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

How utterly disappointing... and my expectations were low to begin with. He stood up there and gave the most vanilla, political answers he could.... I might as well of been listening to rg3.

Honestly, he sounded like he doesnt actually keep track of the team during the season when it came to injuries, the qb situation, and our draft prospects from the last 5 years... like literally I dont think he knows what is happening.

Anyone else hear the same thing?

Read the following Allen quote, doesn't this make you feel better.

''Over the next month or so,'' former Redskins coach George Allen's son averred, ''we'll have this going in the right direction.''

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/redskins-g ... --nfl.html

This is a pathetic loser toilet bowl franchise and will be for the next 20 years. Get used to incompetence and more of the same ...losing season ... after losing season .... after losing season ... after losing season.

I don't know what else he could have said. 4 and 12 man. I guess he could have been brutally honest and started throwing people under the bus. I think he went out there and explained they are trying to fix it. There will be changes. What else could he have said?

It was an extremely vanilla presser, but I think he made one telling admission. He said that the Redskins were "winning off the field". I take that to mean that the mighty midget was still making plenty of money off of the fans. Sad!!!! I hope I misread his intent there, but I don't think so??

Prowl33 wrote:How utterly disappointing... and my expectations were low to begin with. He stood up there and gave the most vanilla, political answers he could.... I might as well of been listening to rg3.

Honestly, he sounded like he doesnt actually keep track of the team during the season when it came to injuries, the qb situation, and our draft prospects from the last 5 years... like literally I dont think he knows what is happening.

Anyone else hear the same thing?

No.

But anyway, what did you expect? What would have been wise for him to say?

Kilmer72 wrote:I don't know what else he could have said. 4 and 12 man. I guess he could have been brutally honest and started throwing people under the bus. I think he went out there and explained they are trying to fix it. There will be changes. What else could he have said?

He could have not defended EVERY move his scout and talent team has made. He defended the Orakpo signing acting like he had an amazing season until the injury, then when someone told him about him only having 1/2 a sack in 7 games Bruce sounded like he didnt even know that.

He defended every draft choice made so far, including the offensive line picks.

When asked about the talent department directly he said they were hard working individuals that do a great job.

What did I want him to say? I wanted him to not just make a blanket im at fault statement... but when asked admit they missed the bill on some draft choices, some free agent signings, etc. It really seemed like he was not sincere about anything he said, like he was uninformed about how players had individually performed, and like he had 0 plan to fix any of it.

Want more opinions? Read this...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc- ... went-well/

So he says they will 'conduct an evaluation and bring in the right people', has to be one of the dumbest things I ever heard anybody admit to. On the one hand, if they were smart enough to 'evaluate' then why haven't they already done so? On the other hand, if they were smart enough to know they didn't have the 'right people' then it makes me wonder why they kept the 'wrong people' and if they admit to having kept the wrong people what excludes themselves from being part of the 'wrong people'?
This 'evaluation' needs to be done by an accredited outsider, an independant expert.

I had a very low bar of expectation for the press conference, which Bruce successfully limbo danced under. Or did he slither rather than dance?

I particularly enjoyed "Our personnel department is a hard-working group that evaluates players". Well yes Bruce, I guess that IS a definition of what a personnel department does, in its most basic sense. But in winning organisations, they tend to evaluate players ACCURATELY and SUCCESSFULLY. The track record is there for all to see - our personnel department does NOT do this. I look forward to seeing the necessary changes made (obviously, I'm looking a very long way forward here).

On AJ Smith: "He’s somebody I’ve known for a number of years – we worked together 30-some years ago." Yes Bruce, that's exactly how you seem to have put together the whole coaching staff as well. If Bruce hasn't met you at the golf club, you're probably not even going to get an interview here. I never realised that nepotism has a smell, but it does. And it reminds of something soft, brown and smelly. In order to get the right people in Bruce, you need to commit to hiring people whose background is not only outside the organisation, but also from outside your own mobile phone contacts list.

And, of course, the real clincher: "We’re winning off the field, but we’ve got to start winning on the field"

Somebody kill me now.

Bruce Allen should not have said anything significant. He should do something and then tell us. That is the "Mike Rizzo way": silence -- and then he gets Doug Fister from the Tigers.

What should he do?

My opinion, as a fan:

- replace Haslett
- hire more people into the scouting department. Let Snyder spend there, and NOT on free-agents.
- find someone anywhere in football who thinks differently. There must be some equivalent to sabermetrics in baseball, even if a football version is less advanced because there are fewer stats. Find that guy (or gal) doing something footballers have considered to radical, untried, counter to "the way things have always been done". Long ago, George Allen persuaded Edward Bennett Williams to build Redskin Park I, complete with a grass and a turf practice field. "Extravagance!" shouted "everyone". Find "that guy" who thinks differently.

Irn-Bru wrote:But anyway, what did you expect? What would have been wise for him to say?

Yeah I pretty much agree, man. The local media has been hammering him for not talking with them all season. But you know when he talks they're going to parse and over parse and exaggerate everything he says (see: Cousins, Kirk DEMANDS a trade. lol.). He's in a no win situation there. The only thing that is going to make people happy is to start winning - or at least give the appearance of a professionally run football team that is making progress.

Good luck with both of those, yeah?

riggofan wrote:

Irn-Bru wrote:But anyway, what did you expect? What would have been wise for him to say?

Yeah I pretty much agree, man. The local media has been hammering him for not talking with them all season. But you know when he talks they're going to parse and over parse and exaggerate everything he says (see: Cousins, Kirk DEMANDS a trade. lol.). He's in a no win situation there. The only thing that is going to make people happy is to start winning - or at least give the appearance of a professionally run football team that is making progress.

Good luck with both of those, yeah?

If I were Bruce Allen this is how I would of answered a few key questions...

Interview transcript for all interested. http://realredskins.com/2014/12/31/tran ... -12-31-14/

On what changes can be made to produce winning records in the future.

What we have been doing the last 5 years I have been here has not worked. You heard Jay mention everyone is going to be evaluated... that doesnt just mean coaches and players. We will be looking at everyone in the front office as well, those that have done a good job will stay with us to help fix this organization, and those who have not will be replaced. When we look at new people to bring in, whether it be scouts, coaches, trainers, and every other position in this organization, we will be looking for people that have a proven track record of success and understand what it is going to take to build the Redskins into a winning franchise.

On if Robert Griffin III is the starter at quarterback moving forward:

That is Jays decision to make. I know there has been a lot of talk about who makes this decision. Jay does meet with myself and Dan to let us know major changes he is going to make, and when asked we give our opinion, but it is purely up to Jay who starts and who does not at every position on the field.

On why he believes the organization is in better shape now than when he inherited it:

To be honest with you it isn't. We did some things we thought would make changes and they have not worked. Starting now, things will be done differently than they have in the last 5 years, and improvement willhappen.

On Orakpo’s season(following up franchising him):
Im not going to talk individual player performance. It us unfortunate that things didnt work out as we had planned. We will be sure to consider all scenarios in future decisions for all players current and prospective new players.

welch wrote:Bruce Allen should not have said anything significant. He should do something and then tell us. That is the "Mike Rizzo way": silence -- and then he gets Doug Fister from the Tigers.

What should he do?

My opinion, as a fan:

- replace Haslett
- hire more people into the scouting department. Let Snyder spend there, and NOT on free-agents.
- find someone anywhere in football who thinks differently. There must be some equivalent to sabermetrics in baseball, even if a football version is less advanced because there are fewer stats. Find that guy (or gal) doing something footballers have considered to radical, untried, counter to "the way things have always been done". Long ago, George Allen persuaded Edward Bennett Williams to build Redskin Park I, complete with a grass and a turf practice field. "Extravagance!" shouted "everyone". Find "that guy" who thinks differently.

Haslett is gone, but replacing him with someone better is the next challenge, and harder to do than seeing Haslett off.

I agree that we could use some smartly invested resources in scouting. I wonder if Snyder believes he is running a world-class scouting organization, and if not whether he'd even be willing to make it one.

There are definitely advanced stat guys out there who think differently about pro football. They found each other online last decade and have been building websites to document and expand their methods. Not many, if any, of them are actually working in the league, where conservative thinking still dominates. I'd be all for the Redskins bringing in a new stats department, but it's one of those things where the coaches need to be on board. For example, are they even going to listen to the argument that we should go for it on 4th and 2 or less in almost all instances beyond our 40? Are they willing to judge a players' performance not on the basis of whether the team won or lost (particularly the QB position), or by conventional stats like yardage, but by looking at efficiency metrics? I think that shift in thinking has to start from the top down, because you can't hire a junior guy to come in and try to convince the leader of changing his entire way of looking at things.

Taking a "money-ball" approach is exactly the kind of gamble the Redskins can afford to make, since we have so little to lose. Chip Kelly brought a fair amount of that with him to the NFL, and I suspect he won't be the last. I hope we jump on the trend sooner rather than later.

I agree FFA - almost anything that is a change from what we've done since Dan took over would be an improvement ...

the most important change however is for Snyder to take himself out of the decision making and to give total control to NFL guys

unfortunately, I hear he has no intention of doing that, at this time

Irn-Bru wrote:

Prowl33 wrote:How utterly disappointing... and my expectations were low to begin with. He stood up there and gave the most vanilla, political answers he could.... I might as well of been listening to rg3.

Honestly, he sounded like he doesnt actually keep track of the team during the season when it came to injuries, the qb situation, and our draft prospects from the last 5 years... like literally I dont think he knows what is happening.

Anyone else hear the same thing?

No.

But anyway, what did you expect? What would have been wise for him to say?

I think the press release of the Haslett firing was wrong. I would have let Gruden announce it before he took the stage. It was a poor attempt of a diversion IMO and made the organization look like the divided organization they that they are. Allen actually should have said less, he should have just taken ALL the blame (which he did) and announce he is staying as GM and just stick to those talking points during the questions. He give the media way to many sound bites.

DEHog wrote:Allen actually should have said less, he should have just taken ALL the blame (which he did) and announce he is staying as GM and just stick to those talking points during the questions. He give the media way to many sound bites.

This for sure. +1.

30 minutes after the press conference this t-shirt went up for sale! lol.


http://breakingt.com/products/winning-off-the-field

Allen is an empty suit with no real power and no ability, even if he had the power, to function as a proper NFL GM. That press conference solidified just how clueless and lost this front office is.

CanesSkins26 wrote:Allen is an empty suit with no real power and no ability, even if he had the power, to function as a proper NFL GM. That press conference solidified just how clueless and lost this front office is.

Man, he is getting HAMMERED today on the radio for the "winning off the field" comment.

They're killing him too because when asked about why he hasn't talked to the media/press all season, he said something like "I talk to the fans all the time". Which apparently equates to his driving around the stadium and meeting people at taligates before games.

He also sounded like he had no clue about RG3 being benched, and that Orakpo only had 1/2 a sack 7 games in when he got injured... but spent a lot of time strongly defending those decisions.

riggofan wrote:

DEHog wrote:Allen actually should have said less, he should have just taken ALL the blame (which he did) and announce he is staying as GM and just stick to those talking points during the questions. He give the media way to many sound bites.

This for sure. +1.

30 minutes after the press conference this t-shirt went up for sale! lol.


http://breakingt.com/products/winning-off-the-field

I love this t-shirt.

Thank you for bringing humor to what was otherwise the most pathetic press confrence I have ever witnessed. LMAO! I was laughing crying and punching the wall! Thank the Lord we may now have a GM!

I may have to rewatch this presser with this in the back of my mind: "He knows they are about to sign Scot."