Rex to Start?

I agree for the most part Henry, but I think Shanahan was a good decision. I'd give him one more year, but I'm really pissed off with him right now, doesn't make much sense. If he's all for evaluating right now he can bench Williams so we can see how Austin is as well as Buchanon so we can see more of Barnes.

I think it was smart bringing him in here cause he was one of the best at the time, but it definitely is looking like otherwise right now. I think we all just expect change over night too much which isn't going to happen, but if he was all about this young crap I do wish he wouldn't have wasted picks and just built us up, guess we'll have a year or two to think on this depending on what happens with football next year.

DieselPwr44 said:

At this point, who cares??

You guys act like you've never over or understimated a situation, had to reevaluate and go in a different direction.

I mean, Shanny is human isn't he?

Is he the answer to fixing this club? Don't know that yet. At least I don't.

Just how long does a new coach get to right a club that's roster has been mismanged for 10+ years?

IMO, one year isn't long enough.

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My God - a voice of reason.

MikeSr619 said:

against the Bums though..thats my bigget problem. and why is he the #3 now? is Beck really going to be a QB we take in to the future?

personal feelings aside for McNabb (and Im a fan) I think he still gives us the best shot at winning any games this year. folding up shop and putting in the scrubs isnt going to get us anywhere IMO and it makes the fans pissed.

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Being a fan is fine, but McNabb has been subpar almost all year long. It's a fact. He's done nothing to inspire confidence, or to indicate he's got the potential to be a solid answer at QB for the next 3-4 years. And I want to beat Dallas - always - but it's not a playoff game for God's sake.

McD5 said:

I hope everyone is doing well today, and happy Friday!

No need for any big rant here, but as I said earlier, I believe Shanny is done. 1 and done wouldn't surprise me in the least bit. 2 and done, I am certain of. I honestly can't imagine how he could have possibly done any worse this season.

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You believe Shanny is done? Based on what? Because he hasn't turned a dysfunctional team full of suckage into a playoff team his first year? Seriously? Because he couldn't get Albert Haynesworth to play motivated football? Because he isn't sold on a lackluster McNabb and sits him? It hasn't been a good year, but I think most of us are missing the primary cause, and that's that this just isn't a very good team. I do blame Shanahan for several major miscalculations - the Jim Haslett hire, keeping AH on the roster at all, and getting jobbed by the Eagles who apparently knew exactly what they were letting go in McNabb. But it's still year one, and laying all of the blame on any coach in their first year with a team seems over-the-top to me.

Rymanofthenorth said:

I think thats what is getting lost in all the drama, we have regressed as a team, given that last year was incredibly injury filled, a 2 game improvement doesnt say much when everything else fell apart.

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We were bound to 'regress' with a new coach. Where I fault Shanahan is that we should have regressed because we dumped a number of mediocre vets and brought in youth. I don't understand Shanahan's resistance to openly 'rebuilding'?? We suck. Our talent is mediocre. We need to blow it up and start over nearly across the board. Acknowledge it. And do it. To 'regress' because you traded picks for an aging overrated QB, switched defensive schemes, and kept veteran 'talent' that is past it's prime - well, that's tougher to accept. Where you guys have it totally wrong is that dumping McNabb after this season will be a sign, not of failure, but of progress. He's not the answer, and every minute we waste with him, is one minute further away from our future QB.

Jimbo said:

I'm so flabbergasted by this move I don't know exactly what to think. At first glance, it appears Shanahan has lost his mind. Can he actually think Grossman gives this team a better chance to win? Why, in God's name, would you sign the guy to an extension just to piss him off to the point where there is absolutely NO CHANCE he'll be back next year?

The real clincher is you give up draft picks for a guy who is learning a new system after 11 years in his old one, which included Pro Bowls, NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl appearance, and you surround him with a suspect supporting cast and then bench him with four games left in the season. And you bench him when he's on pace to set the team's single season passing record. And you replace him with a career backup. Sure the career backup also has a Super Bowl appearance but that's an anamoly compared to the rest of his career.

I never wanted McNabb in the first place and have had a hard time rooting for him but the guy has handled himself with class and, as far as I can tell, has done everything expected of him other than produce miracles. Why give the HC a couple of years to prove himself but not give the veteran QB a full season to learn the system?

You bench the guy against the Lions because he either doesn't have the conditioning or he doesn't know the two-minute drill. He proved against the Bucs he can handle the two-minute drill and his conditioning seemed fine.

So why is Shanahan doing all of this? Is he trying to improve the draft position? Is he trying to see what he has in the young guys and backups in preparation of blowing up the team?

The has to be a method to his madness, right? Right?

What a frustrating and embarrassing time to be a Redskins fan.

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I think Shanahan's only sin is drastically over-estimating the talent level in DC. I don't know how else you explain the McNabb trade to begin with? But personally, I think going with Grossman is less about Grossman and his chances to produce a win than it is a signal that the McNabb move was a miscalculation. I also have to wonder if McNabb is doing what the coaches ask of him? He may be 'classy', but he's made a lot of mistakes this year, blown a lot of opportunities, and hardly been a strength. He certainly hasn't done anything to earn our undying trust and confidence, so I'm not particularly upset that we are giving someone else a shot.

Rymanofthenorth said:

No he just thinks that he can pretty much do whatever he wants with no consequences. funny, he is getting kudos for benching Mcnabb from some pundits because " its showing he is willing to admit when he has made a mistake" but anyone who actually follows this team knows our troubles are far greater than any ONE player, and if he was really willing to admit a mistake, AH would be dressed and we would be running a 4-3 next week.

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That sounds like more of your personal agenda. Couldn't be that Shanahan actually feels there's a legitimate need to move away from McNabb and go in a different direction? It's got to be some conspiracy to stick it to the fans, assuage his own ego, or demonstrate his 'arrogance', right? I'm sure that's what it is Ryman

InsaneBoost said:

I agree for the most part Henry, but I think Shanahan was a good decision. I'd give him one more year, but I'm really pissed off with him right now, doesn't make much sense. If he's all for evaluating right now he can bench Williams so we can see how Austin is as well as Buchanon so we can see more of Barnes.

I think it was smart bringing him in here cause he was one of the best at the time, but it definitely is looking like otherwise right now. I think we all just expect change over night too much which isn't going to happen, but if he was all about this young crap I do wish he wouldn't have wasted picks and just built us up, guess we'll have a year or two to think on this depending on what happens with football next year.

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You know what? I don't think we're expecting change overnight.

What really bothers me is that it appears more and more like Shanahan is expecting change overnight. It looked that way when he traded for McNabb, and it looks that way now.

And each time, we move further back in the rebuilding process.

I don't have a problem with the patience (or lack thereof) of the fans.

It's the inability of this front office to exhibit any form of patience that concerns me.


And for the record I have not called for Shanahan's head and I'm not doing it now. I just think he and his people look like the keystone cops right now, and this organization is just about the last team on the planet that can afford to look like that.

I think a lot of fans actually do. I remember them saying we'd win about three more this year just because of him which was ludicrous. I'm not speaking about you or all of the fans, but a lot sure seemed to think that way.

I don't have a problem with patience either, but I do admit it's getting annoying having this same stuff over and over each season, though I do agree that most of those years were with Cerrato.

Do you believe it's more than just Snyder or implying it's all him?

InsaneBoost said:

I think a lot of fans actually do. I remember them saying we'd win about three more this year just because of him which was ludicrous. I'm not speaking about you or all of the fans, but a lot sure seemed to think that way.

I don't have a problem with patience either, but I do admit it's getting annoying having this same stuff over and over each season, though I do agree that most of those years were with Cerrato.

Do you believe it's more than just Snyder or implying it's all him?

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I don't know what the heck it is. The one thing I do know is that throughout all the QBs, coordinators, coaches and GM-types there have been only three constants with this team:

We constantly bring in other teams' vets in an effort to avoid a full rebuild,

We never win anything, and

Dan Snyder is the owner.

Maybe someday that will change. But it sure hasn't this year.

When it does, I'll be more than happy to stop pointing it out.

Yeah I don't know either, you've been around longer as has everyone else so I don't have as much knowledge as you all. I like Snyder due to his money and willing to throw it away, but at the same time I do think he brings in wrong people. I do however think Shanahan and Allen was a great move, looks like Allen is good, but Shanahan not so much.

DieselPwr44 said:

He's the head coach and VP of football operations, so yeah, he can do whatever he wants here. It's his team.

He seriously overestimated the talent here.

I can't fault him for that because the majority of Redskins fans have been doing just that for years.

If this is a serious " Crap, let's back up and go the other way" moment (and I believe it is) then we're getting ready to embark on something never seen in Snyder's tenure here: a rebuild.

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I can fault him, he got 7 million dollars and has access to NFL film and scouting reports, unlike us fans he is SUPPOSED to be able to accurately judge talent. his decisions on defence and at QB here have been epic fails, epic.

the rebuild was a great idea LAST OFFSEASON. now its just sad.

Henry- Snyder is a brilliant businessman, he is however terrible at football because he thinks like a fan, get big names, spend money rinse repeat.

what we need are better talent evaluators hell bring in the best draft analysts pay them what they want, bring in the best scouts, bring in the best Coordinators and get a manager at HC to oversee it all. but Danny wants to win now, Shanny probably told him it was possible to get the job, now he has it and sees its not so easy.

Rymanofthenorth said:

Henry- Snyder is a brilliant businessman, he is however terrible at football because he thinks like a fan, get big names, spend money rinse repeat.

what we need are better talent evaluators hell bring in the best draft analysts pay them what they want, bring in the best scouts, bring in the best Coordinators and get a manager at HC to oversee it all. but Danny wants to win now, Shanny probably told him it was possible to get the job, now he has it and sees its not so easy.

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We are on the same page, but I disagree here. I actually think Danny would have been open to a rebuild this last off season if Shanny had sold him on that. Shanahan is a future HOF coach who gave Danny much sought after legitimacy in the eyes of the fans. If Shanahan had told him we need to blow it all up and start over, pretty sure Danny would have gone along with it, and I think most of the fans would have too.

Mike's problem is next year. He has wasted a year not blowing things up. It's kind of hard to go to Snyder now and say, "yeah... about last year, when you hired me and I told you I thought we could win now... I was wrong, we need a complete rebuild". I honestly don't know how Snyder would respond to that, but it should be clear to everyone at this point that is what we need.

Shanahan has painted himself into a corner with this. I do think he over-evaluated his roster when he was hired, and gave the owner and fans false hope. That is a big reason why a lot of us feel betrayed, imo. It will be difficult for him to do what is necessary and start over, because of what he told us all, including Snyder, when he was hired.

I'd love to see the Skins sweep Dallas even if 'Poke fans would argue "yeah but we were only this record last year".

Of course, I'd love to see the Skins win last week and every week but they're not too good about that. Skins lose and we move up a spot.

Not really a big deal and frankly unless we can get high enough to snag Luck, sometimes, you don't want to get too high b/c then you have difficulty trading out of the pick. And if we're in the top 10 this year I'm hoping for a trade down to get some picks to start rebuilding both lines. One Trent Williams will not fix this team but a few late 1st/ 2nd/3rd rounders should help.

The reality of it all is that the Redskins probably won't beat Dallas on Sunday if they play like they did last week. A game that they had multiple opportunities to put Tampa away and failed each and every time in every aspect of the game (O, D and ST). Odds are right now that they will have another performance like that.

Either way I don't care that much on the results. Cowboys win, we're tied for 4th in the NFCE, move up the draft board (maybe) and possibly get a better schedule in 2011 (although that didn't work out this year with a 2009 4th place finish. We're now 5-9 heading towards (most likely) 5-11. Cowboys lose, we're in 3rd place in the NFCE, move down the draft board (maybe, but Dallas may move up) possibly face the #3's in the rest of the NFC next year. We're now 6-8 heading towards (most likely) 6-10.

Either way it's a Big Gulp of "meh"..........

Goaldeje said:

We are on the same page, but I disagree here. I actually think Danny would have been open to a rebuild this last off season if Shanny had sold him on that. Shanahan is a future HOF coach who gave Danny much sought after legitimacy in the eyes of the fans. If Shanahan had told him we need to blow it all up and start over, pretty sure Danny would have gone along with it, and I think most of the fans would have too.

Mike's problem is next year. He has wasted a year not blowing things up. It's kind of hard to go to Snyder now and say, "yeah... about last year, when you hired me and I told you I thought we could win now... I was wrong, we need a complete rebuild". I honestly don't know how Snyder would respond to that, but it should be clear to everyone at this point that is what we need.

Shanahan has painted himself into a corner with this. I do think he over-evaluated his roster when he was hired, and gave the owner and fans false hope. That is a big reason why a lot of us feel betrayed, imo. It will be difficult for him to do what is necessary and start over, because of what he told us all, including Snyder, when he was hired.

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Maybe Goalie, but heres why I think what I think, and your final paragraph plays into that....

1- Shannahans massive ego, I think he would have told Danny everything he wanted to hear, and hell if a HALL OF FAME COACH says it, it must be true right? he would have said " the team has talent, it just needs better schemes and focus" " on offence we just need some upgrades on oline and and at QB and with MY system we will be set because everyone knows I can generate a running game with late round picks." " the defence is ok but it needs to be more aggressive and get turnovers, if we run a 3-4 we will be better I can convince Albert to play nosetackle."

2- Shannahans presser where he said he didnt believe in rebuilding, I could see him telling Danny " we will rebuild the roster and get younger but stay competitive, that way you dont risk losing fans and money during a rebuild because it looks like we are competitive."

at some point being so massively wrong even if you are a HOF coach, builds up. but I think he gets another offseason and at least the early part of the season before he gets the heave ho

Or maybe Shanahan thought he could get it competitive while adding pieces and realizes he's wrong. How many sucky seasons have we pleaded to start playing younger, inexperienced players in the final games only to have coaches try to eek out meaningless wins. IMO Shanahans Ego is completely set aside, if it were ever even a problem in reality. His eye is on the future. How we've longed for that??? Only time will tell how it will work out.

If his eye were truly on the future, why bring in McNabb in the first place? He obviously thought he could win now and gambled on that thought. He quickly found out the NFC East AIN'T the AFC West. I just want him to come out and say he screwed up bringing in McNabb, with his handling of Haynesworth, and with the entire team and just start the rebuilding process.

Jimbo said:

If his eye were truly on the future, why bring in McNabb in the first place? He obviously thought he could win now and gambled on that thought. He quickly found out the NFC East AIN'T the AFC West. I just want him to come out and say he screwed up bringing in McNabb, with his handling of Haynesworth, and with the entire team and just start the rebuilding process.

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eggfriggin zactly, some accountability would be nice, but its something we almost never see in redskinland.

Jimbo said:

If his eye were truly on the future, why bring in McNabb in the first place? He obviously thought he could win now and gambled on that thought. He quickly found out the NFC East AIN'T the AFC West. I just want him to come out and say he screwed up bringing in McNabb, with his handling of Haynesworth, and with the entire team and just start the rebuilding process.

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Never gonna happen my little friend. Don't get me wrong, I wrote a whole blog post on why this is exactly what SHOULD happen. But I don't see him capitulating and communicating with the fans. Besides, admitting mistakes is anathema to most NFL head coaches.

What he doesn't seem to understand or want to acknowledge, is that most of us would forgive him if he admitted his mistake and allow him a little more time to rebuild if that was the course of action he planned on. But as it is, he is compressing his grace period. Fans aren't going to stay happy if we experience a complete rebuilding year next, so long as there is no concrete plan or communication. If we go from 4 wins to 5 wins to less than 5, without a fairly clear cut plan in place? Could get ugly.

Starting Grossman just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, if Mcnabb has been benched because of his accuracy on short throws, bringing Grossman in is extremely ironic. We just went to losing by 10, to getting blown out and I expect Grossman pulled for Beck by the 4th quarter. This is a disaster, but it will bring a better draft pick as we tank the rest of the season.

Maybe he figured McNabb might give them a chance this year, and if he didn't, he'd still have trade value and it could end up a wash. Had he played decently, we might have easily recouped the picks from Minnesota. The extension was a sign an trade type deal, so I'm not sure McNabb was ever in the picture beyond this year. In any case, getting McNabb hurt in these last games certainly eliminates any remote possibility that remains for a positive trade.

Interesting tidbit from Sonny:

"He wasn't performing, and at practice, he'd never practice hard, and I think that had some bearing on it also," Jurgensen said. "Because Shanahan's a stickler for practice, working hard in practice so that you carry that over into the game. And he never could get him to go 100 percent in practice, and that's what he wanted.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2010/12/jurgensen_mcnabb_didnt_practic.html

That could be an explanation, in addition to the on field performance, or lack thereof.

yeah that would make sense.