Two home wins in hand, Redskins need to become road warriors

By Rich Tandler

In winning their second home game on Sunday against the Cardinals, the Redskins matched their home win total for all of 2010. Their miserable 2-6 home record last year, the team’s worst since FedEx Field opened in 1997, was obviously a big factor in their disappointing 6-10 record and it undoubtedly put Redskins fans who spend a lot of hard-earned money to attend games at FedEx Field in a sour mood.

Winning at home has been a key to the limited success the Redskins have enjoyed since moving into FedEx Field. Since then, the Redskins have made the playoffs three times, in 1999, 2005, and 2007. They had a 5-3 home record in ’99 and ’07 and they were 6-2 at FedEx in ’05.

Only twice have the Redskins had a winning home record in FedEx and failed to make the playoffs. During that inaugural 1997 season they went 5-2-1 at home but missed the postseason at 8-7-1. In 2002 they were 5-3 at home but finished 7-9 overall.

They are now 60-54-1 overall at FedEx Field.

The Redskins now go on the road for four of their next five games. After going to Dallas they will take a trip to St. Louis to play the Rams. They then have their bye week and a home date with the Eagles on October 16. They then got to Charlotte to play the Panthers and then to Toronto to play the Bills. Five of their final nine games are at home, including three of their last five.

The last time they played four out of five games on the road was in 2007. They only beat the Jets during that road stretch and they lost to the Patriots, Cowboys, and Buccaneers.

Last year they were 4-4 on the road, an acceptable performance. If they can match that this year, success at home will be the key to a winning record or, possibly, a postseason berth.

That is getting way ahead of things, of course. But getting two home wins in your pocket before the leaves start to turn is a good start.

60-54-1 at FedEx Field all time

• 2009 3-5 at home (5-11 overall)
• 2008 4-4 (8-8)
• 2007 5-3 (9-7 playoffs)
• 2006 3-5 (5-11)
• 2005 6-2 (10-6 playoffs)
• 2004 4-4 (6-10)
• 2003 3-5 (5-11)
• 2002 5-3 (7-9)
• 2001 3-5 (8-8)
• 2000 4-4 (8-8)
• 1999 5-3 (10-6 playoffs)
• 1998 4-4 (6-10)
• 1997 5-2-1 (8-7-1)

 

 

Comments

[Allen]

Chicken or the egg. The Skins are weak at home so the crowds are indifferent. Or the crowd is not loud and therefore no 12th man to urge the Skins on. Regardless, the crowd at the Cardinals game (on TV at least) sounded quiet and there were lots of empty seats. I don't understand buying tickets and not showing up on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to root for the Skins! I know that stadium CAN get loud, especially if the Steelers are in town, but it wouldn't surprise me if the players think it's a downer playing in front of these empty seats.

[Belly Kilmer]

Hey Allen, the stadium was rocking when the Skins were on D and in-between downs every time the O grabbed big chunks of yardage or converted critical downs. The only time the stadium got quiet was when the offense was struggling, which is perfect, and way better than what the moronic Eagles fans and Bears fans would have been doing.

I wish someone would position a microphone high up somewhere in one of the better (more die-hard) sections of the stadium and broadcast that sound during the game. Everyone watching at home could crank that on their speakers and turn down the TV's volume. Of course if you have your large screen, high-def TV AND that sound, it sure makes it a lot harder to justify spending double digits on each beer and waste hours sitting in your car after the game. Of course it's surprising how enjoyable that retched commute out of FEDEX can be when you're listening to the post-game AFTER A WIN!

Despite the ridiculous amount of fan turnover game to game, there are still many die-hards at FEDEX every game. As the Redskins improve we'll see more of them regularly making it to the games, rather than selling their tickets. These die-hards rooted for Redskins through many tough years, know good football when they see it, and won't put up with the jerks who want to start booing THIS team when it makes a mistake or two. But...there are quite a few jerks at Fedex, and they'll be making their presence known in the Week 6 home game against the Eagles, plus there'll be many Eagles fans in attendance. The sounds from that game will be interesting.

[Fred]

I never take my kids to an Eagles or Cowboys home game because the crowd is indeed rowdy, and the opponent fans usually get into with Redskins fans. And yes, MANY times it's drunk and rude Redskins fans who initiate the problem! I know Snyder and the NFL is trying to enforce a more family oriented atmosphere at home games, but when you plunk down an average of over $100 per seat per game, some fans think they can do and say what they want.

Remember, 12 years of mediocre play for most of that period will make fans apathetic, and the new age of EBay and Stub Hub and ticket exchange/sell sites help people sell their tickets in this economic downturn. No guarantee that a Redskins fan will always buy the ticket. I myself try to sell mine to Redskins fans, but sometimes you just have to sell them to whomever in order to recoup the cost.

Plus, FedEx, being an OPEN stadium, loses a LOT of it's noise. I've been there when it was LOUD, but it' not gonna be like RFK. Perhaps adding baffle screens angled in at the top around the whole stadium will redirect some noise back down. RFK had that roof the kept the sound in, along with ROCKING and loud temporary seats!

ANd yes, a more competitive and successful team will go a LONG way to bringing the BUTTS of REDSKINS fans back into the seats, where it will indeed get loud. The best game of FedEx to date, as far as noise, was that Dallas game back in 2005..unbelieveably LOUD. You literally could NOT hear the person next to you if they were trying to talk...Second was the only playoff game there in 1999 against Detroit.

[Allen]

Thanks for the comments "Belly" and Fred. I know there are GREAT fans that do cheer on the Skins - it sounds like you are one of them! And I think the baffle idea sounds like a good one. I've been to RFK and FEDex and there was no doubt that 55,000 in RFK sound a lot louder than 80,000 at FEDex!
I still don't understand no-shows though. The stadium looked at capacity for the Giants, but it appeared that it was at about 85% for the Cards. I get that the division foes will be more popular, but if I was a Redskin player, I would be discouraged by the empty seats last Sunday.