The State of the Redskins

For the Washington Redskins, the 2004 season essentially ended 11 minutes into the first preseason game.
When Jon Jansen crumpled to the ground after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon, the lynchpin of Joe Bugel’s Dirtbags was gone and the offensive line would never be the same.
Without Jansen, the Redskins running game never materialized, which caused a chain reaction that eventually led to an anemic offense that would be the worst of Joe Gibbs’ coaching career.
Gibbs’ aerial attack is heavily dependent on play action and exploiting single coverage that comes when opposing defenses clamp focus on shutting down the run. Since the team could never sustain a balanced rushing attack, the passing game never opened up.
The ineffective offense crippled the Redskins. Despite a stellar defense that kept the team in nearly every game, Washington finished with a disappointing 6-10 record and had one of the worst statistical offenses in the entire league.
Most of the blame for the offense has been put on Mark Brunell, and deservedly so. Brunell was simply atrocious. In his nine games as starter, he completed less than 50% of his passes, only averaged five yards per attempt (when seven is the league average), threw six picks against seven TD’s and somehow compiled a brutal 63.9 QB rating.
Gibbs stayed with Brunell a game or two too long, but in the Hall of Famer’s defense, Patrick Ramsey hadn’t exactly given him reason to feel confident that making a switch would improve anything.
In the preseason Ramsey had trouble when playing against second-stringers and when he relieved Brunell in a week two game against the Giants, Ramsey threw three interceptions (and had two more dropped by New York defenders) and was sacked three times.
Not exactly a good first impression.
Gibbs had to stick with Brunell through at least eight games. Dan Snyder had invested enough money in the 33-year old that it was worth it to see if his struggles were due to a sputtering offense or his own shortcomings.
In the end, it was a little from column A and a lot from column B. The offense was terrible but Brunell didn’t help things with his weak arm and mobility that left some ‘Skins fans longing for Rob Johnson.
The poor offensive play by the Redskins was caused by a combination of things.
Gibbs and his old cronies took longer than they expected to get acclimated to today’s NFL. The Mark Brunell signing was a bust. When the quarterbacks did make good throws, receivers Rod Gardner and Laveranues Coles would drop them. Clinton Portis never really got going. The offensive line started a 22-year old and a 42-year old in numerous games.
One could go on and on with all the problems the team had.
Still, with a few correct calls from the officials (the refs missed a blatant pass interference in the Dallas game and called an absurd illegal motion penalty that cost them the Packers game) and if the team had made a few key plays (Ladell Betts failed to chip Ed Reed on the Ravens go-ahead touchdown and Sean Taylor blew his coverage on the Vinny-to-No Name bomb), the Redskins would have actually been in the playoffs.
That doesn’t mean the Redskins were any good, but it shows that they’re not as far away as some people would believe.
With a full season under Gibbs’ belt, he’ll now have time to focus more on the x’s-and-o’s instead of the inner workings of the salary cap, new rules and personnel changes.
With some improved offensive schemes and a few minor tweaks to the roster, the Redskins should be a much improved team in 2005.
In his first go-round as Redskins coach Joe Gibbs struggled in his first season and won the Super Bowl in his second.
When he retired from football and moved to NASCAR, Gibbs’ team finished 36th in their first Daytona 500. One year later, Gibbs and Dale Jarrett celebrated at Daytona on Victory Lane.
Joe Gibbs is a quick learner. Season one of his much-heralded return was a disappointment. His track record says season two will be anything but.

Next Week: Redskins Roster Breakdown