 }})
No one disliked Vinny Cerrato or thought he was more of a jerk than I did. The fact he was able to pick up a paycheck here for 10 years when no one else in the NFL would offer him a stick of gum was really aggravating.
That said, Vinny has been gone for 2 years and Mike Shanahan coming to the end of his second season in charge of the Redskins has decided to start feeling a bit sorry for himself. Taking the opportunity in the WP to note the lack of depth, he intimated that progress has not been as swift as he hoped because there was less here 'than he thought in 2009' and there was more building to do. 'Several of the older players were here we thought would play a bit longer', etc.
Please, Mike. I have had few issues with what you did in 2011 starting with free agency and then the draft. We picked up contributing players in free agency that were under 30 and had good character and made what appear to be some astute selections in April that will really start to pay dividends down the road as guys like Jenkins and Hankerson come back from injuries.
But let's not gloss over 2010 and put all of that on someone else's watch.
You came in here and really thought a 5-11 team with the oldest roster in the NFL was close to being competitive for the long-haul?
You really thought adding a 33 year old McNabb and 30 year Jammal Brown off the injured list from New Orleans for the bread basket of your draft picks that year were the answer, or a large part of the answer?
Instead of making those moves for McNabb and Brown, and the free agent moves for guys like Kemoeatu, Buchanon, Vonnie Holiday, Artis Hicks, and Co, wouldn't it have been a lot smarter to keep the draft choices and let 2010 ride as an awful season that had to be swallowed in order to not only climb out of the salary cap mess and the age issues, but also to give the team the top pick or one of the top 2-3 picks in the entire draft in each round?
It would have been a dogfight to beat out Carolina for that #1 pick at 1-15, admittedly, but just think for a moment what having Cam Newton on this team right now would mean to the development of the Washington Redskins and the hope for 2012 and beyond.
But we didn't do that. We did what most Redskins' regimes have done since Bobby Beathard left, namely trade away the draft choices and bring in someone else's leftovers and hope we can warm them up adequately to have a nice meal.
Net result - we end up with Rex Grossman as the starting qb for the last quarter of 2010 and most of 2011.
Anyone else have THAT scripted back in 2010 when the team opened the season?
Come on Mike. Your too established of a coach to go scapegoating a never-was in Cerrato.
Own up to your own mistakes and then take credit for the successes like Kerrigan, Helu, Cofield, Bowen, etc.
Recall that Bill Walsh went 2-14 in San Francisco in 1979 installing his offense and acquiring the necessary players. Bill Parcells was 3-12-1 in New York with Giants. Gibbs started 0-5 here.
That's what we really needed to do here.
And you know that.
That said, Vinny has been gone for 2 years and Mike Shanahan coming to the end of his second season in charge of the Redskins has decided to start feeling a bit sorry for himself. Taking the opportunity in the WP to note the lack of depth, he intimated that progress has not been as swift as he hoped because there was less here 'than he thought in 2009' and there was more building to do. 'Several of the older players were here we thought would play a bit longer', etc.
Please, Mike. I have had few issues with what you did in 2011 starting with free agency and then the draft. We picked up contributing players in free agency that were under 30 and had good character and made what appear to be some astute selections in April that will really start to pay dividends down the road as guys like Jenkins and Hankerson come back from injuries.
But let's not gloss over 2010 and put all of that on someone else's watch.
You came in here and really thought a 5-11 team with the oldest roster in the NFL was close to being competitive for the long-haul?
You really thought adding a 33 year old McNabb and 30 year Jammal Brown off the injured list from New Orleans for the bread basket of your draft picks that year were the answer, or a large part of the answer?
Instead of making those moves for McNabb and Brown, and the free agent moves for guys like Kemoeatu, Buchanon, Vonnie Holiday, Artis Hicks, and Co, wouldn't it have been a lot smarter to keep the draft choices and let 2010 ride as an awful season that had to be swallowed in order to not only climb out of the salary cap mess and the age issues, but also to give the team the top pick or one of the top 2-3 picks in the entire draft in each round?
It would have been a dogfight to beat out Carolina for that #1 pick at 1-15, admittedly, but just think for a moment what having Cam Newton on this team right now would mean to the development of the Washington Redskins and the hope for 2012 and beyond.
But we didn't do that. We did what most Redskins' regimes have done since Bobby Beathard left, namely trade away the draft choices and bring in someone else's leftovers and hope we can warm them up adequately to have a nice meal.
Net result - we end up with Rex Grossman as the starting qb for the last quarter of 2010 and most of 2011.
Anyone else have THAT scripted back in 2010 when the team opened the season?
Come on Mike. Your too established of a coach to go scapegoating a never-was in Cerrato.
Own up to your own mistakes and then take credit for the successes like Kerrigan, Helu, Cofield, Bowen, etc.
Recall that Bill Walsh went 2-14 in San Francisco in 1979 installing his offense and acquiring the necessary players. Bill Parcells was 3-12-1 in New York with Giants. Gibbs started 0-5 here.
That's what we really needed to do here.
And you know that.
They can't all be super smart like Brunell.