I think that once your QB attempts to throw an off-hand pass in the red zone as he’s being tackled, you no longer get to claim he’s had some tough luck interceptions. Even if that’s only counts for one, it’s the principle of the thing.
I have to agree, the Giants need to control turn-overs to go anywhere this year in the post-season. Both RBs need to not fumble and Eli needs to make some sharper decisions. The good news is, this is the stuff that can be coached in season. So I am feeling optimistic about the Giants.
While I’m optimistic about the remainder of Big Blue’s season as well, there’s one thing to remember that’ll keep a bit of that optimism in check:
In the Manning era, the Giants have started every season at least 5-2. Yes, that includes a Super Bowl season and an amazing run the following year, but there have definitely been a couple in there to forget about. So while the current record is nice, remember that it was 2003 since you last saw one that was worse at this point.
It’s pretty easy to look dynamic when you’re playing against Detroit, Jacksonville, and a Packers defense that was totally unprepared for you. Philly’s most impressive win was easily the Atlanta game, and Kolb was very good in that.
We’ve been down this road with Vick before. His running does open some things up for the offense, and he can put together a string of good passing games every now and then, but by far the mist important thing that any NFL Quarterback does is throw the football, and Vick pretty much sucks at it. He had the one good passing year (in '02, his second season, I think), and then regressed, never to get back to that level of play. I don’t know why, and of course there’s a chance that he’s finally turned things around in that department, but I think it’s just a lousy bet that the thing he was looking for all this time to fix his passing ability was two years in prison.
I think you’re looking at this entirely the wrong way, and from the wrong perspective. That is a lousy bet, but what isn’t a lousy bet is that he’s finally taking football seriously. From his own account he never worked out or even bothered with football except on Sundays. Maybe now he’s actually, you know, practicing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he manages to become a decent passer by actually working Tuesday-Saturday.
So maybe what he actually found in prison was that he has to try. That could make a huge difference just by itself. Combine his other-worldly talent with an actual work ethic and you might have something really interesting.
Or, he’s blowing smoke up everyone’s asses and hasn’t changed a bit and coasted by some awful defenses.
They were all very catchable. The receivers got two hands on the ball before it bounced to a defender. That’s the very definition of a catchable ball. Not to mention that those receivers have shown the ability to catch more difficult balls.
Yeah, that pick wasd certainly an embarassing humiliation, pathetic in the extreme. That doesn’t mean that when interceptions bounce off the intended receivers hands you can’t say he’s gotten some bad luck.
Oh does Dallas suck. They can’t even lose right.
Had a running bet with a guy at work for a beer every week, he’d take Dallas every week.
I gave him 7 points Monday, it’s no fun if you just pay up before the game.
So Dallas is down by 18 points, their starting quarterback out with a broken neck. I go to bed, confident of beer to come.
No, oh no. They have to lose by 6.
Why would you give him 7 points? Dallas was favored by 3…
I should have given him 10 in that case. 
I was against the McNabb trade from the get-go, and am even more convinced it was a bad idea now than I was at the time: I figured this season would be the season we got the most value out of McNabb.
But benching him in the last two minutes, with the game still in reach, in favor of Rex Grossman?! That’s fucking crazy.
I don’t know. The 'Skins are perpetually in “win now” mode, so they may as well try to win now the right way, and importing an above average QB is a good start. That is, within the context of the bad idea that seems to guide Washington’s decisions, trading for McNabb was probably a good idea.
ETA: But yeah, putting in Rex Grossman was just fucking insane. I get that McNabb isn’t the best hurry-up QB, but unless you have a backup that’s a lot better than Rex Grossman, it makes no sense even in the short term, and you’re creating long-term problems for yourself in the form of controversy, etc.
I see what you’re saying here, and it’s hard to argue with that logic.
So far, the Redskins haven’t gained much from the QB change: last year, the Redskins’ offense managed 16.625 points per game with Jason Campbell behind center. This year, with McNabb, they’re up to 16.875 points. (So far, the 2010 Redskins have 2 defensive TDs and a special teams TD, for 20 points not involving the offense.) But if the goal is to win now, I’d still rather have McNabb than Campbell at QB for the second half of the season.
And it gets to fester during the Redskins’ bye week, too: brilliant timing by the Shanahans.
To be fair, the QB change isn’t the only change that took place during the offseason, so I think it’s pretty obvious that the shaky offensive line with no depth to speak of and the sparse RB and WR corps that have been problems for years remain culpable for their inability to score consistently (not that I’m making excuses for McNabb… he’s been poor to average all year).
I take solace in that they at least appear to finally be taking steps in the right direction. It seems like, for the first time since Snyder took over, they’re actually not in “win now” mode.
I’ll take a season or two of mediocrity if it means future success, as it surely beats season after season of high hopes and poor results. Besides, it’s far easier to handle when Dallas stinks out loud!
Three thoughts:
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The trade for McNabb was your prototypical ‘win now’ trade, even if it doesn’t seem to be paying off. There are QBs that have been successful in their late 30s, but any that have already missed as many games due to injury as McNabb has? And being behind the Redskins line isn’t helping him. I don’t see him having a great season in 2012, whether or not he’s still with the Redskins.
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While I don’t know how different the Eagles’ system was from the Shanahans’ version of the West Coast offense, I can’t help but think that they may have been expecting too much in the way of adaptation. If they weren’t going to do ‘win now,’ the way to go was to draft a good college QB who could grow up in their system, and be ready to start next year after a year of clipboard-holding and limited play this year.
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The Shanahans’ creation of this little incident hasn’t exactly impressed me. I can only hope it’s an outlier.
I see it rather as a “let’s improve where we can as we can” move. With all of the holes in the team, even Snyder couldn’t have honestly believed that a change at QB was all that was needed to win now.
They gave up too much to acquire him, but I think they were expecting him to perform better and to re-sign and be around in a couple of years when the team was, hopefully, in better shape.
Fully agree, but Snyder does love his big name acquisitions, and it’s unclear how much of getting McNabb was on him instead of Shanahan and/or Allen.
No argument here. The PR circus that’s been created with his late game decision and obviously BS explanations is not how a good coach should behave.
But there wasn’t one. Bradford was gone at #1 and the Redskins desperately needed a LT more than anything. With no 2nd or 3rd round pick, there was no “good college QB” to be had. The next QB taken after Colt McCoy was Mike Kafka, and neither of those guys is going to light up the NFL (well, McCoy may have a chance except he plays with the Browns).
Frankly their best hope is to tank the rest of their games this season and get Jake Locker with the top pick although with 4 wins are probably well out of the running (unless the Bills and Panthers go on a run). Hopefully Andrew Luck and Ryan Mallett decide to leave school early, but if not there’s still Chris Ponder.
Unless a franchise QB drops into their laps, I think the plan should be to straighten out the run game and the defense. McNabb is obviously not the guy he was even a few years ago, but if he had a strong run game to lean on he’s got the skill set to thrive. If he leaves after this season, it’s easier to find a game manager like a Trent Dilfer than a QB that can win you every game.
Agreed. Clinton Portis is done. Ryan Torain has shown me enough that he could be a good back behind a decent line, but the OL has been in serious disrepair for a long long time; Trent Williams is the only good young lineman they’ve got and he’s been injury-prone. Casey Rabach, Stephon Heyer and Artis Hicks suck, Jammal Brown isn’t the player he was before the injury, and Derrick Dockery and Will Montgomery are not starter caliber players at all. Kory Lichtensteiger isn’t terrible and is still young, but he ain’t that great either.
I think it’s pretty hard to separate how a QB plays and how his line performs. By that I mean that I’m not sure how easily you can determine that it’s McNabb that stinks and not that he stinks because Washington’s O-line has been abysmal. I believe he was hurried, sacked, or knocked down on something like 75% of his drop backs last week? I’d be surprised if anyone could be successful under that kind of pressure. Add in the running game and the uninspiring receiving group he has, and I think he’s (once again…) drawing too much criticism. (I say this and admit that I haven’t seen a single Washington game this season, so I absolutely could be wrong here)
Yeah, he’s been much worse this season than he has been for a long time, but I’m not sold that he regressed so thoroughly in a single season. It’s much more likely, considering how consistent McNabb has been for at least the last three years, that it’s the rest of the 'Skins holding him back.
We’ll see next season when he’s in Minnesota or Arizona.
I have no idea what to think of this Philly/Indy matchup. At first glance I’d say this is a Colts blowout, and I’m shocked Indy is the underdog here. Then again, they are short two to five key offensive players, coming off a short week, on the road… and Andy Reid is 11-0 coming off a bye week during the regular season. Vick will be back, along with DeSean Jackson and starting LT Jason Peters.
I don’t think the over can be high enough for this game. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Eagles actually won and got the knee-jerk talking heads to vault them into the NFL’s top 5 teams (undeservedly so, admittedly).