Taking our medicine: It means experiencing games like the Jets loss.

I was listening to the Sports Reporters today and they came off very anti-Shanahan and very poo-poo on the franchise. While I am not surprised, as it is sports talk radio, I still am baffled at the idea that people want to blow another coaching staff up already, all over again.

This kind of makes me think of when we were children and were sick. We could either take those 2 spoonfuls of gross medicine and get better, or we could simply function with a virus or sickness and hope it went away sooner than later.

Well folks, the 2 spoonfuls of medicine is REBUILDING, and it isn't a quick fix. When I see the offense I see an offense that is getting better, but it obviously is missing some components that are needed to really drive it, mainly a franchise QB, but also a #1 WR (who we might have in Hankerson, but we won't know yet). We also are lacking an Offensive line that can consistently run block, and is improving in pass blocking, but still not quite elite by any means.

To me a better example of a coaching staff that needs to be blown up is Norv in San Diego had had an elite team for almost five seasons and never made it to a Super Bowl. He was handed the keys to the driver's seat and forgot to put gas in the car.

Shanahan was handed a Lemon, and was asked to get it towed to the mechanic and do a complete rebuild to transform it into a high performance sports car.

I keep seeing over and over everyone thinking we can find "lightning in a bottle" if we just "sign this guy" or "bring in this coach" Some will point to Harbaugh in San Francisco, but forget that he was handed a team that went almost a decade with 1st round picks stockpiled on the team. The 'Skins up to last year were absolutely miserable in the draft with the exception of a pick here or a pick there.

It's time to take our medicine, and smile as we drink it down.

People don't realize it but the redskins job is in far condition than an expansion franchise. Getting Mcnabb set this team behind but the logic was to use him until you found a rookie which i understood, but that experiment ended about 2 years too early

The big frustration is because we don't have an up-and-coming QB, and thus many feeling like we're not actually rebuilding for the rest of the year but merely playing out the string. The probable upcoming suspension of the two knuckleheads won't lighten any of the moods either.

We might very well be 4-8 at this time next season but I think people's outlooks will be markedly different.

To say Shanny was given a lemon is very gracious. He was given a big pile of.......

This team obviously isn't ready, nor is it close.

But they slugged it out for 3 and a half quarters with the AFC's 2nd runner up two years in a row..

They collapsed, andI blame it in large part to coaching, and not necessarily Shanahan and his clock management, which became and issue after we got smacked down in the 4th quarter...but more directly to our special teams who destroyed momentum with that stupid ****ing pooch kickoff, and I attribute that pile of stupid **** directly to our cud chewing clown of a stupid **** special teams coach, Mr. Daniel J. Smith. (J for JustJumpOffTheLedgeAlready).

Once again this **** for brains has cost this team a win.

I don't care about the fumble that gave the Jets another easy 4th quarter TD, or the fact that Santonio Holmes slant-n-go would have scored from Richmond,, the fact that in a game in which we SLUGGED IT OUT with a team that has a REPUTATION for being TOUGH, and had a ****ing LEAD... the fact that that soft-headed slackjawed IDIOT would even CONSIDER CALLING ANYTHING BUT A DEEP KICK TO PUT THEM AT THE 20 is such a mind boggling display of absolute INCOMPETENCE, that there is NO DEFENSE LEFT THAT ANYONE CAN GIVE this JACKASS.

NONE.

No "Oh, his coverages are pretty good."

**** his coverages! The difference between our kickoff coverages and the worst absolute most garbage kickoff cover team in the league is 13 yards.

THIRTEEN FRIGGIN YARDS!

To trade that for all the mistakes, miscues, ****-ups, bungles, and outright amateurism displayed by our special teams is simply not worth it.

Gano can force a toucbanck more than half the time. So DO IT. Every time. The ones they bring out, our guys can stop.

There is NO sense in trying to further manipulate field position with a defense that can play as lights out as this one did for 3 and a half quarters, against a QB with a reputation for giving up the ball.

NONE.

Put 80 yards at their backs and GTFO of the way until you're called upon to put the punt return team on the field.

Seriously. If you all see a guy in the local mall about my age and my height that looks like me sitting on Santa's lap? I can give you two guesses what he's asking for Christmas.

(Hint: It starts with "F".. and ends with "ire Danny Smith")

Anyway,, sorry, i'm ranting again..

3 quarters .. pretty good football. (One could dicker on QB play and other assorted problems, but a lead in the 4th is a lead in the 4th)

6 minutes of bad football and it looks a lot worse on the scoreboard.

~Bang

Seriously...why do you worry about a directional kick when Gano can put it out of the endzone. Here's a plan....DO THAT!!!!!!

they direction kicked it early in the game and the jets were stopped at the 8.

Yes but then you are relying on Gano to execute which is not the greatest prospect. He kicked the dirt instead of the ball. And he still has a job today......

Level headed dead on post NoCal.

Bang, your post sounds like my rant @ the sports bar yesterday. I was SCREAMING **** Danny Smith, **** him, **** him, **** hiiiiim, over & over again at the TV. People thought I lost it, and considering I watch from a bar where I'm the ONLY Skins fan (now that dlsf moved back to MD ), the ones close to me were trying to figure out who the hell Danny Smith was.

Hail.

Im confused, is the cough syrup lemon flavored? If the car engine is coughing, fill it with high octane Nyquil.

As someone who has defended Danny Smith, he's got to go. Yes our kick coverage is usually good (and that's the part that coaching has the most influence on) but there has to be something about him that explains why our kickers have sucked since John Hall was healthy. Add the fact that Smith has had really notable special teams ****ups every stop he's been (Ray Rhodes called him out *publicly* while he was with the Eagles, and his unit is known for giving up 2 KR TDs to Chad Morton while with the Bills).

The fact is, of the 23 blocked field goals AND extra points in the NFL this season, the Washington Redskins have 5 of them, including a potential game winner at Dallas. For all we rip on Gano, if you give him 3 of those 5 blocked FGs, he's at 24/30, for a respectable 80% FG percentage. Give him all 5 and he's at 86.6%. Something is clearly rotten in Denmark, and it seems like it's Danny Smith.

Seriously. If you all see a guy in the local mall about my age and my height that looks like me sitting on Santa's lap? I can give you two guesses what he's asking for Christmas.

(Hint: It starts with "F".. and ends with "ire Danny Smith")

holy **** now i have to clear water off my screen

This team obviously isn't ready, nor is it close.

Special teams play, devastating injuries and John Beck. Take those factors away and we quite possibly have a winning record at this juncture. Of course, that doesn't change TW and Fred Davis blazing it up, but just saying.

This team obviously isn't ready, nor is it close.

But they slugged it out for 3 and a half quarters with the AFC's 2nd runner up two years in a row...

First of all, bravo on the Danny Smith rant. The decisions to try to direction and squib kick at the worst possible times just blow my mind. After all, why pin them at the 20 constantly when you can just let them start at their own 40?

That said, when watching a recap of the game on ESPN (because I'm a masochist...I mean, I'm still a fan of this team after all), I forgot that we had the lead 16-13 with 5 minutes left in the game. I remember the game ended ugly, but I didn't realize that the collapse occurred in a 5 minute span. But still, if it makes us better in the long term, I'm all for it.

As far as Danny Smith himself goes, I have no problem with him being fired. He has been here awhile, has survived a few different coaching regimes, and managed to keep his job despite our Special Teams never being that great seemingly.

I don't think replacing a Special Teams coach will make or break the team.

I was looking for the Redskins to build off of last year's 6-10 record. I remember thinking, it's the off season and they are fixing the defense.The defense is much improved and I'm glad. But Mike Shanahan got it all wrong at the quarterback position. And for the second year in a row. I was a Rex Grossman supporter during the preseason, and after that first game against the Giants in the regular season where Grossman threw for over 300 yards 2 Tds 0 INTs and a passer rating over 100.0, I really thought that he had turned a corner in his career and was going to be great at last. The next game against the Cards he played very good. Then since the Monday night game against Dallas, Rex started to decline and he did. He became terrible, and was eventually benched.

Looking back, there was truly no QB in the draft that would have fit the Redskins need. Ryan Mallet might have, but we will never know. Now the Redskins need a QB badly. Beck, who Mike Shanahan mistakenly and naively staked is reputation on was a farce and a Pop Warner level of QB when he got his chance.

So, Shanahan deserves criticism for trading for Mcnabb, not keeping McNabb, and having back up QBs battle it out for the starting position in preseason and truthfully, it has been the biggest part in the Redskins averaging below 20 points this season. This season has been a disaster because Mike Shanahan didn't do the right thing and bring in a reliable QB.

I was looking for the Redskins to build off of last year's 6-10 record. I remember thinking, it's the off season and they are fixing the defense.The defense is much improved and I'm glad. But Mike Shanahan got it all wrong at the quarterback position. And for the second year in a row. I was a Rex Grossman supporter during the preseason, and after that first game against the Giants in the regular season where Grossman threw for over 300 yards 2 Tds 0 INTs and a passer rating over 100.0, I really thought that he had turned a corner in his career and was going to be great at last. The next game against the Cards he played very good. Then since the Monday night game against Dallas, Rex started to decline and he did. He became terrible, and was eventually benched.

Looking back, there was truly no QB in the draft that would have fit the Redskins need. Ryan Mallet might have, but we will never know. Now the Redskins need a QB badly. Beck, who Mike Shanahan mistakenly and naively staked is reputation on was a farce and a Pop Warner level of QB when he got his chance.

So, Shanahan deserves criticism for trading for Mcnabb, not keeping McNabb, and having back up QBs battle it out for the starting position in preseason and truthfully, it has been the biggest part in the Redskins averaging below 20 points this season. This season has been a disaster because Mike Shanahan didn't do the right thing and bring in a reliable QB.

This is REBUILDING. I don't get why people care about how bad our QB situation is this year. We couldn't get the QB's we wanted in the draft, I am guessing but I think we wanted Newton, Locker or Dalton. Yes, our QB's suck, but why take a QB who we don't want long term or a stop gap like Orton who won't help us in any way. He is about as good at Grossman is at winning games. Shanny wanted to try Beck and I agree that was a mistake, but we needed to know what we have. Shanny is taking his QB this draft and I am glad he waited for the right guy. We have needed that franchise guy for years, why waste a pick and years of our time on a guy we don't really want just because we need a QB?

I say we can all judge Shanahan and co. after year 4 of his contract. Defense is built, now it's time to see what he does with this offense.

Fire Danny Smith. Our special teams has never been remarkable or terrible, but we always seem to make big mistakes. See if some new blood can enlighten our guys.

Looking back at 2010, it felt like a season in which Shanhan would try to win with the team was handed, and in the process evaluate who on the team was in the long term plans and who wasn't. It can be debated whether that was the right approach or if he should have immediately looked to trim the fat right off the bat.

However, it is hard to argue that 2011 wasn't a huge step in the actual rebuilding process. Draft picks were stockpiled for the present and future, and the draft results were one of the best for this team I have ever seen. Not every hole on the team can be solved in a single off-season.

I liked the first post -- we fans have to endure the pains of a rebuild of a team that was extremely low on young talent -- and with very few draft choices to start the rebuild.

We need to acknowledge that in 2010 this team's talent was selected for 2-3 different offensive and defensive systems -- with many holdovers from former coaches preferences on who'd best fit the system they were trying to install. Even the coaching staff itself was a mix of holdovers from several different head coaches, or offensive/defensive coordinators. ...Then add in the occasional "Snyderatto" holdover, often with those bloated, back-loaded long term contracts.

As was his rigth, Shanahan came in with a definite idea of what he wanted to install, but he was mindful of the lofty results tradtionally expected by the Skins fanbase. So 2010 was an attempt to find a short-term solution at QB (McNabb) to look competitive while trying to find out which of the players on the roster might actually fit in the new systems he was installing. No doubt a full house-keeping might have carried a major cap-hit; so Shanahan had to stay patient for when the CBA ended.

In short, it was a rebuild, and re-learn. And a dash of 'liposuction' to get rid of the long-term contracts clogging the salary structure of this team and its ablity to bring in new talent like Cofield.

Let's realized all this is going to take time -- and maybe we might also see how this years rash of injuries and mis-haps are masking the progress that this team HAS made. The next four games promise to be hard to endure -- but next season, this team is going to look MUCH better.

IMO we have been experiencing losses like that for many many years. I am all for the rebuild but i kind of feel like we have been to this before and it ends up being some half*** rebuild. Just hope we give Shanny his time and he brings us back to the top. Its been way too long

Just out of curiosity, if Danny Smith was fired who would be a good replacement? Would it be best to get another NFL Special Teams coach, or a promising assistant? I admit I know more about our offense and defense than I do the special teams.

This team obviously isn't ready, nor is it close.

But they slugged it out for 3 and a half quarters with the AFC's 2nd runner up two years in a row..

Playing tough against the grossly-overrated, probably-won't-even-make-the-playoffs Jets doesn't impress me. Last season, the 'skins beat the Super Bowl Champs, and this season, the woeful Rams beat the Saints. The NFL is just like that.

As for rebuilding, too bad Shanny didn't figure that out before last season, when he was busy mortgaging the future for guys like J. Brown and McNabb. He should have started this process in 2010, instead of trading away picks thinking his coaching was good enough to make a contender out of a 4-12 team. Shanny's ego will prevent him from ever getting to .500 here.

Just out of curiosity, if Danny Smith was fired who would be a good replacement? Would it be best to get another NFL Special Teams coach, or a promising assistant? I admit I know more about our offense and defense than I do the special teams.

Honestly most people can be an NFL special teams coach. It really is a simple job. The real key to it above and beyond anything else is being able to assess the talent of those fringe players, and seeing which ones might be special teams studs for a few seasons.

I still don't see what we are building.

Our one offensive weapon is one contact high away from a 16-game suspension.

We have a halfway decent front 7 - which seems like a fairly simple thing to build in the NFL.

And...that's it, isn't it?

I still don't see what we are building.

Our one offensive weapon is one contact high away from a 16-game suspension.

We have a halfway decent front 7 - which seems like a fairly simple thing to build in the NFL.

And...that's it' date=' isn't it?[/quote']

I'd say we have started to see Helu emerge, and if he can continue this, we can establish one thing on offense as a strength.. or an identity. I love how he's running,, he finds the hole, hits it fast, and does NOT shy away from contact. He ran through tackles last week, broke a lot of them. Rarely did I see him go down on first contact.

The OL played well in front of him, and as a partnership (OL and RB) they gelled nicely. Helu followed them well, and you could tell the OL really REALLY enjoyed getting after it on run plays as a result. I like seeing linemen tear into the second level of a defense, and I'm seeing it a lot the last couple weeks.

Defense is where we've done our building so we're seeing more of an identity.

I think on offense we're still too much of a single dimension, and that dimension is one or the other. we've run the ball well in the last two weeks, but so-so passing the ball (I know Rex threw for over 300 last week, but he threw two bad picks and had a few more that could have been... not a sharp 300 yard day, if that makes sense.) Point being we've yet to put together anything resembling continuity in either phase of the offense, and so have yet to develop an identity.

We expect that Rex is not to be the long-term answer at QB, and so our offensive mindset probably won't be solidified until our new QB finally takes over.

~Bang

Was it a decision to pooch it? I recall Shanny saying the Gano just screwed up and kicked the ground. Or was he talking about the other short kickoff?

Looking back at 2010, it felt like a season in which Shanhan would try to win with the team was handed, and in the process evaluate who on the team was in the long term plans and who wasn't. It can be debated whether that was the right approach or if he should have immediately looked to trim the fat right off the bat.

However, it is hard to argue that 2011 wasn't a huge step in the actual rebuilding process. Draft picks were stockpiled for the present and future, and the draft results were one of the best for this team I have ever seen. Not every hole on the team can be solved in a single off-season.

Good post and I agree. With the quality we got from our picks this year and having 18 the next 2 years, things are looking up. Plus, like you said, trimming the fat was what was needed.

And I want to pile on with the pooch kick, The best KO return guy in the NFL, Joe McKnight hurt his elbow and Kurley was sucking. The Jets put in their "Third String" Kick returner in Cromartie. Was Smith that afraid of their 3rd string kick returner? Really?

---------- Post added December-6th-2011 at 11:18 AM ----------

Playing tough against the grossly-overrated, probably-won't-even-make-the-playoffs Jets doesn't impress me. Last season, the 'skins beat the Super Bowl Champs, and this season, the woeful Rams beat the Saints. The NFL is just like that.

As for rebuilding, too bad Shanny didn't figure that out before last season, when he was busy mortgaging the future for guys like J. Brown and McNabb. He should have started this process in 2010, instead of trading away picks thinking his coaching was good enough to make a contender out of a 4-12 team. Shanny's ego will prevent him from ever getting to .500 here.

RT was an area of need. I get tired of seeing guys in here blast on Jamal Brown. While he hasn't been a pro-bowler, coming off hip surgery, he's been decent. He was a stopgap until we are able to find a younger RT, which neither Heyer nor Capers were able to fill. Who the hell do you suggest we should have had at RT the last 2 years? And the ego thing is getting old. You've never sat down and talked face to face with Mike Shanahan, so neither you nor the other naysayers who say he has an ego know nothing about the man and to keep repeating that stupid line is just, well stupid.