Archive for March, 2012

Vincent Jackson: Just Say No

I’m against signing Vincent Jackson, to see an argument for signing VJ, check out my friends at DC Sports Chat.

I'm Vincent Jackson and I do not approve of this post

At first glance Vincent Jackson appears to be everything I’ve wanted in a wide receiver since the Redskins parted ways with Art Monk in 1994. He’s big…no he’s huge, standing 6’5” and weighing 230+ lbs. He’s a great possession receiver (90% of his receptions resulted in 1st downs last season) but he can also stretch the field (he’s averaged 17.5 yards per reception for his career). What rookie QB, or veteran for that matter, wouldn’t want that kind of frame to lean on in the red zone? That’s the good stuff, now we need to get over the his physical attributes and break down the entire package. Simply put, the signing of Vincent Jackson may look good from afar, but it’s far from good.

First off, we have to address Jackson’s prior off-field transgressions, namely his 2 DWI’s. That’s not one…but 2 Utah, 2! The 2 DWI’s landed Jackson in the NFL’s substance abuse program and he was suspended for the first 3 games of the 2010 NFL season. So, like Fred Davis and Trent Williams, Jackson faces a 1 year suspension for further violations. Can you imagine 3 of your best players on offense (25% of your offense) being a couple of beers or a bong hit away from being suspended for the entire season?

Next, we have to look at Jackson’s lack of qualifying as what I would call an “elite” receiver. VJ’s never caught more than 68 passes in a season and has caught 60+ balls just twice in his 7 NFL seasons. Jabar Gaffney has 55 more receptions than Jackson over those 7 seasons. Jackson has 37 career receiving TD’s, not a large amount over 7 seasons, in fact it’s less than the likes of Braylon Edwards, Lee Evans and Roy Williams over the same time period.

Finally, lets look at VJ’s history of disappearing in games. Last season Jackson had 10 games when he had 3 or fewer receptions and 6 games of 2 or fewer receptions. As the guys at Ball Hogs Radio pointed out, that’s not the stat line of an ‘elite’ receiver. It takes 4 seasons for Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald to accumulate that many games of 3 or fewer catches. You also have to consider that Phillip Rivers threw a career-high 582 times last season, or 37 times a game…but VJ is catching just 3 balls or less?!

Concerns courtesy of Adam from @BallHogsRadio

Simply put, Vincent Jackson is not an elite wide receiver and has way too much baggage to be paid like one. However, some team is going to do it…I just hope it’s not the Redskins.

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Categories: Redskins

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#Resign59

Photoshop by Oliver Morris

5 years ago the Redskins signed London Fletcher to a 5 year $25 million dollar contract. I don’t think it’s a stretch to call this signing the best free agent acquisition during the Dan Snyder era. All Fletcher has done during his tenure is play in all 80 regular season games, collect 705 tackles and earn 3 Pro Bowl trips. Along the way he also was chosen as a finalist for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, an award to merit his off-field community and charity involvement. Somehow, he also found the time to become a reality show TV star as a judge on ‘The Voice’.

Haha, I kid about the Cee Lo Green reference, but even his teammates have seen the resemblance. In all seriousness, London Fletcher is the anti Albert Haynesworth…London Fletcher is a consummate professional. He played middle linebacker 12 seasons before making the transition to inside linebacker in the 3-4 defense. Fletcher never said a negative word about the transition and has thrived in Jim Haslett’s defense, making 2 straight Pro Bowls to go along with 302 tackles over the last 2 seasons.

Fletcher clearly hasn’t lost a step, in fact, one could argue that he’s getting better with age. London is the heart of the Redskins defense and one of the true leaders on a team that lacks leadership. In my opinion, resigning Fletcher is a must for the Redskins.

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Sunday, March 11, 2012

Categories: Redskins

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The 80′s = Awesome Redskins T’s

Whatever the 90′s did for BAD Redskins t-shirts is made up for by these awesome 80′s tees. I’m not sure why Doug Williams’ caricatures were so popular…but for some reason they work. The “I Love Them Hogs” tee so good it’s become my screen saver. Enjoy.

If this shirt can be found in a XL, I'd pay $200 for it.

Old school Fat Head

Joe Bugel + Dukes Of Hazzard reference = awesome sauce

Sleek & Simple

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Friday, March 9, 2012

Categories: Redskins

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Running A Reverse With Manning

Let me start this post by saying that if all things were equal I would take Robert Griffin III over Peyton Manning as the Redskins next quarterback, hands down. However, all things aren’t close to being equal. A little over a month ago I devoted nearly 700 words to the argument against the Redskins signing Manning and here I am about to eat my words. What exactly has changed? Not much, only a couple of inches a tenth of a second.

Prior to the combine skeptics pegged RG3’s height around 6 feet. While 6’ is taller than the average man it makes you Ryan Seacrest against the prototypical NFL quarterback mold. Well, Griffin was closer to 6’3” and he then went out and ran a 4.35-4.41 forty yard dash. This made NFL GM’s, coaches, scouts and most of all the St. Louis Rams harder than Chinese arithmetic. Suddenly, the thought of the Redskins trading the #6 overall pick plus their 2nd rounder to the Rams went out the window. The price of poker has gone up ladies and gentleman. Compensation to the Rams in exchange for the #2 overall pick now looks something like this:

1. Three 1st round picks or
2. Two 1st round picks, a 2nd round pick and a Pro Bowl caliber player

In my opinion both of the options above are entirely too steep of a price to pay for 1 player, especially for a team that’s in the middle of rebuilding. Historically and statistically speaking, quarterbacks drafted in the 1st round have a 50% chance of being a BUST. Only 24% of the time does a quarterback drafted in the 1st round become a franchise QB. The Redskins can ill afford to trade 3 1st round picks away and last I saw they only have 1 Pro Bowl caliber player the Rams may want, Brian Orakpo. Do you want to trade a Pro Bowl player off a roster that has like, 1 Pro Bowl player? Sounds crazy, but it’s clear to me that the best way to continue rebuilding is to sign a 36 year old QB who’s had 4 neck surgeries in the last 18 months.

Also to consider, even if the Redskins decided to pay a king’s ransom in draft picks for RG3, there’s no guarantee that they will get him. The Rams hold all the cards here and the Redskins will not be the only team looking to move up. If it comes down to the Browns or another AFC team bidding against the Skins, the Rams are going to move the pick away from the NFC conference. If the Redskins don’t get Manning and then don’t get RG3, then what? We’re stuck in Suckville for another few years and Dan Snyder’s the mayor.

The Redskins should sign Manning and draft a young quarterback in this years draft. The pick won’t be an elite quarterback prospect, but he should be a QB that fits Shanny’s system and mold and hopefully can develop while riding the bench for a few years behind Manning. Keeping all those draft picks will allow the Redskins to continue to draft young players for the future (continue rebuilding) while the signing of Manning should attract many free agents (win now). It will be the perfect balance. The Redskins got $$ to make an impact via free agency.

The final wild card is Manning’s health…there’s no guarantee that he’s going to be healthy. It’s a medical fact that will take Manning 1 to 3 years to regain strength in his right arm after the type of surgery he had. Manning had the surgery is September of last year, so if he’s a fast healer he should be near 100% early in the 2012 season. If he heals slower…well that would suck. Regardless, The Redskins will have to bring in another veteran QB as an insurance policy, with John Beck the only other veteran currently on the Redskins roster…I prefer it be someone else.

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Categories: Redskins

Tags: ,

Lex Luthor Working A Redskins Jacket

It’s blogging gold when you can find a way to work Dan Akroyd, Dom Deluise, Gene Hackman and a vintage Redskins jacket into a blog post. Hackman wore the Redskins jacket in the 1990 movie Loose Cannons…he literally wore the jacket for the entire movie.

Despite sporting the Redskins jacket for Loose Cannons and playing the Joe Gibbs role in ‘The Replacements’ which was loosely based on the 1987 Redskins team, Hackman is a Cowboys fan. Hackman lives in the Florida Keys and fishes on a regular basis with former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson, who also lives in the Keys.

No matter, Hackman is one of my favorite actors of all-time.

Cheers and Hail

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Posted by fatpickle    Date: Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Categories: Redskins

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