Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Blog Shut Down?
So, its possible that I'm going to get shut down because the "techies" at school dont like the fact that I watch NFL highlights during my study hall in the school library. I am sorry to my readership, as the quality of my posts will likley be hindered significantly by this new development.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Fire Vinny Cerrato
Do you remember last year when the Washington Redskins were 6-2 and looked like they were going to be a force to reckon with in the NFC? Well, since then the Redskins have been pitiful, losing 11 of their past 15 games. Sure, you can blame injuries, as the Redskins have been bit by the injury bug. But so have teams like the Eagles, who, by the way, beat the Skins on Monday night without their starting running back, a patchwork offensive line, and a linebacker acquired less then a week before. The Redskins, who spent big money in the offseason with the intention of being playoff contenders, are now 2-5 and yes, it is time to hit the panic button in the nation's capital. Upon studying the situation, it is quite obvious that their are two people to blame for this catastrophe, owner Daniel Snyder and "Vice President of Football Operations" Vinny Cerrato. Notice the lack of the term general manager, as Snyder thinks it would make too much sense to give someone that title and then complete control of the team. Heres the thing wrong with Cerrato, he is more of a salesman then a team builder. Remember it was under his watch that the Skins went out and signed the "sexy" players like Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith. He traded away Stephen Davis and replaced him with Trung Canidate and then decided he needed a real running back, so he traded away future Hall-of-Famer Champ Bailey for Clinton Portis. He refuses to acquire any halfway decent offensive lineman and has just this year realized the value of defensive lineman. As long as he is in charge, the Redskins will struggle.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Weekend In Review: Redskins suck....
What an awful weekend in sports, my favorite college team had their star player sent to the hospital after taking a hit to the head, my second favorite college team was upset by an unranked Iowa team for the second straight year. My favorite pro team lost to a team that would likley lose to our high school team AND my fantasy team lost for the first time this year. To top that off, my leaset favorite baseball teams both clinched their respective divisions, my favorite team was mathmatically eliminated from the playoffs, and the Nationals lost their 102nd game. But enough about me, lets talk about how bad the Redskins are.
Theres the old addage that on any given Sunday, any NFL team can beat another NFL team. Well, this seemed plausable for all but two NFL teams, the hapless St. Louis Rams and the Detroit Lions. Well, the Redskins have now beaten one of those teams by 2 points at home, and gotten beat by the other on the road.
Now, I am not like most other bloggers, I am actually a fan of Jason Cambpell, or at least I won't call for his head. Did he look like Peyton Manning against the Lions? No, but he was not the Patrick Ramsey type QB that has so often appeared. He did have two fumbles, one of which might or might not have been his fault, the other was compleatly his fault, as was the interception. But overall, you cant blame the guy who throws for 340 yards, has 2 TDs compared to only 1 INT and has a QB Rating of 97.6. I feel the blame lies within three units, the offensive line, the defense, and finally the head coach.
If Dan Snyder would stop with the "sexy pick" in the draft and actually draft somebody who would give Cambpell protection, I feel like he would thrive as the QB of this team, he has all the talent he needs at the skill positions. The offensive line is to blame for the struggles on offense this season so far. When you have 4th and goal on the 1 AGAINST DETROIT, YOU SHOULD SCORE! THE GEORGE MASON OFFENSE WOULD FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET 1 YARD AGAINST DETROIT! I think it is time for a complete overhaul of the offensive line. Chris Sameules likley has 2 or 3 good years left, Derrick Dockery has longer than that, everyone else though, needs to go. Casey Rabach is too old and inconsistant, Randy Thomas is always hurt, and Chad Rhinehart is no replacement. Stephon Heyer is one of the worst tackles in the league, I'm not sure he would even be a servicable backup.
My second reason for the Redskins losing is the defense. This was a team that ranked 4th overall last year, and they only lost Shawn Springs, who was hurt the whole year anyway. In fact they added the best free agent lineman since Reggie White and a pass rushing end who is supposedly the second coming of Dwight Freeney, yet he lines up at linebacker. Heres how you fix the defense, you find a linebacker who is servicable, maybe somebody who hasn't been picked up yet, who knows the system, like I don't know, say Marcus Washington. Then, you move Brian Orakpo to defensive end on every play, and you make sure that he knows that it is his job to rush the Quarterback on every play. I would rather get consistent pressure on the QB without blitzing and give up a 10 yard play every now and then than putting the secondary in man coverage and trying to get to the QB. In the secondary, it has become clear that signing Deangelo Hall to a huge deal was not the right move, but he is still a very good second corner, even if he is overpaid. Fred Smoot needs to be relegated to a 4th corner, and Justin Tryon needs to be cut. A nickle corner needs to be picked up in the offseason, as does a quality strong safety, as I am still not sold on Chris Horton. This defense has the potential to be great, but only if everyone gets on the same page; which leads directly into the third and likley biggest problem with this team. The Head Coach.
Jim Zorn likley would have been a good fit as Offensive Coordinator, but it is obvious that he is overwhelmed as head coach. It is too late to fix that this season, but in the offseason, a new coach must be found, and there are plenty of big name coaches out there. But instead of going after Bill Cowher or Tony Dungy, how about doing what was said in the first place, how about hiring Gregg Williams as the head coach? Keep Blatche as the defensive coordinator, keep Bugel as the line coach, keep Smith as ST Coach and hire an Offensive coordinator who knows how to effectivley call plays (unlike Zorn). Zorn is awful at game managment as well. He's worse then second go round Gibbs. Why would you not force the Lions to attempt a 51 yard field goal? The chances that the Lions make that are under 50%. I applaud him for going for it on 4th and goal from the 1, but that was about the only thing he did that I agree with. Or maybe, depending on how this year goes, pull a Detroit, hire a new coach that brings an entirley new attitude to the club. Overturn the entire roster, purging everyone from it that is clearly not at Pro-Bowl level, and hire an all new coaching staff. Well were at it, lets change the owner.
Theres the old addage that on any given Sunday, any NFL team can beat another NFL team. Well, this seemed plausable for all but two NFL teams, the hapless St. Louis Rams and the Detroit Lions. Well, the Redskins have now beaten one of those teams by 2 points at home, and gotten beat by the other on the road.
Now, I am not like most other bloggers, I am actually a fan of Jason Cambpell, or at least I won't call for his head. Did he look like Peyton Manning against the Lions? No, but he was not the Patrick Ramsey type QB that has so often appeared. He did have two fumbles, one of which might or might not have been his fault, the other was compleatly his fault, as was the interception. But overall, you cant blame the guy who throws for 340 yards, has 2 TDs compared to only 1 INT and has a QB Rating of 97.6. I feel the blame lies within three units, the offensive line, the defense, and finally the head coach.
If Dan Snyder would stop with the "sexy pick" in the draft and actually draft somebody who would give Cambpell protection, I feel like he would thrive as the QB of this team, he has all the talent he needs at the skill positions. The offensive line is to blame for the struggles on offense this season so far. When you have 4th and goal on the 1 AGAINST DETROIT, YOU SHOULD SCORE! THE GEORGE MASON OFFENSE WOULD FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET 1 YARD AGAINST DETROIT! I think it is time for a complete overhaul of the offensive line. Chris Sameules likley has 2 or 3 good years left, Derrick Dockery has longer than that, everyone else though, needs to go. Casey Rabach is too old and inconsistant, Randy Thomas is always hurt, and Chad Rhinehart is no replacement. Stephon Heyer is one of the worst tackles in the league, I'm not sure he would even be a servicable backup.
My second reason for the Redskins losing is the defense. This was a team that ranked 4th overall last year, and they only lost Shawn Springs, who was hurt the whole year anyway. In fact they added the best free agent lineman since Reggie White and a pass rushing end who is supposedly the second coming of Dwight Freeney, yet he lines up at linebacker. Heres how you fix the defense, you find a linebacker who is servicable, maybe somebody who hasn't been picked up yet, who knows the system, like I don't know, say Marcus Washington. Then, you move Brian Orakpo to defensive end on every play, and you make sure that he knows that it is his job to rush the Quarterback on every play. I would rather get consistent pressure on the QB without blitzing and give up a 10 yard play every now and then than putting the secondary in man coverage and trying to get to the QB. In the secondary, it has become clear that signing Deangelo Hall to a huge deal was not the right move, but he is still a very good second corner, even if he is overpaid. Fred Smoot needs to be relegated to a 4th corner, and Justin Tryon needs to be cut. A nickle corner needs to be picked up in the offseason, as does a quality strong safety, as I am still not sold on Chris Horton. This defense has the potential to be great, but only if everyone gets on the same page; which leads directly into the third and likley biggest problem with this team. The Head Coach.
Jim Zorn likley would have been a good fit as Offensive Coordinator, but it is obvious that he is overwhelmed as head coach. It is too late to fix that this season, but in the offseason, a new coach must be found, and there are plenty of big name coaches out there. But instead of going after Bill Cowher or Tony Dungy, how about doing what was said in the first place, how about hiring Gregg Williams as the head coach? Keep Blatche as the defensive coordinator, keep Bugel as the line coach, keep Smith as ST Coach and hire an Offensive coordinator who knows how to effectivley call plays (unlike Zorn). Zorn is awful at game managment as well. He's worse then second go round Gibbs. Why would you not force the Lions to attempt a 51 yard field goal? The chances that the Lions make that are under 50%. I applaud him for going for it on 4th and goal from the 1, but that was about the only thing he did that I agree with. Or maybe, depending on how this year goes, pull a Detroit, hire a new coach that brings an entirley new attitude to the club. Overturn the entire roster, purging everyone from it that is clearly not at Pro-Bowl level, and hire an all new coaching staff. Well were at it, lets change the owner.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Taking Over for Quinn
As I'm sure all four followers of the original Lasso Online Sports Blog knows, the writer was Quinn Casteel. Unfortuantly, Quinn refused to take Journalism for a third year, so he was kicked off. Therefore, I, PJ Anderson, am taking over the new Lasso Online Sports Blog. As this is a blog, my opinions will be stated. There will be many topics discussed, but I am partial to Major League Baseball, the NFL, Division I College Football, and Division I College Basketball. I wil also discuss some hockey and maybe a little bit about the NBA, unless all the commenters feel really strongly about it. Basically I am going to speak whatever is on my mind in the world of sports, in addition to weekly predictions and reactions to major events. The first installment will be put up this weekend, talking about at least the NFL and also some college football.
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