Hopes that were high

And hopes that were high in the heat of September,
Wilt and die in the chill of November.
November can be cold.
November can be surly;
With bitter rain upon the world
And winter coming early.
~~ NFL Films

Second-guessing is all that’s left of this Deadskin season, with fingers pointed at the coach-in-chief. To his credit, Joe Gibbs has always said “it all starts with me.” AP reporter Joseph White penned a story about Gibbs’ assessment of the year, broadly laying out his approach to the off-season. The biggest story is Gibbs’ intent to return in 2007, along with the deputy coaches. That’s a good thing. Frequent change hurts the Redskins. Stability helps the team (meaning Jason Campbell) be more effective next year. In this case, familiarity breeds rewards. What’s worrisome is the coach’s contention that their process of assessing talent won’t change. Humph!

On Thanksgiving Friday, Hog Heaven published It All Starts With Joe Gibbs looking at the breakdown in achievement of two of the coach’s main goals: build a winning organization and update the offense. The story contends that Gibbs made too many changes at once. In any other circumstance, we would have recognized all those moves as rebuilding steps. Instead we all (players, coaches, fans) worked ourselves to a such frenzy over the ’05 finish, that we saw all those changes as additive. Now, 2006 and 2007 are rebuilding years. Hog Heaven concludes that, while Gibbs’ choices were the issues, Gibbs is the answer.

Two of our team’s remaining opponents are playing for their playoff life, giving them the motivational advantage.

Bad as the season is, the record is liberating. The players can play for fun as well as to save their career butts. As long as they are not so loose that they make stupid mistakes, the games should be more enjoyable for them and for us.

The coaches can take risks that otherwise wouldn’t be prudent. Next time the Skins are in the Red Zone five yard line on fourth and short, don’t take the field goal. GO FOR IT!

And, lets not do it with Randle El gadget plays.

Washington Redskins
Joe Gibbs