Anyone left on Earth that doesn't think Haz should be fired?

[die cowboys die]

Haven't come on the boards in a long long time, but felt compelled because I honestly need to know. Can't blame Shanahan anymore, and the D is just so clearly unprepared every week. The D end crashing down losing containment of the edge, on every play, when you know they have a scrambling QB who can run the zone read? Really? And they are obviously not doing pursuit angle drills because players are still taking mind-bogglingly bad angles AND compounding that error by "stacking" when we have two guys there to make the play and they both take the same angle-- so they are obviously not doing drills on this, which should be a no-brainer. It's a case of extremely clear incompetence. I know we don't have top-notch players but these aspects are totally about coaching. Is it all his fault? I don't know. But he's obviously not the solution. Have to try something else. Find a promising assistant and give him a shot to run the D the rest of the year.

[OldSchool]

I think the Redskins squandered draft choices on the Griffin fiasco and other blunders and are short talent on the roster. I'm not sure if their DC is to blame. The defense is poor but would any defensive coordinator do well with the Skins' secondary?

[Onlyskins4ever]

I agree with Oldschool but when Rex Ryan is fired Bruce should reach out to him.

[Mirttinur]

I'm not gonna blame Haz since the defensive talent on this team is so awful in the secondary, but this guy has barely ever had a good defense. Shanahan seemed to hire him just because he loved the 3-4 defense and needed someone to install it. The fact that we let go of Kyle and kept Haslett is beyond me.

[hanburgerheel]

A poor defensive team is not entirely on the shoulders of the DC, but Haslett is a proven loser now. I mean, if it could EVER be proven just how incompetent your results can be, he has proven that he is atrocious. How in the world he ever managed to last this long is beyond me. I thought he should have been toast after 2012. He is awful. He also has limitations with player personnel, but that's where a really gifted DC should shine.

[Irn-Bru]

I like Haz. The team played well against one of the league's best offenses last night. We've basically had one terrible game on defense, one mediocre one, and two decent-to-good ones. Given the lack of talent in the secondary he has to work with, he's done well in terms of scheming and putting players in a position to make a play.

[PAPDOG67]

Irn-Bru, I honestly don't know what games you are watching to say you like Haz. The guy stinks, its really not debatable. Seattle is not a top offense by any stretch and they threw up 400+ yards. He needs to go ASAP....and like someone elseon this thread said, go get Rex when he gets canned.

[riggofan]

Irn-Bru, I honestly don't know what games you are watching to say you like Haz. The guy stinks, its really not debatable. Seattle is not a top offense by any stretch and they threw up 400+ yards. He needs to go ASAP....and like someone elseon this thread said, go get Rex when he gets canned.

I'm not defending Haslett (I would love to see the team hire Wade Phillips). But Seattle is a top ten offense in the league or near enough. We held them to 27 points which is one point more than the Broncos and their super talented, high priced defense allowed.

I can't believe somebody would have the nerve to write "its really not debatable" on this message board. You're freaking kidding me, right???

Anyway, I just haven't watched these past four games and found myself thinking, "ARRRRRGGGGH!!!! WE WOULD BE WINNING RIGHT NOW IF IT WASN'T FOR JIM HASLETT!!!!!"

[SkinsJock]

I agree FFA - c'mon guys - it's not the D and it's not the QB - we have many issues and we have a few very talented players ...

we put up a good effort against the #1 team - we are not there yet and it certainly is not the fault of Haslett or Gruden or Cousins or any single thing - we need to address the O line and the secondary plus we need depth

we do have depth at QB

what we saw last night was encouraging

[fabe]

I don't think Haslett is as bad as our defense makes him out to be. The guy can call a good game at times, but he needs to work on adjusting to how the game is going. I mean, he didn't send one QB spy last night to check Wilson on his scrambles. That's a problem!

However, with all of our starters healthy, we have a good front 7, which as CLL pointed out a year ago "is the most difficult group of guys to find for the 3-4 defense." We have guys that can stop the run (at least RBs, not Russell Wilson) and rush the passer, but we don't blitz as much as we'd like to because we don't have DBs that can play man. If we had a couple of big, physical corners, then I think our defense could be top 10.

[aswas71788]

Saying we held them to 27 points in ridiculous. They were only at 27 points because they screwed up. It should have been 41 points on their side.

This team is bad with a very few exceptions. Kerrigan, Morris, Garcon, Roberts, Jackson, Hatcher and ? and ? and ?. Can't think of anyone else. Don't say Arakpo because he has been invisible most of the time. I expect to see him leave at the end of the year. What's he got ?, 1/2 sack and this is the year he got "turned loose", his contract year?

RGIII may have the skills to be a top quarterback but can he stay healthy? Having a top quarterback that can't play doesn't do the team any good. Cousins may have a future but hasn't really shown it and I don't think he will ever be more than a back-up. I read an article somewhere that suggests that neither RGIII or Cousins is going to be the franchise quarterback the Redskins need. I thought that myself. I'm not suggesting that we draft another quarterback either. We've already wasted to many picks on RGIII. We need help everywhere, especially for Polumbus (O-line). He got beat every play.

I agree with other posters about Haslett. He hasn't ever produced a top defense. This is his year to be turned loose also and nothing with exception for the Jacksonville game. It is about the same as last year, maybe worse. Yes, the defense played better in the second half but was a bust the first half. They didn't look like they knew who they were playing or even that they should be playing. IMO, trade the players listed above for draft picks and start over, couldn't be any worse. Well, maybe .... Jacksonville comes to mind.

[DarthMonk]

We sucked on D early. We were over-aggressive and simply did not stay at home on the back side. We needed to force the hand-off and hit Wilson hard regardless - like people do to Griff.

We didn't wilt. We had some luck with flags. We put our defense in horrible spots with specials and not much offense.

Too bad Seattle wasn't always starting from their 20 after we kicked off. We always had to stop them at midfield instead of their 30.

Field position REALLY HURT US in this game.

[EA7649]

See what coordinators are available and act accordingly. This season the team has showed some promise with the rush. I wouldn't consider the the Hawks an elite offense, but they are pretty good.

Here's some stats: 10th yards per game, 10th passing yards per game, 15th rushing yards per game, 26th points per game. For the most part seems like a pretty average/good defense. The points is pretty high but there has been some key injuries (Hall) and underachievers (Orakapo), plus the big one they are on the field too much!
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/ ... on/defense

I think this thread is ignorant. Work on the core oline, dtackle and secondary. It was amusing that oldschool brought up rgiii on a topic about DEFENSE lol. Would those picks we missed definitely be on defense? If they were on defense can we assume they'd be quality starters now? No, No. In 2013 where the Skins would have picked mid to late in the first round the defensive players chosen around there aren't great. IF WE EVEN PICKED A DEFENSIVE PLAYER. This year maybe could have gotten Clowney if lucky, but more than likely would have chosen the offensive tackle Robinson, NOT DEFENSE. So stop ASSUMING how the team would be if we had those picks. All it is, is an easy blame excuse. I have never seen someone so adamant against a player and in love/defend the back up. I guarantee the Redskins wouldn't have made the playoffs if Robert wasn't the starter.

die cowboys die did you not watch the game where arguably the best running back LeSean McCoy was shut down? NOT having a qb spy on Wilson was just DUMB. Even though Wilson isn't primarily a runner, he is still capable.

[Irn-Bru]

Irn-Bru, I honestly don't know what games you are watching to say you like Haz. The guy stinks, its really not debatable.

Of course it is.

When Rex Grossman is your quarterback and he's throwing to Anthony Armstrong, but the playcalling is pretty good, you can hobble along and have the occasional decent game.

When Robert Griffin is your quarterback and he's throwing to Pierre Garcon, but the playcalling stinks, you're going to hobble along with only the occasional decent game.

If you have Peyton Manning throwing to Brandon Marshall, no one knows or cares who your coordinator is.

Haz doesn't have a whole lot of talent on D, but he's made it work pretty well so far as I can see. And he's done well maximizing what talent he does have by calling good coverages and blitzes and putting his players in a position to succeed. Where I see our defense failing, when it does, is in execution. Sometimes that's indicative of a coaching issue, but in this case I just don't see it. It seems much more obvious to me that we don't have enough high-calibre talent in starting positions.

By traditional stats, we are somewhere near 10 in defensive ranking. According to advanced stats websites, we are mediocre or poor overall, but most seem to recognize that we have good d-line and decent LB play. It's our secondary that's killing us, which should surprise exactly no one when you look at the talent we have to work with. (When you consider yourself lucky that Brandon Merriweather is staying healthy, as I do, so that he can start, you know you're not working with much being with. )

Seattle is not a top offense by any stretch and they threw up 400+ yards.

No, Seattle has a good offense. Did you watch the regular season, playoffs, or Super Bowl last year? They are essentially the same team, except better on the o-line and more experienced at QB.

He needs to go ASAP....and like someone elseon this thread said, go get Rex when he gets canned.

I just threw up in my mouth a little. Dear God, no.

[fabe]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the D coordinator just call the defensive plays, and not really coach the players? Yes, Jim Haslett is present during draft day, so he has a lot to do with which names are brought in, as well he should because he only wants certain guys that he thinks will fit within his scheme. The poor defensive play should really be the fault of Raheem Morris and whoever is on the field. Haslett doesn't have good DBs that can fit his scheme, which really hinders his play calling. Just to make my point clear, he likes to get after the passer, and if you don't have corners that can play man coverage, then you can't take shots calling blitzes. However, talent or not, they are still professionals who are often found out of place, can't tackle, and give up big plays. That sounds more like the fault of the players and the coaches, and not the coordinator.

Now if Haslett were making bad play calls, which in turn put his players out of place, then I could understand. However, I haven't really seen bad play calling. Sure, he didn't call any QB spies on Monday, which only says to me that he wasn't letting the game dictate what his gameplan was. I've seen numerous coaches do this.

And sure, Haslett may talk to his players a bit during the game, but he isn't coaching them overall. His job is simply to call the plays, and put his guys in the right position. I recall him sitting in the booth all of last year, and that defense was a lot worse than what it is now. The OP was talking about pursuit-angle drills in practice, which is fair to bring up. However, is Jim walking the players through the drills during practice, or is it the LB/DL coach? I honestly don't know, and I would like to be informed about this.

So, if you guys have a problem with the playcalling or the scheme, then I can understand your frustration. However, from what I understand, he isn't the guy coaching the defense.

And for any of you saying that we should get Wade Phillips, news flash! You're going to get the same thing. He runs the same scheme, and with our poor DBs, he's also not going to be able to call what he wants, and we'll still be giving up big plays.

[HEROHAMO]

The whole team is a work in progress. We have a brand new head coach.

That being said Haslett has never given us a good defense. How can anyone defend him?

Anyhow since our team is in fact a work in progress. We are still rebuilding and need to draft and acquire defensive backs. We need two safties and another corner. Amerson is solid and can become a very good player in time. Our situation at saftey is pretty bad. Merriwhether is not the long term answer obviously Clark is at the tail end of his career.

Every game we want a win and hope for one. But realistically every Sunday we are pretty much outgunned by the elite teams.

RG3s rookie year we made the playoffs because our offense was an elite one. We still have the potential to field an elite offense. We have to depend on Alfred and Kirk to even have a chance for the division. We are last in the division but we can turn it around if our offense gets on fire. Our defense just has to maintain and give us the best effort possible.

[brad7686]

he is clueless. his defenses are designed to fail at blitzing and give up huge chunks of yardage. he is horrible in the division because those teams know him like the back of their hand and he's predictable as hell.

[PAPDOG67]

Mind boggling is the only words I can come up with for those of you who still feel the need to defend this moron of a coach. He has a massive track record of failure wherever he has gone. In only going back to 2002 which is as far as ESPN goes back in doing some quick homework, Haz is consistently in the bottom third in the league in the all important PPG / Points against category. Say whatever you want and bring up whatever stats you want to defend him, but that is the # 1 stat I look at when looking at a defensive coordinator's effectiveness........and, well, there simply is no defending these numbers, I'm sorry.

2002 - NO 26th - 24.3
2003 - NO 14th - 20.4
2004 - NO T27th - 25.3
2005 - NO 28th - 24.9
2006 - STL 28th - 23.8
2007 - STL 31st - 27.4
2008 - STL 31st - 29.1
2010 - WSH T21st - 23.6
2011 - WSH 21st - 22.9
2012 - WSH 22nd - 24.3
2013 - WSH T30th - 29.9
2014 - WSH 26th - 27.2

In any other profession, this guy is fired immediately. There is simply no defending those numbers. His average defensive rank in these years mentioned is 25.4....this out of 32 teams. He's awful. This man belongs nowhere near an NFL sideline and the sooner we get rid of him, the better.

[SkinsJock]

I'm not sure that the way to make this Defense be better is to fire Haslett - he does not have the players

the grass is always greener ... I'm not defending Haslett but I do know that Gruden is the HC and Allen is the GM - when those guys think that replacing Haslett will make the defense better then he's gone - those guys know a little more than some of the experts and former defensive coordinators we are lucky to have here at THN

[PAPDOG67]

Skinsjock, saying things like, "HE doesn't have the players," is defending him. There is plenty of talent on this defense, Haz just can't coach it up. Its really that simple.

[riggofan]

Mind boggling is the only words I can come up with for those of you who still feel the need to defend this moron of a coach.

Like I said, I'm not defending Haslett. I just get tired after every loss that somebody has to pop up on this website and tell us all which coach, coordinator, player, GM, owner, groundskeeper, etc; needs to be fired and we'll be winners. We've done all of those things.

I heard a great interview with Santana Moss yesterday on Chad Dukes show. I think he's on there every week at the same time, and he is always awesome. He basically said EXACTLY what I just wrote above. I was surprised how he much even defended Mike Shanahan. The full interview is here if anybody has time to listen. Moss is awesome:
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/10/ ... ure-about/

PAPDOG67, I do agree though that we could probably upgrade our defensive coordinator. There seem to be guys available who have had consistently better defenses than Haslett. Everybody should be accountable at the end of the year.

[SkinsJock]

... I do agree though that we could probably upgrade our defensive coordinator. There seem to be guys available who have had consistently better defenses than Haslett. Everybody should be accountable at the end of the year.

+1 - i have no problem with the guys in charge taking a look at what Haslett has done over the course of a season with the players he has and if they think that someone else can do a better job then they should let him go

I'm almost certain that Haslett was given a year to show what he can do with the players he has ...

coming on here and insisting that getting rid of Haslett will make the defense instantly better is just stupid - there's more to it than that

if you just want to get rid of a DC because you don't think he did well in years past, is also not happening and a stupid suggestion

The special teams coach needs to get his resume in order as well if this stuff keeps happening

[PAPDOG67]

Skinsjock, its really that easy. Is Haslett the only problem?? Hardly. But getting rid of him will instantly improve our defense, I have no doubt about that. There were a few times on Monday night, that Jon Gruden said, " I just don't understand the scheme on defense. The players look like they have no idea where to go." I find myself saying that in many, many games since he's been our DC. I see some guys playing zone, while others are playing man???? WTF? I've never seen a defense run around looking as clueless as ours does on a regular basis. And i'm sorry, that falls absolutely on the coaching.

[StorminMormon86]

I'm 50/50 on firing Haslett. He's not doing a terrible job, considering what he has to work with. Let's just face facts: our defense just stinks in the secondary. And that's not entirely on Haslett.

[frankcal20]

Skinsjock, its really that easy. Is Haslett the only problem?? Hardly. But getting rid of him will instantly improve our defense, I have no doubt about that. There were a few times on Monday night, that Jon Gruden said, " I just don't understand the scheme on defense. The players look like they have no idea where to go." I find myself saying that in many, many games since he's been our DC. I see some guys playing zone, while others are playing man???? WTF? I've never seen a defense run around looking as clueless as ours does on a regular basis. And i'm sorry, that falls absolutely on the coaching.

Only issue is that when you play so many young guys in the defensive backfield, you're going to see them making all kinds of mistakes like that. Being in the wrong place b/c they didn't hear the call or they didn't know how to play the play. That's 100% on the player and that's also part of the growing pains of having a young team. I know he doesn't like it but at the same time, you have to go through it to get to where you want to be. You also have to play the players to see if they're real players or not.