Steve Czaben has a blog up from yesterday on the ‘Skins. I’ve mentioned before, its really creepy how much I agree with this guy. Like he’s my alter ego or something.
Just a few points from his website (linked above):
2. More Spin: “Hey, we didn’t even travel our star tailback, rock of the D-line, or our #1 sack guy from last year. Relax.”
3. Now, the other side. Scores aside, they team has looked awful. The o-line can’t block. The d-line can’t penetrate, and seemingly every little tiny mistake can, and will be made.
4. I’m concerned about Brunell dipping his head, the instant pressure closes in. I can take that he’s not as mobile anymore, but I don’t like seeing the premature head-dip.
#2 joins in with the “we’re not really trying” spin that I keep hearing. Yeah. Color me an unbeliever until they drop 45 points on somebody. #3 and #4 are closely related. The line has shown an inability to protect our quarterback nor pressure theirs. We’re getting beat no matter whether its 1v1 or not, and I’m afraid that all of the excuses I’m hearing means that the only way we’re gonna win is by smoke ‘n mirrors. And frankly, that is not comforting at all. Brunell and Campbell have done “OK” simply because they can run. Todd Collins may be a better runner than Patrick Ramsay… or maybe not. Either way, all of those guys have shown a lot of Happy Feet, and I can’t blame them. I would just curl up in the fetal position every down if it were me.
5. What’s with Al Saunders punking Jason Campbell so publicly all the time (it seems) over being “mentally” ready to play? That interview which aired, was very bizarre. You would seemingly want to pump the kid up, not tear him down.
6. It is now pretty crystal clear, that the team has no PLANS for Campbell this year. They might HAVE to play him, but they have no plans. Period. Pretty staggering, that a 1st round QB (who you spent two additional 1st rounders to get) will essentially be on ice for two full years. It’s worse than the Philip Rivers situation by far.
You traded TWO 1st rounders plus the one you used on him to get a guy who is a “project”? You can find plenty of “projects” in the 3rd round and lower. For that kind of outlay you could have gotten either of Drew Brees or Carson Palmer. This is a continual problem with this regime. They trade picks for players. Which in and of itself isn’t bad, but we trade tons of picks for minimum return. One of these days I’m going to compile a list of picks we traded and what they ended up being.
This sounds just like with Patrick Ramsey when Gibbs kept saying “He’s in our long term plans, he’s just not ready right now”. Yeah, OK. We might as well trade him right now while he still has value because we haven’t messed him up *that* much yet.
11. Um, exactly why are we not using Antwaan Randle-El on punt returns? I know it’s the pre-season, and you don’t want him to get hurt. But a few live touches wouldn’t be a terrible idea, would it? More curious, is that I haven’t heard the coaches say FOR SURE that he’s our guy, starting week one back there. How come? Is it possible – possible? – that he won’t be our everyday punt returner? If not, then we overpaid for the guy by another 75% of his actual “value.”
12. David Patten is looking like a $3 million bust. Unless there are injuries, he’ll be lucky to be the 4th or 5th wideout. Last year, we got half a season out of him. While $3 million of guaranteed money doesn’t all that much, it’s the kind of money that can keep guys like Ryan Clark.
Combine this problem with the one mentioned above. Paying over market-value for almost everybody. Whether its too many draft-picks or too much money we always give too much. And then, we give away our bodies for almost nothing. Two in recent memory are Rod Gardner and Partick Ramsey who I believe both went for 6th round picks (somebody correct me if I’m wrong) after we spent 1st round picks to get them.
Now Antwaan Randle-El is a playmaker, plain and simple. I can sorta understand wh we don’t use him in the pre-season. But if he doesn’t touch the ball at least 15 times in the first game with some sort of combination of runs, passes, cataches, and punt returns I will be screaming from the mountaintops “WASTED CAP SPACE”.
OK, so the bottom line is this. If the Redskin’s top-brass wants to proclaim that they are holding everything back. That getting smacked 41-0 really isn’t that crucial. I’m willing to listen. For now…