The Forest Through The Trees

It's there. Right in front of our faces. Plainly visible for everyone to see.

But those focused on who is our starting QB, or on such-and-such a play call in any particular game certainly don't see it.

Sure, every win is great, and even the thought of another playoff run this season would be fantastic. But that's nothing. The big picture is what's the most exciting thing about this team. And if you look objectively, things should really start to look familiar.

Scott McCloughan may be Bobby Beathard's son. I haven't seen the birth certificate, but the resemblance is uncanny. Like Bobby, Scot has already shown an ability to find gems both in free agency and in the draft. Now he's not perfect--no one really is. But I believe he'll continue to reload this roster every single season that we are fortunate enough to have him. Build the lines? Free agents like Pot Roast on reasonable, and some would even say, cheap "prove yourself" contracts? Yes please.

Bill Callahan is Joe Bugel in his prime. We're only two weeks into the season, but he's already proven himself in 10 different ways. The running game has been fantastic, and he's turned guys like Morgan Moses and Lauvao into hardly recognizable players.

Perry Fewell is a gem. I'd like to personally thank the New York Giants for this gift. It's almost always a good idea when a team can land a coach who is way overqualified to come in and fix a specific team need. And fix it he is. He's shown an ability to be able to adapt with whatever corners we've had available. My only concern is that I don't expect him to be here very long. If his secondary keeps up in this manner, teams will be knocking down his door to offer him a DC position as early as at the end of this season.

Joe Barry? Who had the huevos big enough to take a gamble on him? His past NFL track record made it very easy to pass by and keep on walking without even a second thought. But someone saw something.....and the early returns are outstanding. We surrendered only 10 offensive points to Miami--a team that averaged 25.5 ppg last season. We made a 4,000 yard passer Ryan Tannehill look pedestrian. And our defensive line is now a place where running backs go to die. Former fan-favorite Gregg Williams had 4 or 5 first rounders on his unit last weekend. If I didn't know better, I would have thought the Redskins had all of those first rounders on defense.

Speaking of that defensive line, does the name Robb Akey ring a bell? He's our new defensive line coach. Where did they find this guy? That line has been a wall so far this season. Robb has 26 years of coaching experience, but his name may not be familiar. Most of that coaching experience was at small collegiate programs. Last season Akey served as an assistant defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings. This year he's ours.

And last, but certainly not least, is one of the architects of this coaching staff. Head Coach Jay Gruden. I've probably been one of Jay's biggest supporters for the last ten years. I literally prayed that he would somehow, someway make it to Washington to help return our team to greatness. He always reminded me of a young Joe Gibbs. Now can he somehow become our young Joe Gibbs in the win column? With Scot feeding him the players, and with the support of this coaching staff around him, that idea might not be as crazy as it first sounds. Sit back and enjoy the view.

Hail.

I respect the sentiment and positive vibe here.

There is certainly a lot to like about the first two weeks of the season and some noticeable improvements, specifically along the offensive and defensive fronts.

However, the fact is that we'll still need to see a larger sample size before we crown this coaching staff.

We proved to be fragile vs. Miami and were heading down a slippery slope again yesterday with a bad third quarter and sloppy play. Thankfully, we found a way out of the mud for once.

The tendencies that have plagued this team in the past (poor special teams play, untimely penalties, mental lapses, and in-game inconsistency) haven't been totally eradicated. They need to be for Gruden to take the next step with this franchise.

Additionally, I can't honestly say that Gruden has had a signature win here as coach that can serve as a rallying point for his tenure.

Going into New York and stealing a game against a winless division foe that will be very eager to put on a good performance on national television would be a great starting.

Moving forward, Gruden needs to pleasantly surprise us more often than not, instead of orchestrating team performances that usually fall right in line with our low expectations.

A win here would be a good statement game especially if our defense plays the way it has been?

The Rams game was the first time the Redskins have imposed their will in the fourth quarter against a competitive team in quite some time.

Bill Callahan is worth every penny, he even has Shawn Lauvao balling out on Sundays

We all like what we saw Sunday. But as has been said, let's not put this staff in the HOF yet.

Under Jay, the coaching staff, as far as gameday ability, is 2-16. Let's see if he can put back to back good games on the board.


EDIT: Forgot Haslett's masterpiece at Dallas last year. Jay is 1-17. The team is 2-16, thanks to Haz.

let me se if I get this right:

1) If we lose: it's the FO, Dan Snyder, the QB, injuries, scouting, cap problems, bad trades, not drafting JW, etc.

2) If we win: it's the head coach!

well.....as communicated before: I respect your commitment and the above board (i.e., non-confrontational) way you have gone about expressing your pov. in my book that deserves recognition. I disagree with many of your conclusions. but we can do so in a mature way.

so, McD5, a hat tip.

Ax said:

We all like what we saw Sunday. But as has been said, let's not put this staff in the HOF yet.

Under Jay, the coaching staff, as far as gameday ability, is 1-17. Let's see if he can put back to back good games on the board.

Click to expand...

there's a progression...right?

- disciplined play -> close losses -> close wins -> big wins -> even record (for a season) -> winning record -> reaching the playoffs -> moving forward in the playoffs -> reaching the SB

I think the combination of McL and Gruden can eventually get the team to reaching the playoffs. from there? not so confident. in the playoffs for any given game it gets distilled down to who has the better talent, who has the better coaching, or luck. allowing for the possibility of momentum as well where talent and coaching sum to something greater, for a run, than any single component leading to teams with lesser talent or coaching to defy the odds. gints come to mind on that one.

anywho....I do believe we can all agree that the Rams game had a different...better... feel from previous victories in 2013 and 2014.

For the newly rebuilding Redskins, its not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game. We are competitive now. that is all on the coaches. They deserve the credit. Mostly on the defensive side of the ball. Kudos to the defensive coaches. Winning is an attitude, and we are bringing it in spades.

We look to finally turn the corner, its what makes winners out of losers. The coaches deserve all the credit, you can see it on the field. One game at a time, baby steps, man, baby steps. Next two games are huge division games. The division seems wide open. The window has opened a hair. Two division games.......if its for real, they could be the "statement" games we are looking for to right the ship.

Can't help but feeling like Charlie Brown approaching that football.