Did the bye come at the best time or the worst time?

[Burgold]

On the pro side:

* Our rb, back up rb, and a number of players were all beat up. A week off might do this team a lot of good healthwise.
* Six games is a pretty good number to review, digest, and then have time to reassess what you're doing
* Things felt like they were turning really ugly on offense

On the con side

* Can't get much of a worst taste in your mouth than losing to the Lions... TWICE
* Two weeks of speculation about the McNabb benching
* Defense was starting to get it... At least in the first halves of games. They actually played really well for the first half twice.
* Haynesworth was starting to become a part of this team and be a player.

So, did we luck out with the timing of our bye or did its timing allow things to linger and fester longer than it should have.

[EXJAY]

I agree. gives those a chance to re-coup a bit and some addl time to work on offense plays. I would like nothing more to see the redskins beat the eagles again this season and the break will hopefully help things w/ mcnabb

[Drkstar]

any time your backfield is as nicked as the redskins, you want the time off. I have seen this team spiral out of control with bad losses in the past and having that extra week to catch their collective breath and regroup should be a benefit more so then a detriment.

this is not a good football team at this point so I dont think we "lucked out" with a bye last week but it sure did come at the right time considering the games that are on the horizon and the nagging injuries to guys like mcnabb, torain, t. williams and brown. also if we had to weather the storm of lossing our most explosive player (banks) for a couple of weeks, not having to play the week of his surgery was another plus.

[#98QBKiller]

Six games is a pretty good number to review, digest, and then have time to reassess what you're doing

We've played eight games so far.

I think this was the perfect time for the bye. Shanahan shot himself in the foot before the bye with his benching of McNabb. But supposedly this is all behind them now and I tend to believe them.

I mean, they put their differences aside with Haynesworth and he's playing lights out. Let's just hope that we see the same effect on McNabb.

[Burgold]

We've played eight games so far. .

I don't count the Rams and Lions' games :D

[Burgold]

I guess I wonder how they'll come out. Will there be significant strategy changes as they adapt to what they've discovered are their team's strengths and weaknesses. Will we be recharged and aggressive? Or will we come out flat.

I would have thought that Shanny would be good at disspelling our team's tendency to go limp, but as we've seen twice that ghost hasn't been exorcised. Luckily, the Eagles are a team that we're unlikely to take lightly. So, hopefully we come out hard and continue building.

[Duckus]

Team - Best time. 8 games in is perfect. We can get healthy and rest up for the 2nd half of this season.

Fans - Worst time. We are 4-4 and you would think this was a Buffalo Bill's message board. You don't want your starting QB benched going into the bye. The Washington Post has been eating this up and pumping us full of non-stop negative stories for 2 weeks. It really could not have been any worse for a bye week.

[Rdskn4Lyf21]

I love the bye coming after the first 8 games.

With regards to the con of having the taste from the Lions game last for two weeks, I think that's actually a pro. These guys should come out angry and fired up on Monday night.

[jflow78]

I'd say it came at the best time, our offense seemed to be getting progressively worse, whether due to injury or something else, we had a few players who were beat up, and hopefully the break will help some people look back at the first half of the season and figure out how to improve in every area.

The defense was looking better weekly, the running game was doing pretty good, passing game was getting worse, and the offensive playcalling seems really unbalanced, but hopefully we can get it all together in the 2nd half of the season.

I'm all for mid-season bye-weeks. I hate it when they come at the very beginning of the season, it seems like a complete waste.


With regards to the con of having the taste from the Lions game last for two weeks, I think that's actually a pro. These guys should come out angry and fired up on Monday night.

Totally agree with this.

[FrFan]

Best time since it comes midway through the season, we're not on a winning streak, Banks got surgery, CP is training again, and I hope this time was used to improve the team.

[Redskins4ever]

When the bye week comes in between the first eight games, and the last eight games, it's always the best time. Anytime a bye week comes right in the middle of the season, it's good.

[Rdskn4Lyf21]

When the bye week comes in between the first eight games, and the last eight games, it's always the best time. Anytime a bye week comes right in the middle of the season, it's good.

http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/17359238-17359242-large.jpg

[santana_4_prez]

Best for sure...our two book-end tackles needed some recovery time, not to mention DMAC.

[terrifNick21]

Best, in my opinion. The later, the better.

[pjfootballer]

Anytime you get a bye in the middle of the season it's good. Having a bye in week 3 would suck.

[Burgold]

Yeah, I never dug those week 3 byes. I do worry that two weeks of negativity could have a bad impact... although I love the fact that Trent, Ryan, Jamal, and others got a week to heal and the coaches got a week to sit back and not worry about next week, but review what went right and wrong and try to address that.

[MintHillSkinsFan]

It worked out perfect for me. My son had football playoffs all day this past Sunday and I didn't have to miss the Redskins game. This weekend I'll be on a cruise but I come back Monday morning so I won't have to miss the game. I'd say it worked out great!

[Burgold]

Oh, that is sweet. :cheers:

Hope your son kicked arse!

[#98QBKiller]

I don't count the Rams and Lions' games :D

Can't blame you for that one. I'm trying to forget those games myself. :pfft:

[WhoRUSupposed2Be]

Expect no more and expect no less.

This team is what it is... average unless I'm proven wrong ;)

[darrelgreenie]

So, did we luck out with the timing of our bye or did its timing allow things to linger and fester longer than it should have.

While it would have been nice to get on the field and play a game right away to wash out the sour taste of the McNabb benching.
I think the bye came at a great time because quite frankly the offense and passing game in particular need the time to re-evaluate and fix some of their mistakes.
Kyle, Mike and McNabb need the time to take a critical look at what's wrong with the passing game and what they can do better to fix it.

from the comfort of my couch here's what i would work on couch areas:
o get Davis more involved in the passing game
o ***get McNabb in rhythm so he can plant his foot and throw on time and feel confident with exactly where he should go with the ball without hesistation
o run the ball more***
o get McNabb more involved and prepared from in pre-snap game management aspects of the offense
o get the Moss a touch on the first drive of every series (even if its a screen or a reverse)/and target him even more often
o get Armstrong more touches especially against man-to-man when Tana is getting doubled (stop throwing non-deep passes to Galloway he should only be used for deep routes dude has the worst case of alligator arms ever!)


It also gives our RBs time to heal up and gives the replacement backs Keiland and Davis more time to learn the system to help them contribute on Sundays.

[AllBusiness]

Came at a pretty good time, overall.
The real proof either way, will be in how Donovan (the BRAINS of our O) digested what happened on the field. And also, what he and the Coaches discussed behind closed doors.
From a health standpoint, by-weeks are always good. In our case, the timing of it co-inciding with Torain needing a rest, not to mention a host of others, was near perfect.

[Burgold]

While it would have been nice to get on the field and play a game right away to wash out the sour taste of the McNabb benching.
I think the bye came at a great time because quite frankly the offense and passing game in particular need the time to re-evaluate and fix some of their mistakes.
Kyle, Mike and McNabb need the time to take a critical look at what's wrong with the passing game and what they can do better to fix it.

from the comfort of my couch here's what i would work on couch areas:
o get Davis more involved in the passing game
o ***get McNabb in rhythm so he can plant his foot and throw on time and feel confident with exactly where he should go with the ball without hesistation
o run the ball more***
o get McNabb more involved and prepared from in pre-snap game management aspects of the offense
o get the Moss a touch on the first drive of every series (even if its a screen or a reverse)/and target him even more often
o get Armstrong more touches especially against man-to-man when Tana is getting doubled (stop throwing non-deep passes to Galloway he should only be used for deep routes dude has the worst case of alligator arms ever!)


It also gives our RBs time to heal up and gives the replacement backs Keiland and Davis more time to learn the system to help them contribute on Sundays.

So, you want to the run the ball more, but want to make sure that Moss touches the ball every drive and to get Armstrong and Davis more involved??? Not sure if that's possible

[Spooky]

Anytime you get a bye in the middle of the season it's good. Having a bye in week 3 would suck.

I agree %100. Plus, we need a time out right now to prepare for the second half of the season.

[Burgold]

Everyone agreeing? That's not the ES I know ;)

[darrelgreenie]

So, you want to the run the ball more, but want to make sure that Moss touches the ball every drive and to get Armstrong and Davis more involved??? Not sure if that's possible

Sorry about the confusion the part about Moss is a typo i want Moss to get a touch on the first drive of every game not every series b/c a drive and series are the same thing as a series its like saying i want Moss to have a touch on the first series of every series...and yes i'm a crazy person.

But, yes i want to run the ball more and get Davis more involved in the offense and get Armstrong more involved in the passing game.
Kyle has a tall task, no one said that being an OC was easy job.
But 2 things that would help facilitate these changes are:
o give Sellers and Galloway less targets in order to target Davis and Armstrong more targets often
o sustain drives and convert more 3rd downs so we have more plays (but if we were running the ball more and getting the ball to Davis and Armstrong more we could probably convert more 3rd downs its a visious cycle)

[GoDeep81]

Bye week timing was perfect.. Coaching mishaps timing, not so much..

[zskins]

Everyone agreeing? That's not the ES I know ;)

I would have preferred it if it was on week 8 or 10.

[Chris0894]

personally i dont think it could have came at a better time with all the lingering injuries, plus whats better than a bye week dead smack in the middle of the season?

[Burgold]

Sorry about the confusion the part about Moss is a typo i want Moss to get a touch on the first drive of every game not every series b/c a drive and series are the same thing as a series its like saying i want Moss to have a touch on the first series of every series...and yes i'm a crazy person.


Gotcha. That makes some sense, esp as Moss is a guy who can have concentration issues and can be known to loaf when he's not getting enough attention.

[Airman67]

I think the bye week came one week too late. We could have used it to regroup before the Lions game and I have this sickening feeling I have had for two weeks.