whitskins
11-25-2007, 09:36 PM
It appears that Akh has made it back safely from his trip to South Carolina, but his ankle bracelet is causing his internet connection to malfunction, so I will take over the column once again.
This one is going to be short because I am currently suffering through a wave of intense grief, rage, and sadness. It's like I am manic-depressive, but without the extreme highs. Just wild mood swings that shift between depression and anger. That's what being a Skins fan has come to this year.
Anyways, here's what I think about this latest display of suck:
1. Being a fan of this team has officially become a form of torture. Even the wins aren't fun at this point because they still come after an increasingly predictable series of chokes.
The games are not exciting, they are nauseating. The only difference between a win and a loss for me at this point is whether or not I actually puke at the end...
2. In the last two games, Jason Campbell has engineered three long fourth quarter drives deep into our opponents' territory with a chance to take a lead. He has thrown an interception in each one.
I know he is young and has tons of upside, but this is just unacceptable. You don't give it away on every one of those drives. You just don't. He has to learn how to close very quickly because the rest of the team isn't doing a darn thing to swing the game for him, so he has to do it almost by himself when it comes to crunch time.
3. It's upsetting thinking back to how good Santana Moss and Clinton Portis were in 2005. It's like getting married to a Beauty Queen who two years later has put on 100+ pounds, lives in a pink robe, and has taken on a casual meth habit.
4. The first five offensive drives of our first half went like this: Fumble, Fumble, Punt, Fumble, Fumble... In what was apparently a must win game. Again, this team passed disappointing weeks ago. We are firmly in depressing and infuriating territory here.
5. The defense had one of its best games in recent weeks, of course Bruce Gradkowski probably had a lot to do with that. Still, it was nice to see them keep us in the game when we had every right to get blown out before halftime.
A big turnover would have been really nice though. Again, no one is there to make the play that will change the game for us.
6. Was Gibbs under hypnosis when he decided to go for it on 4th and 1 from the Bucs' 4 yard line? I couldn't believe the call but I won't gripe about it since I've killed him for being so ultra-conservative this year. If the play works then it's genius.
I would like to see us get out of the heavy jumbo set on short yardage runs though. Those plays never work.
7. McCardell and Reche Caldwell looked good. It bodes well for Campbell that he can make lesser WRs like these into productive players. On the other hand, they both also made some tough plays that made Campbell look good too.
8. Al Saunders is finding his way with the offense. 400+ yards on the Bucs D is impressive. It's the players that continuously shoot themselves in the foot.
9. Almost every other team that is jockeying with us in the wild card race lost today. That's good news, but this team has yet to seize a golden opportunity this season. It's getting unbelievably old.
10. The silver lining for today is that the last three weeks have been so painful that I think the only way the universe can restore it's equilibrium is for us to run the table and finish 10-6.
One Very Brief Note About the Rest of Today's Games:
1. Sweet game, Eli Manning.
And with that I will retire and hand this column back over to its rightful owner. The doctors tell me that Akh should come out of his alcohol induced coma just in time to catch next Sunday's Bills game, so we will be back in his hands once again.
Hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving!!
This one is going to be short because I am currently suffering through a wave of intense grief, rage, and sadness. It's like I am manic-depressive, but without the extreme highs. Just wild mood swings that shift between depression and anger. That's what being a Skins fan has come to this year.
Anyways, here's what I think about this latest display of suck:
1. Being a fan of this team has officially become a form of torture. Even the wins aren't fun at this point because they still come after an increasingly predictable series of chokes.
The games are not exciting, they are nauseating. The only difference between a win and a loss for me at this point is whether or not I actually puke at the end...
2. In the last two games, Jason Campbell has engineered three long fourth quarter drives deep into our opponents' territory with a chance to take a lead. He has thrown an interception in each one.
I know he is young and has tons of upside, but this is just unacceptable. You don't give it away on every one of those drives. You just don't. He has to learn how to close very quickly because the rest of the team isn't doing a darn thing to swing the game for him, so he has to do it almost by himself when it comes to crunch time.
3. It's upsetting thinking back to how good Santana Moss and Clinton Portis were in 2005. It's like getting married to a Beauty Queen who two years later has put on 100+ pounds, lives in a pink robe, and has taken on a casual meth habit.
4. The first five offensive drives of our first half went like this: Fumble, Fumble, Punt, Fumble, Fumble... In what was apparently a must win game. Again, this team passed disappointing weeks ago. We are firmly in depressing and infuriating territory here.
5. The defense had one of its best games in recent weeks, of course Bruce Gradkowski probably had a lot to do with that. Still, it was nice to see them keep us in the game when we had every right to get blown out before halftime.
A big turnover would have been really nice though. Again, no one is there to make the play that will change the game for us.
6. Was Gibbs under hypnosis when he decided to go for it on 4th and 1 from the Bucs' 4 yard line? I couldn't believe the call but I won't gripe about it since I've killed him for being so ultra-conservative this year. If the play works then it's genius.
I would like to see us get out of the heavy jumbo set on short yardage runs though. Those plays never work.
7. McCardell and Reche Caldwell looked good. It bodes well for Campbell that he can make lesser WRs like these into productive players. On the other hand, they both also made some tough plays that made Campbell look good too.
8. Al Saunders is finding his way with the offense. 400+ yards on the Bucs D is impressive. It's the players that continuously shoot themselves in the foot.
9. Almost every other team that is jockeying with us in the wild card race lost today. That's good news, but this team has yet to seize a golden opportunity this season. It's getting unbelievably old.
10. The silver lining for today is that the last three weeks have been so painful that I think the only way the universe can restore it's equilibrium is for us to run the table and finish 10-6.
One Very Brief Note About the Rest of Today's Games:
1. Sweet game, Eli Manning.
And with that I will retire and hand this column back over to its rightful owner. The doctors tell me that Akh should come out of his alcohol induced coma just in time to catch next Sunday's Bills game, so we will be back in his hands once again.
Hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving!!