El Mexican wrote:Can anyone tell me what's the longterm plan of this team?
I honestly have no idea. That, I bellieve, is solely the responsability of the FO. And right now I'm not even sure if THEY know what they are doing.
I believe they do have a plan. Since Vinny and Zorn took over last year, I've seen evidence of that. Just because we don't have the forecasted blueprint in front of our faces for review doesn't mean there isn't one. I seriously doubt any reasonable fan would expect their team to fully disclose their strategies and intentions to the entire NFL community... no team in any sport does that.
Quotes from Cerrato wrote:This could be an important season for Cerrato as well. The evaluation of his first draft class hinges on the development of Thomas, Kelly and Davis. He recommended Zorn to Snyder and fully supported the partial shift in offensive philosophy. This is his show.
"To me, you learn something every day," Cerrato said. "When you stop learning, you stop growing and you stop developing. When you do that, you have no chance. You learn about the people, you learn about the players, you learn about the weaknesses [and] you learn about what you need to do better. . . . If we thought everything was great, then we wouldn't have gone out and signed Albert and did those types of things. It helps when you have a clear vision of what needs to be done. We have that."
The "plan" changes when a new coaching staff takes over. I believe a small percentage of fans conveniently forget or ignore relevant circumstances. After giving Spurrier his shot at the NFL level, everyone wanted him gone. Snyder got rid of him and to everyone's surprise, was successful in hiring the beloved Joe Gibbs. Joe Gibbs was given the title of head coach and team president with full GM responsibilities... and no one had a problem with that. For four years, the ship was steered by Gibbs himself... and Vinny merely headed up the scouting department.
Well... the HoF'er, Joe Gibbs, retired. It was at that point that the plan and future direction would change... once again. But that wasn't Snyder's fault. Gibbs retired, and at that time, many here were complaining about an outdated offensive system. So by the circumstance of Gibbs' early retirement, the plan was going to change... and damn near everyone wanted it to.
Many here say Vinny needs to be held accountable, just the same as every employee of any business is, and everyone... let me repeat that.... EVERYONE agrees with accountability. Vinny has only been in the GM role for a year and a half... not even two full seasons. So in all fairness, he deserves a chance to build a body of work to be accurately and fairly judged on. When Gibbs retired and Vinny was subsequently promoted, that's when Vinny became fully accountable.
SkinsJock wants to thank me for "admitting frustration" and asked if that was so hard to do. Well again, that's an inaccurate interpretation, as it ignores the time lines of circumstance. During Gibbs' four year run, my previous frustration with the front office subsided, as Gibbs acting as the head coach, team president and GM... Gibbs WAS the front office and change became evident.
Since Gibbs retired and Vinny was promoted, the plan changed and I fully support the direction the team is now taking. So at this point in time, while still wishing for a run at the championship, I'm not frustrated to the same degree I was prior to Gibbs' return. Last year was Vinny's first year as the man and in my opinion, we had a very good offseason. I believe Vinny had a very good draft, as that was his primary focus last year, and no free agents were signed. I also liked his second offseason, in which I believe we had a very good draft and only two free agents were brought in... and both free agents addressed areas that needed significant upgrades with quality and youth. The other free agent was already on the team and was merely given a new contract... and the securing of Hall's services was paramount.
So I agree Vinny needs to be held accountable, but since he's been the main guy, I believe he's done a good job. I like the direction the team is taking and as SkinsJock himself admits, the team includes many pretty darn good players and coaches. It now becomes their responsibility to get it done on the field and it would be illogical to think a second year in a new system wouldn't produce better results.
