The Value of Consistency

[burgold]

This is year four. Four years of the same basic principles of offense and defense. A number of players who have been working with these systems and with these coaches for four years. By the way, the average lifespan of an NFL player 3 years. Players should know what the coaches want. Coaches should know what the players are good at and poor at.

What is the result of consistency? The worst defense in NFL history and a team that has to be in the bottom rung when it comes to penalties.

So, I have to ask are we seeing consistancy or complancency? Where are the signs of growth, confidence and excellence that are worth keeping?

I see some signs of life in the run game. RGIII and the passing game are rounding into shape (Ironically, RGIII looks like he's having his rookie year this year... he's making the dumb mistakes and plays that I would have thought he'd make last year.)

Consistency does have some advantages, but it's downside should be mediocrity... not what we are seeing now. The next morning, I still feel like grabbing a torch and setting the thing on fire. I heard part of Shanahan's presser and he wasn't nearly as mad as me. He just explained away the mistakes nonchanlantly... que sera sera.

That's why there's been no change in penalties. The week before he defended the penalties saying he doesn't mind them because they are a sign of agression. Perhaps he's right, but they are also a sign of lack of discilpline, sloppiness and lack of dedication.

Stay the course is a bad strategy for its own sake. That said, I don't want change in season, but if they don't prove themselves I think head's should roll.

One reason is RGIII... you combine Snyder's willingness to spend with RGIII's potential and you will have the best prospects in coaching lining up. Do I want to start over again? No, but if this is the product of consistency hand me some dynamite.

 

[Henry]

That 10-6 season last year combined with the obvious during-the-season recovery of Bob, not to mention the Ban Hammer, is going to give Shanahan a fifth year here. Might as well accept it now.

And I don't know a fanbase in the NFL that wouldn't call for someone to be fired after three straight losses, but I don't think such firings actually happen all that often. I'd say Dan Snyder has had the one of the itchiest trigger fingers in the league and we all know how that's worked out for us over the years. Lately we've been praising him for not doing that anymore. I don't think it's quite yet time to change our tune on that.

 

[Bulldog]

What you are seeing is a team that depends upon one player to lead and produce. We are not used to that here in DC where qbs in the past won Super Bowls with strong overall teams. The Redskins could win games with an average qb stat line as long as he didn't turn the ball over.

This team depends on Griffin to not only pass the ball but set up the run game.

There is no offense without the qb.

Shanahan reinforced that in a way by only acquiring one OL, Trent Williams, that is not made or broken by the scheme.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

What you are seeing is a team that depends upon one player to lead and produce. We are not used to that here in DC where qbs in the past won Super Bowls with strong overall teams. The Redskins could win games with an average qb stat line as long as he didn't turn the ball over.

This team depends on Griffin to not only pass the ball but set up the run game.

There is no offense without the qb.

Shanahan reinforced that in a way by only acquiring one OL, Trent Williams, that is not made or broken by the scheme.

To be fair, if Griffin had not turned the ball over two times yesterday, we'd have probably won.

 

[Bulldog]

But it was his 25 yard run that got them down there.

And in the other drive Robinson should have caught the ball on a play where he had a step and the pass was right there.

Griffin has to run because this OL cannot open holes for Morris by winning one on one match ups, they need the double threat and disguise to be effective.

 

[fansince62]

But it was his 25 yard run that got them down there.

And in the other drive Robinson should have caught the ball on a play where he had a step and the pass was right there.

Griffin has to run because this OL cannot open holes for Morris by winning one on one match ups, they need the double threat and disguise to be effective.

that's true....but offensive schemes in general these days are moving in the direction of creating more options than a defense can manage on any given play.

 

[servumtuum]

that's true....but offensive schemes in general these days are moving in the direction of creating more options than a defense can manage on any given play.

Exactly. The whole offensive scheme is designed to put the defense in a position of having to make a split-second decision and have an option at the ready so that whatever decision they make will be wrong. Robert's ability to offer that option is diminished from what it was last season thus making the uncertainty of the decision by the defense that much less problematical.

One thing I'm seeing with Griff that stands out to me is a loss of the ability to accelerate to a sprinter's pace. He's still fast but his quickness-the suddenness of movement that kept defensive pursuers off-balance isn't as available right now thus putting more of a burden on the OL to hold blocks a split second longer and on Morris to do more of the work himself since the defense is now able to commit to stopping a run with more confidence. It's a testament to Almo's ability to quickly find a hole and dart through and gain extra yardage that he's running as well as he is under the circumstances. I'm begininng to think that the whole RG3 injury debacle of last season is at least partly due to Shanny's perhaps over-dependent acknowledgement of the centrality that Griff has to the operation of the entire offense-and more importantly the team's ability to play confidently.

As far as the OP and "consistency" goes-well, there I'm not sure what to think. It seems such a "no-win" idea , and rather demoralizing to be honest, to flirt with starting over yet one more time. Are there coaches out there with a combination of confidence and competence in both the ZBS and pistol based read-option who are in a "Hey, dangle some money-I can be bought" position? (I don't even want to think about a coach whose philosophy is a complete re-design of the offense to some "Silk purse from a sow's ear" experiment. If their rep rests with an offensive scheme that is a radical change from zone-read, I'll be spending way too much time trying not to vomit from the decision to hire them.)


I'm not going to say anything about the defense except to say I haven't decided who I have less confidence in, the players, Raheem, Slowik or Haz, or some combination thereof.

 

[Bulldog]

Then this is what you suffer through if your qb is hurt or coming back from a long layoff.

I don't know if Griffin being 100 percent with this defense helps us be more than 1-2.

The OL and DBs would hold back this team from being a true contender right now.

 

[burgold]

Frankly, I can deal with the recalibration that the offense and Griffin need to go through because of the injury. However, the sloppy penalties are a different issue and why the defense should regress to and not only regress, but fall off the map is maddening to me. Whatever Haslett learned during that winning streak he forgot because the defense has reverted to and actually fallen below baseline. It is literally at historically bad levels.