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Poll: Are We A Playoff Team With Captain Kirk At The Helm?


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Quite simple, if RG3 were to have to miss the entire 2013 season (which God willing, he of course does not, but for this hypothetical, assume he does), are we a playoff team without him? I say absolutely YES, not only because of the ability of Cousins, but the pieces of the defense returning and the TEAM that we have built under Shanahan.

IMO it's a bright future even w/o RG3 this year, and of course even brightER with a healthy Robert.

What say you?

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That's a real tough call. I don't think so. I would say we are probably an 8-8 team with that first place schedule, but it's very early to say. We still don't know what improvements we are making to the defense. I'm optimistic Kirk will do well as a starter. However, defenses were flat out flabbergasted by Griffin in this offense. I mean they had absolutely no clue what was coming. The offense was just unstoppable at times.

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Kirk showed he can be a player in this league. We don't know much about him, but he's got some accuracy, some strength, and some mobility. He seems to see the field pretty well. We'll need a few more games to know if he can be an above average guy, a great guy, a caretaker, etc.

Fingers crossed.

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I don't know that we have strong enough pieces to make NOISE in the playoffs w/ Kirk, but I say we will at least get there. Maybe I'm an eternal optimist, but I still think if Robert doesn't tweak his knee on Sunday, we were at least bound for the NFC Championship if not perhaps the Super Bowl this year, and that will be my expectation level of hope next year as well if Robert can get healthy...

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Our evidence really only is one very good game against a pretty bad team.

Otherwise, he came in against Atlanta, helped the Skins regained the lead, but then threw two picks. Then was pretty much thrown into a no-win situation against Seattle at the end.

Remember, Gus Frerotte and Patrick Ramsey looked great in their first regular season action. Do we have a better overall team than those guys did? Probably. Still, we just don't have enough to go on.

IMO, we are an 11-5 team with RG3 next season, but probably a 7-9 team with Kirk.

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I like Kirk's chances of becoming a good starting QB in the NFL. However, my guess is that our offense will have something else to worry about next season.

Much of the success of our passing game this past season was due to the Shanahans' ability to get receivers open against two-deep zone coverages. I have said that I would press and play man-to-man against the Redskins. That's what Seattle did and it worked. If other teams saw that and learned, the Skins passing game will likely be shut down unless they can seriously upgrade the receivers on the team.

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Much of the success of our passing game this past season was due to the Shanahan's ability to get receivers open against two-deep zone coverages. I have said that I would press and play man-to-man against the Redskins. That's what Seattle did and it worked. If other teams saw that and learned, the Skins passing game will likely be shut down unless they can seriously upgrade the receivers on the team.

Although there are three ways to beat press coverage. The first is a potent running game where the defensive coordinators are punished by having corners turn their backs to the line of scrimage in following the receivers. I think we could have a pretty good run game as Morris was effective against Dallas and others even when our passing game was limited. Second is better protection and while that will be more difficult with a quarterback with less escapability, an improvement at tackle could buy an extra second or two for the receivers to break open. Finally, better receivers could help too, but being the optimist, I suspect Hankerson and Robinson should already be better receivers by having an NFL season under their belt, Garcon will hopefully not be limited by his foot injury, etc. and we may upgrade from Paulson though I was pretty pleased with his production.

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Although there are three ways to beat press coverage. The first is a potent running game where the defensive coordinators are punished by having corners turn their backs to the line of scrimage in following the receivers. I think we could have a pretty good run game as Morris was effective against Dallas and others even when our passing game was limited. Second is better protection and while that will be more difficult with a quarterback with less escapability, an improvement at tackle could buy an extra second or two for the receivers to break open. Finally, better receivers could help too, but being the optimist, I suspect Hankerson and Robinson should already be better receivers by having an NFL season under their belt, Garcon will hopefully not be limited by his foot injury, etc. and we may upgrade from Paulson though I was pretty pleased with his production.
I'm neither optimist nor pessimist without reason. I hope for all those improvements that you cited, but it isn't realistic to think they will all happen.

We had a coaching edge on the offense this season. If defenses adjust, and we can't keep that edge, then winning the division could be a real challenge even if RG3 returns ready to go in Game One.

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Disagree to a point...

There is strong reason to believe we will have a potent running game. We had one with Royster and Helu with Beck and Grossman as QB and we had one pretty much all year with Morris. That will force the defense to play both run and pass at least on first and second down which gives our receivers some advantage. Generally, receivers improve with experience. Hankerson and Robinson are entering their third year which is the year that statistically most receivers get it or they don't. Both flashed this year and with a year of field experience there is a reasonable expectation that we haven't seen their ceiling.

As to line improvement, you're right there's a little optimism and hope there. We projected Polumbus to be a back up and he was a starter the whole season... can we upgrade there?

Now, there is a dropoff going from RGIII to Cousins potentially, probably, but at least in terms of our receivers and press coverage neutralizing our game plans... I think there are reasons why that won't be the case.

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I think Kirk is a sleeper. Rogers and Brady had little expectations and look what they did! Kirk is not some chump QB from college and has shown so far he can win. I honestly think RG3 was suprised as well at how good Kirk played. I read on some other posts on NFL network that RG3 was threatned by Kirk and that is why he played so long hurt. RG3 will have total Rec. Surg. I am guessing he will miss at least 3 if not half of next season. So we will get to find out what Kirk can do. But until then we will talk it to death. :cool:

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No way, but I don't think we will suck. With Kirk there is no running game, the offensive line weaknesses will be exposed and no real big play WR to help him out. Kirk is a great backup at the moment, but to say we will have a winning record if he started every game is kinda disrespectful to RG3. I will like to see Kirk start about 5 games though so people can really begin to appreciate Griffin.

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Depends on who we pick up in the draft and free agency. We won't know until April.

^ This. I am not 100% convinced that we are a playoff team even if Griff is fully recovered by week 1. Not a knock on the team, but we had to win 7 games in a row to make it this year. I am extremely optimistic about the future of this team, even with Kirk leading the offense, but there will be many questions to be answered this offseason. IF our defensive secondary is upgraded and Almo can continue to run the same way in 2013, then I am extremely confident that we will be a force to be reckoned with. If we can upgrade at RT, I'll be even moreso.

But another big question will be how we address the playbook this fall. If the playcalling will need to be modified to address Kirks strengths instead of forcing him to be RG3.2, then there will be another learning curve for the entire offense.

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Voted yes based on the fact that we made the run this year with still some obvious holes. I know we may be focusing mostly defensively this offseason, but our offense was half decent last year with Grossman at the helm, and Kirk has shown just enough that he can run that same offense way better that Rex could.

Still need to see more from the kid. But with a full offseason working with the first unit I believe he'll fit right in and get the job done

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Way to early for this. I want to see what offseason moves we make, and how the draft goes. Plus our schedule is brutal this year. We have 10 games against teams that finished .500 or better, and 4 games against teams that won their division this year. This wouldn't be an easy year for RG3, much less KC. I have faith in KC, but want to see how the offseason goes.

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I think Kirk is a sleeper. Rogers and Brady had little expectations and look what they did! Kirk is not some chump QB from college and has shown so far he can win. I honestly think RG3 was suprised as well at how good Kirk played. I read on some other posts on NFL network that RG3 was threatned by Kirk and that is why he played so long hurt. RG3 will have total Rec. Surg. I am guessing he will miss at least 3 if not half of next season. So we will get to find out what Kirk can do. But until then we will talk it to death. :cool:

Rodgers was a first round pick being discussed as a possible #1 overall leading up to the draft. He fell that year because it was a rare situation where not a lot of teams were targeting QB's.

That being said I have confidence in this team adapting with Kirk starting and still producing enough offense to be a playoff team. I don't think we go far in the playoffs once we make it but I think with a healthy roster we could win what I expect to be a weak NFCE.

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Yes, and anyone with two eyes could see Kirk was/is a better pocket passer than RG3.

:wtf:

Based on what? They have different styles of play. That's why you didn't see much of the option during the Browns game. Griffin is a tremendous pocket passer.....when healthy.

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I think we can be. Nothing is guaranteed (even with Griffin) just because things change from year to year, but overall I think we are well positioned to contend in the NFC. I would guess that our ceiling is lower with Cousins than it would be with Griffin.

I think that if we can address some of our defensive holes (through acquisitions and returning starters), run the typical Shanahan offense that we ran with Grossman in 2011, and stay relatively healthy, we have a shot to win more than we lose and maybe get to 10 wins. Why not? Cousins looks promising and I think more balance (better defense) is the key no matter who is taking the snaps.

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I think we can be. Nothing is guaranteed (even with Griffin) just because things change from year to year, but overall I think we are well positioned to contend in the NFC. I would guess that our ceiling is lower with Cousins than it would be with Griffin.

I think that if we can address some of our defensive holes (through acquisitions and returning starters), run the typical Shanahan offense that we ran with Grossman in 2011, and stay relatively healthy, we have a shot to win more than we lose and maybe get to 10 wins. Why not? Cousins looks promising and I think more balance (better defense) is the key no matter who is taking the snaps.

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