A Era of Redskins Football Comes to a End

In thinking about Barry and our D last year raised more questions. The biggest one was the improved play more due to Barry or Fewell doing a great job with a mash unit?
 
Boone said:
Henry - you have stated you have zero confidence that Gruden will fix the running game (or words to that effect). Why? He did what most said he wouldn't or couln't do last year. He was right about our QB situation. He was right (so far) about Joe Barry. I'm just kind of surprised that he gets so little benefit of the doubt. I think he's earned a little more respect than given here. I don't believe though that that makes me an 'apologist'...

But hey, I'll be nice when all the doom and gloomers are proven embarrassingly wrong this next season when the running game improves dramatically or it doesn't and we break every Redskins scoring record and win the division anyway. And yes - I'm yanking your all's chain :)
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For the record, I've never used the word 'apologist' regarding Gruden. I don't think anyone has to apologize for being happy with going 9-7 and winning the division. I don't think anyone has to apologize for being optimistic going forward (well, maybe McD5 does. :) ). I think on the balance, Gruden is doing just fine. Much better than I expected.

However, if we are talking about specifics, such as the run game, I will state my concerns:

I haven't said I have zero confidence that Gruden will fix the running game, or anything like that. I just think he's done a terrible job with it so far. I think what I pretty much say is that, going forward, I hope he figures it out. I don't think that's a given, but I wouldn't exactly equate that with 'zero confidence.'

What concerns me going forward regarding the running game is the suggestion that Jones was slated to start and the team supposedly still thinks he can. I think both of those suggestions, along with how the team ran the ball last year, point to a series of past and ongoing unfortunate decisions regarding the running game. My hope is that all this Jones talk is just lip service and doesn't really mean anything.

I think the jury's out on Barry, but he's doing better than I expected, so that's good. On the balance of things, he's not a huge concern of mine. We'll see how Year Two goes for him. Unlike the running game, I expect we'll see continued improvement based on what we saw last year.
 
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Bulldog's Twin said:
You know what's the best thing about Griffin leaving?

Conversations like this one that stretch on and on about a player that in the end result did not achieve much of consequence will end and the focus will go back on the TEAM.

The Redskins were always about more than Griffin - Trent Williams, Ryan Kerrigan, Jordan Reed, etc.

But all that was obscured until the clouds parted during the 2015 season with Kirk's emergence.

What I like most about this offseason is the talk heading into 2016 is about Kirk AND his teammates and where we are going as a 53 man roster, not 'All in for Week 1' and the poster-board BS meant to sell sandwiches and sneakers.
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I know I will be happy when people stop obsessing about Griffin. Both for and against him.
 
I appreciate the reply Henry, didn't mean to put words in your mouth! Only issue I have with your thoughts are that I believe it's quite possible that Jones is a future star, not a disaster at RB as some have tried to paint him. I understand the well-worn position one can take that if a RB is going to be great we should know it right away. That may generally be true, but I don't think it's always true. Jones showed flashes of absolute brilliance last year (key word 'flashes'). I'm pitching the idea that conventional wisdom has been wrong frequently enough with Gruden decisions that it's quite possible it's wrong in regards to what we have in Matt Jones too. He's had some injury issues too, which some point to as a fatal flaw, but again, I think whether he is 'brittle' remains to be seen, it's not a proven fact yet.


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Well, I don't think Jones is a disaster. I just think he's a third round pick playing like a third round pick.

And I concede it may not be Jones. Gruden's offenses have ranked 27th, 20th, 28th, 14th, and 30th in yards per rushing attempt. That's enough of a sample size to see a pattern. It may just be that Gruden needs a pro-bowl calibre player in the backfield (as Morris was in 2014) just to put together an average rushing attack. That's my big worry, not that Jones isn't any good. Frankly, I HOPE it's that Jones isn't any good. That's a problem that's a lot easier to fix than a coach who doesn't know how to run the ball.
 
I feel like we've covered this ground before.

:)

I didn't think Jones did anything to distinguish himself from Morris last year, and Morris is a guy that a lot of people seems to feel very comfortable saying goodbye to right now. So in my mind, either both RBs we had last year were mediocre, or our HC doesn't know how to put together a rushing game.

Hopefully, Jones can improve and get more consistent (and durable and stop fumbling), and Gruden will reemphasize the importance of a good ground attack.
 
Has anyone ever called Gruden, or anyone else associated with the team for that matter, a genius?

And I thought the whole team was exposed in the playoff game. They looked like a rebuilding team that crashed the postseason party a year or two early and were reminded, by a team with an all-time great at QB and tons of playoff experience both on the field and on the sidelines, that the playoffs are the next level to which they need to keep building.
 
tr1 said:
I'm still looking for the 'genius' of a coach.

He was pretty much exposed during the playoff game.
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Take a look at number 99 on the list of best FAs available. Now that all of the smoke has cleared and the emotions have died down, that's reality.

I've never seen anyone call him a genius, but thankfully he was smart enough to make that crucial evaluation correctly.

Free Agency Report | NFL.com
 
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McD5 said:
Take a look at number 99 on the list of best FAs available. Now that all of the smoke has cleared and the emotions have died down, that's reality.

I've never seen anyone call him a genius, but thankfully he was smart enough to make that crucial evaluation correctly.

Free Agency Report | NFL.com
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You do realize there are hundreds and hundreds of free agents out there, right? Not just 99.

For example, NFL.com lists 21 free agent QBs, and Griffin is rated #4 on that list.
 
CounterTrey said:
The ultimate irony in all this for me is the fact that the same people lauding Cooley for his honesty and telling it like it is were calling for Griffin's head when he did the exact same thing concerning the craptacular, record setting, bad line play we had those 2 years.
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There is an enormous difference...Griffin was talking about his fellow team mates, Cooley is now a radio personality selling air time. Apples oranges.
 
Henry said:
You do realize there are hundreds and hundreds of free agents out there, right? Not just 99.

For example, NFL.com lists 21 free agent QBs, and Griffin is rated #4 on that list.
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I do realize that Henry.

I've been hesitant to post any of those lists over the last month because I have no interest in posting negative things about him. Truth be told, he isn't even listed in the top 100 of many of them.

For a QB--the most highly valued position in all of sports, that's sad. Even complete crap QBs land in the top 50.

Chase Daniel, with one career touchdown in 6 years is 64th on the list. He was just signed by Philly.

That pretty much sums up what the league thinks of his future.

I'm pulling for him and hoping for a miracle. Not because I think he's talented enough to ever make it, or that there's even a 1% chance that he'd stay healthy for 16 games, but because of what I feel Shanahan did to him.
 
With Will Compton leaving the redskins. We have almost no one left of the 2012 draft class. Is this a good thing though?
 
Make that TOM Compton :laugh:

It's good news in that McCloughan is bringing in better talent.

It's bad news in that the players Shanahan/Allen were bringing in were not consistently good players.

The drafts were good at the top prior to Griffin with Trent Williams and Ryan Kerrigan.

But they didn't produce any depth classes like Beathard produced in the 1980's where we found mainstay starters up and down the draft board.
 
Ian Rapoport ‏@RapSheet · 18s19 seconds ago

RGIII is visiting the Jets, source said (as @AdamSchefter reported). Would likely be (they hope) behind Ryan Fitzpatrick
 
Just get a deal done, Fitz. You aren't that good.
 
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