The Skins are done

The Skins’ season is over. When Norval comes to town and beats you with a ragtag Oakland team, you know it’s over. Moss was jogging through his routes and still catching balls over Walt Harris. Stick a fork in ‘em. They’re done.

What went wrong? Certainly, Gibbs made some bad personnel decisions. Bringing in Gregg Williams as defensive coordinator was the worst move. Williams’ blitzing defense is fatally flawed because he has no top caliber defensive linemen. He tries to put pressure on the QB with blitzes, but teams have caught up with that tactic. Williams’ other major flaw is sticking with players who don’t even belong in the NFL. Walt Harris couldn’t produce in the Arena Football League. And that no-name (Holdman, I think) outside linebacker who took Arrington’s place for a few games. What a joke he was. And Williams’ public bashing of Arrington. That’s a non winner every time. A good manager in any field of endeavor never, ever admonishes one of his underlings in a public forum. If Arrington was hurt, say he was hurt. If he was free lancing too much, take it upon yourself to discipline him within the confines of Redskins Park, not at a news conference. And don’t bench an all Pro for not knowing the plays when you have other people starting who can’t cover or tackle. I’d much rather have a play maker on the field who free lances rather than players like Walt Harris who know where to go but can’t tackle or cover when they get there.

Bringing in Brunell was Joe’s second big personnel mistake. I know Joe wanted to win now. Well, now is over. Put Ramsey back in there and try to make him look as good as you can so you can get something for him when you trade him after the season.

But, Joe’s fatal flaw is his play calling. He is now and always will be too conservative. Give Joe a three point lead in the first quarter, and he shuts the offense down until the other team either ties him or goes ahead. I guess that tactic worked his first time around, but in today’s game, you have to attack. Get a team down, then stomp on their throat. Look at Peyton Manning against Cincy this week. The Colts didn’t shut the offense down after they scored the first touchdown. They continued to pound the ball down Cincy’s throat until they cried uncle.

That’s enough Skins bashing. That’s in the past. What is to become of our beloved Redskins? The crystal ball looks pretty clear this morning. I can see into the future and it looks bright. That’s the thing with the Skins. The off-season is better than the regular season. Hope rings eternal during those halcyon days before the first kickoff to the new season.

So, what’s in store?

The Skins will beat the Rams and the Cardinals to finish seven and nine.

Joe will retire immediately after the regular season and recommend Williams to replace him as head coach.

Williams’ first move will be to install Walt Harris as defensive coordinator.

Snyder will wait two days, fire all of the remaining coaches and bring in Herm Edwards to great fanfare.

Edwards will make a flowery speech about the Redskins’ tradition and how proud he is to be a Redskin.

The team will trade away Ramsey, Arrington, Royal, Harris, et al, plus all of their remaining draft picks for the next two years for the 2006 number one pick.

Mike Ditka will praise the move as the greatest since he traded all of his draft picks to the Skins to get Ricky Williams.

They’ll pick the USC quarterback with that pick and then have a protracted contract dispute with him.

Edwards will trade for Pennington and Moss, then declare that combo as the best since Peyton and Harrison, forgetting that they had just given up twenty picks and fifteen players for a rookie QB.

The Skins will go six and ten, Snyder will fire Edwards at the end of the regular season and trade for Deion to be their starting free safety. Deion will tell Snyder that Ray Lewis wants to play with the Skins even though he can’t walk. Snyder’s eyes will glaze over and he’ll sign Lewis to a sixty eight million dollar contract with a twelve million dollar signing bonus.

Man, I love the Skins’ off season. Meanwhile, I’ll watch a real team, the Steelers, play on Sunday. I’m sure I can find some fatal flaws in that organization also. You know, Big Ben, he might be too big to be a top QB…