Burgundy Burner, FTW
Thing is, while suppressing the urge to shout the 'F' word, we'd all like to evidence of that elusive 'P' word.
Progress.
That we aren't seeing signs of it, ANY sign of it, is disheartening. Any fan can accept rock bottom and wait for better days after a transition when they see progress. It's the lack of it that is so tough to endure.
Despite the fact that my gut told me from day one that McNabb was not part of the answer (not even a temporary part) and that Henry has been right all along - that the new leadership in Ashburn should've immediately committed to a youth movement in a major way - I will continue to preach patience.
You can't be handed onions and produce vanilla pudding. The Shanallens inherited a pretty bad team, and a culture fairly immersed in losing. Does that provide blanket amnesty for what appears to be a dearth of progress? Nope. They've made mistakes. I think McNabb was one of them, but I can still understand the move if they were convinced they'd seen enough of Jason Campbell (and who wasn't convinced?). Personally, I'd have rather we kept Todd Collins or given Colt Brennan a chance for the season, if only to avoid spending picks for McNabb even if he came relatively cheap.
I think the defensive switch was also a major miscalculation, but that the bigger miscalculation was bringing in Haslett who appears to have no answers so far. He could prove us all wrong in 3 years (if he lasts that long), but I'll be surprised if he does. I think Om nailed it early on - he's at best an average DC.
And I don't think Ryman could be more wrong laying the blame for the Haynesworth debacle on Shanahan. The Shanahans 'alienated' him? Are you kidding me? The guy is a waste of time. We should have cut our losses when we could. He's nothing but a wasted roster spot and a drag on this team.
I think the real measure of Shanahan and Allen is what we see this offseason. I think you may see a major infusion of youth. They overestimated the talent on this team - even with guys like Moss and Cooley. We need young talent across the board, and we need every draft pick we can dig up. We also need a young QB who is teachable. On defence I don't know what we do. Short of jettisoning Haslett and starting over, I am not very hopeful. And with all of the help we need on offense, I hate to use draft picks on the continued transition to the 3-4. Short of firing Haslett and going back to the 4-3, I think that's exactly what we'll do.
In general, I think regardless of a lack of evident progress, we have to remember that we are 2/3rds of a season into a new regime's tenure. To expect them to turn things around that quickly is likely unrealistic. They deserve criticism, because the Redskins appear to be getting worse, not better. But that doesn't change the fact that we are very early on with a new coaching staff, new offense and defense, and things could improve with a new infusion of younger talent. I've got 3 years worth of patience in me. After that, I'm lighting my torch and joining the mob marching on D.C.
Boone at the start of your post I agree with you as I often do, any fan who has been through the wringer with this team should be able to see what we see even if they dont come to the same conclusions as some of us do. where we differ is in details, I am NOT going to be patient while we repeat the same mistakes, if we looked like we had learned something id be more likely to be patient, like Henry, I was willing to wait 3 seasons and take my lumps BEFORE they started making stupid moves.
My problem isnt with us being not very good, my problem isnt even really with some of the things that the new regime has done in regards to building a team, my problem is with hubris, in particular that of Mike Shannahan.
We can blame Haslett for the D, after all thats why he was hired but the truth is he was told to run the 3-4 by Shannahan, now its Hasletts fault for taking a lame duck job and not telling shanny to pound sand, but its all on shanny because he is the one who forced the 3-4. the only upside was that early on haslett got guys to buy in and play hard, something we hadnt seen in Blaches soft version of the 4-3. but we play unsound and look unprepared, worst of all we look worse week by week.
we are seeing no progress, none. now that the fluke turnovers arent coming and teams are ready for us to be playing unsound football, we are seeing what this team really is. out manned, out played, outcoached.
Now as for AH, when he is used correctly he is a beast, period, he is by far our best player, we paid a hundred million to get him. we have the players we need to put around him for the most part AND IF WE SIMPLY USED THEM PROPERLY we would at least be competitive on defence. why is it our nickle and goalline packages are so effective when he is in the game?
anyone who followed the AH debacle knew 2 very important things
1- haynesworth made it clear he was coming here because he didnt want to play nosetackle.
2- our management at the time had built a 4-3 team and were committed to using AH for maximum effect.
After that gong show where we bluffed and got called, well, obviously AH wasnt gonna be a guy you could build around in a position he isnt suited for and doesnt want to play.
Shannahan then decided to run a 3-4 despite the fact that his best defencive player balked at it and his next best defencive player had failed at it once already. I have stated ad nauseum why this was such a stupid move but the fact is that its directly on Mike and noone else. has the scheme failed? yes obviously. is there a 3-4 scheme we could have run? no not with this skillset on our players.
now does Shanny admit " hey I screwed up, lets do whats best for this team."? nope he sticks with this aborted mission and uses excuses like " we are building for next year." when the only startes in the front seven who should be returning are carriker unless we find someoen better and Rak who would be better as a 4-3 end.
You are right tho Boone, I shouldnt post when im angry, and right now im angry as heck, I just watched my favourite team get handled and get out everythinged by a rival who I hate. worse yet I dont see a light at the end of the tunnel. What I wanted to write was far worse than what I wrote.
as for anyone who doesnt want to read what I write? im ok with that, I dont have a blog, I dont care of people read it who dont want to discuss it, and if somoene makes a cogent point thats contrary to what i think I often will listen.
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