I put most of my football emotional energy into college and the Virginia Tech football, and less into pro football. But living in northern Virginia, I casually follow the Washington Redskins and catch their games when I can. In recent years, watching Hokies and Redskins games on consecutive days has had its similarities. Obviously its completely different leagues and teams, but its interesting that both have had their struggles on offense, and more specifically an overall lack of ingenuity that to fans makes them look stale.
For the Redskins, that is making a sudden change for the better this year, all thanks to a new coaching regime. One can only wonder and hope when/if this could happen for the Hokies.
Under Joe Gibbs, the Redskins have been a decent team. They've had winning seasons (though not dominant), made the playoffs, and won some big games. However they hardly would be considered in the upper eschelon of the NFL. Their offensive has been generally conservative. Gibbs stuck to his old guns and mainly focused on a ground game and high percentage passing. He hired Al Saunders, supposedly an a creative offensive mind but the results were still pretty ordinary. Watching the Redskins offense was frustrating, it was predicatable, unimaginative, and whenever the Redskins had a lead, it especially went into a shell.
So does this sound familiar to Hokie Fans? Good team, winning games, an offense that is ok, but 'stale' enough to frustrate you especially relative to all the other teams you watch.
There is a new head man in Washington, and Jim Zorn has brought with him his playbook, his play calling style, his offensive attitude, and his imagination, and so far the results look promising. The players are pretty much the same, but in watching the games, all of a sudden you can't guess their play calls. You have confidence the Skins will pick up that critical first down and you look forward to watching their offense take the field. Its exhibit A on what a new set of coaches and coaching philosophy can bring to an offense.
There's enough battering of the Hokie's offensive approach going on, that's not my point here. I'm simply looking forward to the day a similar revival will happen in Blacksburg.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Nice analysis, Hokie G, but I disagree on one point… our offense is not okay… I think an okay offense is at least ranked 60… we’re about 48 spots below that
I’ve heard rumors about the Missouri OC is in the mix for the University of Washington (U-Dub) Huskies head job… but I’ve also heard the head coach’s name in the conversation for the U-Dub head job… either way, Hokie G, I think we need to get our coach from a mid-major because of the finances involved… and there is precedent for a D-I-AA coach, for example, going to a D-I-A school and making it big. Happened with the OC from UNH going to Oregon.