Posts Tagged ‘john beck’

The Redskins: What A Difference A Year Makes

A year ago today the Redskins lost to the Eagles 20-13 in a game that featured 4 Rex Grossman interceptions. Grossman’s performance prompted fans and the media to spark a quarterback controversy…was it time to bench Rex for John Beck? Yes folks, a year ago today we were debating which of these horrible quarterbacks should be our starting quarterback. Either way we were going to lose, pick your poison.

I think I nailed the debate in this post that I wrote last October entitled “Becked If We Do, Becked If We Don‘t.” I even foreshadowed a 5 win season and asked for Andrew Luck. I’ve never had much luck, which fortunately for Redskins fans resulted in Robert Griffin III. And while the Redskins have the same 3-3 record as this time last year, a lot has changed since the John Beck era.

The Redskins actually led the Vikings by 19 points last Sunday. A 19 point lead…I didn’t know how to act! Of course they’re still the Redskins so they nearly lost the lead and I had to bite my nails until the end. The Redskins had never had a lead that large under Mike Shanahan. In fact, the Skins had failed to score more than 19 points in 17 out of 32 games under Shanny.

RGIII ran for 138 yards and 2 TD’s against the Vikings. Last year, our “wonder twins” (activate, form of a sucky QB) combined to rush for 54 yards…for the season. Yes, instead of arguing over which QB sucks less, Redskins fans can now argue about our QB being the best player in the league. Amazing.

And while I’m not ready to think that this team is ready to contend for a playoff spot, I’m incredibly excited about the Skins future. I’m happy to know that I’m not even a year into a decade of having a franchise QB. That being said, the Skins could be a playoff team this season if the defense gets straightened out. After saying for 3 seasons that the Redskins could be a playoff team if they could just score 20 points a game…now we score 30 and have trouble winning. Thanks Haslett.

What a difference a year makes RGII makes.

Cheers and Hail

And People Think Tebow Blows?

To all the people nationwide who say that Tim Tebow’s not a NFL quarterback and is hard to watch…I say this, have you watched a Washington Redskins game lately? Sure, I know it’s sometimes painful to watch Tebow throw the football, it’s obvious that he’s not a NFL caliber passer. However, it’s hard to argue with the results and on paper he looks a helluva lot better than our Florida Gator, Rex Grossman and our career clipboard holder John Beck. In fact, I’m convinced that Beck is the one who doesn’t belong in the NFL and Grossman doesn’t belong being a NFL starting QB.

Time Tebow now has 5 starts this season. Here’s a look at his stats in comparison to our dynamic duo during the last 5 games:

Tebow: 4W-1L, 6 TD’s passing, 1 Int, 341 yards rushing, 1 TD

Beck, Grossman: 0W-5L, 2 TD’s passing, 10 Int’s, 43 yards rushing, 2 TD’s

Despite his problems throwing the football, Tebow has the 6 TD’s passing in 67 fewer attempts. It should be noted that the Denver Broncos have totally adapted their offense to Tebow’s strengths, something the Redskins have refused to do on defense or offense under Mike Shanahan. Rather than cater to a players strengths or weaknesses the Shanny has continually tried to fit a square peg into a round hole…and the proof is plain to see.

Cheers and Hail

Let’s Speed Up This Becking Process

I usually don’t write posts that breakdown the Redskins play-calling and X’s and O’s because quite frankly I don’t believe I’m qualified to do it. Sure, I’ve played organized tackle football but I don’t believe that my quarterbacking the Parkside Panthers back in 1987 entitles me to breakdown the Redskins game film on a weekly basis. My blog is more about dick jokes and run-on sentences. However, I do believe that after 30+ years of being a die-hard fan that I am entitled to my opinion. Of course opinions are like assholes, we all got one and they all stink.

I want to talk about John Beck and the Redskins offense or lack there of over the last 3 weeks. I see what everyone else sees, a guy who seems to be afraid of his own shadow right now. He’s got happy feet, he’s patting the ball like crazy and he can’t pull the trigger to throw the ball downfield. I’m sure he’s nervous about making turnovers, the reason he has the job right now is because the previous guy had too many turnovers. He’s late on some passes, early on others and maybe that can change with more playing time as Mike Shanahan says it will. What I think is happening right now is that Beck is thinking way too much and not getting comfortable early in games.

It appears that Beck is going to remain the starter for the near future, we have no one else to turn to unless we go back to Rex Grossman. I guess that may be an option but before we go down that road I want the Redskins to stop handling Beck with kid gloves. Tell the guy you want the ball thrown deep downfield a minimum of 3 times a game. Start next week off with a play action bomb and tell him to throw it no matter what. Use the no-huddle offense in the 1st quarter next week and see if that causes a spark. We need to get things rolling early because we are falling behind early and often since Beck took over.

In Beck’s 3 starts the Redskins haven’t scored a first half touchdown. They’ve managed a measly three field goals and have trailed the 3 games by a combined score of 9 to 33. Here are Beck’s stats in the 1st half of those games:

CAR 6-11, 47yds, 0 TD, 0 INT 1 sack 1 fumble
BUF 8-13 66yds, 0 TD, 0 INT, 5 sacks
SF 10-19 88yds, 0 TD, 1 INT

That’s a putrid 4.7 yards per pass attempt. 33% of his completions have been for 5 yards or less. Only 3 completions have been 15+ yards with a long of 23 yards. Trust me, I don’t care how many records he set, when Roy Helu catches 14 balls it’s not a good thing.

Now, let’s take a look at Beck’s stats from the 2nd half of the 3 losses…and yes I understand that the Redskins were playing from behind in these games and that the defenses were playing softer. But I also understand that Beck was getting into more of a rhythm and was also running more hurry up packages. His 2nd half stats:

CAR 16-24, 226yds, 1 TD, 1 INT 1 Rush TD 2 sacks
BUF 12-20, 142yds, 0 TD, 2 INT 5 sacks
SF 20-27, 168yds, 1 TD, 0 INT 1 sack

Again, I understand that the Redskins were playing from behind and the opposing defenses were playing softer. But the point of this post, which may have been lost in my incoherent rambling is that I want Beck running a hurry up offense and I want him throwing the ball downfield more. He was doing both of those things in the 2nd half of these games. His yards per pass attempt average was 7.6, which is in line with guys like Drew Brees and Tony Romo. 33% of his completions were for 14 yards or more, compared to 33% of 5 or less in the first half.

The offense needs a spark and we don’t have a player coming off the bench that’s going to provide one. The spark must come from Kyle Shanahan and his willingness to open things up a little more and try a few new wrinkles. Having Beck running a hurry-up and throwing the ball downfield may be just crazy enough to work.

I think the best words of advice that Kyle could tell Beck is the famous words of Crash Davis to Nuke LaLoosh. “Don’t think, it can only hurt the team”.

Cheers and Hail

Becked If We Do, Becked If We Don’t

John Beck or Rex Grossman? What kind of quarterback “controversy” are we really dealing with here? What’s the argument…this guy doesn’t suck quite as bad as the other guy? Seriously, why the F should anyone really care about 2 journeymen QB’s that are barely on a NFL roster, let alone starting?

Of course we care because we are fans, diehard fans of the Washington Redskins. Short of that, you can’t build a compassionate argument for either of these QB’s. Rex Grossman has had the opportunity to start 8 games and has managed to turn the ball over 18 times in that span…that doesn’t work. Rex went 4-4 in his starts and one can only imagine that the Redskins may have gone 6-2 or better had Rex only turned the ball over 1 time a game…instead of 2+. But, Rex has proven during his 9 years in the NFL that he simply can’t be relied upon to protect the ball…so he’s turned the ball over again (pun intended) to Beck.

The only thing I can possibly hope to see from Beck is less turnovers. He’s got some mobility which he’s going to need since the Redskins offensive line is banged up. Give me a little mobility, limit the turnovers and manage the game well…that’s all we can hope for. We don’t have Aaron Rogers lining up in disguise wearing a burgundy and gold #12 jersey. What we have is a guy who’s been unable to be active for a NFL game for nearly 5 seasons.

Despite the fact the fact that the Redskins defense is much improved and will keep us in most games…I will be amazed if the Redskins can find a way to win 5 more games this season. Forget about the 3-1 start and all the optimism that brought, this team is a .500 team at best. The Redskins will never be able to take it to the next level until we improve the QB position. So argue all you want…

All we really need is a little Luck.

Cheers and Hail

Rex Grossman Is A Turnover Machine

I’ve seen enough of Rex Grossman to last me for my lifetime. This guy should name his autobiography ‘Three Picks And A Fumble’…unless Vinny Testraverde already has the copyrights. Seriously, take a look at these not so fun facts;

Grossman has turned the ball over in every game he’s appeared in with the Redskins. Even in his limited playing time in the famous “cardiovascular endurance” Lions game Grossman managed to lose a fumble.

Grossman has turned the ball over 3 or more times in 12 of his 47 career games. He’s unbelievably good at being bad.

I’m certain things will not get any better with John Beck as the starter but I’ve seen a large enough sample size of Grossman to comfortably move on. I mean Beck only has 1 game in which he’s turned the ball over 2+ times in 3 career starts. Of course it was 5 turnovers in the game which was 4 years ago because he hasn’t been good enough to get in a NFL game since then!!!

Help me.

Cheers and Hail

A Six-Pack Of 12′s

John Beck has changed his jersey number from 3 to 12, joining 5 other quarterbacks who’ve worn #12 for the Washington Redskins over the last 30 years. I think he fits right in with this list of successful below average QB’s who’ve donned the #12 for the burgundy and gold. Here’s a look at the other 5 guys and a list of their, ahem…accomplishments:

Gibran Hamdan 2003 - 1 completion for 7 yards

Tony Banks 2001 - 10 INT’s 10 TD’s 71.3 QB Rating

Gus Frerotte 1994-98 - The cream of this crop, he made a Pro Bowl in 1996. 19W-26L-1T as a starter with a 72.7 QB Rating

Cary Conklin 1992-93 - 3 games played 75.7 QB Rating

Tom Flick 1981 - 0 TD’s 2 INT’s 33.4 QB Rating

Cheers and Hail