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The Redskins are back in camp this week, preparing for a second season of The Passion of The Gibbs. New faces abound and new strategies are being hatched, but there are old questions lingering from last year’s campaign and a tumultuous offseason that are never far away. Cable sports channels and the internet have bred a new type of football fan—where a decade and a half ago, local diehards might give even the preseason game only some passing thought, the Skins fan circa now follows the team year round. Draft day vagaries are obsessed over, personnel moves are parsed for hidden meanings, players are scrutinized for fantasy league potential…for some, it’s a year round pursuit. The rest of us are playing catch up ball. So let’s abandon the run, split five wide, and get down to the pre-preseason storylines.
1. The Legacy
There are two schools of thought on Gibbs’ potential in returning to coach. One side says that deep down, the basic fundamentals of the game haven’t changed much over the years, and that once they’re mastered, they’re always mastered. After all, Dick Vermeil and Bill Parcells made late-career returns to the sidelines and thrived, right? Certainly Gibbs should be no different. The other school of thought is that the pro-game has evolved by leaps and bounds since Gibbs first strode toward the sunset, on the field and in the boardroom, and it’s no place for a throwback coach who can’t step to the new. One season is in the bank for the Second Coming, and neither side has officially declared victory. But the rumblings in the sports editorials seem ominous. Like it or not, this is a put-up-or-shut-up year for the coach, and the critics will have their flashlights and luminol ready to dissect the season CSI-stizz.
2. The fate of Patrick Ramsey
Anyone who’s mustered up even an ounce of sympathy for our former QB of the future had to ache for his insertion last season, as Gibbs seemed to prefer not Ramsey but Rameses, a.k.a. the mummified corpse of Mark Brunell’s career. This DCist knew that the fans were reaching their limit when he attended last year’s Green Bay game and listened to the fans begging for Ramsey, then Hasselbeck, then Schroeder, then Laufenberg, then Wuerffel, and finally Jeff George. That’s when it became necessary to stand up and calm some people down. Ramsey hoped to be the clear cut starter this season, but then Jason Campbell got drafted. Now Ramsey’s the odd man out in the trio—the only QB on the roster not "handpicked by Gibbs." Will the pressure make him? Or break him?
3. And what’s up with Jason Campbell anyway?
Adding to the bungling way the Redskins sorta-did but then sorta-didn’t leak their draft day strategy is a nagging question—given the way the first round went, can’t it be said that Campbell’s responsibility at Auburn was more or less handling the logistical arrangements by which the football made its way from the line of scrimmage to the waiting arms of not one but two supernova-stud running backs?
4. The shotgun
The touts are already wagging about how the shotgun formation will be returning to the Gibbs arsenal this season. According to the story, Gibbs gave up on the shotgun during his first tenure after watching a bad snap sail over then quarterback Joe Theismann’s head in a preseason game, but he’s adding it back to give Ramsey some comfort zone. Is this a nod to twenty-first century playcalling, or did Gibbs just realize that the snap from yesteryear wasn’t the first – nor the last – thing to go sailing over Theismann’s head over the years?
5. New wide receivers
The departures of wideouts Laveranues Coles and Rod Gardner this offseason were so packed with sturm und drang that it made Robert Novak’s crybaby meltdown on the set of CNN yesterday look positively dignified by comparison. New pickups Santana Moss and David Patten are heralded as smaller, precision guys who bring good hands and YAC potential to the offense. Also: their names are much easier to spell.
6. Santana Moss’ dance fever
Clinton Portis told the Post this week that Moss is a “top popper.” So, don’t look for him to get served anytime soon.
7. Sean Taylor
Sean Taylor spent a problematic offseason in an uncommunicative funk—screening Gibbs’ calls, not showing up for minicamp, and getting himself in trouble with the law over a pair of all-terrain vehicles. He’s back with the team, paying lip-service to learning lessons and paying dues. How much will Taylor’s legal problems affect his performance this season is anyone’s guess, but in the meantime, Gregg Williams is making him earn his way back into the lineup.
8. LaVar
LaVar Arrington has also had a tumultuous offseason, a sour olio of contract disputes, nagging injuries and generalized grievances at what he perceives as shabby treatment from the front office. Arrington has had a career of ups and downs—injuries have dogged him and Dan Snyder hasn’t been able to retain a defensive coordinator to save his life. The ironic thing is that Arrington’s career hasn’t been much more distinguished than Patrick Ramsey’s – Arrington’s just somehow managed to bank more respect over the years. As Arrington works to heal his body and his relationships, Redskins fans are hoping that they’ll witness this season what they’ve wanted to see for years—a LaVar breakout.
9. A place in the playoffs
As a general rule, you need ten wins to put yourself in the post-season picture. Looking at the schedule, the Skins, in addition to their divisional home-and-homes, play Denver, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, St. Louis and Arizona on the road while hosting Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Diego. With that lineup, where do you see the ten wins coming from, if at all?
10. The –Ist Blog Rivalry
With the exception of Bostonist, DCist’s hometown faves will lineup against every single one of our blog colleagues whose city hosts an NFL Football Team. Let the trashtalking commence!
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I think you need to be the first column to mention that we actually have Kevin Dyson languishing somewhere on the WR depth chart. Has every depth chart maker in the universe forgotten that we picked him up?
You're totally right, Scott. I don't mean to give Dyson short shrift. He's been a leader on playoff teams, and I think his experience is going to pay off for the team in more ways than statistical.
If I'm not mistaken, Dyson's also the subject of the Titan's indelible images of franchise ecstacy and agony--having scored the TD in the Music City Miracle KR, and being the receiver who was tackled short of the goal line in the Super Bowl with St. Louis.