SkinsJock wrote:I understand your points and think that you have presented them well - I just don't think that we should be reacting to anything at this time
the season is only half way and while this particular "episode" is troubling to say the least I'm of the opinion that we go down the road a little further/farther
Please don't misunderstand .. I'm following you, and your points are well taken. And I'm not suggesting that Snyder fire Shanahan at this stage .. but I do think he has every right to be put off by these developments, and Shanahan is showing no signs that his brashness and arrogance will be self restrained .. I see this situation close to becoming UNFIXABLE without a heart to heart between ONWER and EMPLOYEE ... reminding him that poking people in the eye is likely to result in a poke in the eye for himself and his son .... in a diplomatic fashion, of course. Then, if things continue heading south, you take the velvet glove off, and issue an ultimatum or walking papers.
SkinsJock wrote:we have made some progress - I understand that the McNabb trade hurts in some ways - Not doing a deal for Peppers AND not letting Haynesworth leave for nothing were very good moves IMO
Last Saturday, I would have agreed with you on this .. probably because I would still like to, but can't. And here's why:
When you look at this situation purely from an unbiased perspective ... how much progress has really been made? And how many brilliant personnel moves have been made in comparison to poor ones?
From a progress standpoint .... save for a holding penalty on Dallas, they win the game. Save for a dropped TD pass by Philly in the final seconds, they win the game. This team could EASILY be 2-6 right now, which is PRECISELY where they were last year at this stage. And in game 8 this year, we again lose to the Detroit Lions .... so what is the difference between this team and last year's 4-12 team? One holding penalty, and one dropped pass ... with a team that has been relatively healthy compared to the injury plagued 2009 Redskins.
If we are going to look at this situation with complete honesty and clarity ... the 2009 Redskins lost 6 games by a total of 18 points ... 3 points per game .... with 4 of those losses against 3 playoff teams and the Super Bowl Champs ... losses to Dallas 7-6 ... Philly 27-24 .... Saints 33-30 ... and Chargers 23-20. That team also lost to the Lions, but only by 5 points .... that team beat the Rams ... compared to this year's team that got HANDLED by both the Rams and Lions.
Progress you say? No ... not progress ... a little good fortune coming in the form of TWO PLAYS is the only thing that separates the 2010 Redskins from the 2009 Redskins, sharing the same miserable record that the team suffered through in the first 8 games last year.
As far as personnel moves ... the two biggest additions is Trent Williams and Donovan McNabb. Williams is a no brainer, as it doesn't take brilliance to use a top 5 pick on an obvious need position. And I don't know who orchestrated the McNabb trade .. was that Shanahan or Bruce Allen? From the behavior of Shanahan, it doesn't appear to me that McNabb was his choice.
Aside from those two players ... we've got Banks and Torain who look good ... we also have the two non-impact players, Galloway and Roydel Williams who do NOTHING (while cutting Devon Thomas who at least returned kicks and wasn't older than Brett Favre). Then we move on to the Willie Parker-Larry Johnson experiment which defies explanation. Last but not least, we have the offensive line ... which by any measure is WORSE than last year's patchwork line (other than Williams) because at least that line could run block in the first half of the season before reaching the 3rd stringers and grabbing guys off the street. And it's not like there was a cap issue .... no cap this year .... and there were free agents out there that could have helped this online, and the offense ... but they passed.
Throw in the Haynesworth saga, and Shanahan's obvious intentional retaliation ... the conditioning test fiasco ... the illness thing ... the constant poking in the eye (just because he could, because he's the Boss), and now, the Donovan McNabb debacle.
Overall, I'd say that excluding Albert and Donovan ... the Shanahan & Son team is a C-minus on personnel, including Albert and Donovan drops that to a solid D-minus ... with anymore of these types of unnecessary exercises of power and authority threatening to cause irreversible damage.
Given the Redskins rather poor 2nd half results in most games, suggests that their football decisions and ability to make adjustments aren't much better than their handling of personnel.
Aside from a little good fortune ... and a bunch of individual efforts from guys like Orakpo, Landry, Hall, McNabb, coming up with big plays ... this team could be 2-6 or even 1-7 right now, and that falling sky would be much easier to see.
SkinsJock wrote:we have a lot of work to do and while I'm troubled by this past Sunday I think we let this play out because more harm than good comes from over reacting
btw - I disagree - I think that the Rex move was not good but what Zorn (or somebody) did with that play was worse - to compound it - they tried it again
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Nope ... that Zorn play was an idiotic SINGLE play committed by a guy who had already been undermined and embarrassed by management. And though it is likely to remain an item of comedy on YouTube for a long time, there was no lasting impact to the team the moment the play was blown dead. Shanahan's maneuver on the other hand, undermined and embarrassed the team leader who was in good enough shape to run for his life for 58 minutes, but too stupid and out of shape to run the 2 minute offense at the end with the game on the line, according to his Coach. Such a decision, unlike that one play, can have lasting consequences to the entire team ... and never be forgotten .... again ... NOTHING Zorn ever did comes remotely close to the blunder Shanahan committed ... not just by pulling McNabb ... but also by the excuses he used for doing it.
SkinsJock wrote:things are not good but I happen to believe that the communication and relationship between Kyle and McNabb is not near as bad as some believe
What? And what makes you think that? Because Donovan and Kyle haven't come to blows on the sideline? That only Daddy, and not Son, told the world that McNabb wasn't smart enough or in good enough shape to run the offense of the Genius Child (who was likely the one calling for the move to begin with)?
I don't think recognizing the magnitude of the situation is an overreaction. The overreaction was pulling McNabb ... and the rest is just pure dishonesty from the coach ... something that can only undermine the team's confidence in him. You can respect a man that says ... "Hey, I'm human too .. and I screwed that one up". No one respects an incompetent LIAR that is willing to blame others for his own mistakes.
SkinsJock wrote:boy oh boy do we need a lot of changes but I think we've made this bed and now we are stuck with it for a little longer
You're right about that, and I just hope that this time around, we don't repeat mistakes of the past by blaming poor coaching decisions on the players.
Like I've already said ... this team needs McNabb to remain healthy, physically and mentally. So far, all I've seen from the Shanahan Clan is the inability to put a line on the field to keep McNabb physically healthy .. while going out of their way to damage the mental side too.
But, perhaps the most inexplicable part of this is the extreme level of poor judgement demonstrated by Shanahan. Forget the other peronnel mistakes, that happens to a lot of coaches. Forget the Haynesworth fiasco, some of that Albert brought on himself. Just the McNabb thing is a damning indictment of Shanahan's intelligence and wisdom, because none of it was necessary.
Even though it is almost unanimous that the move to pull McNabb was a bone headed thing to do .... Shanahan could have simply said afterward "Hey, I made the decision to pull him out because he'd been chased, harassed, and beat up all day long due to our poor efforts in pass blocking. I felt Donovan was a little worn down and shell shocked at that point, as would be natural for anyone under those circumstances ... of course he isn't going to agree with that assessment, nor would I expect him to. In any event, I felt it was the right move at the time, and in retrospect, as we all witnessed, it was obviously not the best coaching decision I've ever made. So I'll take responsibility for that. Moving forward, Donovan is still the starting QB, and my decision had nothing to do with a lack of trust in his ability to lead this team. Hopefully, we're going to figure out how to protect him better, because no one can expect a QB to be successful under those conditions. We've all got to do better."
That simple statement would have avoided all of this unnecessary controversy ... no bad feelings ... no embarrassment ... done ... end of story.
What did he actually do? He made a dreadfully poor decision, and compounded the error by refusing to admit it ... while lying, and basically telling the world that McNabb is both incompetent and out of shape. He went on to deny what the real problems are by claiming that Kory Lictenwhatever played very well, when asked about the oline issues and why Dockery wasn't playing (basically saying to Dockery, you suck).
In the end, to most it is now pretty clear that we have a Head Coach that not only has serious decision making issues ... but zero credibility, integrity, or wisdom.
Too me the choice is clear ... if it comes to a choice between Shanahan and McNabb, I'd rather see Shanahan hit the road, because nobody is going to want to play for a guy that they KNOW THEY CAN'T TRUST, and who will be quick to blame them for his coaching failures.
