Haskins - Going Forward

[DieselPwr44]

Do not get the sentiment being fomented on social media and the sports media that if Haskins doesn't wow today that he's done here.

It's like no one wants to take the time to develop a player anymore. That if you're not Mahomes(who sat a year btw) out of the gate, you're a bust.
The sports media just loves tearing anything thing positive down that even has the slightest chance of happening and a majority of the fanbase on social media are flat out morons...who say they want to rebuild..have the patience for a rebuild but after three games, are wanting to trade or cut anyone who isn't performing like an All-Pro.
BTW, Rivera airing it out about Haskins in public(or letting it leak) is absolute Horse Hockey. That's in house stuff and should stay that way.Joe Gibbs never publicly threw his QBs under the bus in the press and IMO, that's always been a good way to handle that position.
Wish Rivera took a page from that book.

What a mess......

 

[Boone]

I'd be curious to know if the 'if he plays badly enough, he could be pulled today' nugget was actually stated by a 'source' or whether that's speculation from the reporter. Again, not a fan of organizational reps sharing these kinds of opinions with media, regardless of what is motivating them to do so. In fact, I hate it.

 

[Boone]

Do not get the sentiment being fomented on social media and the sports media that if Haskins doesn't wow today that he's done here.

It's like no one wants to take the time to develop a player anymore. That if you're not Mahomes(who sat a year btw) out of the gate, you're a bust.
The sports media just loves tearing anything thing positive down that even has the slightest chance of happening and a majority of the fanbase on social media are flat out morons...who say they want to rebuild..have the patience for a rebuild but after three games, are wanting to trade or cut anyone who isn't performing like an All-Pro.
BTW, Rivera airing it out about Haskins in public(or letting it leak) is absolute Horse Hockey. That's in house stuff and should stay that way.Joe Gibbs never publicly threw his QBs under the bus in the press and IMO, that's always been a good way to handle that position.
Wish Rivera took a page from that book.

What a mess......

I generally agree. I said it before, but I think this is coming from Rivera himself. And whether or not he feels Haskins can be the guy (and I have a feeling he's already determined that in his mind), this isn't about Haskins. He's putting this out there as a 'culture' message - if you don't perform, regardless of how high profile a player you are or where you were selected in the draft, you will ride the bench or worse.

I guess the only way I might *understand* what he's doing is if he is 100% certain that Haskins isn't going to be the guy, but knows he has to let the situation play out (whether to satisfy the owner who reportedly was the major factor in drafting Haskins, or to placate fans and ensure they too see Haskins isn't NFL starter material before they move on). If Rivera has, in fact, already made up his mind, using the situation to set the bar for expectations for the rest of the team might be understandable. I still don't like it - but to be fair, Rivera had no input into Haskins being drafted. We can't expect him to continue to go forward with him for an extended period if he feels Haskins cannot be the guy.

 

[ntotoro]

The problem with leaving Haskins in is he keeps making the same mistakes in-game as he has since his first actual start. He’s had moments, but isn’t progressing. Not at all. His mechanics are lousy, his pocket awareness is dreadful and there are times he bails too early when a step or the side or two and a quick reset might be all he needs. You might be able to fix a couple of those with reps, but not his mechanics. The mechanics are directly contributing to his poor accuracy. He’s not gonna’ fix that in-game, he’s just further cementing the same mistakes.

The real problem is he’s a 3rd round QB who should be sitting a year or two behind a vet, mistakenly drafted in the 1st round. It stinks of Snyder. He’s not NFL-ready in any sense of the word. The expectations are higher because of his draft position, but he’ll never live up to it. He’s just not good enough.

This sounds like the defenses of RGIII and Cousins and their shortcomings all over again. We see now RGIII is RGIII. Once the option was nullified, QB’s like he and Kaepernick who couldn’t throw from the pocket went down with it. Some were convinced Cousins would get a Super Bowl ring his first season in Minny, but we all now see Cousins is Cousins. His game two weeks ago, he had a single-digit QBR until the 4th quarter. I’m tired of hearing “If everything else comes around, this guy can ball” because it just isn’t always true and a QB can go a loooooong way toward helping his team. Haskins is hurting his.

 

[Boone]

I hear you on most of that. I think the RG3 comparison is lacking (other than that he was another failed 1st round QB pick which may prove to be the case). Even during that first great year with Griffin, had we been looking closely, we'd have seen he couldn't read a defense and it was really only the explosive run threat that was allowing him to be effective. Sure, he could hit an open receiver, but if someone wasn't open immediately, he was lost. Haskins is able to read defenses and handle a complex offense, he just isn't always executing. He was incredibly accurate throughout his college career. Yes - it was college... but I don't think one can discount that. Yes, his 'mechanics' are pretty ugly at times. But there are also times he makes throws off schedule or from positions no one should be able to make. It's a double-edged sword.

I think where we should all be able to agree is that he's not ready to be an NFL starter. I don't know if it's all mechanics either - I think that's sort of low-hanging fruit and that it goes deeper than that. He had little college experience... he's on his 3rd HC in 12 months... he's having to execute things he never even attempted in his college career. It's a lot to expect him to be able to pull off with his limited experience and that's exacerbated by a nearly non-existent preseason prep period.

I don't think any of us knows whether he can figure it out. Not yet anyway. Rivera may have made up his mind already, but honestly even if he has, he may not be right. All I am hearing after his worst ever game are the negatives. But there are positives. He's probably got a top 5 NFL arm in terms of strength, ability to make any throw on the field, and velocity. His accuracy in his short NFL career has been lacking, but he was incredibly accurate in college - so it may be more about adjusting to the next level than some fatal flaw. He's big, appears to be fairly durable, and plays fearlessly. He's smart by all accounts. And by all accounts, his teammates respect him. He has improved in some areas in year two and came into camp physically and mentally very prepared.

None of that means he will succeed. But it's not like he's some 'wing and a prayer' that was drafted. He's a major talent. It just comes down to whether or not he can progress to this next level. I don't know if he can. None of us do.

 

[Win4us]

Considering Haskins is working with bottom tier O-line play & a TE that’s ranked dead last in production you can guarantee he’s headed for the bench. BTW the wr’s are ranked dead last in getting separation to boot, but this is all on Dwayne.

If Ron goes to KA under this line of thinking the team deserves another Allen era

 

[Boone]

That's true Win. But we also have to keep in mind, even a good OL can't block forever and bad receivers have a lot less chance of catching balls when they are thrown late or inaccurately.

 

[ntotoro]

That’s the RGIII/Cousins defense. Last week was eminently winnable and Haskins puked it all over the field.

 

[Boone]

I think we learned exactly nothing today in terms of Haskins progression. He missed a number of open throws, had a number of inaccurate throws that he threw without planting his feel (including several where there was no pressure whatsoever), and he took sacks that were totally unnecessary. He also had some good throws. A mixed bag but overall an ineffective performance.

 

[MikefromOH]

Rams
Gnats
Cowbums
Gnats

Being perfectly honest here; I dont think he makes it to the Cowbums game. Aaron Donald is going to destroy him.

Also, he didn't show anything to me. That deep ball to McLaurin was at the end of the game after it was already out of hand. I wasnt really impressed.
But, that sack he took...like Om said "that was bush league". It was. He has no clock or vision on when to get rid of the ball of feel when the defense is collapsing.

 

[Primus Porcus]

I think we learned exactly nothing today in terms of Haskins progression. He missed a number of open throws, had a number of inaccurate throws that he threw without planting his feel (including several where there was no pressure whatsoever), and he took sacks that were totally unnecessary. He also had some good throws. A mixed bag but overall an ineffective performance.

From what I was able to watch, he didn't cost us the game, but clearly didn't play well enough to even keep us in the game. He had 1 good throw that I saw, as Mike pointed out, to McLaurin way late.... a throw that prompted me to ask where the hell that had been all game.

The difference between this game and the first 3 weeks of the season was there weren't any "holy crap what a throw" plays. Even last week, the TD to Inman was a 'wow' throw.

I didn't learn anything, but my confidence in him went down a little further. I will do my best to go back and look at some of the plays, but I feel like there was a lot left on the field.

 

[Boone]

Hot take: Had Rivera started Kyle Allen in Week 1, we would be at least 1 game up on the rest of the NFC East..

 

[Boone]

From what I was able to watch, he didn't cost us the game, but clearly didn't play well enough to even keep us in the game. He had 1 good throw that I saw, as Mike pointed out, to McLaurin way late.... a throw that prompted me to ask where the hell that had been all game.

The difference between this game and the first 3 weeks of the season was there weren't any "holy crap what a throw" plays. Even last week, the TD to Inman was a 'wow' throw.

I didn't learn anything, but my confidence in him went down a little further. I will do my best to go back and look at some of the plays, but I feel like there was a lot left on the field.

He also hit McLaurin in stride on a beautiful crossing pattern in the 2nd half. I think it's fair to say, last week aside, that Haskins rarely makes a bunch of mistakes that cost us the game. But I would argue that he is, and probably will continue, to be one of the primary reasons we're frequently losing games - because he can't play consistently well enough to put sufficient points on the board.

I saw several fans on Twitter after the game saying that it wasn't Haskins fault, because we're always playing from 10-14 or more points behind.

And why do people think we are playing from 10-14 or more points behind?

The answer is pretty easy to figure out. We can't sustain drives. We can't convert on 3rd down consistently. And we can't score. That's not ALL on Haskins, but a great deal of it is.

 

[Primus Porcus]

He also hit McLaurin in stride on a beautiful crossing pattern in the 2nd half. I think it's fair to say, last week aside, that Haskins rarely makes a bunch of mistakes that cost us the game. But I would argue that he is, and probably will continue, to be one of the primary reasons we're frequently losing games - because he can't play consistently well enough to put sufficient points on the board.

I saw several fans on Twitter after the game saying that it wasn't Haskins fault, because we're always playing from 10-14 or more points behind.

And why do people think we are playing from 10-14 or more points behind?

The answer is pretty easy to figure out. We can't sustain drives. We can't convert on 3rd down consistently. And we can't score. That's not ALL on Haskins, but a great deal of it is.

You really have to wonder how much he's emulating Alex Smith. Look at the highlights from the 2nd half of last year. He was taking shots on the intermediate and deeper routes, sometimes throwing to covered receivers. This year, it's like he's been trying to be what Alex Smith was. I have to wonder if he's being coached to do so. Be smart, don't lose the game for us...

 

[Boone]

I had this exact thought earlier reading some posts on Twitter. Let's be truthful... prior to Alex Smith's horrific injury, he was barely producing enough points to win games. There were a lot of instances where we really had no business winning. We were scratching and clawing our way and eking wins we had no business pulling off. Smith is a great leader, and rarely makes a mistake that loses games for you, but that first season as Redskins starting QB his production (and that of the offense) was woeful. I don't know if some of that has carried over to Haskins. But the results (setting aside the 3 turnover game) have been similar. The biggest difference is, we're not running AP 30 times a game, which Mike will be happy to hear me say, was the difference in that stretch of winning.

 

[Boone]

On an unrelated note... I don't think I've ever seen a 300+ yard passing effort that left me less excited. I'm just not feeling Haskins at the moment.

 

[MikefromOH]

I'd pay great money to be winning under a boring and struggling Smith right about now.

This shit is ridiculous. We are hoping a guy who is all smiles on the sidelines and after the game to step up and perform.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

You really have to wonder how much he's emulating Alex Smith. Look at the highlights from the 2nd half of last year. He was taking shots on the intermediate and deeper routes, sometimes throwing to covered receivers. This year, it's like he's been trying to be what Alex Smith was. I have to wonder if he's being coached to do so. Be smart, don't lose the game for us...

I didn’t get to see the game, so I only have a few plays shown on the Red Zone channel to go off of. But they did show the 4th and goal check down. My first thought was what are they coaching him? This is why stats are meaningless. You have to throw the ball in the end zone there. So what if it’s intercepted. It’s a turnover regardless. You have to take a shot. I don’t know what the coverage was like and maybe there was nowhere to throw it. But you can’t be afraid to take a chance. Last week, it wasn’t that he threw 3 interceptions. It was that they were bad decisions where he stared down his receivers and still made the throw. Those are throws he shouldn’t have made.

The reason I bring up coaching is that with the talk this week of him having to play better and possibly being on a short leash, did they drill into him don’t make mistakes. That will tend to lead to taking the safe throw, holding the ball, basically being afraid to take a chance and make a mistake. I’m sure that’s what they wanted last year under Callahan. I don’t know what they want this year, but except for last week, that’s pretty much how he has played. I also wonder how much influence Alex Smith has in that. Outside of his big year in KC, that has been Smith for all 14 years of his career. So I guess that could be what they want him to be. I just think he has more potential than that.

 

[Boone]

Rivera reportedly said that they didn't kick the FG there because they wanted to test Haskins 'situational awareness'. Well, apparently, he didn't do so well on the test. Not like it's the first time we've seen our guy under center make a 3 yd completion when we needed 4 or 5 yards though. He joins a great tradition on that front.

 

[Boone]

It's not like he was terrible today. But there are just so many times when the play is there, and there's no pressure, and he cannot get it done. So many drives killed by 'almost' plays. He cannot be the starter if he can't start making the plays that are there to be had, but that he doesn't make.