Celebrate the best season the Skins have had in a long time

[CanesSkins26]

We could have used the draft picks and we should have done a lot of other things - WOULDA, COULDA, SHOULDA


we are better off MAINLY BECAUSE we no longer have Snyder & Cerrato - that's a huge plus and it ONLY happened because Shanahan would not have come here with that FO

there have been a number of mistakes this past year BUT there is no doubt in my mind that we are better off ALSO because this FO and these coaches demanded the players be more accountable - there are many that could not handle that and they were limited in their opportunities and are most likely gone


we have a lot of issues but I'm glad we have a a HC like this guy in place

like I said - no matter what - this franchise will be better off after another year under these guys - take it to the bank

See, I agree with you about the HC part. I think that as a HC Shanahan could do well here. My concern is that Shanahan is going to screw himself here the way he did when he was HC in Denver with his player personnel moves. I don't like the idea of the HC being the main player personnel guy, which is the setup that we have here now. You look around the league and while there are some exceptions, when the HC runs personnel you usually run into problems. Yes, Allen has the title of GM, but we all know that Shanahan is the main voice on player personnel decisions, and he hasn't shown (not in Denver and not here so far) that he is capable of doing both jobs well.

Are we better off because we don't have Cerrato? Sure. But that doesn't mean we are where we need to be with the front office.

[UK Skins Fan]

I'm also concerned that we really haven't done anything to beef up the scouting operation (unless I missed that memo). It really doesn't matter who is making the ultimate decision on player personnel if they're not getting quality information to base those decisions on. For too long, our draft picks have not been making the active roster in the quantities that we need - and that's compounded by the meagre number of draft picks we've had in recent times.

[SkinsJock]

I understand what you and Canes are getting at Trevor, I just feel a little defensive about the level of negativity

I'm not jumping for joy here and have always felt that it would take 2-3 years to get back to seeing a decent product again - we have had a year that had very little progress - YES - but it's huge to me anyway that Shanahan and Allen have control and anything they do is better than the idiots and NO progress we were going thru each and every year under Snyder

Some say we had a decent defense in 2009 - WE WON 4 GAMES and were lucky at that

we were horrible with ZERO plan for ANYTHING

NOW we have these guys and while they made some huge blunders my point is that the guys that were in charge IF they had been allowed to continue, we would for sure have been picking in the top 3

GUESS WHAT - the bonus is that we wouldn't have given up anything for Donovan - NOW I contend that we're better off because we would NOT have done ANYTHING right with all the draft picks ANYWAY because we had dumb & dumber with ZERO idea of anything to do with the NFL

so I don't like the McNabb deal but at least we have guys in charge who know what they're doing and IF we did not give up the 2 picks we would be in worse shape than we are = WE'RE BETTER OFF


is this so hard to see?

[crazyhorse1]

this thread is not saying we didn't make a bunch of blunders - it's just pointing out, among other things, that we're in a lot better shape because we have these guys in charge here than we were 12 months ago

In what way are we in better shape? Can you point to any position other than LT and say that we are in better position now that we were a year or two ago? If anything, I think there is even more uncertainty now because a number of key players have gotten older. You can talk all you want about how great Mike Shanahan is, and he has certainly done some things very well, but in the most important area - player personnel - we are still very much a mess.

Whereas I agree with you that there has been virtually no change in relation to the quality of our team, I want to point out that Banks is an improvement as KR and PR and Armstrong is better than Randal El. On the other hand, I think Williams is presently overrated at LT. He was beaten fairly often, particularly against mobile opponents. He wasn't terrible, but still has a way to go to be an effective LT as this level. I absolutely hate our OL and DL. There's no excuse for our failing to replace
the C and G's on offense and attempting to play a 3-4 on D with the talent available. We could have had a top DL, plus good linebackers, if we had stayed in the 4-3. The switch cost us a shot at respectability.

I shudder to think of what will happen this coming year: too many gaps to fill, FO weak in regard to personnel, and no decent QB on the horizon.

[SkinsJock]

.... We could have had a top DL, plus good linebackers, if we had stayed in the 4-3. The switch cost us a shot at respectability.

I shudder to think of what will happen this coming year: too many gaps to fill, FO weak in regard to personnel, and no decent QB on the horizon.

I don't think the switch was well handled AT ALL - I doubt that the defense would have been much of a factor all things considered - Shanahan seems to be a bit pig-headed but it's his way or the highway - we will get better or he and his son and Haslett will be gone

you're the best at this hypothesizing, no doubt about it

we were terrible in 2009 and in my opinion there is no way that we were going to be better unless we headed in a completely different direction - DONE DEAL

Now the last 12 months have NOT been very good at all but IMO we're headed in the right direction AND I think we have a HC (AND FO) that MIGHT get things on track here - at least we have a MUCH better chance with him doing it than we'd have had if we'd stayed the course and had "a top DL" last season - GUARANTEED


GUESS WHAT - IF we do not have a much better season this coming year we also have an idiot owner that can afford to do just about anything he wants and I'll guarantee he will - then you can have fun telling us all how we would have been better off if we'd only listened to you, as usual


I also think that IF he's gone the franchise will still be in better shape than if dumb and dumber were still trying to manage things here - they had NO clue


Shanahan and his way will continue here and if it works, great and if not we're in a better place despite his mistakes


I guess, that's what I'm saying here - we're better off despite all the screw-ups - we were a complete joke before, despite having a "top defense"