Random Commanders Thoughts

Diesel and Boone, I believe we've already seen the proof. There are also some insane things that have just happened that I believe will be the final straw. First, on the proof, and why I am know we have a huge emphasis on the lines now:

1. Our HC spent the majority of his QB career winning titles. No one, and I mean no one loves an O-line more than a QB. He's not stupid. He loves O-linemen.

2. Prior to coming to DC, he coached my local area AFL team. And then my adjacent city's AFL team. And then the neighboring city's Tuskers team. His beliefs have always been the same. Get the biggest and strongest players on both sides of the line and beat the hell out of people. Beat them with muscle. Physical. Tough. Make the other team want to quit. Old-school style, mixed in with an innovative offense has always been his key to success.

3. I've probably seen close to 150 or 200 interviews with him prior to DC. You know how he always says "obviously" now? Well in prior interviews he would always say "It all starts up front" and "Much of the credit should go to our offensive line." That's what he's about. That's what he believes in.

4. The proof is also in the moves he's already made. Look at the draft. 2 out of our first 3 picks were on what? Offensive lineman. He moved Lich to C, and even brought in another starting guard. Whether those players have talent and will be the answer is up for debate. His emphasis on the O-line should not be.

5. Our other top pick? Murphy. And Hatcher signed as a FA. What are their jobs? To pound the QB.

We have a strong believer in both sides of the line the likes of which we haven't seen in a very long time.
 
DieselPwr44 said:
Wish I shared that confidence.

Come April, if we draft anything other than OL/DL in the first two rounds, we'll know if it's business as usual or if a change in direction has truly been made.
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That's pretty much what we did last season. The change in direction, when we step back and look at his actions, should be pretty clear.

All 3 of our top picks were to either protect our QB, or to pound opposing QBs.
 
Now, as to why Dan is having a "coming-to-God" moment right now? And as a Skins fan, some of this is painful. Stop reading right now if you don't have thick skin......
 
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No cannibalism intended here. But do you really believe Dan Snyder cares what fans post on Facebook? Those are the same comments you could have seen at any point, in any season, other than the 2012 campaign. Exactly the same. Dan Snyder doesn't care what fans think. Now - maybe if the seats get empty enough, for long enough, like they did during the last months of the Zorn era, he'll make some big dramatic 'moves' to appease the fans. The irony and difficulty is, in a organization that's not dysfunctional as hell, franchise leadership would ignore the fans. Keep in mind - the last time Snyder allowed what fans think to drive his decision-making, we got the Shanahans and trading the farm for RG3. In retrospect, maybe Dan shouldn't have paid any attention to what the fans wanted :)

In my opinion, the only voice Dan Snyder should be listening to is his head coaches. That's the voice telling him what he needs to be successful and start winning. No one else's voice matters.
 
Oh I agree Boone, but tickets as low as $3 or $4? That's insane.

And we all understand business, and the job of marketing departments, but the timing of the marketing department trying to sell unwanted tickets as "returned tickets from the opposing team" at full price when anyone can get a ticket for $4 is a little clumsy.
 
The good news is that people who didn't go to games before due to cost can now go see a game live.

I'd go.
 
Aldrick Robinson was just cut to make room for Gabe Miller.

I hope he catches on somewhere.
 
McD5 said:
4. The proof is also in the moves he's already made. Look at the draft. 2 out of our first 3 picks were on what? Offensive lineman. He moved Lich to C, and even brought in another starting guard. Whether those players have talent and will be the answer is up for debate. His emphasis on the O-line should not be.
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This is the where the issue lies. The lineman drafted this year have made zero contributions. What good is drafting any position if the guys can't get on the field or if they get on the field, can't play? It's great to draft lineman, but they can't draft lineman just because. They need to be picking the right players regardless of position. And I don't mean they need to draft more WR or RB. I mean that the commitments has to be picking the right player, not necessarily the right position.
 
Boone said:
In my opinion, the only voice Dan Snyder should be listening to is his head coaches. That's the voice telling him what he needs to be successful and start winning. No one else's voice matters.
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Agreed. The scariest thing to me is watching his decision match those of the fans that sways back & forth like the rolling of the sea during a storm. He needs to keep the voices that decide the direction of the Redskins to a minimum. Coaches, scouts, GM. That's it.
 
There's no question that talent evaluation has to be improved around here. And that might be several different people and departments. The scouting department and the GM might be two of those departments.

But what did people want when the new HC came in? They wanted him to immediately place a huge emphasis on fixing the lines, and to spend our top draft picks on linemen.

What did he do? Exactly that, right?
 
You're exaggerating Mike. Murphy was a solid pick in my opinion, but he's not technically DL - right? Moses (and remember I'm a UVa guy) was a project pick at best. We grabbed a second 3rd rounder, sure, but neither Moses nor Long were heralded coming out of college. The only addition that arguably addressed a line spot definitively was picking up Hatcher. What I found curious is that we totally wasted our late round picks where it's sometimes possible to find a hidden OL gem. I'll be looking for something similiar as what the Cowboys have done, drafting 3 successive O Linemen in the first round - but I think I'll be disappointed. I get that you can't fix it all in a draft or even two.
 
Boone said:
I'll be looking for something similiar as what the Cowboys have done, drafting 3 successive O Linemen in the first round - but I think I'll be disappointed. I get that you can't fix it all in a draft or even two.
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And this is where I think we will always fail. There is not enough patience in this organization to use 3 firsts or even 2 firsts and a second over the course of three years to rebuild.
 
While we're on the subject of Oline, it goes without saying that Foerster needs to get on the same bus as Haslett.

The guy develops absolutely nothing.
 
Guessing rumor mill is only going to get worse.

@NBCDianna: There's nothing Redskins fans are reading today that hasn't been discussed here in DC. 4 more games. Hint: Piling on will increase

@NBCdianna: Second hint: Sunday mornings before kickoff will be filled with reports with damaging inside information. Sadly, it will be true or close.
 
Boone said:
You're exaggerating Mike. Murphy was a solid pick in my opinion, but he's not technically DL - right? Moses (and remember I'm a UVa guy) was a project pick at best. We grabbed a second 3rd rounder, sure, but neither Moses nor Long were heralded coming out of college. The only addition that arguably addressed a line spot definitively was picking up Hatcher. What I found curious is that we totally wasted our late round picks where it's sometimes possible to find a hidden OL gem. I'll be looking for something similiar as what the Cowboys have done, drafting 3 successive O Linemen in the first round - but I think I'll be disappointed. I get that you can't fix it all in a draft or even two.
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I keep forgetting that y'all don't call me Mike. I was sitting here thinking, "when did I say anything negative about Murphy?" lol

Yeah, I think they really need to spend as much time, money, effort, Draft picks, etc. as they can on O-Line, but not just any linemen. They really need to evaluate what linemen are going to work well with the offense Gruden wants to run. And, as I've said all year, if it takes a few years to get that development in place, then that's what it takes. But the FO, the HC, the fans...we all need to play our part in being patient with the process. It is not going to be an easy process-in fact, I would go as far to say it's probably going to be a fairly painful one, but no more painful then it has already been up to this point-and we need to allow that process to take hold.

I don't totally agree with the direction Gruden has gone, but this year has been a solid mess, hot garbage in a paper sack, a heaping, stinking, conglomerate of booger-snot. It's difficult for a seasoned coach to get a grip on that stuff, much less a Rookie coach. And simply because I believe in giving him the time to develop as a coach, I don't believe that shipping him out at the end of the season is productive.

So, they need to focus on O-Line for the next few seasons. That & making overall scheme changes & some personnel changes to the Defense. And complete changes in Defensive coaches.

Patience, people. That is the key for us right now.
 
Elephant said:
And this is where I think we will always fail. There is not enough patience in this organization to use 3 firsts or even 2 firsts and a second over the course of three years to rebuild.
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Maybe after having to drop tickets to $4 to get people to actually come out to watch the abysmal play of the home team get stamped out like a lit match in the mud, he'll start recognizing the need for it. This isn't going to get fixed over night. It's not going to get fixed in 1 or 2 Draft picks. I think, part of the problem is that, for a lot of us, including the FO, a lot of us thought we were well on our way to returning to a Playoff berth & making a run with all the talent we have. But as we have been repeatedly slapped in the face with a 20 lb. sledgehammer, we have had to face reality. The Redskins suck. And we are way farther away from being a "fair to midland" much less a good team. Patience is the key.
 
Boone said:
You're exaggerating Mike. Murphy was a solid pick in my opinion, but he's not technically DL - right? Moses (and remember I'm a UVa guy) was a project pick at best. We grabbed a second 3rd rounder, sure, but neither Moses nor Long were heralded coming out of college. The only addition that arguably addressed a line spot definitively was picking up Hatcher. What I found curious is that we totally wasted our late round picks where it's sometimes possible to find a hidden OL gem. I'll be looking for something similiar as what the Cowboys have done, drafting 3 successive O Linemen in the first round - but I think I'll be disappointed. I get that you can't fix it all in a draft or even two.
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Well, we used two out of our top three picks on the O-line. We also obtained a starting guard in Lauvao, through FA.

We used our other top pick on a pass-rusher, and signed another pass-rusher in Hatcher.

That's a huge emphasis on either protecting our QB, or on killing others.

Whether those players become the answers for us is still up for debate. But I don't really see how we can expect a bigger attempt than what we made. The focus was clear.

I expect the same next season. But we as fans need to also recognize that we need a top safety. We have a ton of needs and not enough chances to fill them.

Which is why I suggested that we either need extreme patience, or we need to be open to trading players in a thread about a month ago.
 
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