2005 Commanders=2003 Cowboys

[JohnLockesGhost]

the funny thing about this is that, while you may be right, this is exactly the same thing other Skins fans use with us.

Perhaps, but this is a rather extreme example.

 

[illone]

The only reason this thread exists is due to a pre-established bias. You could draw speculative comparison on ANY team in the NFL if you thought about it long enough.

The truth is you guys WISH deep down inside that we will tank. Without that deep desire threads like this do not exist. If you looked at the Skins objectively you'd see a squad that has produced defensively for two straight years now. Not just one like the Cowboys squad you mentioned. Right there changes the entire basis of your theory. We had some turnover last season in losing Smoot and Pierce. You guys said the same thing then, that we'd tank due to key losses on the defense.

Well, here we are again same bat time same bat channel and you guys are still making the same lame assumptions that we'll somehow get worse because of x y and z.

Nice try, though. I appreciate your enthusiasm.

 

[Vintage]

Why the Commanders are better than the 2003 Cowboys....

1) Brunell is a better QB than Carter was
2) Portis was better than anything we had on offense that year
3) Their WR > Our WR
4) Their OL > Our OL
5) Their secondary > Our secondary

We had them beat on DL....

So....?

While its possible for them to implode....They are a vastly more talented team than the 2003 Cowboys.

 

[1fisher]

you know it's the offseason when threads like this exist

 

[DragonCowboy]

Perhaps, but this is a rather extreme example.

Yes, this is extreme, but then again, so is that thread on ES just proclaiming that we will sit in the basement.

While this is extreme, and probably baseless, the feeling is mutual.

 

[MossTDMossTD]

There is nothing wrong with our Dline. We have a run stopping Dline that is perhaps the best one in the league at doing so. In Gregg Williams' scheme his Dline does not get much pressure on the QB, they stop the run first and foremost.
WWhy do you guys insist that because Lloyd and Andre Carter came from the 49ers that they suck. Well apparently you guys got TO from the Eagles, and they sucked last year, and he was a large contributer to that lack of success.

The Commanders were not overachievers last year, for the most part we were underachievers like against Denver, KC, Oakland, TB, and San Diego. The games we overachieved in was @Dallas, and @Ari.

 

[sbuscha]

Respecting his opponents? YOU ARE ON CRACK!!! Do you not remember the insults he spewed in front of a national media outlet prior to last years season. Man you are so one sided your tunnel vision is scary. Keep believing your team and Gibbs are God but go do it on your MB

 

[illone]

Respecting his opponents? YOU ARE ON CRACK!!! Do you not remember the insults he spewed in front of a national media outlet prior to last years season. Man you are so one sided your tunnel vision is scary. Keep believing your team and Gibbs are God but go do it on your MB

Come on man. Don't take the rivalry so serious. It's all in good fun, anyways. Gibbs loves the rivalry and he didn't mean any harm in what he said. Plus, he was right so I guess the truth hurts.

 

[1fisher]

Come on man. Don't take the rivalry so serious. It's all in good fun, anyways. Gibbs loves the rivalry and he didn't mean any harm in what he said. Plus, he was right so I guess the truth hurts.

Gibbs apologist??? that was a real classy interview!


Gibby and his little chipmunk laugh

 

[illone]

Gibbs apologist??? that was a real classy interview!

Nothing beats Parcells interviews, man. He's the most entertaining coach out there. I watch the post-game show just to see what he says.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ulpTlS0hs

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I'm not saying this to bash the Commanders because I really LOVE (respectfully) to HATE the Skin's.

I feel like the Skins will be the ones to dump in the NFC in 06. Everyone in the NFC is going to finish 10-6? yeah right.

The 05 Commanders remind of the over achieving cowboys of 03. At some point they have to level off and Gibbs will realize that perhaps they are not as close as they may have seemed..and start rebuilding with that Jason Somebody they drafted.

This is what I see, but everyone else seems to think they're going to the bowl. Am I that far off base? We'll see I guess.

Again, Im not trolling the Skins fan on this board, I appreciate most of the Skins and Eagles on this board. But does anyone else see the correlation between the 04 Boys and the 05 Skins?

the skins made an improbable run at the end of last year and needed a bit of luck. they absolutely got lucky against the cardinals to get a punt return for TD and come out with a victory in that game, by the end of the year the skins were relatively healthy to the rest of the NFC east and were able to win out.

however, they are a very thin team that can't afford any type of injuries to any position, except perhaps WR (and that's only because their 2& 3 is interchangable).

not withstanding any injuries, I think the Commanders will struggle to repeat what they did last year. the NFC east is tougher and for now everyone is healthy. they did make some good moves in the off season, but the most important one is getting al saunders. he should help them, but I think they will struggle defensively somewhat. they lack talent in certain positions and as usual not all FA signing will work out, so it will be interesting to see which one of their FA signees will fizzle out.

HaTe to the Commanders

 

[1fisher]

Nothing beats Parcells interviews, man. He's the most entertaining coach out there. I watch the post-game show just to see what he says.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ulpTlS0hs

didn't he publicly apologize for that remark??

 

[wileedog]

While its possible for them to implode....They are a vastly more talented team than the 2003 Cowboys.

Yep.

We were 10-6 because the Giants and Skins were so horrific and we caught the Eagles snoozing one game. That's 5 wins right there. That team beat one other quality opponent all year - Carolina.

I do think the Skins got a little lucky last year, especially since they got to play the Eagles twice after they had already completely imploded, and the division is even tougher this year. I don't think they are a lock for anything based on last year. Their upgrades don't impress me that much, and they haven't addressed depth at all.

But they are still a much better team on paper then anyone who starts Quincy and T-Ham in the backfield.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

the Commanders biggest weakness is DEPTH.

:signmast:

A few injuries away from a losing record, which I guess doesn't mean much considering that's 95% of the teams in today's league.

I think it's laughable to compare last year's Skins to that Cowboys squad. The Skins have their defense in place. There will be no reworking. Good veteran offensive line with one of the league's best running backs. They were active players in free agency, bringing in some big names, unlike the Cowboys that infamous year. Assistant coaches might be more set than that Cowboys squad. No, the Skins are going to be good again. Sorry to break the news. I fear them more than any team in the NFC East. The Giants still have young question marks. The Eagles window has probably shut. The Skins, even more than the Boys, are in their prime. A lot of players in their late 20's on that team ready to go all the way now that they have one of the greatest coaches ever leading the team again. Marc Brunell and injuries to that defense with its weak depth are what we can hope for, I guess.

And don't forget, the Skins finished STRONG last year, which can be a bad sign for next year's competition. Let's hope they didn't catch on.

 

[illone]

didn't he publicly apologize for that remark??

I think so. Regardless Parcells is the man when it comes to presser time.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

The main issues I see with the Skins are:

Depth – they have a lot less than most playoff teams do. If just one of the following players go down (Taylor, either starting CB, Washington, Griffin, Jansen, Samuels, Portis, and Moss) I could see that dramatically affecting their team (I don’t count QB’s because any team that loses their QB is likely to struggle)

Key players that would dramatically affect Dallas if they got injured are Roy, Ware, Flozell, and maybe Owens. Big difference.


Weakside Backer – Holdman hasn’t been good since 2001 and has been injured and gotten older. Stats show that last year the defense dramatically improved when Arrington became a starter. Skins fans tried to spin it as just a coincidence and claimed that Arrington freelanced too much. But even a freelancing Arrington was far better for Washington on defense than Holdman was. Not to mention in a short amount of time Arrington had 6 tackles for a loss while Holdman had 0 last season and according to KC Joyner, Arrington finished 6th in LB’s beating blocks percentage last season.


Brunnell – I think Brunnell was pretty good last year, but he’s also shown over the last 5 years that he’s prone to getting banged up and when he does, he’s a dramatically worse QB.


Adjustments to the New Offense – My guess is that the offense will look a bit like the Colts and the Bengals scheme wise. Lots of 3 WR sets, trying to spread out the field and allow Portis to run free. The only problem is that the Indy and Cincy O-Lines are more stronger at pass blocking than run blocking. Washington’s O-Linemen are very good run blockers. Jansen and Samuels are solid pass blockers who can struggle at times. Dockery can be downright terrible in pass protection (see the week 2 game with Canty and Spears dominating Dockery)


Special Teams – Frost was a poor punter last year and I’ve never been a John Hall fan, who is coming off a pretty serious injury.


But overall, nobody could really defend Moss last year and now they’ve given him some more alternate weapons. Williams is one of the best D-Coordinators in football and in reality, he impressed me more last season than in 2004….which was still an impressive season. Plus, Gibbs has been able to keep his squad healthy for the most part. I don’t really buy into injuries for having a poor season (unless it’s a bizarre high rate of injuries) because I believe good coaches know how to find players who don’t get hurt and know how to keep their squad healthy.

If anything, I could see 2006 Dallas being the 2003 version of themselves. In 2003, teams tried to blitz the daylights out of the offense. However, the O-Line was pretty good at picking up blitzes, Hambrick was a great blocker that year, and Quincy’s elusiveness and deep ball ability wound up punishing those teams. With Owens and Fasano aboard, I could see teams coming out blitzing early and getting punished for doing so. It wasn’t until week 7 of 2003 when Dallas was 5-1 and faced Tampa Bay that the Bucs showed the blueprint of beating Dallas…..lay back in the Cover 2 and force Dallas to beat you with the running game and the possession routes.

We couldn’t overcome that in 2003, but since we have a significant upgrade at RB and at possession receivers, that may bode very well for us.



Rich………..

 

[Derinyar]

There is nothing wrong with our Dline. We have a run stopping Dline that is perhaps the best one in the league at doing so. In Gregg Williams' scheme his Dline does not get much pressure on the QB, they stop the run first and foremost.
WWhy do you guys insist that because Lloyd and Andre Carter came from the 49ers that they suck. Well apparently you guys got TO from the Eagles, and they sucked last year, and he was a large contributer to that lack of success.

The Commanders were not overachievers last year, for the most part we were underachievers like against Denver, KC, Oakland, TB, and San Diego. The games we overachieved in was @Dallas, and @Ari.

In 03 the Cowboys were a statistically better defense than Washington was last year, less yards per game/less ppg. Yes the skins have a better talent base, I don't see the same type of drop off happening. But the Skins as a top 10 defense last year wasn't very different than the next few. Say what you want to about the DL not being there to generate pressure and how great it is at stopping the rush, but how many teams playing a 4 man front have continual success on defense without generating pressure from the line.

Maybe the skins will hold up that top 10 ranking, maybe they won't. We won't be able to see that till after the season starts. I do think there should be reasons to worry. Middle of the pack as far as sacks go, no reason to expect the number to increase this year. Even if the skins defense isn't as good this next year I doubt it falls as far as the Cowboys did after 03.

 

[illone]

The main issues I see with the Skins are:

Depth – they have a lot less than most playoff teams do. If just one of the following players go down (Taylor, either starting CB, Washington, Griffin, Jansen, Samuels, Portis, and Moss) I could see that dramatically affecting their team (I don’t count QB’s because any team that loses their QB is likely to struggle)

Key players that would dramatically affect Dallas if they got injured are Roy, Ware, Flozell, and maybe Owens. Big difference.

Weakside Backer – Holdman hasn’t been good since 2001 and has been injured and gotten older.

Brunnell – I think Brunnell was pretty good last year, but he’s also shown over the last 5 years that he’s prone to getting banged up and when he does, he’s a dramatically worse QB.


Adjustments to the New Offense – My guess is that the offense will look a bit like the Colts and the Bengals scheme wise. Lots of 3 WR sets, trying to spread out the field and allow Portis to run free. The only problem is that the Indy and Cincy O-Lines are more stronger at pass blocking than run blocking. Washington’s O-Linemen are very good run blockers. Jansen and Samuels are solid pass blockers who can struggle at times. Dockery can be downright terrible in pass protection (see the week 2 game with Canty and Spears dominating Dockery)


Special Teams – Frost was a poor punter last year and I’ve never been a John Hall fan, who is coming off a pretty serious injury.

Rich………..

Nice post, Rich. I agree with almost everything you wrote here and I want to congradulate you on the first objective post I've seen on the Skins since being on this site.

The only part I disagree on was about Arrington. He provided a few sparks when he was in but for the most part Greg Williams didn't play him because he couldn't be relied on to stop the run. I can show you just as many whif highlights as there are big plays in 2005.

You other assessments are spot on, though. You've done your homework and it shows.

Cheers to you.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

The only part I disagree on was about Arrington. He provided a few sparks when he was in but for the most part Greg Williams didn't play him because he couldn't be relied on to stop the run. I can show you just as many whif highlights as there are big plays in 2005

Arrington may have whiffed on some tackles, but he was still a positive impact for the defense, especially against the run. Washington's average yards allowed per carry went from 4.8 ypc with Holdman as the starter to 3.7 ypc with Arrington.

I've heard the same complaints about Arrington and Skins fans trying to refute his impact on defense for the Skins last year. But, the stats can't all be lying and Joyner further backs up these stats. And Arrington started 2 games when Griffin was out and 1 game when Taylor was out.

He was worlds more as a starter than Holdman and company were in 2005.


Rich..........

 

[MossTDMossTD]

Maybe the skins will hold up that top 10 ranking, maybe they won't. We won't be able to see that till after the season starts. I do think there should be reasons to worry. Middle of the pack as far as sacks go, no reason to expect the number to increase this year. Even if the skins defense isn't as good this next year I doubt it falls as far as the Cowboys did after 03.

I think our sacks shoudl get marginally better. Lossing Lavar hurts nothing as he had 0 sacks last year. We added Archuleta, who is a much better rusher than Ryan Clark, but its still hard to expect a decent change because of a SS. Andre Carter should get more pressure on the QB than Renaldo Wynn. I am not expecting a large increase, but a small increase in pressure would do wonders for our defense.