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Random Commanders Thoughts

What Cousins did NOT do is scramble on a keeper for a key first down in scoring territory as Dak Prescott did.

That facet of his game still eludes him in crunch time, especially in scoring territory where he takes an unnecessarily high number of sacks.

How many times have we been pushed out of field goal range by a 8-10 yard sack on third down where Kirk either needs to throw the ball away OR take off on his own and try and get yards downfield? :)

Can the Redskins win with Kirk Cousins if the rest of their team is as good as say the 2002 Bucs or 2000 Ravens defenses?

Yes.

The trouble is you can't put those kinds of teams together anymore, or at least keep them together.

Kirk came into the NFL at the wrong time.

Joe Gibbs would have made a big winner out of him just as he did with Mark Rypien.

In today's NFL you can't hide weaknesses the way coaches used to be able to.

Remember the job Bill Parcells did with Jeff Hostetler in the 1990 playoffs and Super Bowl?

Those days are over.

I don't really buy what you're selling. It's pretty obvious what Cousins problem is this season and it has nothing to do with the 'new NFL'. He's trying to do too much. Without a healthy Jordan Reed and minus Jackson and Garcon, he's desperately waiting to get rid of the ball hoping something will open up. The results, particularly working behind a revolving cast on the line that can't protect him, is also pretty predictable.

Setting aside more roster volatility since Free Agency has made it possible, I don't think it's any harder to build a solid roster cast now than it ever was - afterall, every team is subject to the same system constraints in that regard, aren't they? Cousins has been less successful this year for obvious reasons. The turnstile on the OL has put a ton of pressure on him. The running game which was no great shakes even with a healthy roster, is not a reliable threat in 2017. So it's all on Cousins. He isn't getting time to throw, and even when he is, neither Doctson nor Pryor, expected to at least mitigate the release of Jackson and Garcon, have lived up to expectations. That leaves you with Crowder who has been a solid contributor (setting aside last night) and Grant and Vernon Davis. That's a big dropoff in talent from the previous year.

I just don't think you can draw a lot of conclusions from 2017.

Cousins is a pretty damn good QB imho. If we'd been healthy this season, we'd have absolutely been a playoff team - again, imho.
 
By Kirk's own admission and Gruden's, they have been on Kirk to extend plays more. It's something they are actively trying to develop in his game.

He needs to learn by doing, and there are occasions when he does hold on too long and takes sacks.

As Boone says, this learning curve is being exasperated by the fact that the Oline is broken and inconsistent. I honestly don't think Kirk knows where the pressure is coming from next as regards the patchwork line. Previously reliable players are banged up and inconsistent and then there are all the new players on that line.

Also with Jackson and Garcon gone, and with Pryor not panning out and with Reed sitting more than he's playing and with both Thompson and Kelley now gone... he's sorely lacking in reliable targets when he DOES try to extend plays.

The thing with Kirk is that we've watched him over the past couple of years learn from his mistakes. He was a turnover machine that first year, but cured it. I've no doubt that he'll learn from this year too.

I'm with Boone, if this team had been healthy we'd have been serious playoff opponents. When you look at the opponents we hung in there with at the start of the season DESPITE being so banged up, all those division leaders and high ranked teams... we could have been looking at a serious Superbowl run. Fanciful maybe, but if we hadn't lost Allen, Smith, Compton, Thompson, etc etc... I'm not sure there's anyone we couldn't have competed with. And if you can compete and the wind blows the right way... Anything is possible.

The Browns can't say any of that. :)
 
Norv Gruden's system will survive without #8 .

#8 is more likely to fail anywhere else.

We'll be better of after next season, when both will be gone.

You think the Bozo's in the front office will get replacements who are better? I certainly don't. Fire Bruce and hire a real GM and maybe. But that isn't going to happen. Snyder refuses to let go of the past. He goes after the Great Joe Gibbs, then hires an Allen, then brings in Williams. He's not forward looking. He's as dysfunctional an owner as their can be. Even if he's not meddling day to day, he hasn't stopped making the disastrous decisions in setting up the FO. The buck stops and starts with the owner.
 
And last year? With a healthy roster, Crook & Norv Jr. shit their pants going down the stretch.

Absolutely wrong to assume fewer injuries would guarantee us a playoff spot this year.

After 4 seasons, Norv Jr. will still have a losing record.
And Crook still ain't a good return on the investment.
 
The fact remains you can't pay a player $30M under the salary cap in the NFL unless his performance on the field really transcends the position.

Not if you want to be successful.

The Packers can pay Aaron Rodgers because he can win games with his arm and feet with only medium quality players in Green Bay. He has rarely had a top 5 receiver and has never had a franchise back in his years there. His offensive line has gone from being poor to solid to very good and back to poor.

Meanwhile, he has continued to perform.

Likewise you could pay Manning in Indy or Brady in NE because again those guys transcended the position.

Last night, with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback the Redskins would have scored 17 points in the first half. There would have been no interception over the middle off the tips of Crowder. There would have been no fumble because Rodgers would have worked his way out of the pocket to the outside and not gotten trapped like Kirk did.

For that kind of performance the team can pay top dollar because the results are going to be there over 16 games.
 
The fact remains you can't pay a player $30M under the salary cap in the NFL unless his performance on the field really transcends the position.

Not if you want to be successful.

The Packers can pay Aaron Rodgers because he can win games with his arm and feet with only medium quality players in Green Bay. He has rarely had a top 5 receiver and has never had a franchise back in his years there. His offensive line has gone from being poor to solid to very good and back to poor.

Meanwhile, he has continued to perform.

Likewise you could pay Manning in Indy or Brady in NE because again those guys transcended the position.

Last night, with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback the Redskins would have scored 17 points in the first half. There would have been no interception over the middle off the tips of Crowder. There would have been no fumble because Rodgers would have worked his way out of the pocket to the outside and not gotten trapped like Kirk did.

For that kind of performance the team can pay top dollar because the results are going to be there over 16 games.


The points about the contract and cap are valid. That is going to be the discussion for the next 4 months and probably beyond. What Cousins is paid here or elsewhere will be a discussion. But the part of your response I put in bold is absolutely ludicrous. That was a perfect pass and a perfect decision. He looked off the linebacker and threw right into the void of the defense and hit Crowder in perfect stride head high. If Crowder doesn't put his hands up, the ball hits him right in the face mask. You cannot ask a QB to make a better throw. Crowder has to catch that. Having Aaron Rodgers doesn't make Crowder magically catch that ball. Cousins is far from perfect and he makes mistakes which deserve criticism. But when he throws a perfect pass to the right guy and he not only drops it, but deflects it right to the defender for an INT, that's not on Cousins.
 
That's exactly right Kel. And I'll take it one step further - Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, *insert supposed perfect QB name here*, all throw INTs, have passes tipped and intercepted, fumble and make other mistakes. Only Redskins fans seem to believe that only OUR QB has those kinds of negative plays occur.

I think with our guys, the problem is that we aren't good enough to have those things happen and still consistently overcome them. The margin of error for the Redskins is small. We might've been in the game last night with 1 or 2 of those errors. But 4, 5, or 6 of them? No way.
 
Aaron Rodgers can also poop cupcakes with sprinkles on them.

Until Kirk can do that, don't pay the SOB.
 
That was a perfect pass and a perfect decision. He looked off the linebacker and threw right into the void of the defense and hit Crowder in perfect stride head high. If Crowder doesn't put his hands up, the ball hits him right in the face mask. You cannot ask a QB to make a better throw. Crowder has to catch that.
Absolutely correct. But for me, this illustrates another of Norv's flaws.

We hit on that same type of, 1-2 quick hitter up the seam, earlier in the game. I loved it! And literally said, out loud, in a room by myself, "Where the **** has that been all year?" With all the injuries to the line, you'd think their would be plenty of quick hitters. And at least 1 "hot" receiver on every play. There isn't. I remember on a 3rd and 4, with the camera view behind the QB, all 4 receivers were running 10-15 yard routes. WTF is that?

Back to that int. Yes, Crowder should catch that pass ever....****ing....time. But receivers have to get used to seeing those types of passes. It's a different catch. He alligator armed it a little. But it seemed more the surprise of how quick it got there that was the issue. He nonchalantly reached up to catch an Elway type pass, that he rarely if ever sees, and screwed the pooch.

I put that one on Norv for waiting until the 12th game of the season to incorporate that type of pass, more than once, into the game plan.
And obviously, Crowder.
 
Wow, some pretty strong negativity here. While I am not pleased with the outcome from the last game I am with Gruden in that the next goal is to try for 9-7. That would be three winning seasons in a row - certainly a major acomplishment for this team.

If you are able to discount the injury situation and feel like it doesn't matter there is nothing further to be said.

If the strength of schedule of the last two years means nothing to you there is nothing further to be said.

I see a team working on continuous improvement in relative fits and starts but in general on an upward trajectory.

Certainly we could do better but have not gotten any breaks whatsoever in scheduling or injuries the last two years.

Gruden while attempting to field a team and figure out how to compete with what he has was ridiculed for yawning on the sidelines earlier - indicates to me he is up late working his butt off trying to win.

While the results are not what we are looking for I think improvement is apparent.

2016 we played the division leaders

2017 through last week we had the number one most difficult schedule based on opponent records.

Means something I think.
 
To me, extending plays INCLUDES getting out of the pocket, avoiding crushing sacks in scoring territory, and using your legs to get yardage down the field.

Yes, Kirk has done that in specific spots in the past. He ran for a long TD off a read option play against Detroit last year that should have won the game if the defense wasn't a sieve.

But what I don't see him doing is getting those quarterback keeper yards that Russell Wilson, Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers tend to get in crunch time when receivers aren't open and protection is breaking down.

Too often Kirk is run down from behind by DT/DE's, players he should be able to get away from.

I am not being unreasonable. I don't expect Kirk to outrun Von Miller or Olivier Vernon.

But I do expect him to be able to dodge and weave and get away from guys like Taco Charlton and Jack Crawford.
 
I am just tired and disgusted with reliving all of theses things seemingly every year. I've lost my passion (at least temporarily) and can really no longer stomach the emotional energy it takes to remain invested. I need to reboot and recharge and watching this team play out the string won't do it. I've, unfortunately, seen this movie before.
 
Sure, Cousins could always do more of it. But the Redskins more than any NFL team understand the risk that entails. Cousins has already rushed more in 2017 than in any other season, 39 times for 151 yards and 3 TDs. In all of 2016 he rushed only 34 times for 96 yards and 4 TDs. In 2015, he ran only 26 times for 48 yards and 5 TDs.

He'll eclipse previous years by the time 2017 is done.

You're correct that Rodgers, Wilson, and Newton (in particular) have double the production and more when they take off. All of 3 of those QBs are extremely athletic dual threat QBs. While Cousins will never match their effectiveness leaving the pocket, in 2016 he had far more passing yards than all 3 of them (and continues to do so in 2017 even with marginal WRs).

When it comes to Kirk rushing, I think what we need out of him is not so much more yards, but effective rushing in the red zone, and on 3rd down when it's there and has the potential to keep drives alive.
 
I am just tired and disgusted with reliving all of theses things seemingly every year. I've lost my passion (at least temporarily) and can really no longer stomach the emotional energy it takes to remain invested. I need to reboot and recharge and watching this team play out the string won't do it. I've, unfortunately, seen this movie before.

We all feel this to some extent. I'm dealing with it by embracing the belief that, setting aside wins/losses/playoff appearances (and I do understand that's a lot to set aside), the team is slowing getting younger, more talented, and more competitive. I'm concerned about our QB situation. If we can get that stabilized, we are going to have a very good team over the next 5 years.

That's all I've got.
 
I am amused by John Mara saying his club was not 'tanking' by starting Geno Smith and benching Manning this Sunday.

Sure he is tanking. At 2-9 the Giants are figuring to get one of the top 3-5 picks and a chance to maneuver to get Rosen or one of the other top qb prospects.

The Eagles with Wentz and the Cowboys with Prescott (we will see if he turns out to be a consistent winner) already have young quarterbacks on rookie contracts who have shown they can make plays and be capable starters if not more than that.

If the Giants obtain one of these types of guys too the NFC East is going to be a VERY tough division over the next 7-10 years for the Redskins IF we do not sort out the QB position and put ourselves in a spot to acquire a young passer with real upside or pull a deal for a guy like Bridgewater if they become available due to unique circumstances (Minnesota now has 3 starting caliber passers on the roster).

This dance with Kirk Cousins and his contract really can't be allowed to go down to the wire again and we certainly can't afford to pay him $34M on a third franchise tag.

Especially since we CONTINUE TO REFUSE to draft a young quarterback while Cousins is still here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I were the GM in 2015-2017 I would have drafted a young quarterback to hedge our bets against being able to sign Cousins long-term.

Allen has irresponsibly left the team exposed with no real options at quarterback and a ridiculously high franchise tag number to work against for 2018.

Poor Doug Williams. He may know what needs to be done in his heart, but Allen is not letting go of the reins to let that happen.

Like the rest of us Williams is held hostage to what Snyder/Allen are doing with Cousins.
 
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I was discussing similarities between the Jets and the Redskins with my NY fan buddy Tony. One of the things we mentioned was that the Skins and Jets suffer from the curse of mediocrity, fielding teams year after year that are moderately competitive, resulting in just enough wins to be a middle of the pack 1st round draft participant.

Basically, neither team is good enough to consistently make the playoffs. But neither is bad enough to be in position to draft their QB of the future so that they can get to the playoffs consistently. Unless they want to give up 3 #1 picks that is :(

Even in a QB rich draft, it's likely the best prospects will be gone when we pick. Again. It's why I am so concerned about the likelihood the team cannot sign Cousins long-term.

And I know... teams find great QBs in later rounds. I get that. It's possible. But when have the Redskins EVER done it?
 
You think the Bozo's in the front office will get replacements who are better? I certainly don't. Fire Bruce and hire a real GM and maybe. But that isn't going to happen. Snyder refuses to let go of the past. He goes after the Great Joe Gibbs, then hires an Allen, then brings in Williams. He's not forward looking. He's as dysfunctional an owner as their can be. Even if he's not meddling day to day, he hasn't stopped making the disastrous decisions in setting up the FO. The buck stops and starts with the owner.

Well, with the grievance McGloughan has filed against the Redskins, we may finally get Allen exposed for the fraud he is. I don't care about the name anymore, I care about FO competence! And I hope this grievance does expose Allen's failures in our FO.

To me, extending plays INCLUDES getting out of the pocket, avoiding crushing sacks in scoring territory, and using your legs to get yardage down the field.

Did you miss him doing this Thursday night? I agree that at times he holds onto the ball too long, he tries to do too much, but what you argue for is something Cousins is already doing.

I think we all agree that with the current supporting cast, Cousins will never be able to do it...he cannot do it all by himself. Aaron Rodgers is about the only one who can do what he does to keep his team competitive with the talent. You put Cousins in the same situation as Drew Brees and Tom Brady and I do not see a tremendous drop off in the performance of either team. Cousins is one of the NFL's best QB's, of this I have no doubt. I just wish he had a head coach worth a damn. Gruden continues to be out coached week in and week out, I don't care how many injuries he's working with.

I am just tired and disgusted with reliving all of theses things seemingly every year. I've lost my passion (at least temporarily) and can really no longer stomach the emotional energy it takes to remain invested. I need to reboot and recharge and watching this team play out the string won't do it. I've, unfortunately, seen this movie before.

I lost the stomach long ago. I tried to watch some of the game the other night and 3 things stuck out with my limited viewing...

On a critical 3rd and long for Dallass on their 3rd Q scoring drive, McGhee was practically yanked to the ground on a great push up the middle, while Kerrigan was actually yanked to the ground by his arm on the edge. No holding was called. I know they are giving more leeway on holding calls, however, if what happened to both our defenders on that play is not holding, they need to stop calling holding altogether. Referee inconsistency is my number one reason for my lack of interest in the NFL.

Kinda tired of seeing Cousins not being placed into a situation to win. I am convinced he could be a top 5 QB in this league given some real help...like a solid run game, and a coach who is more than just a good play caller, who actually understands all the nuances of the game...like clock management!!!!

And watching a banged up Dallass OL completely destroy our DL, watching our defense worn to a nub by the end of the game to be able to stop anything. Wash, rinse, repeat. Once I watched Dallass drive down the field with such ease in the 4Q I just turned it off, just more of the same and I could not even feign interest...I just wasn't.
 
The Eagles and Cowboys didn't have particularly great records of drafting for the position before they got Wentz and Prescott. Seattle got Wilson in Round 3.

I think if Bruce Allen left the front office and scouts alone and allowed them to set a draft board and strategy that made 'football' sense, we ARE in fact capable of making such a selection.

But Bruce isn't going to let that happen.

I really don't see though how Allen can sign Cousins to a $34M tag OR a long-term deal for $30M a season and not look like an IDIOT to everyone in the sport for dragging this out almost 3 years and paying triple what he originally would have had to pay.

With a guy making those kinds of decisions, we might as well bring Steve Spurrier back.
 
Bulldog - not challenging you, just an honest question...

How do we know that Bruce Allen is not letting the front office and scouts set the draft board?

And assuming your characterization is accurate - do other NFL GMs remove themselves from the draft board/selection process? I can't imagine they do...

My issue with Bruce Allen isn't his *involvement* - he's the GM for God's sake. It's his level of football knowledge and track record. It's not what he does, it's how he does it, that concerns me.
 
What if Bruce magically loses his job? That's probably unlikely prior to a new stadium deal being worked out, but what if it did happen?

Does Doug Williams then become the next Vinny or Bruce? Or maybe we hire another unqualified familiar name from the past like Russ Grimm for appeasement?
 

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