Ok, today’s loss to a winless team wasn’t good, but it wasn’t as bad as it seems. It was on the road and last year the Panthers were 12-4 and 8-0 at home. The Skins are what we thought they were, a mediocre team. The defense was pretty good today, but Clinton Portis is getting up there in age, the offensive line was average to begin with without much depth, and we need another good receiver. Santana Moss is a good number one, Antwaan Randle El is a good third receiver, but Malcolm Kelly hasn’t done much and neither has Devin Thomas, and the Skins need a tall target.
In fact, Kelly and Thomas are typical Skins — underachievers. So I think the Skins should trade a draft pick for Cleveland Browns wide receiver Joshua Cribbs. Cribbs is an amazing kick returner, and with his size and speed he should be a good receiver. He asked to be traded a while ago. Our return game has been below average ever since Gibbs left the first time. One of the things the old Redskins were great at was special teams. Mark Moseley, Mike Nelms, Pete Cronan, Greg Williams, Greg Manusky…
Cribbs is only in his fifth year and he already has 7 returns for TDs, tying Eric Metcalf’s Browns record. Cribbs, a former college quarterback, is the only player in NCAA history to lead his team in both rushing and passing in four different seasons. I saw him play a game in college for Kent State against Ohio State, and he kept Kent State close for a half. I thought he’d be a good pro QB then and might have been had he been given a chance. He’s not getting a lot of playing time at WR for the Browns, plus they are awful — starting QB Derek Anderson completed two passes today.
Anyway, I think the Skins should trade for Cribbs. Maybe give up Kelly or Thomas plus tight end Fred Davis and a draft pick. Cribbs could also be the emergency QB. Cribbs is also local — he played high school football for Dunbar in DC. I also didn’t know he was the nephew of former Bills 1,000-yard rusher Joe Cribbs. Pretty cool.
As for the Skins, at this point, they can probably just hope to finish .500. I don’t think much will save Jim Zorn’s job. I hope the Skins get Mike Shanahan, or if not, maybe Bill Cowher or Mike Holmgren. I think Jon Gruden is too arrogant. I think Russ Grimm would make a great head coach and bring back some of the old Skins pride, but that would make too much sense. Snyder will want a big name. Tony Dungy would be great but I couldn’t see him coaching here because I don’t think he’d put up with Snyder.
By the way, in my last post, I defended Snyder somewhat by saying the Skins have been better under him than they were from 1993 to 1998, which is true. But overall, there hasn’t been enough of a cogent plan. The Skins draft picks underperform, and they tend to get big name free agents instead of unsung heroes like they used to have.
Make no mistake, the old Skins had tons of talent — Hall of Famers Art Monk, Darrell Green, and John Riggins, plus others who should be in like Gary Clark, Russ Grimm, and Joe Jacoby, not to mention great players like Charles Mann, Dave Butz, Dexter Manley, Joe Theismann, Wilber Marshall, and we could go on. There were a lot of skill position guys who were there for a few years like Joe Washington, Charlie Brown, Kelvin Bryant, George Rogers, Gerald Riggs, and Earnest Byner. But there were a lot of players who were free agents or late round picks who went on to be great, whereas now we have name players like Portis and DeAngelo Hall who are just average, and our high draft picks (Kelly, Thomas, and Davis) underperform.
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