Om said:
Convenient as it is for you to emply a classic straw man like that, SB, "us guys" are hardly a monolithic entity. Many of us fully expected Gibbs to need a couple of years to stop the bleeding and get the program turned around to the point of being a playoff contender again ... and said so.
Well, no block of fans is monolithic, I would have assumed that a thinking man would realize that I was talking about the vast majority of Skins fans...
And I'm sorry if that characterization offends you, but my experience was that most of the Skins fans I ran up against-- a not inconsiderable number, when you factor in that I live in the Shenandoah Valley, and moderate a rant board that seems to be dominated by Skins fans-- believed that the Skins were a good team last year, in fact a likely playoff team...
And yes, Om, the party line I got over and over and over again was "Gibbs is here, he's gonna pull a Parcells"... "the offensive line is going to be much better, Bugel will see to that"... I kept trying to tell them there's only so much ANY coach can do in the area of turning chicken **** into chicken salad...
And many of us look at the place the team is today, compare it to where it was on the day Gibbs was rehired, and see that progress moving apace. That's why these days I'm enjoying watching those of you (note the advised use of qualifier) still stolidly beating the drums of status-quo with a growing sense of bemusement.
Oh, I seem SOME improvement, but I think y'all still have serious problems at QB, WR and OL-- this year... and I think those problems are serious enough that any realistic Skins fan should be shickled titless with a .500 record...
Candidly, there has been little real progress in upgrading the talent base this offseason... in fact, there has been a clear, undeniable net loss of talent... many Skins fans recognize that, but fall back on the hope that greater continuity in the Gibbs system will translate into greater production...
Sorry, Jimmy Johnson had it right-- you win in the NFL with talent... you need playmakers...
I'll also note that it's not just me this time around, the mediots seem near-unanimous in their agreement that the Skins have taken a step backward this offseason... example-- I have seen a recent "power poll" that had the Skins ranked 30th in the NFL...
The Cowboys were ranked 12th in that poll... the Iggles were ranked 3rd...
And why I'm going to be enjoy continuing to follow your dissection of all things Commander over the next few seasons.
Well, if you'd followed my "dissection" over the last coupla seasons, you'd know that I did a really good job-- going into the season-- of telling Skins fans what the problems were... you wouldn't BELIEVE the abuse I took for telling them that their offensive line pretty much sucked last year, and that that OL would ensure a fairly toothless offense... though I didn't factor in how bad the QB play would be, even I was startled by how completely ineffective Brunell was, I was of course right... even the witless homers on the Rantatorium had to grudgingly admit that I'd called it right...
Of course, they're arguing with me about the exact same thing this year, telling me what a "significant" upgrade Rabach is at center, and how the return of Jon Jansen will make everything all better... it almost pains me to point out that my predictions last year came before Jon got hurt (who could have anticipated that, the guy was practically indestructible), but was predicated largely on a total lack of depth... the same lack of depth that still exists...
And when was the last time you remember ANY team gettin' through an entire season without an injury or two or three along the OL?? As for Rabach, my stock response is that last year was his first as a full-time starter-- and his team ranked next to last in the NFL in total offense, despite being blessed with a 2000 yard ballcarrier (in the recent past)... anytime you have a team that stuggles that much offensively, it is a dead moral certainty that their offensive line wasn't gettin' the job done...
Now, is it possible that I'm wrong about all of this?? Of course it is, if I was omniscient when it comes to pro football I'd be working in the business... but I believe, and I believe Joe Gibbs believes, that the key to building a good football team is building a dominating offensive line... well, Samuels is good (though his game seems to have regressed some in recent years, and he's certainly not the Pro Bowler he once was), Jansen is highly underrated (I'd just love to have him manning RT for the Cowboys), Randy Thomas is solid enough (though not a Pro Bowl talent)... meanwhile, as I've already stated, I don't think that Rabach is all that, and Dockery has been a disappointment to Commanders fans... and unless either Wilson or Molinaro turns out to be a better player than their late round draft status suggests they will (which happens), there is next to nothing in the way of quality depth...
Which is my long-winded way of saying if the Skins' offensive line stays healthy, they may be a middle of the pack line by today's NFL, but if they suffer much at the hands of the injury bug, they will again be one of the league's worst offensive lines...
And if that proves to be the case, their quarterbacking will likely be a serious problem again this year... in addition, I have to wonder if they'll able to be as effective defensively this year, given some key losses to that unit...
And just for the record, I make these criticisms not because I'm a Cowboys fan, and so predisposed to "hate" the Skins, but rather because I'm a FOOTBALL fan, a fairly serious football fan for more than 45 years now... and as a football fan, I have fairly well-developed theories about what you need to win in today's game, and in my estimation, the Skins are seriously deficient in a number of those necessities...
Though I'm a bit more optimistic about the Cowboys' chances this year, I laso have serious reservations about some of their deficiencies too, chief among them the quarterback position...
