After four games, let's reexamine the schedule shall we?

[WesB]

Schedule looks tough on paper, but the team just needs to take it week to week. Each team in our division is less than perfect. 9-7 could win the division this year!

[Jumbo]

What receivers? Dez can't catch a cold and Miles Austin has nearly disappeared. After that, Ogletree? Romo seems to make plays, but I've never been scared of the Cowboys WR corps.

Ah, there are always some (and they can vary) who never disappoint in being disappointing.

makes me just wish i didn't even post such a simple and understandable (except for the "special bus" riders) comment .

anyway, as i said, i enjoyed seeing their debacle and obviously hope it's an ongoing malady.

after watching their embarrassment, though, i knew at least a few "after the fact" guys would show up to burble out a "critique."

and yeh, outside of here, the cowboy passing attack is widely regarded (get ready for the shockwave) as being both quite potent at times and yet can be worthless at other times with romo's choke/self-destruct factor and the wrs quite inconsistent, ya never know. guess which i was worried about with our pass D---the inconsistent (poorly performing) or the times they're on it?

we're 7-17 since 2010. I hate losing to the cowpies. and now I have someone I see daily to remind me how much.

ya'all do me a favor. read my actual first post and see it for what it was. i have to be here all week and if i get fed up with numbness this early i will buy an extra pair of of meany pants for next gameday .

[HeluCopter29]

I remember way back when the schedule first came out and everyone was raving about how easy it was and with RGIII we had a good shot at the playoffs. I also remember me saying this schedule looked brutal.

Glad to see everyone agrees with me now. haha

[Jumbo]

I remember way back when the schedule first came out and everyone was raving about how easy it was and with RGIII we had a good shot at the playoffs. I also remember me saying this schedule looked brutal.

Glad to see everyone agrees with me now. haha

It's way beyond bipolar how "death march" this place was, and many were totally frothing (including in the gameday thread right up until the end) and now we're quickly moving to cockeyed optimists.

[PerryMason]

With a line already a man down, not to mention the teams best pure rusher gone for the season; and a secondary that can't cover consistently over 60 minutes for ****; how are you not scared of most ANY teams passing attack?

Let alone a high powered one like Dallas' when it's clicking.

Hail.

Just don't think Dez has really ever been that good. He's had flashes, but overall just meh. Ogletree...nuff said. That leaves Miles Austin who has been consistently good but I don't feel like has done much this season. As long as we don't leave Hall in one on one coverage with Dez, we can cover these guys. Not to mention that we have consistently played the Cowboys close nearly every single game since 2005. In some games we just outplayed em and lost like last year at Washington. So all that considered, and then throwing in RG3. I believe we can beat the Cowboys. Twice.

---------- Post added October-2nd-2012 at 11:22 AM ----------

Ah, there are always some (and they can vary) who never disappoint in being disappointing.

makes me just wish i didn't even post such a simple and understandable (except for the "special bus" riders) comment .

anyway, as i said, i enjoyed seeing their debacle and obviously hope it's an ongoing malady.

after watching their embarrassment, though, i knew at least a few "after the fact" guys would show up to burble out a "critique."

and yeh, outside of here, the cowboy passing attack is widely regarded (get ready for the shockwave) as being both quite potent at times and yet can be worthless at other times with romo's choke/self-destruct factor and the wrs quite inconsistent, ya never know. guess which i was worried about with our pass D---the inconsistent (poorly performing) or the times they're on it?

we're 7-17 since 2010. I hate losing to the cowpies. and now I have someone I see daily to remind me how much.

ya'all do me a favor. read my actual first post and see it for what it was. i have to be here all week and if i get fed up with numbness this early i will buy an extra pair of of meany pants for next gameday .

Calm down there bud, just pointing out something that even Cowboys fans I know say about their WR corps. Big hype, small results. I know our secondary has looked scary in coverage recently, but we always get up for the Cowboys. I have faith you'll be getting the last laugh with your friend this year.

[kleese]

So to take that to it's last degree, let's say, in a wholly horrific hypothetical. we finish with 3 wins. Regressing in the W column in his third year.

Wouldn't that be time for him to go by your metric Klease man? You say you wouldn't be calling for his head, which I don't doubt. But by association to the lack of wins and not winning the games you think we should, shouldn't that be the final nail in the coffin?

Hail.

Barring something drastic causing it, a 3-13 season this year would likely have me calling for Shanny to be fired, yes. Simply unnaceptable to me. The 5/6 win mark we've discussed before would leave me very disappointed and discouraged over what he's done here, but again barring something crazy, I'd almost certainly want him back in 2013.

If your 3-13 that means you are the worst team in the league give or take depending on the year. And if your rookie QB is outstanding as RG3 has been and you still go 3-13 that would be a signal to me that almost nothing else he's done is working.

---------- Post added October-2nd-2012 at 08:47 PM ----------

I think looking at the roster and realizing that two years (not three) into a rebuild there are still some big holes that need to be addressed does not mean someone is having emotional problems. It's simply acknowledging what is. If you are unforgiving of the fact that those holes exist, and that we are in year two rather than three of our rebuild, and we should be better now than we are, call for Shanahan's head now. I won't complain.

If you want to pretend the team is more complete than it obviously is, well don't accuse other people of seeing what they want.

We disagree a bit on whether to call it two or three years, but whatever.

I do not discount out weaknesses. What I am saying is that a well coached team (with a staff in their third year on the job) should be able overcome said weaknesses to a point where 7/9 wins occur.

I think because we focus so much on the skins that we fail to see other teams dealing with the same issues, yet finding ways to win.

We are weak in the secondary... Weaker than I thought we would be when I picked us to win 7/8 games. But our QB and RB are MUCH better than I thought as is our OL. The OL isn't nearly as weak as some say.. Hard to lead the league in rushing if your OL stinks. And with the exception of the Cincy game, the pocket has been fairly clean for RG3 this year.

Look around the league... The Eagles OL is in shambles; the Giants secondary is as bad as ours and they have more injuries there; Cowboys OL is a sieve. Packers gave up 8 sacks.... In one half. Cardinals are 4-0 with a QB that lost a competition to John Skelton and they can't run the ball either.

With the way the NFL is structured today, teams that don't have at least one glaring weakness will be the exception... Right now Houston looks like that team to me... MAYBE Atlanta, but minus Grimes their defense is pretty suspect and they get gashed by the run.

If you take our weaknesses and combine that with some injuries and youth at key spots, that is an understandable excuse for me to not be a 10 win playoff type team... But it is not good enough for me to accept a 5-11 season.

I like Shanny the GM... He has made some missteps, but I think we have talent here and only one area (DBs) that I consider a true weakness. I think he has a done a good job gathering parts.... I just think its time for him to coach them to some success... So far this year I am fine with where we are.

[beachboy757]

This schedule still looks hard to me. I have the Vikings, Panthers and Browns game as probable L's due to how our history has programmed me to think, and the games vs's the NFC East and Ravens/Steelers as toss ups. I am also concerned about what injuries we will have after all those division games back to back. That end of the schedule will tell us how tough this team is.

[kleese]

This schedule still looks hard to me. I have the Vikings, Panthers and Browns game as probable L's due to how our history has programmed me to think, and the games vs's the NFC East and Ravens/Steelers as toss ups. I am also concerned about what injuries we will have after all those division games back to back. That end of the schedule will tell us how tough this team is.

First of all, I wouldn't even look at those last four games right now....the key it GETTING to those games. If we enter the Ravens game in the mix in the playoff race, that would make me happy. In order to consider us "in the race" we'd need to be a minimum of 5-7 with 6-6 being much more likely. The reason I ignore those last four games right now is because we have no clue this early what those games may or may not mean to us and the teams we are playing. Maybe the Ravens are 10-2 and cruising at that point and don't take the game seriously? Or maybe they are in a dogfight for the division and bring the house? Maybe Philly is out of the race in week 16 and they turn to Foles to end the season? It's just hard to project exactly how difficult those final games will be until we know the scenerios.

Over the next 8 games, I'd say we have a pretty good idea of where motivations will be. Like everyone else, of those 8 games, the Vikings and Panthers games loom as the ones where we might be favored. Both of those teams are similar to us in terms of situation and we play them at home...types of games you must win if you want to hang around in the standings. If you win both of those games and split the 4 division games (a reasonable goal in my estimation) you have your 6 wins already...and just chalk up losses to the Falcons and Steelers.

The NFL is hard in general, I don't think our schedule is particularly daunting...again, the division is extremely overrated this year, as it was last year.

[beachboy757]

First of all, I wouldn't even look at those last four games right now....the key it GETTING to those games.

Good points. I guess for me, I would like to see more wins against teams that are equal to us (Vikings, Panthers), and I want to see how we match up in our division games. If the Skins do well against those teams then I will feel more confident that they can beat any team.

I also agree that you have to look at the schedule in segments. Maybe this thread is a little premature?

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Maybe it's just me but I could see us at 6-3.going into the bye

[illone]

Just dont leave too much time on the clock or mr griffin will carve you up and you'll be seen with your face in the dirt on his next subway commercial.

Skins could win or lose every single one of those games.

[Cooleyfan1993]

Maybe it's just me but I could see us at 6-3.going into the bye

i agree with this. ur not the only one. however, we may be the only 2...i see us putting up a good fight with the falcons, but losing. 2-3. win against vikings, 3-3. beat giants, 4-3. beat steelers, 5-3. beat panthers, 6-3.

[kleese]

i agree with this. ur not the only one. however, we may be the only 2...i see us putting up a good fight with the falcons, but losing. 2-3. win against vikings, 3-3. beat giants, 4-3. beat steelers, 5-3. beat panthers, 6-3.

That is some seriously wishful thinking. If we do that, we are a Super Bowl contender most likely...and that certainly seems far fetched. I guess I'd put 6-3 at the bye as a best case scenario, but that is even a stretch...I'd put the odds there at less than 10% for sure.

I'd say our "realistic" best case scenario is 5-4; that's beating Minny and Carolina and winning one of three vs the Falcons, Giants, and Steelers

[NewCliche21]

I remember way back when the schedule first came out and everyone was raving about how easy it was and with RGIII we had a good shot at the playoffs. I also remember me saying this schedule looked brutal.

Glad to see everyone agrees with me now. haha

Huh? I think that you were reading it wrong.

The super-optimists were saying between 7-9 and 9-7 with random jackasses (in the most loving way possible, of course) saying 0-16 or 19-0.

People were only saying that this team was better than last year's team but that didn't necessarily equate to more wins due to this schedule being much, much harder.

[Henry]

We disagree a bit on whether to call it two or three years, but whatever.

Well, as we may have previously discussed in this thread I don't think it's an insignificant distinction, but I'll try and explain further.

Look around the league... The Eagles OL is in shambles; the Giants secondary is as bad as ours and they have more injuries there; Cowboys OL is a sieve. Packers gave up 8 sacks.... In one half. Cardinals are 4-0 with a QB that lost a competition to John Skelton and they can't run the ball either.

The Eagles, Giants, and Packers are all veteran teams with a core that has played together for years. Unlike us, they aren't drafting to simply field a team. They draft for depth. I would expect teams with established programs and coaches to be able to cover for weaknesses better than a team like ours, which is still putting it's core together with first and second year guys. The Cowboys haven't been good in years and they aren't good now so I don't know why you'd bring them up. The Cardinal are seven years into their program, and quite frankly I'm not convinced they are for real.

If you take our weaknesses and combine that with some injuries and youth at key spots, that is an understandable excuse for me to not be a 10 win playoff type team... But it is not good enough for me to accept a 5-11 season.

Again, it's not just 'spots.' A football team, more than any other sports team, is not simply a puzzle where you stick in pieces and suddenly it's all complete. That's the exact mentality that got us stuck on the treadmill of suck for a decade. We need to get away from thinking like that. We need to understand that players have to get used to playing with one another, and with the coach. This process requires patience, moreso with a team full of young players that are also getting used to the league itself. It's no coincidence that every team you mentioned except the Cowboys has had the same coach for at least five years, most of them seven.

I like Shanny the GM... He has made some missteps, but I think we have talent here and only one area (DBs) that I consider a true weakness. I think he has a done a good job gathering parts.... I just think its time for him to coach them to some success... So far this year I am fine with where we are.

I'm fine with where we are as well. The talent may be here, but it's raw and it's clearly not quite ready to take the next step. Whether that means 5 wins or 9 wins or something in between I don't know. But regardless I understand where we are and I don't think the amount of wins will change that. Not at this point.