The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

I know we've been unlucky in a couple games, but if you just look at our 5 victories this year and how close they all were to losses, it makes me wonder if we're really any better than last year... earlier this year a lot of us thought so...

Obviously the first Dallas game, they did some bonehead stuff to give it away (D-Hall's strip TD before the half) including the holding penalty on the go-ahead touchdown the last play of the game.

The first Philly game we played pretty well (especially after Vick went out), but they still had a receiver in the endzone on the final play of the game who had both hands on the ball only to have it pop out and end up in D Hall's lap.

The Green Bay game (that they mostly dominated), they hit the upright on the winning field goal with 1 second left.

The Chicago game we won by 3 on a one-handed 92-yard INT return by D-Hall in one of the ugliest games of the whole season.

The Tennessee game was another wierd game. We were fortunate Young went out. We got the winning field goal in OT after a pair of roughing penaties (one overturning an interception) and an illegal contact.

That's pretty doggone close to 0-14.

I understand this happens to every team every year, but these are our only 5 victories and they're all pretty sketchy. Last year we at least beat Denver and Oakland by a couple scores, and I still don't know how we lost to New Orleans.

So, again, are we really better than last year? I like the front office hire of Bruce Allen and a little hands-off by Snyder. I'm still off balance a little bit with Shanahan, but I'll let him get readjusted. I don't dislike Haslet, but the marriage of him and the 3-4 and this personnel has been a disaster. If we had run a 4-3 this year, how different would things have been without the Haynesworth distraction? And with Carter and Orakpo building off of their 22 sacks last year?

yes, we are better then last year

KazooSkinsFan wrote:yes, we are better then last year

How so?

TCIYM wrote:

KazooSkinsFan wrote:yes, we are better then last year

How so?

A few ways include QB, OL including younger LT, cleaned out cap which would eventually drag us down, start of youth movement and most importantly: results

USAFSkinFan wrote:

Obviously the first Dallas game, they did some bonehead stuff to give it away (D-Hall's strip TD before the half) including the holding penalty on the go-ahead touchdown the last play of the game.

The first Philly game we played pretty well (especially after Vick went out), but they still had a receiver in the endzone on the final play of the game who had both hands on the ball only to have it pop out and end up in D Hall's lap.

The Green Bay game (that they mostly dominated), they hit the upright on the winning field goal with 1 second left.

The Chicago game we won by 3 on a one-handed 92-yard INT return by D-Hall in one of the ugliest games of the whole season.

The Tennessee game was another wierd game. We were fortunate Young went out. We got the winning field goal in OT after a pair of roughing penaties (one overturning an interception) and an illegal contact.

That's pretty doggone close to 0-14.

Early on we did get more than our share of the breaks, but they do tend to balance out. The Vikes game could have been a win if not for a block in the back. The Bucs game, out guy hits the upright and we get a bad snap. Texans game we get our only blocked field against us for the year. It's all part of the game. That's how games are usually won or lost.

I understand this happens to every team every year, but these are our only 5 victories and they're all pretty sketchy. Last year we at least beat Denver and Oakland by a couple scores, and I still don't know how we lost to New Orleans.

Denver's Kyle Orton did not play in the 2nd half. Chris Simms was horrible as his replacement. The Raiders were dreadful last year. Don't forget the Chargers game we lost against their JV.

So, again, are we really better than last year? I like the front office hire of Bruce Allen and a little hands-off by Snyder. I'm still off balance a little bit with Shanahan, but I'll let him get readjusted. I don't dislike Haslet, but the marriage of him and the 3-4 and this personnel has been a disaster. If we had run a 4-3 this year, how different would things have been without the Haynesworth distraction? And with Carter and Orakpo building off of their 22 sacks last year?

Haynesworth was a distraction last year. Have you forgotten that he complined about Blache and then had to be sent home from practice before the last game becuase he tried to start a mutiny - trying to get the guys to purposely show up late for practice? Over all I think our guys this year are playing with more dedication to winning that would explain winning the close games this year that they normally lost last year. Due to the fact that we are running the 3-4 with a lot of personnel out of place. Clearly, last years D was better, but not by much because this years D is holding most opponents under 20. Dallas got 30 but 14 were directly off turnovers and ST put Dallas starting in our territory for 2 out of the first 3 possessions and on the first possesion set Dallas up on their 42. I think that this year's O is better but is struggling a lot becuase of the new system (Donovan). Special Teams over is better especially becuase of Banks. Hmmm, Banks vs Randle El.?

Over all, the attitude of this team seems better, so I believe this year's team is better. Notice I didn't say we won onemore game. To me, that is not the deciding factor.

I guess what's disappointing is when I look at the teams that had worse records than us last year... Detroit, Tampa, and St Louis... all 3 of them are decidedly better this year (12 more wins so far between them-should be 13 with the week 1 Lions' rob job)... all 3 of them beat us this year... and here we are with 1 more win and we haven't beaten anyone soundly... and I can't say for sure if this team is really any better... at least it's not obvious if they are... unlike the other teams I mentioned here...

KazooSkinsFan wrote:yes, we are better then last year

I'll agree - we can look at this team as having been lucky to win a few games but last year's team needs to be looked at too - the question is easy - YES

we were horrible last year and I'll agree we're not very good this year - but we are better

USAFSkinFan wrote:I guess what's disappointing is when I look at the teams that had worse records than us last year... Detroit, Tampa, and St Louis... all 3 of them are decidedly better this year (12 more wins so far between them-should be 13 with the week 1 Lions' rob job)... all 3 of them beat us this year... and here we are with 1 more win and we haven't beaten anyone soundly... and I can't say for sure if this team is really any better... at least it's not obvious if they are... unlike the other teams I mentioned here...

None of those teams are playing their first year for their coach. None of those teams changed their offenses or defenses. How about comparing their first years with their current coach and the year before they took over then compare us to their first season with their current coach and respond back with your conclusions?

SkinsJock wrote:

KazooSkinsFan wrote:yes, we are better then last year

I'll agree - we can look at this team as having been lucky to win a few games but last year's team needs to be looked at too - the question is easy - YES

we were horrible last year and I'll agree we're not very good this year - but we are better

Exactly. The standard stated was better then last year. Frankly it's a no brainer even though you're right that it's a pretty low hurdle

Of course not. The offense still can't score, there are multiple holes on the OL, the QB's still getting shipped out with no-one to replace him, and on defense, the pass rush has regressed to 2008 or so, but with holes at literally every single position on the roster except for SS.

There's no reason to think the Skins won't be better in 6 months than they were 6 months ago, but better now than last December? Absolutely not.

Red_One43 wrote:Clearly, last years D was better, but not by much because this years D is holding most opponents under 20. Dallas got 30 but 14 were directly off turnovers and ST put Dallas starting in our territory for 2 out of the first 3 possessions and on the first possesion set Dallas up on their 42.

You're living in fantasy land. Read this and come back to reality.

This defense isn't just bad. It's historically bad.

Yards:

But with only two games remaining, the performances have been staggeringly uneven, and the numbers are historically bad. The Redskins are now allowing 397.6 yards per game - not only the worst average in the league this year, but the 11th-worst of all-time. With two games remaining, the 2010 Redskins are threatening to overtake the 1954 team - which gave up 399.4 yards a game - as the worst in franchise history.

Well, that's not good. What about points?

However, the defense also repeatedly allowed long drives by the Cowboys and gave up 33 points. That’s the 6th time this season the defense has given up at least 30 points. In the 96 games [that's 6 full seasons] before Jim Haslett became defensive coordinator the Redskins defense gave up 30 points only 11 times.

Seriously. That's dreadful. This defense is a total disaster.

"It's definitely embarrassing," outside linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. "It hurts, especially when you come from being a top-five defense and now you're 32nd in the league. It's just embarrassing as far as how many yards we give up."

"The yards are gonna play a part in some way, shape or form," inside linebacker London Fletcher said. "But at the end of the day, you want to win football games. We've been ranked top-five defense, top-10 defense three out of the last four years. But we haven't won enough ballgames. So all that doesn't matter. You just need to win football games."

Both valid points ...

USAFSkinFan wrote:I know we've been unlucky in a couple games, but if you just look at our 5 victories this year and how close they all were to losses, it makes me wonder if we're really any better than last year... earlier this year a lot of us thought so...

Obviously the first Dallas game, they did some bonehead stuff to give it away (D-Hall's strip TD before the half) including the holding penalty on the go-ahead touchdown the last play of the game.

The first Philly game we played pretty well (especially after Vick went out), but they still had a receiver in the endzone on the final play of the game who had both hands on the ball only to have it pop out and end up in D Hall's lap.

The Green Bay game (that they mostly dominated), they hit the upright on the winning field goal with 1 second left.

The Chicago game we won by 3 on a one-handed 92-yard INT return by D-Hall in one of the ugliest games of the whole season.

The Tennessee game was another wierd game. We were fortunate Young went out. We got the winning field goal in OT after a pair of roughing penaties (one overturning an interception) and an illegal contact.

That's pretty doggone close to 0-14.

I understand this happens to every team every year, but these are our only 5 victories and they're all pretty sketchy. Last year we at least beat Denver and Oakland by a couple scores, and I still don't know how we lost to New Orleans.

So, again, are we really better than last year? I like the front office hire of Bruce Allen and a little hands-off by Snyder. I'm still off balance a little bit with Shanahan, but I'll let him get readjusted. I don't dislike Haslet, but the marriage of him and the 3-4 and this personnel has been a disaster. If we had run a 4-3 this year, how different would things have been without the Haynesworth distraction? And with Carter and Orakpo building off of their 22 sacks last year?

In my opinion, we were lucky in some games this year but, even in Gibbs 1 we were lucky. The ball bounces our way sometimes and not others. Last year if we had as much luck as this year, we would have had a better record. Think of all the games we lost by a few points. I think the Shans are a lot better than Zorn. We can put up some more points on occasion. I think that Hasslet is a lot worse than Blache and he wasn't all that either. SP has improved in our return game. It is, what it is, so to answer your question, we haven't really improved much at all in my opinion.

Red_One43 wrote:

USAFSkinFan wrote:I guess what's disappointing is when I look at the teams that had worse records than us last year... Detroit, Tampa, and St Louis... all 3 of them are decidedly better this year (12 more wins so far between them-should be 13 with the week 1 Lions' rob job)... all 3 of them beat us this year... and here we are with 1 more win and we haven't beaten anyone soundly... and I can't say for sure if this team is really any better... at least it's not obvious if they are... unlike the other teams I mentioned here...

None of those teams are playing their first year for their coach. None of those teams changed their offenses or defenses. How about comparing their first years with their current coach and the year before they took over then compare us to their first season with their current coach and respond back with your conclusions?

Or, how about comparing Zorn first year to Shans first year?

Kilmer72 wrote:

USAFSkinFan wrote:I know we've been unlucky in a couple games, but if you just look at our 5 victories this year and how close they all were to losses, it makes me wonder if we're really any better than last year... earlier this year a lot of us thought so...

Obviously the first Dallas game, they did some bonehead stuff to give it away (D-Hall's strip TD before the half) including the holding penalty on the go-ahead touchdown the last play of the game.

The first Philly game we played pretty well (especially after Vick went out), but they still had a receiver in the endzone on the final play of the game who had both hands on the ball only to have it pop out and end up in D Hall's lap.

The Green Bay game (that they mostly dominated), they hit the upright on the winning field goal with 1 second left.

The Chicago game we won by 3 on a one-handed 92-yard INT return by D-Hall in one of the ugliest games of the whole season.

The Tennessee game was another wierd game. We were fortunate Young went out. We got the winning field goal in OT after a pair of roughing penaties (one overturning an interception) and an illegal contact.

That's pretty doggone close to 0-14.

I understand this happens to every team every year, but these are our only 5 victories and they're all pretty sketchy. Last year we at least beat Denver and Oakland by a couple scores, and I still don't know how we lost to New Orleans.

So, again, are we really better than last year? I like the front office hire of Bruce Allen and a little hands-off by Snyder. I'm still off balance a little bit with Shanahan, but I'll let him get readjusted. I don't dislike Haslet, but the marriage of him and the 3-4 and this personnel has been a disaster. If we had run a 4-3 this year, how different would things have been without the Haynesworth distraction? And with Carter and Orakpo building off of their 22 sacks last year?

In my opinion, we were lucky in some games this year but, even in Gibbs 1 we were lucky. The ball bounces our way sometimes and not others. Last year if we had as much luck as this year, we would have had a better record. Think of all the games we lost by a few points. I think the Shans are a lot better than Zorn. We can put up some more points on occasion. I think that Hasslet is a lot worse than Blache and he wasn't all that either. SP has improved in our return game. It is, what it is, so to answer your question, we haven't really improved much at all in my opinion.

Oh, something else worth mentioning. This years schedule was hell!!!! On that note maybe we are slightly better.

Obviously, we're horrible this year. But is it possible we're better than last season? Well...

We really stunted the rebuilding process because we made a mistake on McNabb. He's clearly not the right man to bring this franchise from the brink. He's never brought 100% to practice and his skill set does not jive with Shanahan's system. It was a mistake to get him. Even so, it's smart to just end it now than to just keep trying to make it work.

On offense we've got some skill players to build around like Trent Williams, Ryan Torain, Keiland Williams and Anthony Armstrong. Last season we had Kelly and Thomas who both look like draft busts. We've got some young talent now at skill positions where we had none before.

Defensively it's obviously a struggle. The defense SUCKS. But the good news is, half those guys won't be starting next season. Orakpo and Landry both excel in this new scheme and that's what's important. They are the core of the D. Shanahan will have to see what he has at the bottom of the roster to see if any of these guys like Rob Johnson, Jeremy Jarmon, Perry Reilly, Anthony Bryant and Kevin Barnes can play. They could turn out to be decent role players. At corner back we actually seem okay in this area but they need a strong free safety to help them out. I hope we can get a cover guy... stat.

Don't forget Banks too, he looks like a legit return man and all around special teams star.

All in all, I think we are better off now than we were last season because at least this year I feel like we're headed in the right direction. I feel like we have a coherent approach to building a team for the first time since Beathard left. Shanahan will take us to the playoffs in the next two years, I am sure of it.

If he had left the defense alone I might agree with two years as a reasonable window of rebuilding. Now it's more like three or four if there aren't any more boneheaded regressions.

Kilmer72 wrote:

Red_One43 wrote:

USAFSkinFan wrote:I guess what's disappointing is when I look at the teams that had worse records than us last year... Detroit, Tampa, and St Louis... all 3 of them are decidedly better this year (12 more wins so far between them-should be 13 with the week 1 Lions' rob job)... all 3 of them beat us this year... and here we are with 1 more win and we haven't beaten anyone soundly... and I can't say for sure if this team is really any better... at least it's not obvious if they are... unlike the other teams I mentioned here...

None of those teams are playing their first year for their coach. None of those teams changed their offenses or defenses. How about comparing their first years with their current coach and the year before they took over then compare us to their first season with their current coach and respond back with your conclusions?

Or, how about comparing Zorn first year to Shans first year?

I think there is a little trickle down effect. This 6-2 start by zorn i think was a little bit just the remnants of Gibbs. So im willing to give shanny a little bit of rope, but so far im not impressed. If we start slow next year.... off with his head.

Red_One43 wrote:

USAFSkinFan wrote:I guess what's disappointing is when I look at the teams that had worse records than us last year... Detroit, Tampa, and St Louis... all 3 of them are decidedly better this year (12 more wins so far between them-should be 13 with the week 1 Lions' rob job)... all 3 of them beat us this year... and here we are with 1 more win and we haven't beaten anyone soundly... and I can't say for sure if this team is really any better... at least it's not obvious if they are... unlike the other teams I mentioned here...

None of those teams are playing their first year for their coach. None of those teams changed their offenses or defenses. How about comparing their first years with their current coach and the year before they took over then compare us to their first season with their current coach and respond back with your conclusions?

Fair enough, but that's part of the problem. We continually change core players, QBs, coaches, etc... If we can't compare ourselves to the 3 teams worse than us last year, then that's a shame.

Actually I guess in the end it only matters if we got better in comparison to the rest of the league... We were probably better than 4 or 5 teams last year, and that's about the same as this year in my opinion...

It's not the record that should be the measure of this coaching staff ... a little less good fortune early on and this team could be 1-13, or a little more good fortune could have them at 8-6.

The trouble here is really poor decision making .. poor talent evaluating .. poor personnel handling ... and the arrogance and ego that makes them believe they're right ALL OF THE TIME. This is what needs scrutiny ... not the first season win/loss numbers. You have to ask what has been done to strengthen the team going into the 2nd year? And the honest answer is NOT MUCH ... there is no NET GAIN here.. there are more holes and more question marks now than there was at the beginning of the year.

Galloway, R. Williams, Parker, Johnson? What was up with this? And then they cut Banks? (they were very lucky someone else didn't pick him up, and we were able to get him back). And I'm not going to even argue the Haynesworth fiasco ....

Even without all of that stuff, just the McNabb debacle alone is a deal breaker .... they give up two picks, and now McNabb isn't working out? How can this happen? They had 160 games of film on the guy ... and 8 games in, Boy Wonder was already lobbying for a QB switch? Either they didn't put the necessary talent around McNabb, and fit the scheme to his skill set, or they BLEW IT in their pre-trade evaluation... either way, it's all on them ... and it's a huge setback ... now, missing 2 picks and the guy that supposed to lead your team for the next 3 years is toast too? That's a triple whammy. And it's the kind of stuff that gets people fired.

The reality is, the o-line isn't showing great improvement either, possibly because a Rookie can't block 4 people, and still needs a lot of work, even after giving up a pick for Brown ... and RB is a question mark because of Torrain's health issues, and the fact that Portis is likely done, on top of needing a QB ?

Of course, it's just as bad (if not worse) on the other side of the ball ... and these guys SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that they didn't have the personnel for the 34. Yet the do it anyway, and alienate Haynesworth, and create a season long soap opera in the process .... and we don't have a viable nose tackle which is critical to running a 34 defense ... nor do we have the right LBs for the 34. Major issues in the secondary ... let's see ... what's left? Oh, we have a punter issue .. a long snapper issue and a potential kicker issue.

With missing picks ... and lots of holes to satisfy the new offense and defensive schemes .... and a coaching staff that has acted rather belligerently toward a couple of high-profile players .... (their treatment of McNabb is also renewing doubts about the handling of Fat Albert) ... I doubt the best free agents on the market will be placing the Redskins at the top of their wish lists ... who'd want to come in and deal with this train wreck and two faced coaches?

No, this is not a situation that begs "Give them a chance". What needs to happen is Shanahan 1 & 2, and Haslett need to go. Bring in a coach with a much bigger CLUE .. and a much smaller EGO, who can mend fences with Haynesworth and McNabb ...

Return to the 43 D ... that suits the Redskin current personnel ... and get your money out of Haynesworth. With the current roster, all you'd need is a solid FS, and another CB to be able to return to playing decent defense.

Use what draft picks and free agent moves you need to do to solidify the o-line, and scheme your offense around McNabb's skills. If you did this, you'd have a chance to put a much better product out there next season. But staying the course with Shanahan, and the possibility that he'll burn the #1 pick on a QB .... not much else can be expected over the next couple of years except more of the same. And, given the history thus far, there is no guarantee that they'll not blow whatever personnel moves they make in the upcoming offseason too, in which case, we might be looking at total implosion.

PulpExposure wrote:

Red_One43 wrote:Clearly, last years D was better, but not by much because this years D is holding most opponents under 20. Dallas got 30 but 14 were directly off turnovers and ST put Dallas starting in our territory for 2 out of the first 3 possessions and on the first possesion set Dallas up on their 42.

You're living in fantasy land. Read this and come back to reality.

This defense isn't just bad. It's historically bad.

Yards:

But with only two games remaining, the performances have been staggeringly uneven, and the numbers are historically bad. The Redskins are now allowing 397.6 yards per game - not only the worst average in the league this year, but the 11th-worst of all-time. With two games remaining, the 2010 Redskins are threatening to overtake the 1954 team - which gave up 399.4 yards a game - as the worst in franchise history.

Well, that's not good. What about points?

However, the defense also repeatedly allowed long drives by the Cowboys and gave up 33 points. That’s the 6th time this season the defense has given up at least 30 points. In the 96 games [that's 6 full seasons] before Jim Haslett became defensive coordinator the Redskins defense gave up 30 points only 11 times.

Seriously. That's dreadful. This defense is a total disaster.

Ok, Stats are nice aren't they. How about this stat - You play the game to win, right! Last year's Defense - top 10, 4-3 personnel, Haynesworth: 4-12 - This year's total disaster Defense with out of position personnel learning a new scheme 5 - 11 (most likely). Now, the question in this thread was are we better this year than last. Nobody is dreaming here. Everybody who remembers last year, knows that our top ten defense was top ten in stats but not a defense that could stop teams when it counted and not a defense that could generate points, not a D that could stop teams when it had to. When you compare last year's D to this year's D - the rankings don't mean a thing. Now, show me some stats on avg. starting position on the field. Show me the stats on turnovers and the stats on scoring defense. Show me the stats on critical stops. Show me stats on opponents points of turnovers (though these points get credited to the defense - they aren't true reflection of where a D is). OOOOOOh, don't get me wrong. I ain't saying this D is good. What I am saying is nobody is dreaming and I certainly ain't playing fantasy football with stats.

RayNAustin wrote:It's not the record that should be the measure of this coaching staff ... a little less good fortune early on and this team could be 1-13, or a little more good fortune could have them at 8-6.

The trouble here is really poor decision making .. poor talent evaluating .. poor personnel handling ... and the arrogance and ego that makes them believe they're right ALL OF THE TIME. This is what needs scrutiny ... not the first season win/loss numbers. You have to ask what has been done to strengthen the team going into the 2nd year? And the honest answer is NOT MUCH ... there is no NET GAIN here.. there are more holes and more question marks now than there was at the beginning of the year.

Galloway, R. Williams, Parker, Johnson? What was up with this? And then they cut Banks? (they were very lucky someone else didn't pick him up, and we were able to get him back). And I'm not going to even argue the Haynesworth fiasco ....

Even without all of that stuff, just the McNabb debacle alone is a deal breaker .... they give up two picks, and now McNabb isn't working out? How can this happen? They had 160 games of film on the guy ... and 8 games in, Boy Wonder was already lobbying for a QB switch? Either they didn't put the necessary talent around McNabb, and fit the scheme to his skill set, or they BLEW IT in their pre-trade evaluation... either way, it's all on them ... and it's a huge setback ... now, missing 2 picks and the guy that supposed to lead your team for the next 3 years is toast too? That's a triple whammy. And it's the kind of stuff that gets people fired.

The reality is, the o-line isn't showing great improvement either, possibly because a Rookie can't block 4 people, and still needs a lot of work, even after giving up a pick for Brown ... and RB is a question mark because of Torrain's health issues, and the fact that Portis is likely done, on top of needing a QB ?

Of course, it's just as bad (if not worse) on the other side of the ball ... and these guys SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that they didn't have the personnel for the 34. Yet the do it anyway, and alienate Haynesworth, and create a season long soap opera in the process .... and we don't have a viable nose tackle which is critical to running a 34 defense ... nor do we have the right LBs for the 34. Major issues in the secondary ... let's see ... what's left? Oh, we have a punter issue .. a long snapper issue and a potential kicker issue.

With missing picks ... and lots of holes to satisfy the new offense and defensive schemes .... and a coaching staff that has acted rather belligerently toward a couple of high-profile players .... (their treatment of McNabb is also renewing doubts about the handling of Fat Albert) ... I doubt the best free agents on the market will be placing the Redskins at the top of their wish lists ... who'd want to come in and deal with this train wreck and two faced coaches?

No, this is not a situation that begs "Give them a chance". What needs to happen is Shanahan 1 & 2, and Haslett need to go. Bring in a coach with a much bigger CLUE .. and a much smaller EGO, who can mend fences with Haynesworth and McNabb ...

Return to the 43 D ... that suits the Redskin current personnel ... and get your money out of Haynesworth. With the current roster, all you'd need is a solid FS, and another CB to be able to return to playing decent defense.

Use what draft picks and free agent moves you need to do to solidify the o-line, and scheme your offense around McNabb's skills. If you did this, you'd have a chance to put a much better product out there next season. But staying the course with Shanahan, and the possibility that he'll burn the #1 pick on a QB .... not much else can be expected over the next couple of years except more of the same. And, given the history thus far, there is no guarantee that they'll not blow whatever personnel moves they make in the upcoming offseason too, in which case, we might be looking at total implosion.

Do you remember Haynesworth form last season in the 4-3? Do you rmember him complaining and fueding with Blache so much that they sent him home from practice and didn't let him play in the last game. Did you read the comments from Jim Washburn, Hayneworth's D line coach in Tennessee, that it was 5 years of turmoil before he gave in (his words gave in) to Hyanesworth and let him free-lance. Let's see - Titans no Super Bowls with Hayneworth. Redskins 4-12 with Haynesworth in the 4-3. Oh by the way, Haynesworth's two All -Pro years were in contract years - one expiring contract and one franchise contract. All this guy did is expect favortism and special treatment. He was no team player. Shanahan set out to show the team that he means business and will not let one guy do what he wants to do. For a winning program in the long run, this needed to be done. You have no such characters on winning programs , like Indy, NE, and Pittsburgh. They get rid of all prima dona's and divas that do not put team first.

The Redskins could have loaded up and paid the big bucks in this past years thin FA market, but they chose to wait this one out for the deeper market coming up. They passed on Karlos Dansby, Alan Faneca and others who would have filled crital needs, but ONE THING that had to change was the culture of SPENDING - that changed. Did you notice that the front office restructured contracts namely Hall and HAynesworth to get them off the salary cap books should a cap return. They did this to poisiton themselve to get the players they want in this year's draft.

Better? No. We are slightly less bad.

Only improvement on our team this year I would say is our KR and PR team. Other then that I think the offense feels about the same (we still can't score in the redzone) and the defense have gotten worse. The prior two years we were more like a bend but don't break defense and Blache was good at hiding our deficiencies, however now we are broke and need some lineman and true linebackers.