Redskins’ 2016 Season Superlatives
By Richard Rogers
Whelp! These are the articles you write when your team can’t win a play-in game at home in order to advance to the playoffs. Here are my best and worst moments of the 2016 season.
Let’s start with the positives.
Offensive Player of the Year
Kirk Cousins is by far the best player on offense for the Washington Redskins. I don’t think we, as fans, truly appreciate what he brings to this team. Kirk moves the ball, and not just dink-n-dunk. Kirk can sling it down the field and is lethal with intermediate range balls. Yes, Kirk misses it deep or up the seam, but so do other QBs. I’d wager that this is a 5 to 6 win team without Kirk Cousins. I won’t even go back as far as the days before Dan Snyder’s ownership, but Kirk is the best quarterback this team has had since Joe Theismann. It’s okay to embrace him. In fact, we’d better.
Defensive Player of the Year
Josh Norman is the real deal. He is a man among boys. He’s not quite the interception machine that most had hoped for, but he plays with an edge and an attitude that no one else has on this defense. QBs don’t throw at him much, but when they do, I’ve not seen a CB with his closing speed and physicality in years. We need more players with his attitude and his approach to the game.
Special Teams Player of the Year
Jamison Crowder gets the nod hands down. I’m not a fan of your starting WR as your full time punt returner, but he’s a GREAT player.
Most Improved Player
I’m going with Trent Murphy here. I talked bad about him, and left him for “dead”. I wanted to trade him and move on, but Trent Murphy proved me wrong. He was 2nd on the team with 9 sacks on a HORRIBLE defense. With more pieces around him, he has the potential to be a major disruptive force on this defense.
Most Satisfying Moment of the Season
This is close for me. Beating the Packers on Sunday night TV was gratifying. We beat a legit NFL team that, now, looks like a contender. We beat them handily and in the eyes of many, the Redskins looked like a team that could not only make the playoffs, but win a game or two. The Su’a Cravens interception against the Giants was HUGE! Somebody on defense made a play when we absolutely needed one. I loved the fact that it was the rookie.
The “BEAST” Award
At first, I was going with Jordan Reed, but I’ve got to go with Morgan Moses. Morgan Moses played all 16 games and was hurt for most of them. When given an opportunity to take a game off, he chose to play. Had Williams not gotten the suspension, I think Nsekhe spells Moses a game or two, but he toughed out the season.
Now for the negative…
Worst Game of the Season
Call me Captain Obvious. The January 1st game against the New York Giants was the worst game of the season, and perhaps the worst loss in years. The team was uninspired, unprepared and devoid of leadership on the field. They stunk. They were soft. They couldn’t take advantage of a Giants team that rested its starters in the second half.
Most Embarrassing Moment
The Pittsburg Steelers game was a nightmare. But when the Steelers threw a “bomb” on 4th and 1, it was the beginning of the end for Joe Barry. Breeland’s confidence, I believe, was lost in that game and marked the beginning of his regression. Nobody gives up a “bomb” on 4th and 1 unless it’s a fake punt or field goal. We were the talk of sports media and it was ridiculous!
Biggest Disappointment
Preston Smith, please report to the podium. What happened with this kid? Was it Barry? Was it Preston? I don’t know, but he was missing in action, aside from a few flashes. I didn’t talk about him quite as badly as I did Trent Murphy, but I was supremely disappointed in this young player. He has not lived up to his potential.
What Were You Thinking Award
I’m not going to nit-pick playcallin’. It’s dumb. This award goes to Scot McCloughan. What the hell were you thinking headed into the regular season giving our defensive coordinator 33 year old Kedric Golston as our starting nose tackle and David Bruton Jr. as our starting strong safety? I get it. Maybe you were thinking these were stop-gaps, but they were “stink-gaps”. Barry was fired, and probably should have been, but you set him up for failure. What were you thinking?
Please Shut Up Award
The Redskins are MY team…MY family, and only I can tell MY family to shut up. So here it goes:
Chris Baker, please shut up. We run nothing! Our defense stinks, we’re not in the playoffs, and we’re no longer the NFC East champions.
Bashaud Breeland, please shut up. You can be on Twitter all you want, but why engage the fans and defend yourself at every turn? It’s dumb. You can’t win that. Champions don’t do that. Professional athletes are above that. I get it. Fans can’t just say what they want, but they actually can. Choose to ignore it and play. You were very whiny this season. I know you’ll bounce back, but fall back this off-season, and come out like a beast next year.
Kirk Cousins, shut up! Surprise! Yes, he gets one too. I’m a Kirk lover, but with his national dig at Scot McCloughan after the Packers game, and his suck-age against the Panthers and Giants, he needs to pipe down. I believe in you. I want you to be my QB for another decade, but if you’re gonna talk, you need to be able to back it up. You didn’t.
That’s all folks. As I begin to heal from the Giants loss, I’m able to laugh to keep from crying. I’m looking forward to our off-season and all the speculation that comes with it. Peace!