PulpExposure wrote:RayNAustin wrote:Believe me when I say that I really wanted to believe Shanahan was that Joe Gibbs quality coach that could restore this franchise to the top tier. My impressions of him prior to his arrival was limited to his resume and not much else. And I expected him to be the smart, highly experienced coach based on that resume, and was not laying in wait, looking for something to be critical of. Unfortunately , in just this short span of time, he's made several decisions that really are head scratchers, and his behavior does validate some of the negative criticisms that follow him. So this is much less about what Plumber has to say, and more about how Shanahan has conducted himself which validates Plumber's statements. Credibility of testimony comes into play in the absence of supporting evidence, but when you do have evidence, that makes the "credibility" issue much less relevant.
At this point ... I'm taking a "wait and see" stance. So far, I think he's a mixed bag, and I'm even less impressed with his son, who seems to be the driving force behind the McNabb issue.
Frankly, neither one of the Shanahans have demonstrated tremendous wisdom or honesty relative to the benching of McNabb, and that's what troubles me the most. Now, this isn't very scientific or logical, but my gut feeling about these two is not a positive one ... I can't put my finger on it, nor explain more than that. Especially Kyle ... I don't think he's trustworthy ... my gut tells me he's a double talker ... while his dad suffers delusions of grandeur.
I hope I'm wrong.
I generally agree that I have been less than impressed with the way Mike has dealt with both the Haynesworth and McNabb situations. His treatment of Haynesworth went from punitive to petty, and he absolutely bungled the McNabb situation. Where I differ is with respect to Kyle. Kyle's explanation to the media on Tuesday (McNabb was injured, etc.) sounded a heck of a lot more credible than either of Mike's explanations (didn't know the 2 minute offense/is out of shape). And more importantly, Kyle's explanation didn't involve throwing Donovan in front of a bus. Twice.
That being said, I think Mike's brought a discipline to our team that was sorely lacking. And I think the coaching job he is doing overall...is pretty good. We don't get a lot of stupid penalties; and our time management (aside from the Detroit benching) has been good.
Well, Kyle had the luxury of almost every NFL voice ... ex-coach, ex-player, analyst crucifying his father and dissecting every word he uttered as a guide for what not to say. And I think he did a good job of trying to put out the firestorm while not directly contradicting his father ... too much, explaining it as "the words not coming out right".
My "discomfort" comes from the revelations that have emerged indicting a dissatisfaction with McNabb early on in the preseason and regular season. Given the struggles of the o-line and lack of run game, and the pressure (not just sacks, but knockdowns and hurries) on the QB while expecting him to throw, throw, throw to make up for the lack of ground attack tells me that it's really impossible to assess McNabb's performance legitimately, let alone be dissatisfied with it so early as has been indicated.
What were they expecting of him in these early stages, as he was learning a new system and new teammates, while dealing with a line performing so poorly that even run attempts were being stopped behind the line for losses half the time? I mean, we saw what happened to Rex when he came in. He was crushed on the first play.
I am not suggesting that McNabb has played consistently, but I don't think anyone should have expected him to come in and immediately perform at a pro bowl level either, especially given the other problems around him. So I think the dissatisfaction with him is an unfair assessment. And where is that assessment coming from? I'd have to believe it is Kyle, because I don't think Mike would ignore Kyle's assessment of offensive personnel performance since he is in charge of that. That leads me to believe that Kyle had unrealistic expectations regarding McNabb from the beginning.
McNabb is not Peyton Manning, and never will be. He is a very good QB with his own flaws and shortcomings. And you have a very good blueprint of him to follow with his years of success in Philly. If you trade for this guy, you should know what he does well and focus your offensive approach on that. Is that what they are doing? Or are they expecting to "fix" those shortcomings while he's learning the new system?
I don't think anyone is beyond improving or learning new things ... but you have to be realistic, and you're not going to fundamentally fix or change what a guy has been doing for 10 years in the span of 90 days.
The latest words from the Shanahans seems to indicate that they are looking to reassess some of these things on offense, so hopefully they are reassessing their own shortcomings too.
I also give credit where credit is due, and overall, the team has played with an elevated confidence level ... and it is also true that they could have been 6-2 going into the buy week as easily as they could have been 2-6 ... there were a couple of losses there that could have gone the other way. And given that they have already won as many games as they did all of last year, that is progress.
The immediate and long term success of the team depends on McNabb however, so I hope they don't continue to misplace the responsibility on him for the failures on offense. He's done more to contribute to the 4 wins than he has contributed to the 4 losses.
If they can manage to shore up the line play, and establish some consistency there, I think McNabb has already proven that he can be that explosive player he's always been if given the time to do so.
We're going to find out what these guys are made of Monday night. With an extra week to prepare, they should be coming out and making a statement .... we'll see what that statement says, and how well they are prepared.
With the Giants playing as they are, a loss against Philly would almost sink the season for the Redskins. We have to be looking at beating out Philly for a wild card spot at this stage, because the Giants look like they are going to finish no worse than 11-5 even if we beat them twice, which I think is also unrealistic. Looking at the Giants schedule, I think they are going to finish 12-4 or better ... so our battle is with the Eagles and the rest of the NFC that are sitting at 4-4 or better right now.
I think we need to go 6-2 in the second half to make the playoffs ... 8-8 or 9-7 isn't going to make it this year.
