Official ES Redskins vs. Vikings P/K/ST Discussion Thread---Well Isn't That Special?

[Jumbo]

Hey. Like many of us, I'm caught up in last minute unexpected Holidayosity.

So your OP from me is a lump of coal.

[glongest]

Inexcusable to line up offsides on a punt that ends up giving the opposing team the ball back after the defense stopped them, which the opposing team ends up marching down the field and scoring a touchdown.

[Bang]

Lining up offsides?
Well, Danny has to work with the young guys, you know.
They tell me he has to work with backups and such and well, bless 'em,.. a lot of 'em are just rookies, and all of them are just poor backups, you know... and well.. maybe one of them were a little nervous, and maybe made a rookie mistake... happens to all of em you know..



oh, that was Mike Sellers?
The same Mike Sellers who was literally the first free agent Joe gibbs signed, and has been on Danny Smith's special teams since day ONE?
And that drive that the penalty kept alive resulted in a Vikings TD in a game we only lost by...


Well, it's really getting impossible to find excuses anymore, isn't it?

But, since it's Christmas, I don't want Smith fired for this latest rock-hard chunk of incontrovertible proof that his special teams are and always have been sloppily coached.







But Monday.. Monday i want that gum chewing clown on a bus to Moscow.

~Bang

[rick7423]

Too many penalties, bad play, and mistakes to go around. Chalk it up to a bad season and lets fix the problems for next year (again).

[Forehead]

For all the crap he took early on, Graham Gano is on a 13 or 14 straight field goals made streak at the moment., and showing a strong leg to boot. That's something to be happy about.

The offsides thing answers one question at least. There was a point in the game where we stopped Minnesota and then they had the ball again. I thought I had missed an interception or something but I was drinking heavily and didn't think much of it. Now I know what happened.

[Bang]

I am definitely a GANO fan. He's been very steady, all things considered. He's looked downright automatic this year, and the misses I attribute to him having a bad kick or whatever are less than five.
His kickoffs are excellent except when some idiot tells him to kick to the corner.
His field goals have been strong, very good kicks. He's had a few misses, but all of his makes are dead on. No close calls.

Gano's a keeper.

~Bang

[techboy]

oh, that was Mike Sellers?
The same Mike Sellers who was literally the first free agent Joe gibbs signed, and has been on Danny Smith's special teams since day ONE?

I think many of your criticisms are fair, generally. If Smith calls for a directional kick, and Gano kicks it out of bounds, at least some of that can be laid at the feet of coaching. The same is true for poor blocking as a team, and so on.

Your own comment here, though, I think highlights that this is not a fair criticism.

As you say, Mike Sellers has been playing special teams at a high level forever, and he should know better than to jump offsides (I watched the replay on my TiVo... I think the ref said he lined up offsides, but it looked to me like he didn't, and jumped). I don't see how you can lay that on coaching. What's Smith supposed to do, say "Hey... Don't jump offfsides!"?

[Bang]

Well, he didn't jump, he lined up there.
But that is really neither her nor there.
Personally, I don't need another iota of convincing to want to drive Smith off the pier myself. I'd like to wrap him in a mail bag, drive down the pier, then roll off like a texas football coach on a runaway field cart and wait for the happy splash.
But every time I bring up the myriad reasons why he should be gone, i inevitably get some harp playing bard who waxes poetic about how poor Coach Cud-Chewer has to deal with backups and rookies, and that all his time here he's had to make do with the dregs that Vinny,etc, handed him.

the fact that Sellers today made a ridiculously stupid penalty (a pre-snap penalty on a punt is inexcusable)... a guy who is neither young or a career backup... just drives home how baseless this final defense of Danny is.

All special teams make mistakes.
Ours makes inexcuable, completely avoidable mistakes almost every single week.
And it's not rookies, it's not inexperienced backups, as evidenced today.
There's a lot of factors why we lost today, but if Sellers just lines up where he's supposed to ,I know i can take 7 off their score.

~Bang

[elkabong82]

I am definitely a GANO fan. He's been very steady, all things considered. He's looked downright automatic this year, and the misses I attribute to him having a bad kick or whatever are less than five.
His kickoffs are excellent except when some idiot tells him to kick to the corner.
His field goals have been strong, very good kicks. He's had a few misses, but all of his makes are dead on. No close calls.

Gano's a keeper.

~Bang

I agree, and I wish more on here did as well, or at least headed the cautionary tales of giving up early on Suisham and Novak and how they are faring now.

[techboy]

Well, he didn't jump, he lined up there.

Perhaps you're right. Either way, Sellers should have known better, and that's not on coaching.

I understand your general complaints, and I hope you don't have a stroke when he's on the staff next year.

[Bang]

Perhaps you're right. Either way, Sellers should have known better, and that's not on coaching.

I understand your general complaints, and I hope you don't have a stroke when he's on the staff next year.

The part of me that loves to complain will enjoy it.. I guess.

Elkabong, I like Gano better than Novak and Shusham both. I think he's much better than either one of them. I hope he's back. Definitely coming into his own.

~Bang

[Buford]

Well, he didn't jump, he lined up there.
But that is really neither her nor there.
Personally, I don't need another iota of convincing to want to drive Smith off the pier myself. I'd like to wrap him in a mail bag, drive down the pier, then roll off like a texas football coach on a runaway field cart and wait for the happy splash.
But every time I bring up the myriad reasons why he should be gone, i inevitably get some harp playing bard who waxes poetic about how poor Coach Cud-Chewer has to deal with backups and rookies, and that all his time here he's had to make do with the dregs that Vinny,etc, handed him.

the fact that Sellers today made a ridiculously stupid penalty (a pre-snap penalty on a punt is inexcusable)... a guy who is neither young or a career backup... just drives home how baseless this final defense of Danny is.

All special teams make mistakes.
Ours makes inexcuable, completely avoidable mistakes almost every single week.
And it's not rookies, it's not inexperienced backups, as evidenced today.
There's a lot of factors why we lost today, but if Sellers just lines up where he's supposed to ,I know i can take 7 off their score.

~Bang

You nailed it there. Its bad enough that special teams makes at least one major mistake weekly. Its that a different guy makes that mistake weekly. Its like the Reed Doughty thing. Every week he's juked right around the goalline....and they score. He might be a smart player with a lot of heart. But watching him is like a boy amongst men out there....and worse. Now he taunts like Landry after giving up a big play...but not maybe the BIGGEST possible play.