The timing was off between receivers and the QB. The running backs were unproductive carrying the ball. Receivers couldn’t get themselves open and when they did, they couldn’t hold on to the ball. Is this what happens when you stubbornly pray the decisions you make work out better than previous evidence suggests instead of facing the reality that you have no idea what you’re doing and you need to get some help in? Who knows…but lets hope so.

Yes, I know, it is too early to cast a final grade on how the Redskins will look this upcoming season, but all the problems that existed last season existed in this game, minus the broken down offensive line…and that is not good that all the same problems are happening with a healthy and productive line instead of what they had in the 2nd half of last season. Hail to the Redskins? More like, Hail to the Redskins Defense…they might be the only hope this team has.

Dear Vinny, Danny, Jimmy, et al.

Don’t do it. Its not worth it to start over again. Not at the price that will be asked. The amount of draft picks that you will lose this year and next is not worth it. You will be starting over with a new quarterback and no one else to go with him except players that all the other teams in the NFL didn’t want.

I dunno about the way you run businesses Danny, but in the NFL the proven way to win is to have a team that fields young talent that can do the job of older guys but for way less money. You draft players, lots of them, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Load up on cheap players, keep the ones that stick and drop the ones that dont and do it again and again year after year. Once you have depth and a base of young talent, you then use free agency to compliment the talent you have cultivated…not the other way around.

What I am trying to say is, cut this crap out and just leave Jason Campbell alone. His numbers from last year were actually quite fine. Sure he had just a few touchdowns, you would as well if your #1 WR was a #2 and your #2 is a #3 and your #3 should be retired, and your #4 and #5 rookies couldn’t get on the field. That and having no red zone target to throw to makes it tough to be a quarterback in the NFL. But hey, he also had just a few interceptions and a really high QB accuracy. Sure he made his share of mistakes, but so did the wide-receivers who couldnt run the right routes or get open when they did.

Plus, the line was beat up last year, kid didn’t have a chance with the overmatched youngsters getting beat like a dusty old rug. Portis’ second half numbers suffered because of the line play as well, its not a coincidence. The injured line was a huge detriment to this offense and for some reason, there’s no talk about trading up to grab a RT to replace the ineffective duo of Heyer and Jansen. How does that make any sense?

So, I’m begging you, as a life-long Redskins fan, don’t do it. Don’t carelessly dump the QB we have, who should finally be comfortable in an offense after playing in it for 2 years straight, for yet another project. Instead, get him some more help so he can succeed. Get him some linemen to block for him. Give him time to throw, time to grow, time to be the quarterback you knew he could be when you traded back into the 1st round to draft him those years ago.

Seriously, I already hate you guys for what you’ve done to this once great team, don’t make it any harder to root for the Redskins.

*This is a pretty stream of consciousness rant…but I need to get all this off my chest*

A season that started out so promising at 6-2 has essentially come to a close with 2 games left and a mediocre record of 7-7 that, at this point, looks to be better than it should be the way the Redskins have played the last 6 weeks. The most brainwashed of Redskins fans will take the glass half full approach. They will say “Before the season started, we would be happy to have this record, quit your whining”. That is sad if someone thinks that.

Personally, I am not ever happy with a team I am a fan of being average at best. How did it get to this point? In my youth this team was a three time champion, now as an adult, this team is a joke…and why? Well, here’s why.

Daniel Snyder, he of good intentions and a full pocketbook, has no idea how to actually run a football organization. He may or may not know this and that is scary. What is even more frightening is that Daniel Snyder doesn’t hire good football people to run his organization either. But, you say, he hired Joe Gibbs! Who is more of a football person than Joe Gibbs? I have an answer for that…Joe Gibbs when Snyder hired him wasn’t a football person anymore, he was a NASCAR person so shut the hell up. People don’t leave the game of football for 15 years and suddenly jump right back in and know what the hell is going on, its impossible, and that was proven as he slowly hired people to do his job for him in his tenure here.

Snyder then makes Vinnie Cerrato the GM and allows him to run the draft. What happened there? Disaster. 3 picks in the 2nd round has turned into 3 receivers who have caught a combined 18 passes for 127 yards. Awesome. What other receivers could we have taken in the 2nd round? Jordy Nelson ( 30 catches, 330 yards), John Carlson (51, 601), Eddie Royal (75, 847), or Desean Jackson (53, 775). We picked 3 receivers, none of them combined are as good as any one of those rookies. You have to try really hard to fail that bad.

The offensive line is old, they knew it would be old, it was old everywhere. They picked 1 tackle. The defensive line is old, they knew it would be old, it was old everywhere. They picked 1 end…in the 7th round. They picked 1 cornerback who couldn’t even be effective on special teams, they picked a punter in the 6th round that was cut in the middle of the season, they picked a quarterback they didn’t need, as a matter of fact, the only pick that apparently was a steal was Chris Horton, their last pick, which looks like pure dumb luck since they were so bad at the previous 9 picks.

So they didn’t fix any problems from the previous season in the draft. They also signed their running back who has more wear than 95% of the other backs in the league to a multi-year extension. They have 1 good wide receiver and 1 good tight end who both get double teamed because they have no other threats. They have no pass rush because their line is old and slow, which puts too much pressure on their surprisingly solid linebacking corps, which in turn puts a ton of pressure on their corner backs to play man defense, neutering their best defensive player Laron Landry because he has to play center field all day to cover for anyone’s mistakes. And they hire their rookie offensive coordinator to be their rookie coach.

That might still be a good move but right now Zorn has much to prove, the hiccups in the installation of his offense are quite apparent. Right now, the team isn’t build for the Zorn version of the “West-Coast” style of offense. It was built to be a power running/play action team (and wasn’t good at that either). On top of that, after Zorn surprised the league with his play calling in the first 8 games, the league caught up to him like a rookie pitcher the 2nd time around. It is almost like everyone know what play is coming except the Redskins’ since they’re always offsides, lining up wrong, blocking in the wrong protection mode, or running the wrong routes.

The team is not very disciplined right now, the offensive playcalling has been stagnant and if Greg Blache wasn’t such an amazing defensive coordinator, the Redskins would never, ever have a chance in this year’s NFL.

So since everything is wrong with the Redskins, what needs to be done? More pain and misery before the gettin gets good. The team needs to take a hard look at the players on the team and make some cuts…a lot of them. This team needs to be gutted, the front office and scouting department needs to be fired and a real football mind needs to take charge. Veterans need to be traded for draft picks if possible or cut if there are no takers. This team needs a complete overhaul and it has to be done as soon as possible because putting it off is not the way to have sustained success in this league.

Yes, i’d rather lose with a bunch of promising rookies and found talent than lose with these high priced has-beens. At least one way, you can see the future growing, right now, the only thing growing is my discontent.

Dear Vinny,

If I’m curt with you it’s because time is a factor, so let me get to the point. If you sign Shaun Alexander you will only further cement your place next to the word IDIOT the dictionary. We know its been a rough year for you, what with 9 out of your 10 draft picks not doing a damn thing for the Redskins. We know how hard it is for you to do all the scouting, film watching and phone call making that is required of you…especially when you have to prepare for a radio show you do for 2 hours, twice a week. I know how that stuff cuts into your radio prep time and surely you couldn’t have had time to look at a lot of film and scouting reports on running backs because of it…but please, for the love of all things good in this world, DO NOT SIGN SHAUN ALEXANDER.

This is not the saving grace hailmary that you need to throw to save your job right now. This is not it at all. Seriously, trading away yet another one of our draft picks for Roy Williams would make FAR more sense than signing this washed up, poor attitude, team cancer of a running back. There is a reason that Cedric Benson, Najeh Davenport and Rudi Johnson all were signed by teams that were desperate for running backs and Shaun Alexander wasn’t. CEDRIC FREAKING BENSON was signed over him!! If you had been paying attention to your peers in the league, you would know that this guy is done. Let me say that again Joe Biden style, “DONE”.

The last thing the Redskins need is an over the hill, former primadonna of a running back, to make some sort of last ditch attempt to regain significance in this world, as a 2nd or 3rd string backup to the leading rusher of the league. Why not sign one of the guys from training camp like Nehemiah Broughton or even raid the Baltimore Raven’s practice squad and bring back the fan favorite (and most productive running back the ‘Skins had during the preseason) Marcus Mason? Those guys have fresh legs and know the system that Zorn wants to run since they were here for training camp. In Broughton’s case, he’s been in the Redskins system for the last 2 years, which would give him 2 years of knowledge of the Redskins rushing scheme since they are using the same scheme as last year.

All of this makes too much sense, which is why I’m sure you will not do it Vinny. However, I ask you, nay, i BEG you to ask yourself, “Why make the same mistake that I have made time and time again in bringing in a washed up, former all-pro, when I could instead build for the future by helping out your present with an injected of talented youth that will add to the team chemistry instead of detract from it”? Please, from one Redskins fan to another, I beg of you…do NOT sign Shaun Alexander.

Best Wishes,

Chimpanzee Rage

via Washington Post: Redskins might sign Alexander

Steven Jackson’s training camp holdout is now over 20 days long and he’s been fined over $300,000 for his insubordination. Strange that he isn’t there because he wants more money but is giving up $300k, weird how that works. In any case, he’s not close to coming into camp any time soon as his agents and the team have only just started to have “low-level” talks about a new deal, which is probably going something like

“He’s really not coming back is he?”
“Nope.”
“How much more does he want?”
“How much more you got?”
“Fuck you.”

At least that’s how I imagine it. What is lost in this coverage is not the impact that this is having on the team, SJax’s career, or his agent’s ability to land any more clients if this holdout doesnt work, no, what is lost in this coverage is the impact that this is having on fantasy football players everywhere.

It was bad enough last year when Jackson was hurt for most the year, and when he was healthy was running behind a shambles of an offensive line. Now, he hasn’t practiced a day of football leading up to the season. That isn’t good for you. Statistically, its horrible for you says Dick Vermeil,

“Carl Peterson did a study for the Kansas City Chiefs,” Vermeil said. “He’s one of the most experienced presidents-general managers in the National Football League.

“He’s been there since 1989, and he’s done studies as to holdouts. Not only in Kansas City, but all through the league. He says there’s a much higher correlation or a chance of getting injured after holding out, regardless of position.”

Someone is going to have to draft this guy, and draft him in the first round, and will basically be taking the old maid. Someone is going to look at his draft guides, see that there is no way that Stephen Jackson should be available at the 6th or 7th pick in the first round. Someone is going to have to now make a choice to either draft Marshawn Lynch, Clinton Portis or Stephen Jackson…and inevitably they will take SJax because “He’s only 25! He could run for 2000 yards! Its a steal!! It would be over valuing those scrubs taking them here!” That same someone, will end up losing this year for it.

I’m not sayin that someone is me…but i’m fuckin’ pissed about this holdout.