Happy New Year!
The real football season is about to begin and the Redskins didn’t qualify. A fabulous start ended with disappointment.
It could have been worst. Imagine what Cowboy fans are feeling. They started the season as the NFC favorite to reach the Super Bowl. At times they looked unbeatable, stumbled when Romo was hurt, regrouped only to get blown out by Philly on Sunday. One must wonder how they feel in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers were 9-3 heading into December with the Super Bowl being played on their home field. They didn’t win again and lost to Oakland at HOME on Sunday. How about the Jets, they beat New England and Tennessee both on the road, but go 1-4 down the stretch.
Let’s look at the NFC teams that made the playoffs. What is the difference? Quite frankly, they are better than Division winners Arizona and Minnesota. They beat one wild card team (Philly) twice. Atlanta is a better team. The playoffs could determine if the NFC South is a better division than the East. Unfortunately, if both Philly & Atlanta win their opening games, it would not be a match up of the East vs. South as Philly will play the Giants and Atlanta would play Carolina.
So with a 55-year old rookie coach and Vinny in control of football operations, the Redskins were in the hunt for 15 weeks. Most realistic fans would have taken an 8-8 season especially after they lost to the Giants to start the season.
Why so blue? The 2-6 finish to the seasons gives little hope for next year. Redskins fans are faced with the same questions they had after the loss to the Giants to start the season.
Can Zorn Coach? Certainly his play calling invites people to question his ability. A case can be made the season ended when we had a 3-&-1 on Cincinnati’s goal line and they handed off to Sellers twice. Why not Portis? Why not pass? During the last few games when the Redskins got into the Red Zone, they relied more on the run than the pass. West Coach Offense? We had a broken line and Portis was close to being beaten to death, why not pass?
This leads to questions about Campbell. Some say he is slow to deliver the ball. Others say he is slow, and they’re not talking foot speed. One has to wonder. After two years with offensive coordinator Al Saunders, Campbell was never allowed to run the whole playbook. We saw how well the playbook worked with Collins at quarterback. Zorn also did not install the complete playbook. Blaming Campbell for all of the offensive scoring problems would be a mistake. Our wide receivers are just average and the offensive line started the season old and by the end of the season, broken down.
On the defensive side Coach Greg Blache should be Defensive Coach of the Year, if there was such an award. To have the Redskins finish with the 4th best defense with no pass rush is almost miraculous. However, their linebackers are old and to expect another such performance next year seems like an impossible task.
So it’s up to Dano and Vinny to fix the team for next year. Those thoughts, next week.
12 years ago
