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WP: The Fix is In - Beck Is The Starting QB

Om

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We need to talk about this.

Reid makes some assumptions, true. And the tone is probably a little too inciteful for my tastes. But, on balance, I'm not sure there's anything subtantive in there I really disagree with--either in terms of Reid's conclusions (whether he adequately supported them or not) or, more importantly, what it says about the Shanahan Redskins if it's basically true.

Still mulling it over though.

Help me out, BGO brethren. Anything in this piece that screams out at you?

In the Shanahans’ eyes, John Beck is the Washington Redskins’ starting quarterback

Jason Reid, Published: August 15

The Washington Redskins’ supposed quarterback competition between Rex Grossman and John Beck isn’t a fair fight. The winner is predetermined. The fix is in.

All along, the job has been Beck’s to lose.

That’s what Redskins people have been saying privately for months, insisting Coach Mike Shanahan and his son, Kyle, the team’s offensive coordinator, have already selected their guy. That for better or worse, the Shanahans are rolling with Beck.

Obviously, plans can change. Beck’s groin injury was an unexpected setback. An abysmal preseason performance from Beck could prompt a reevaluation. Ultimately, Mike and Kyle could still decide Grossman gives them the best chance to win this season.

Barring further unforeseen developments, however, the Beck period in Washington is already underway. All that’s left, apparently, is making the move official ...

FULL ARTICLE
 
I think the big thing that stands out is that the premice smells false.

If we've seen anything in the first two preseasons is that Shanahan loves competition. People rise and fall down the depth chart without preference to incumbancy, salary, or draft pick. We cut some fairly high draft picks last year because Shanny thought they weren't good enough.

For Shanahan to have made up his mind before ever seeing these two in competition (remember the whole of the offseason was locked out) just seems very unMike-like.

So, while it's possible that Reid is right. It's more possible that Beck is getting this start because Shanahan wants to keep the pressure up on both of them and see which one shines brightest at the end of the preseason.
 
what are the rank ordered priorities (by the Shanahans) among.....?

- winning the most games possible this season?

- building a SB contender over the next 2-3 yrs?

- finding the QB of today?

- finding the QB for that SB?

The article (and the comments following the piece) seem to throw all of these against the wall. You can slot current and future QBs as answers to each one of these questions in different ways...but prioritizing the questions hasn't been done. One would think building a SB contender is number one...which then begs the question: can RG do this? If the Shanahans don't think so, then Beck/future QB become viable options. Makes sense to me what is going on. They awarded RG his audition last season. Why would they not give Beck - a guy they traded for - the same chance for the lead part? Fixed? eh...Reid hedged his bets on that one with his competition angle. The real story here...if there is one....is that the Shanahans (like the rest of the NFL that did not make a play for FA RG) don't believe Rex is the long-term answer. wow...thanks for the insight Jason!!!
 
Agree with burgold - it just doesn't pass the smell test.

Also, if true, this would seem like common sense - Grossman didn't start practicing with the team until August 4th, over a week after Beck had been leading the team. He was probably ahead just based on that. Then, Reid goes on to say if Beck has a bad preseason or gets injured, Grossman would start. Well, duh. Did you go to rocket surgery school to figure that one out?

So no, I don't think the Shanahans have anointed Beck the starter; if he is in that position, he's done so through the natural advantage of being around longer.
 
besides...the Shanahans have a decided preference for immobile QBs who F up when under pressure. REX REX BABY!!!!!!! I WANNA REX YOU UP! HE'LL GIVE EVERYONE AN EREXTION WHEN WE PLAY THE IGGLES!!!!
 
The thing that leaps out is he basically says: "Beck will be the starter...unless Grossman is". He couched everything with some interesting tidbits but at the end of the article you're left with no more than you had when you started out.
 
Reid contradicts himself in the piece. First, he starts out by saying that Beck is the starter and then in the middle goes into how much Shannahan loves competition. Anyone who understands leadership knows that consistency is key and while we have not always agreed with Mike's methods, he has largely remained consistent to them.

I think this is a competition that either Beck or Grossman can win.

Now, having said that, do I think it is a weighted competition? Yeah, I do. I think everyone knows that this team is not going to challenge for the NFC East title this year. Even the most optimistic of folks is only thinking the team might be in the hunt for a wildcard toward the end of the season and of those people, I think most figure it won't happen.

That means this team is at least a year away, probably more like two. I think Mike and Kyle both know this and they know what they have in Rex. That means that if the line appears to be able to protect Beck a bit and the running looks to be up to taking some pressure off him, they will go with Beck even if Rex outplays him a bit in the preseason precisely because they think Beck has more upside.

In the NFL, there is no substitute for OJT.
 
Does it really make a difference who's under center? We're screwed either way
 
I think it's pretty clear the Shanahan's WANT Beck to win the job. You don't bring a guy like that in via trade, immediately sign him to an extension, allow yourself to come down to having one QB under contract heading into a new season, AND be as vocally supportive of him as they have been, unless you have plans for the guy.

That said ... if he tanks in preseason and Rex continues to play like he did Friday against Pittsburgh, Beck is going to find himself standing next to Kyle wearing a ballcap on opening day. The Skins aren't going to hand Beck the job no matter what. Reid and/or the WP editors just used the "fix is in" angle to create a stir. Which they did. The article also makes it clear that Beck could "lose" the competition just a few paragraphs later. That's called covering your arse.

What makes this all so much more intriguing is just how solid Grossman looked in the preseason opener. He was poised, accurate, quick with the ball and carried himself with just enough "swagger." 200 yards in a half (more if Freddy Davis hangs on to that sweet rope down the middle), against ANY Steelers D, rates at least a nod.

The bar has been raised for Beck. If he doesn't play well Friday night, things are going to get interesting in a hurry. Particularly if Rex picks up where he left off in Game 3.

Oh, and Sarge? Take some Sidney Freedman and call me in the morning. :cool:
 
Well, stranger things have happened, but I hope we go with whoever gives us the best chance to win.

It’s not like Beck is the hotshot rookie drafted first overall. He’s a journeyman who has never won an NFL start. Grossman is at least a known commodity. Yes he has limitations, most NFL QBs do, but he has been successful on some levels and has played in a Super Bowl.

Players will put up with a rookie if the upside is clearly there. Is that the case here? I haven’t seen it yet. Starting Beck would be a great way for Shanahan to lose the team if Grossman is clearly the better option coming out of practice and pre-season. I guess we’ll be able to make a better judgment after we see Beck play some.
 
What makes this all so much more intriguing is just how solid Grossman looked in the preseason opener. He was poised, accurate, quick with the ball and carried himself with just enough "swagger." 200 yards in a half (more if Freddy Davis hangs on to that sweet rope down the middle), against ANY Steelers D, rates at least a nod.

Hmm, I would tend to disagree that he looked "poised" - in fact he looked anxious & uncomfortable at times in the pocket, throwing off his back foot, or throwing early due to perceived pressure that could have been avoided by simply stepping up into the pocket.
 
Really, LL? Not the way I saw it at all. Yeah he threw off his back foot a couple times--and felt a rush that wasn't there at least once. But I think maybe you've set an unfair standard here. Rex isn't Brady or Manning (both of whom have occasionally been known to throw off their back feet), but he isn't Pee Wee Herman or Mark Brunell either. And this was a pretty damn solid half of quarterbacking by just about any objective measure I can think of.

I guess "poise" is a subjective term, but viewed against the full context of what he was facing, and how he carried himself and performed, I feel pretty comfortable using the word.

You really disagree?

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYbj7NGmjRU[/media]
 
I think it's pretty clear the Shanahan's WANT Beck to win the job. You don't bring a guy like that in via trade, immediately sign him to an extension, allow yourself to come down to having one QB under contract heading into a new season, AND be as vocally supportive of him as they have been, unless you have plans for the guy.

That said ... if he tanks in preseason and Rex continues to play like he did Friday against Pittsburgh, Beck is going to find himself standing next to Kyle wearing a ballcap on opening day. The Skins aren't going to hand Beck the job no matter what. Reid and/or the WP editors just used the "fix is in" angle to create a stir. Which they did. The article also makes it clear that Beck could "lose" the competition just a few paragraphs later. That's called covering your arse.

What makes this all so much more intriguing is just how solid Grossman looked in the preseason opener. He was poised, accurate, quick with the ball and carried himself with just enough "swagger." 200 yards in a half (more if Freddy Davis hangs on to that sweet rope down the middle), against ANY Steelers D, rates at least a nod.

The bar has been raised for Beck. If he doesn't play well Friday night, things are going to get interesting in a hurry. Particularly if Rex picks up where he left off in Game 3.

Oh, and Sarge? Take some Sidney Freedman and call me in the morning. :cool:


it's true...he performed well throwing short passes against a defense that had no gameplan for him!
 
it's true...he performed well throwing short passes against a defense that had no gameplan for him!
Meh. Same thing I said before, Al. What kind of standards are you applying here? This is a timing based, possession offense. It's not Lamonica going deep every other play.

Rex performed well within the timing and context of the offense and, unless suggested otherwise, took what the defense gave him like a professional quarterback in a timing system is supposed to. He went short, intermediate, left, middle, right ... even over the top once when the proper throw probaby should have been underneath.

I'm no Rex Grossman "fan." I'm actually kinda intrigued by what I think I might see in Beck. What I am also, though, is capable of watching a performance like Rex's the other night objectively, in context and free of the kind of preconceived notions I think some of you bring to the table.
 
Mooch weighs in:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...tty-darn-good/2011/08/16/gIQAxAO6IJ_blog.html

Wednesday’s Redskins debate of the day was kicked off by Jason Reid’s controversial quarterbacks column, in which he asserted that “the fix is in,” and that “barring further unforeseen developments...the Beck period in Washington is already underway.”

Fans and other media members scoffed, believing Reid went too far and that Beck will have to show something to unseat Grossman after last week’s preseason performance.

And in fact, some of the national analyst types were also enamored with Grossman after last week’s showing, leading at least one — the NFL Network’s Steve Mariucci — to say the playoffs were a possibility.

“Can he really have the Redskins a playoff team this year?” Rich Eisen asked Mariucci over the weekend.


“It’s possible,” Mariucci said. “And I think we were all surprised that Mike Shanahan came out early and said we’ve got our quarterback here, whether it’s Rex — probably Rex — or John Beck. And we thought they’d beactive in free agency or whatever, draft a guy early. But [Mike Shanahan] has enough confidence, Kyle has seen enough from him to say we don't need to spend money at the quarterback spot; we’ll [spend money] elsewhere.

“And you know what, this offense is good for Rex, because it’s going to be run first, play-action, some drop back — obviously you have to do that in this league. He does have experience, he’s not a kid anymore, he’s been to the playoffs. And you know what? He's got a chance to be pretty darn good. I like the way they played, they competed well. They were the better team the other night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

“So are you a believer in Rex?” Eisen asked.

“I believe he can be their guy, be their starter,” Mariucci said

“For 16 games in an NFC East gauntlet?” Eisen asked.

“They have to play some defense, because he’s not the quarterback that’s going to carry that team on his shoulders and come from behind every other week,” Mariucci said. “They’ve got to keep it close, they’ve got to have good defense; run the football, time of possession. And then he’s in every game, and he can be very functional that way.”
 
I'm with you Mike. Shanahan and QBs doesn't equal the unbridled success that some apparently have convinced themselves of. Add to that, the McNacle (I'm going with it until it catches on) from last year, and my trust in them has been eroded, when it comes to the QB position. I still think Mike can find late round OLinemen and RBs with the best of them, but not nearly as confident about QBs.

As to the article, meh. WP reporting at it's finest, I suppose. So Rex is definitely the second QB. Unless Beck sucks, then he starts? Do I have that right?

If the Shanahans are convinced that Beck is going to have a Kurt Warner-esque renaissance, I suppose it behooves me to to be patient. Not excited about that, but whatever. What concerns me more is Shanahan's penchant for believing he is the smartest guy out there, and he sees something in Beck that no one else did, or even could. Not a recipe for success, imo.
 
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thats how they were successful in Chicago when they went to the SB. The defense made big plays and he managed the game. And he can easily do it for 16 games if he has confidence and that OL holds up for him.

I dont think Rex is anywhere near a Rivers/Manning/Brady but he is up there with QBs like Ryan/Flacco/Sanchez and thats because those defenses are great. Matty Ice might be better...might be.


Unfortunately, we are not a team that can afford a QB that can only "manage the position". We are poor enough in other areas that we need QB that can take the team on his shoulders, and we don't have that on our roster right now
 
My initial thoughts after reading this piece is the unlimited sources of media have killed journalism. In this case it has killed sports journalism. The post is trying to sell papers. A fluffy story about a kid who is being given an "opportunity" to start, automatically becomes, "Beck is the Starter!"
 
My initial thoughts after reading this piece is the unlimited sources of media have killed journalism. In this case it has killed sports journalism. The post is trying to sell papers. A fluffy story about a kid who is being given an "opportunity" to start, automatically becomes, "Beck is the Starter!"
Well ... the article DID start with:

The Washington Redskins’ supposed quarterback competition between Rex Grossman and John Beck isn’t a fair fight. The winner is predetermined. The fix is in.

All along, the job has been Beck’s to lose.
True, Reid qualified/caveated the boldness of it out of existence with the rest of the piece, but it's still pretty hard to see this as a "fluff story about a kid being given an opportunity." :cool4:
 
This is some trumped up BS. It's a total non-issue. I'm not saying this bias for Beck doesn't exist. I'm saying it's obvious by the way Grossman came back. It's not like they were throwing money at him, y'know?

We don't have any problems and there goes fat-head "The Mayo" trying to earn his stripes. That guy needs a big steaming cup of STFU

cup_of_stfu-12259.jpg
 

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