LOL @ the Redskins

[Cotton]

 

[Cotton]

 

[GShock]

Post columnist on the experience in the stands. Delicious.

What it was like in the stands during the Redskins loss to Tampa Bay

I bought a ticket for $10 to Sunday’s Redskins game. The negotiation lasted perhaps 15 seconds.

“Twenty,” the man said. “Nahhhh,” I countered.

“C’mon, $20,” he said. “Nah, I really want to pay $10,” I said.

The man handed me a ticket.

I don’t usually leave my home on Redskins Sundays, but I had an inkling this Sunday at FedEx Field would be different. Unforgettable. I kind of wanted to see what that looked and sounded like.

In the end, this is what it looked and sounded like. A man behind me booing every single play, no matter the result. A man in front of me telling his seat neighbors that he would see them next season; that he wouldn’t be returning for the final three home games. A small but loud group of fans chanting “We Want Colt” — they seemed to be in one lower-level end zone, and we could hear them at the 50-yard line in the 400-level. Random bursts of profanity, sad verbal blows that glanced off a disinterested world. Empty seats in every direction. And a cold drizzle as fans paraded toward the exits.

With about 10 minutes left, the Redskins honored the “Tostitos Crunch of the Game,” an honor bestowed on the game’s best defensive stop. It was something or other that Ryan Kerrigan did. In the first quarter.

With about six minutes left, one guy in my section went on a rant.

“They’re a terrible team,” he said, possibly to no one. “I mean, if Haslett has a job tomorrow….I don’t understand.”

With about two minutes left, a different fan — possibly the boo bird — shouted out “You suck, Redskins, you suck!”

“Fire Jim Haslett!” someone else growled.

But this mostly wasn’t anger. It was something different. Something sadder.

“It’s been the longest 22 years of my life,” a downcast Kelly Smith of Sterling told me after it was all over.

Kelly Smith, it’s worth noting, is 22 years old.

“I don’t want to be so negative,” she said, and she ticked off a couple of potential reasons for hope. But she wasn’t fooling herself.

“They suck,” she finally said. “They really do. I hate that I love them.”

The thing about that crowd reaction was that you could feel it coming, could feel it building for weeks. It wasn’t straight fire, not like the old Vinny Cerrato days. It was a lot of resignation, indifference, black humor. It was an expectation that awful things would happen, without any expectation that better times were on the way. It’s not that 2012 feels like a long time ago; it feels improbable, impossible, a dispatch from an alien galaxy.

After making my way past the vendors hawking $5 beers and $3 Jell-O shots outside the stadium, I bought my ticket around 12:45. Then I got caught up in a massive security backlog at the gate. The flyover, the National Anthem, the drunk guys yelling “Stranger Danger!!” at little kids, the loud jokes about certain anatomical parts — all this happened while we were waiting to get in.

I missed the opening kickoff, too, but arrived at a concourse television in time for Washington’s first play from scrimmage. It was an interception. There was literally no response from the hundreds of people around me. Not even a groan. Maybe they didn’t notice. Maybe they didn’t care.

Then I set off for the 400-level, past the sign-up table for Redskins premium tickets, past the sign-up table for the Redskins military appreciation club, past the sign-up table for the Redskins women’s club, past the sign-up table for the Redskins Visa card. Before I even made it to the ramp, I saw the guys in the Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito Dolphins jerseys.

“We’re good friends now,” Johnny Pickett, a.k.a. Incognito, told me.

“We squashed the beef,” Bill Samson, a.k.a. Martin, added.

“We’re here to show everybody it’s about friendship,” Pickett said. “The NFL isn’t a bad league. Do something wrong, you deserve a second chance.”

But we couldn’t really finish the interview, because then came the guys in the “Hail to the Racists” and “RG3 has Ebola” T-shirts.

“We just don’t like the Redskins,” explained Shawn C., a Steelers fan, in the Ebola shirt.

“I hate Schneider because he’s a racist,” said Sean B., a 49ers fan.

I don’t know. What do you ask? What do you say? They had the T-shirts made themselves. Why?

“We hate the Redskins that much,” Shawn C. said.

Sure, there are people in novelty get-ups at every sporting event in the world. But this felt emblematic somehow — thousands staying at home, hundreds unable to get into the game on time, hundreds more oblivious to the start of a disastrous day, and four non-fans roaming the concourse, belly-flopping over the boundaries of good taste, for no particular reason other than dislike for the home

By now it was about 1:20, and the fans were still bunched at the gates. Once upstairs, I had my pick of seats, in any section I approached. Sure, the crowd filled in by the second quarter. But I visited about eight different sections over the course of the game, and each time, I nabbed an aisle seat within moments of my arrival. It felt like the bad old Caps days at Verizon Center, where your seat number might as well have been a Sanskrit proverb. Just sit wherever you want. Who’s going to object?

It was the sort of game filled with random profanity; one guy emerged with a Johnny Rockets chicken meal, saw the Redskins immediately give up a touchdown, and belted out a single, anguished curse.

It was also the sort of game filled with cynicism; “Nice read Robert, good read buddy!” someone shouted out when Griffin gave the ball to Alfred Morris for a one-yard gain on an option play. “Throw the ball!!!!! It’s so simple!!!!!!” someone else called out after a sack.

Near the end of the first half I bought a 16 oz. Bud Light for $9.50 — with tip, it cost the same as more than my ticket — and listened to people argue that the game wasn’t over.

“We’ve still got a chance, we’ve still got a chance,” someone called out. “They’re the worst team in the league. We’ve still got a chance.”

But as the Buccaneers poured on the points in the second half, that all changed. After one touchdown, a guy in my row pushed past me and headed for the exit before Tampa Bay could even line up for the extra point. After another, hundreds bounced up and departed, a gray cloud of shame and regret descending on those of us who remained. This is what the end zones looked like with three minutes left.

With two minutes remaining, a cold rain began to fall. “Give us a touchdown, something to leave on,” one sad soul cried. “We want Rex Grossman!” someone else called out. “The only yards we gain are on penalties,” someone quipped. “Hand it off, take a [bleeping] knee,” a man yelled, as the Redskins mounted one last unsightly drive toward nowhere.

“The Redskins would like to thank the best fans in the NFL,” the PA announcer said at the final whistle, after the boos subsided. Then he reminded everyone to listen to Redskins Radio on the way home, and also to go rock out at one of the post-game parties held in some sponsored nook of the stadium. I joined the people walking out.

“It’s very frustrating,” Danny Glazer of Rockville said. “They don’t seem to be going at all in the right direction.”

“I would say verging on hopelessness,” Todd Glazer added.

“Dejected, disgusted,” said Donald Coleman of Clinton.

“Awful: just one word,” said Kevin Hiller of Baltimore.

“Do you print expletives?” asked Susan Weldon.

“That game sucked,” said Scott Beck of Arlington.

Sure, there were some who were sunnier. One fan, Jake Jacobs of Richmond, told me he’ll never boo his team. “I cheer for them no matter what, I’m gonna root for them no matter what,” he said.

He sees this all as growing pains, as the forgettable beginning of what will become a Jay Gruden success story. But even Jacobs understands some of the angst.

“I know Redskins fans, a lot of them have run out of patience,” he said. “I understand that. Sooner or later, you wonder is it ever gonna happen?”

Around 4:45, I headed toward Metro. Go-go played in the parking lot. Someone started shooting off fireworks. A few kids tossed footballs. I saw one drunk lady fall over so hard her glasses fell off. I saw a moving car with a gentleman vomiting out of the back seat. After a glorious NFL win, such moments probably don’t register. On Sunday, though, they felt of a piece with everything that had gone before: the cursing, the Ebola T-shirt, the empty seats, the boos. It was bread and circuses, but the bread was moldy and the circus clowns had run away.

As I headed past the last bank of port-a-potties on the stadium access road, a group of about seven guys stopped me. Some were German, some were from the Caribbean, some were from New York. I didn’t exactly get the full story, nor did I understand why they wanted me to take their photo in front of a bank of port-a-potties.

But they asked me to take their photo, and so I did. I gave them the old 1-2-3 count, and then one of the guys shouted out a toast.

“To bad football!” he said.

 

[GShock]

I'm reading through Twitter and see that Gruden laid into RGIII pretty good.

Blew him up. From the Post:

“Just from Robert’s perspective – you take everybody else out of the picture – Robert had some fundamental flaws. He did,” Gruden said Monday afternoon. “His footwork was below average. He took three-step drops when he should have taken five. He took a one-step drop when he should have taken three on a couple of occasions. That can’t happen. He stepped up when he didn’t have to step up, stepped into pressure, he read the wrong side of the field a couple of times. So, from his basic performance just critiquing Robert, it was not even close to being good enough to what we expect from that quarterback position.”
...
Sometimes you don’t need ‘great.’ You don’t need to lead at that position on every snap,” the coach said. “He is obviously very competitive, but we just need him to do what he is supposed to do. Take your drops the right way and throw the five-yard stick route when you’re supposed to and do the best you can.

 

[1bigfan13]

Blew him up. From the Post:

“Just from Robert’s perspective – you take everybody else out of the picture – Robert had some fundamental flaws. He did,” Gruden said Monday afternoon. “His footwork was below average. He took three-step drops when he should have taken five. He took a one-step drop when he should have taken three on a couple of occasions. That can’t happen. He stepped up when he didn’t have to step up, stepped into pressure, he read the wrong side of the field a couple of times. So, from his basic performance just critiquing Robert, it was not even close to being good enough to what we expect from that quarterback position.”
...
Sometimes you don’t need ‘great.’ You don’t need to lead at that position on every snap,” the coach said. “He is obviously very competitive, but we just need him to do what he is supposed to do. Take your drops the right way and throw the five-yard stick route when you’re supposed to and do the best you can.

That's brutal.

I've never seen a coach lay into their own QB publicly like this.

RGIII needs to be taken down a notch, though. He does a lot of finger pointing and blame deflecting.

I also think this was Gruden's way of sending a message to RGIII that this is his team and not struggling ass RGIII's.

 

[GForce78NJ]

i hate the redskins and these past few posts made me cringe

 

[Clay_Allison]

RGIII came into the league like he was already NFL royalty. He's a triple #1 pick, he had huge jersey sales, endorsements, he did a few typical running QB things as a rookie, but he isn't actually good at football. He needs to be called on that.

 

[Cotton]

Jason Hatcher fumes after Redskins’ loss: We’re not a good football team

Jason Hatcher struggled to put into words the frustration he felt following Washington’s 27-7 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday. The limited comments that he did give were pretty strong, however.

“It’s embarrassing,” he told reporters, as he stood in front of his locker following the game. “Unacceptable and embarrassing. We’re not a good football team.”

When asked for his assessment on the reason for Washington’s struggles, Hatcher said, “I don’t know. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Where do you all go from here?” a reporter asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know where we go,” Hatcher said. “We’ll see. I’m just going to check myself, man, like I always do. All I can control is myself.”

Hatcher did say that he believed that he and his teammates gave good effort in the game.

“I think the effort was right. But the same time, we shouldn’t have lost that game. It’s unacceptable.”

Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan agreed.

“Effort’s always there. It’s just execution,” Kerrigan said. “I’ve got to play a lot better. I played terribly.”

 

[Genghis Khan]

i hate the redskins and these past few posts made me cringe

I hate the Redkins and those posts made me

 

[BipolarFuk]

But we couldn’t really finish the interview, because then came the guys in the “Hail to the Racists” and “RG3 has Ebola” T-shirts.

 

[Plan9Misfit]

RGIII came into the league like he was already NFL royalty. He's a triple #1 pick, he had huge jersey sales, endorsements, he did a few typical running QB things as a rookie, but he isn't actually good at football. He needs to be called on that.

Find me a zone read option QB who doesn't regress as a player year after year. I can't think of one.

 

[Simpleton]

Jason Hatcher fumes after Redskins’ loss: We’re not a good football team

Jason Hatcher struggled to put into words the frustration he felt following Washington’s 27-7 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday. The limited comments that he did give were pretty strong, however.

“It’s embarrassing,” he told reporters, as he stood in front of his locker following the game. “Unacceptable and embarrassing. We’re not a good football team.”

When asked for his assessment on the reason for Washington’s struggles, Hatcher said, “I don’t know. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Where do you all go from here?” a reporter asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know where we go,” Hatcher said. “We’ll see. I’m just going to check myself, man, like I always do. All I can control is myself.”

Hatcher did say that he believed that he and his teammates gave good effort in the game.

“I think the effort was right. But the same time, we shouldn’t have lost that game. It’s unacceptable.”

Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan agreed.

“Effort’s always there. It’s just execution,” Kerrigan said. “I’ve got to play a lot better. I played terribly.”

I wonder if he cries himself to sleep at night while reminiscing about Marinelli calling him "Big Daddy".

 

[1bigfan13]

Find me a zone read option QB who doesn't regress as a player year after year. I can't think of one.

I think if you're going to commit to using a high draft pick on one you'd better go all in and use a lot of read option in your offense.

Otherwise I think you're increasing the odds that the player will be a bust because you're constantly trying to fit that square peg into a round hole.

 

[Carp]

Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young says he knows the problem with Robert Griffin III: He doesn’t work hard enough.

Young said on the Michael Kay Show that he has spoken with coaches who have worked with Griffin, and those coaches told him that Griffin simply doesn’t spend the long hours studying film that an NFL quarterback needs.

“I’ve talked to his previous coaches, people I really trust and admire, that know quarterbacks. He doesn’t put the time in,” Young said.

Young didn’t mention any of those “previous coaches” by name, but it’s not a leap to infer that he’s referring to Mike Shanahan, who was Washington’s head coach for Griffin’s first two seasons. Shanahan was the 49ers’ offensive coordinator from 1992 to 1994, when Young was having his three best seasons as the 49ers’ starting quarterback. Shanahan and Young have been close for years.

According to Young, it’s the mental side of the game that makes a good quarterback in the NFL, and Young believes that Griffin needs to spend more time developing the mental side of the game during the offseason.

“Success is really about expertise,” Young said. “May, June, July work, and going to school.”

Much like Griffin, Young was once an athletic quarterback who needed time to learn how to be a pocket passer. Young thinks it’s harder for great runners like Griffin to develop as passers because they always assume they can fall back on running if they need to.

“Guys that can use their legs, it’s like they’re not desperate. Guys who can’t use their legs are more desperate so they’ll put more time in,” Young said.

And according to Young, Griffin isn’t putting the time in. That’s what’s holding him back.

 

[Cotton]

Wow. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky. That organization is a dumpster fire. That's saying a lot coming from a Cowboys fan.

 

[Cotton]

Jay Gruden: Let’s squash everything right now

Posted by Josh Alper on November 18, 2014, 3:05 PM EST

Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers has touched off a round of shots fired through the media in Washington as coach Jay Gruden, quarterback Robert Griffin III and wide receiver DeSean Jackson have all taken their turns in the spotlight while sharing negative feelings about the state of the team.

Gruden fired his first shots in a Monday press conference when he said Griffin needed to worry about his own performance and that the quarterback “elaborated too much” while making postgame comments about the performance of others on the Redskins. Gruden also referenced a post Jackson made on Instagram in the wake of Griffin’s comments as something he had to address in the locker room.

During an appearance on CSN Washington Monday, Gruden went further and said that he told all his players “the less you say, the better” when talking to the media because it gives them “a chance to twist your words around.” Gruden later agreed there are times when there’s no need to twist words around, which served to underscore the more important point that everyone is on the same team and needs to start acting like it.

“We just have to make sure that we’re all on the same page and we’re not throwing rocks at each other. It’s hard enough to beat your opponent on a Sunday, when you’re also trying to defeat the media and your own team in your own locker room,” Gruden said, via Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post. “So we’ve got to make sure we squash everything right now, get everything out in the open, let everybody understand we’re all on the same team, we’re all trying to accomplish the same goals as a team, and that’s beating the San Francisco 49ers. But we’ve got to squash it all now.”

History says there’s little reason to believe the organization is going to squash the internal leaks and backbiting that have been par for the course for several years, which means the last six weeks could be entertaining even if the football product isn’t.

 

[Clay_Allison]

Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young says he knows the problem with Robert Griffin III: He doesn’t work hard enough.

Young said on the Michael Kay Show that he has spoken with coaches who have worked with Griffin, and those coaches told him that Griffin simply doesn’t spend the long hours studying film that an NFL quarterback needs.

“I’ve talked to his previous coaches, people I really trust and admire, that know quarterbacks. He doesn’t put the time in,” Young said.

Young didn’t mention any of those “previous coaches” by name, but it’s not a leap to infer that he’s referring to Mike Shanahan, who was Washington’s head coach for Griffin’s first two seasons. Shanahan was the 49ers’ offensive coordinator from 1992 to 1994, when Young was having his three best seasons as the 49ers’ starting quarterback. Shanahan and Young have been close for years.

According to Young, it’s the mental side of the game that makes a good quarterback in the NFL, and Young believes that Griffin needs to spend more time developing the mental side of the game during the offseason.

“Success is really about expertise,” Young said. “May, June, July work, and going to school.”

Much like Griffin, Young was once an athletic quarterback who needed time to learn how to be a pocket passer. Young thinks it’s harder for great runners like Griffin to develop as passers because they always assume they can fall back on running if they need to.

“Guys that can use their legs, it’s like they’re not desperate. Guys who can’t use their legs are more desperate so they’ll put more time in,” Young said.

And according to Young, Griffin isn’t putting the time in. That’s what’s holding him back.

So, RGIII is Vince Young II?

 

[boozeman]

So, RGIII is Vince Young II?

He certainly is looking very much like it.

Except that Radio was just stupid.

Griffin is a little more full of himself. And he clearly has done nothing to improve himself.

I watched the cut up of their game and holy cow...Griffin was total suck with everything from footwork to decision making.

The guy is looking more and more like a gimmick that thinks he is not.

 

[Clay_Allison]

He certainly is looking very much like it.

Except that Radio was just stupid.

Griffin is a little more full of himself. And he clearly has done nothing to improve himself.

I watched the cut up of their game and holy cow...Griffin was total suck with everything from footwork to decision making.

The guy is looking more and more like a gimmick that thinks he is not.

Radio was lazy too. That's why frozen pornstache couldn't stand him.

 

[Carp]

Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III didn’t appear to be in a good mood at today’s press conference, which came days after a tough loss and criticism from his coach, Jay Gruden. And so Griffin seemed to be trying hard not to say anything that might become controversial.

So what did Griffin say? He said, “focused on San Francisco.” Over and over and over again.

“Jay wants me to play better. I want to play better. We’re focused on San Francisco,” Griffin said early in his press conference.

Here’s a partial transcript of the rest of the questions from reporters and answers from Griffin today:

Asked if he should dial back his public comments: “Like I said, we’re focused on San Francisco.”

Asked what he saw in studying film of Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay: “We want to win, that’s all we’re focused on, getting a win. We’ve got San Francisco coming up, they’re not going to be easy.”

Asked how he can improve his footwork: “Like I said, just focus on San Francisco.”

Asked if this year has set back his development: “We’re just focused on San Francisco, doing what I can to help this team win.”

Asked about Steve Young’s comments: “Focused on San Francisco, man, not letting anything on the outside distract us.”

Asked why he hasn’t played as well over the last two years as he played in his rookie year: “Like I said, man, focused on San Francisco.”

Asked if he’s getting more comfortable in Gruden’s offense: “Like I said, focusing on San Francisco, man, that’s all I can do.”

Asked who he’s leaning on for support: “You always lean on God, you always lean on your family, teammates, that’s what I’ve done, and we’re all pointing at the same thing, we want to get a win against San Francisco.”

Asked what he’s doing differently this week other than repeating the phrase, “Focused on San Francisco” (this is where the press conference got meta): “Just preparing for San Francisco, man. That’s all I can do.”

Asked how tough things are for him: “It is what it is, you get what you ask for, so I’m focused on San Francisco. Jay wants me to focus on San Francisco, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Asked about talking to his teammates this week: “We’re all focused on the same thing: Winning, staying together and beating San Francisco.”

When the Patriots were at their lowest point this season, coach Bill Belichick repeated the mantra, “We’re on to Cincinnati.” That week, New England beat Cincinnati, and the Patriots haven’t lost since. Perhaps Griffin can start a turnaround with his own press conference mantra.
------------------------

Drives me crazy when players call their coach by their first name.