Archive for November, 2011

Building A Winner Doesn’t Happen One Loss At A Time

There’s never, and I mean NEVER, been a time in my 30 years of rooting for the Redskins that I’ve rooted for them to lose. How can you even consider yourself a fan to do so? When Rex Grossman throws a 50 yard bomb to Anthony Armstrong to potentially win the game, I jump up and down like I won the lottery. I could give 2 shits if it was the Redskins 3rd win or 13th win of the season. When DeAngelo Hall intercepts the ball to wrap up a victory I again cheer and never stop for a second to think…we just F’d up next years draft.

There’s so many other factors that can fuck up next years draft, besides losing games. I won’t list them all here, but here‘s a few…Dan Snyder, Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen. It all comes down to the front office making the right decisions. It really doesn’t matter if you pick 1st in each round or 20th in each round, there’s quality players everywhere…all you have to do is find them.

Over the last 5 seasons the Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Ravens and Eagles have made the playoffs the most out of all the NFL teams. I’m assuming that it took a few years to build these perennial playoff teams so let’s look at each team’s draft over the last 10 years. In parenthesis you’ll find the draft position for each team over the last 10 years.

IND (22,31,27,29,32,30,29,29,24,11) 5 playoff appearances Avg draft position 26.4
0 drafts in top 10.

SD (18,28,16,27,30,19,28,1,15,5) 4 playoff appearances Avg draft position 18.7
2 drafts in top 10.

NE (28,27,26,31,28,21,32,32,19,21) 4 playoff appearances Avg draft position 26.5
0 drafts in top 10.

BAL (27,25,23,8,29,13,22,21,10,24) 4 playoff appearances Avg draft position 20.2
2 drafts in top 10

PHI (23,24,21,19,26,14,31,28,30,26) 4 playoff appearances Avg draft position 24.2
0 drafts in top 10

For the record that’s 4 drafts out of 50 when these teams were set to pick in the top 10 of the draft. Over a 10 year span the most successful teams in the NFL picked in the top 10 of each round only 8% of the time. Also for the record, the Redskins have drafted in the top ten 50% of those years!

The Redskins have been below average for 20 years because of their personnel decisions…not because of the amount of games they’ve won or lost the previous season. The above statistics prove that it’s not where you pick, it’s who you pick.

I think everyone can agree that under Vinny Cerrato the Redskins drafted horribly, reference the 2008 draft for proof. It’s also a fact that under the Gibbs II era the Redskins basically didn’t draft players. These 2 points are the reasons for the 4-12 and 6-10 seasons. The Redskins draft position had NOTHING to do with our mediocrity, it was the front office’s ineptness that led us here. Let the chips fall where they may and leave it in the hands of the current regime to make the right decisions in next years draft. If there’s a player that they covet, besides Luck, I’m sure that they have the resources to get him. And don’t sleep on the fact that a 3rd round pick may end up being more valuable than a 1st round pick.

I’ll end with this…I’ve written many a post on this blog that could be taken as negative in regards to my outlook on the Redskins. That’s probably a true and fair assessment. But, I’ve earned my fan card with over 30+ years of rooting for this team. Countess hours devoted to watching them, talking about them and blogging about them…I’ve earned my fan card. When the day comes that I start rooting against this team to lose games under the premise and pipe dream that losing games may in some way make them better…well that’s the day I turn in my fan card.

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Categories: Redskins

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When It Comes To The Redskins I Have Plenty To Be Thankful For

Sometimes, although not intentional…I believe that my site gives off negative vibes towards the Redskins. I guess the 13 wins and 29 losses over the past 3 seasons have contributed to the negativity. The truth is I love the Redskins more than most things in life and they’ve given me many things to be thankful for over the last 30+ years.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you my list of Redskins related things that I’m thankful for…in chronological order from when I was a kid until now.

I’m thankful for:

The single bar helmet worn by Mark Moseley and Joe Theismann

Moseley’s straight on kicking style

Joe Gibbs

Jack Kent Cooke not firing Gibbs after his 0-5 start

The 1981 draft

Joe Bugel

The Hogs

The Fun Bunch

The Smurfs

50 gut

We want Dallas

Dexter Manley sacking Danny White

Darryl Grant high-stepping

70 chip

Loosen up Sandy baby…your too tight

Darrell Green running down Tony Dorsett

Players dressing in army fatigues for the Dallas game

Art Monk

Getting Gary Clark, Ricky Sanders, Kelvin Bryant & Doug Williams from the USFL

The replacements (scabs)

Neal Olkewicz and Dave Butts

Darrell Green hurdling Cap Boso

Green batting down Wade Wilson’s pass

35 points in the 2nd quarter of the 1987 Super Bowl

Timmy Smith doing the cabbage patch

Where’s Ricky Sanders?

Wilber Marshall

The Posse

The 1991 Skins

The safety tandem of Brad Edwards & Danny Copeland

Monte Coleman

RFK

In Gus we trust

1999 NFC East Champs

Drafting LaVar Arrington & Chris Samuels

Clinton Portis first run in a Redskins uniform

Cooooooley

Santana Moss vs. the Cowboys

The 2005 playoff run

Redskins 35 Cowboys 7 Phillip Daniels 4 sacks, Cooley 3 TD’s

Sean Taylor

The 2007 playoff run

London Fletcher, Lorenzo Alexander, Reed Doughty

Hope…

Happy Thanksgiving.

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Thursday, November 24, 2011

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Mark Moseley’s Straight-On Kicking DVD

There’s not a lot of straight-on kickers left in football these days, unless you count flag football and middle schoolers. But, if you’re looking to perfect your straight-on kicking style (I certainly am) Moseley’s training videos are now available on YouTube. Seems pretty simple to me…1 and a half steps and hit it in the sweet spot. This coupled with a single-bar face mask can earn you a 66% accuracy percentage and a NFL MVP award! The mullet/perm is optional.

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Thursday, November 24, 2011

Categories: Redskins

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For The First Time Since 1937 The Redskins Are .500

After 80 years the Redskins are 'Fifty-Fifty'

Life for a Redskins fan was certainly good in 1991, the Redskins had just won their 3rd Super Bowl in 10 years and they were a contender for the title every season. I was a high school senior and all I had ever known was that my team was one the best teams in the NFL year in and year out. I was spoiled.

Twenty seasons later, I’m certainly not spoiled…I’m a frustrated fan of a below average NFL team. Some people would dare to call the Redskins a laughing stock. One thing is for sure, this once proud franchise that is now 80 years old can be defined in one word…mediocre. With today’s 24-27 loss to the Cowboys, the Redskins are now an even .500 team over their history. 550 wins, 523 losses and 27 ties.

When Joe Gibbs retired after the 1992 season the Redskins were comfortably above .500, with the franchise sitting at 425 wins, 351 losses and 26 ties for a .529 winning percentage. Since then, the Redskins have won 125 games while losing 172 games and tying 1. Two solid decades of futility.

The Redskins haven’t been a .500 team or below since 1937! They’ve been able to stay above .500 for 74 years until today…by the end of the season the franchise will be a sub-.500 team…and I wonder why people have to ask me why I’m a Redskins fan.

It will get worse before it gets better, all I can tell all the diehard fans is ton hang in there.

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Sunday, November 20, 2011

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The Cowboys Eat Dick

It doesn’t seem like Dallas week…and the rivalry certainly seems to have lost it’s luster. Maybe its the fact that neither team has been particularly good for nearly 2 decades. Maybe it’s a different era, an era when some of these players are friends and work out together during the off-season. Maybe the current players just don’t get it, they don’t get the fact that diehard Redskins fans HATE Dallas.

One player does get it and he’s done his best to stoke this rivalry. He’s had some of his best games of his career against the Cowboys. I wish Chris Cooley was healthy and on the field on Sunday, cuz he gets it. He’s on record as “hating” the Cowboys. I hope everyone can join me and start it trending on Twitter #cowboyseatdick.

It’s Dallas week people, let’s act like it!

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Friday, November 18, 2011

Categories: Redskins

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And People Think Tebow Blows?

Photo via Wapo site

To all the people nationwide who say that Tim Tebow’s not a NFL quarterback and is hard to watch…I say this, have you watched a Washington Redskins game lately? Sure, I know it’s sometimes painful to watch Tebow throw the football, it’s obvious that he’s not a NFL caliber passer. However, it’s hard to argue with the results and on paper he looks a helluva lot better than our Florida Gator, Rex Grossman and our career clipboard holder John Beck. In fact, I’m convinced that Beck is the one who doesn’t belong in the NFL and Grossman doesn’t belong being a NFL starting QB.

Time Tebow now has 5 starts this season. Here’s a look at his stats in comparison to our dynamic duo during the last 5 games:

Tebow: 4W-1L, 6 TD’s passing, 1 Int, 341 yards rushing, 1 TD

Beck, Grossman: 0W-5L, 2 TD’s passing, 10 Int’s, 43 yards rushing, 2 TD’s

Despite his problems throwing the football, Tebow has the 6 TD’s passing in 67 fewer attempts. It should be noted that the Denver Broncos have totally adapted their offense to Tebow’s strengths, something the Redskins have refused to do on defense or offense under Mike Shanahan. Rather than cater to a players strengths or weaknesses the Shanny has continually tried to fit a square peg into a round hole…and the proof is plain to see.

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Friday, November 18, 2011

Categories: Redskins

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