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Random Commanders Thoughts

For those who missed it the first time it aired, A Football Life with Sean Taylor is on at 9pm.

Following that is another good one, Lyle Alzado.
 
For those who missed it the first time it aired, A Football Life with Sean Taylor is on at 9pm.

Following that is another good one, Lyle Alzado.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but on a side note, Dexter Manley is going to be profiled in the 2015 lineup and his episode is slated for 9/25.
 
I can still only watch the Sean Taylor one in pieces. The first part, the Miami part, the Skins part.....then the very ending. Its like picking a scab off that is finally healing when I see all the details and just remember sitting at a bar taking a shot every time he was mentioned on BSPN until they had to escort me out. I remember sitting downtown working on building a stage for a bar and just taking my bags off to listen to Snyder and Gibbs talk about what had happened, and what was going on. It was like time stood still and all I could do was wait for the next update.
 
If our run blocking doesn't improve, Kirk Cousins will have a short season due to injury.

Nah...he has a quick enough release and feels the pressure well enough to avoid the beatings Griffin took.

Hail to the Redskins!
 
The paper that I will not name really out did itself in its tripe this time. How a so called "Hometown" paper from the city where our team is from can sleep at night knowing their bashing agenda is so prominent is just beyond me
 
You know what's weird? Somehow the guy who wrote this piece snuck it past the editor ... I kept checking to see if I was actually on that paper's site.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/expr...-record-even-if-their-qb-play-isnt-that-good/

The Redskins went 7-25 the past two years, so it’s not surprising that no one is picking them to win the Super Bowl — or even be competitive in the NFC East — heading into the 2015 season. A main reason for the pessimism is the team’s instability at quarterback. Robert Griffin III was proclaimed the starter in the offseason and he didn’t even make it to Week 1 before losing the job to Kirk Cousins. While quarterback is the most important position in all of sports, having an elite one isn’t necessarily a playoff prerequisite. If Cousins’ supporting cast can reach the following goals, the Redskins could be a winner this year even if their quarterback play is mediocre.

Running backs

Season goal: Run the ball at least 500 times
Over the past five years, 19 teams recorded 500 or more rushing attempts in a single season. Of those teams, 16 won at least eight games and 12 had double-digit victories — including the Redskins in 2012, when they won the NFC East behind the top-ranked rushing attack. Here’s a list of quarterbacks on a few of those teams that made the playoffs: Nick Foles, Colin Kaepernick, Matt Schaub, Tim Tebow, Matt Cassel and Mark Sanchez. The Redskins claim they’re committed to the run this season after rushing only 401 times in 2014. With Alfred Morris — who has averaged 292 carries and 1,320 rushing yards a season in his three-year career — and bruising rookie Matt Jones, the Redskins have a backfield that could wear down defenses.

Offensive line


Season goal: Don’t allow more than 30 sacks
Last season, eight of 12 playoff teams allowed 30 sacks or fewer and none allowed more than 45. The Redskins’ quarterbacks were sacked 58 times — the second most in the league. Washington put a lot of effort in improving the offensive line this offseason, drafting Brandon Scherff in the first round and bringing in offensive line coach Bill Callahan from Dallas. They also made Trent Williams the highest-paid tackle in NFL history. Results were mixed this preseason, but the move from Griffin to Cousins should help. Last season, Griffin was sacked 13.4 percent of the times he dropped back for a pass while Cousins was sacked only 3.8 percent. The NFC East had two of the top four pass-rushing teams in the league last season (Giants and Eagles), so the revamped line will be tested.

Wide receivers


Season goal: Have a receiver with 20 catches of 20 yards or more
Last season, nine receivers in the NFL reached that benchmark and seven of them played for teams with winning records. The Redskins have shown they have big-play ability. In 2014, they had 20 40-yard receptions — five more than any team in the league. While big plays didn’t translate to wins for the Redskins, the other five teams with at least 12 40-yard catches last year did have winning records. When they’re going deep, the Redskins will mostly turn to DeSean Jackson, who had a team-high 16 20-yard catches in 2014. The 28-year-old has reached the 20-for-20 mark in a season twice in his career and both times (2010, 2013) his team, the Eagles, made the playoffs.

Defensive front seven


Season goal: Hold teams to 3.7 yards or less per rush
While a good pass rush can help any defense, it wasn’t necessarily a catalyst for wins last season. Only one of the seven teams that recorded 45 sacks or more made the playoffs. A better indicator of success was how well teams defended the run. Five defenses held teams to 3.7 yards per rush or less last year and those teams won an average of 11 games. The Redskins, who allowed 4.1 yards per rush in 2014, have beefed up their line with the additions of 354-pound nose tackle Terrance Knighton and 300-pound end Stephen Paea to improve on a run defense that ranked 12th in yards allowed a year ago. This preseason, coach Jay Gruden has said he’s been encouraged by the Redskins’ stout run defense...

More at the link above
 
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Dam serve I didn't read the article so forgive me for commenting on the excerpts. #1 is doable so #2 is a non issue. #3 is also not required if the prerequisite running game meets season goals. # 4 seems to be supported by the preseason stats pts allowed.

At this stage of the game, I'm looking for silver linings. You don't need that many long balls if the running game is working. The play action pass will make it happen at the right time in the game.
 
This should be fun. :)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...hanahans-sleeper-team-the-redskins-obviously/

The only way this preseason could have rightfully ended was with former Redskins coach Mike Shanahan being asked by Dan Patrick to name an NFL sleeper team for the 2015 season. And really, there was only one option.

“I think Washington will be much better than people think they will,” Shanahan answered. “I think Washington will play good.”

Sure, you’d expect a team with a top 10 NFL quarterback would out-perform the widespread predictions of it being the NFL’s worst team.

But that it took Shanahan, of all people, to elevate Washington from the league’s presumed cellar is a truly magical way to enter the regular season.


What else did Shanahan have to say? You could probably guess. Here, for example, is the former coach, when asked by Patrick about Robert Griffin III’s future in the league.


“I think that’s a good question,” Shanahan said. “I think the first thing Robert has to decide is does he want to go back and run some of the things he did in 2012 that made him a Pro Bowl player and rookie of the year. You know, Robert does have a lot of talents. You could see those talents in 2012. And over the last couple of years, they’ve changed schemes, and you can see being a dropback quarterback isn’t natural for him right now.


“He does have a lot of skill, a lot of talent, very smart guy; he still has a big upside,” Shanahan said. “So the question is — I think everybody’s question — can he go to another team that has run some of the things that he did early in his career when he had a lot of success, and will he be successful? And I think only he can determine if he wants to do that. Over the last couple years, he didn’t want to run that type of system, so I’m not even sure if he wants to do it.”


Shanahan went on to say that the problem was never that Griffin was friends with owner Dan Snyder. Coaches want their quarterback and owner to have a great relationship, Shanahan said, and such relationships were never a problem for him during prior stops in Denver and San Francisco.


“I just think that once the owner and the quarterback decided that the type of offense that we were very successful with in 2012, that you really don’t want to run a lot of those plays, you want to throw more and you want to throw less, and you get other people involved, it takes away from the coach,” Shanahan went on. “And I think Jay Gruden’s in a situation where he’s going to run his attack, and he’s going to get a quarterback that gives him the best chance to be successful running his attack, and that’s based on practices, that he sees guys do every day in practice.


“And he’s going to pick the person that gives him the best chance to win,” Shanahan said. “And that’s what you’re looking for in a head coach, picking out the best players and letting them compete. At the end of the day, players know. A player knows who the best players are, and as a head coach, you better play the best players or else you’ll lose your football team very quickly...”

More at yon linkage
 
And there you go. Not that complicated. I see us going back to fundamental "Redskins" football from the first Gibbs era. For the younger fans, you may be witnessing something special.
 
Not sure where this belongs. My friend in California found this for me and was surprised I didn't have it. It's a DVD that has probably 3 of my favorite wins over Dallas -- 31-17 to put us in SB XVII (Danny White knocked out by Manley, Hogeboom comes in), the "Monday Night Miracle", and, of course, the infamous game that NFL new Dallas was going to win so even posted the score as Dallas winning, not knowing the FG would be screwed up, Sean Taylor (RIP) would pick it up and be faceguarded with no time on clock. Defensive foul. One play. Field Goal. Redskins win. dvd.jpg
 
Ugh. Can I un-read something? Cripes that's depressing. It wouldn't surprise me if Shanahan is embellishing, even embellishing quite a bit. But I doubt he's making up everything. That's just depressing.

I still fault Shanahan 100% for Robert's injury, but if even a suggestion was made from on high that Shanahan adjust his playcalling to accommodate Robert's desires... and that's AFTER a 10-6 magical season that saw the pistol rip through the league. Shanahan mismanaged Robert's injury for sure, but damned if he didn't adjust his playcalling to Robert's strengths (in order to hide his weaknesses) terrifically well. In retrospect, Robert needed to learn how to throw from the pocket, but also learn when to fight for the extra yard, and when to get down; he DIDN'T need to be forced into a traditional Peyton Manning pocket role. He thought he could make that transition and apparently went to the owner to fight for it.

And the owner, because he's a dimwit, no-brain idiot backed the player. Look, I'd have had NO problem whatsoever if Dan had fired Shanahan 20 seconds after Seattle beat us for that foolishness. Shit, he should have fired him at halftime.

I'm sure a first time coach is going to successfully stand up to that kind of dysfunction. Especially one with the intelligence of a turnip. Sigh.
 
Dan meddling? Naw...football people have been running the franchise for years. :rolleyes:

Glad he doesn't meddle anymore.

Yeah, clearly Mike Shanahan is all about taking responsibility for his own performance.

We've parsed the RG3 thing to death, so I'll just say this and let it go. No one has ever suggested Dan wasn't involved both in getting Robert here, and with trying to make sure he had every chance to succeed. What is and will remain unknown is just how much of the dysfunction between the QB and now two head coaches is on Robert, and to what extent his relationship with the owner played a part.

Moving forward, what is interesting to me at this point is that the 1000-pound gorilla in the room---the fact that Kirk Cousins is the starting quarterback heading into 2015---is apparently invisible in context of this discussion.
 
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Had that thought too, tr1. If the Skins get it headed in the right direction this year, with his very own Kirk Cousins at the helm and many components of his team still around, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him fresh up the resume and throw his coaching hat in the ring again.
 
I've seen a few references lately to the team getting back to a tough, run dominated, offensive identity.

Am I the only one who would be shocked if that were to happen with this Gruden in charge?
 
Well, that's been the mantra since Scot was hired in January. Based on his comments and the preseason, I'm pretty sure Jay is on board with that, at least in theory. The test will come in the third and fourth quarters of close games the first few weeks, particularly in games where the running game has struggled early.

Of course, if the team ends up winning games with Kirk throwing 35-40 times, my guess is few will kvetch about the run/pass ratio.
 

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