Voice_of_Reason

There was never an attempt to get Haskins ready to start. The attempt was to get him as familiar as possible with the offense so he could be the emergency 3rd QB and learn for next off-season. Which I guess I'm ok with as a plan, though I would have handled it differently. What I would have done is commit to Haskins as the starter, and then figure out what he can do which will lead him to success, and then drill that constantly. Adapt the system to what he can do. And if there is NOTHING he can do at the NFL level, then you picked the wrong guy. It would be on the coaches to figure out what he can do and how he can have some success, get a lot of things on film, and learn from it. I just am not in the school of sitting helps you develop. I think playing is the best way to develop. What I think is going to happen is Hasknis won't play until the 'Skins are eliminated from playoff contention. If Case struggles and Colt is healthy, he'll go in until he's hurt again. Then they'll go back to Case. Then when finally there is nothing to play for, they'll give Haskins a shot. I understand the desire to win and that they think Case and Colt give them the best chance. I actually think they could come up with a way to get as much productivity out of Haskins, and use his physical abilities. However, that would mean being creative, and that's not something this staff, top to bottom, has shown.

I can't decide which meme to use in response to this. Sarcastic? Or play it more straight...

6-10. Bad start, average middle, bad finish. The team has 9-7/10-6 talent, and a playoff defense. But they don’t have playoff level coaching. No. But Bruce is going to screw this up and we won’t get proper compensation. Yes. Mod season so Bruce can scapegoat him. Only after Gruden is fired and Skins are eliminated. AP Paloffs are not now.

The Shanahan’s ability to marry that zone-stretch run play with play action in 50 different ways was magical. Also what Colts did with Manning in 1998-2005 or so. I want to see something where the run and pass games compliment each other...

ONLY if they scheme the run game and pass game to relate to each other. For the longest time, the run scheme has not helped the pass scheme so play action has not been effective. Our #1 run play the last 4 years has been a “pound-draw.” Which doesn’t even remotely help get LBs committed to stopping the run game, so play action is basically pointless. They just stand around and wait for the play to come to them.

You must be Except then you'd say 19-0...

Interrupting the thread for an image from one of my most favorite scenes in all of movie history: There is one bit of this scene which is a tad "NSFW" so I won't paste the link. However, the whole sequence is just side-splittingly fumy. Go watch it if you haven't. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. **** Mara and all that jazz...

So, this thread kindof already exists with 100 replies. I'm no mod, but the original thread also had a poll. Maybe a new thread is ok for "after pre-season?" version, however you might want to add a poll... Just a thought.

I agree. However, they ALSO need to work on the passing game since they are going to have a new starting QB, the WRs combined have played like 10 minutes of football, and the OL is suspect. But it was clear as day they wanted to come out and run the ball, it was clear Jay wanted to get Perine some good looks. I just don't love the "concede that we can't pass the ball so we're going to have to run a lot, play conservative and win ugly" mentality. I'd like for them at least to TRY to put up points through the passing game before deciding they can't do it. What I saw is if the defense knew it was a pass, there was almost immediate pressure. If they didn't, it was better. I think they run-blocked better than pass-blocked. I really wanted to see Haskins get a few series with the starters against the starters. But he didn't. That was dissapointing. They have already decided who the starting QB is, and they're going to roll with Case. Ok. That means you've got to win and be competitive. I REALLY thought on the play where Sherff pulled he was going to have a hole between Sherff on the inside and the other blocker on the outside, but I think he rushed it a bit and went outside. That's the difference between a guy like AP and Guide right now. I think AP sets that up and it's a 30 yard gain, Guice isn't there yet. That's fine. He's still a great talent playing in his second preseason game. The talent is clearly there. Some good film for him to look at. Perine is Rob Kelly, and all of the other average backs Jay falls in love with. (I can't even think of them anymore) Try hard, but not as talented as other backs. He was fine. He should not make the team. But he probably will. This was on the Redskins Talk Pod this morning. Moreland is definitely getting a new number after cuts. He had a concussion. I don't think he will retire. But I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him miss 8 games. On the past he dropped, it looked like a real mis-communication. Reed sat down, and Keenum thought he was going to keep going, and threw it in front of him. He should have still caught it, but i don't think he was expecting the ball where it was. Maybe you could tell form being there, I don't think I saw the defense use 1 pressure. Maybe a blitz snuck in there, but I didn't catch it. You have to think if this was "live" then the D mixes some things up. Just a guess. Maybe not. Again, everything they ran looked really basic. I don't know if that's going to be the case in the regular season, but I think (hope?) Manusky gets more aggressive and brings more pressures. I don't care about play-calling in the pre-season. I do very much care about play-calling in the regular season. There's no excuse NOT to call the TO after the completion to CT with 37 seconds left, though, even in the pre-season. The next snap came at 17 seconds. Unless you just let the clock roll all the way down and you go into the half. That was bad clock management any which way you cut it. It doesn't matter, except that's been a bugaboo for 5 years. So we as fans who understand this stuff a little bit are looking for improvement, and we didn't see it there. It was clear as mud getting Haskins throws was less important than getting Perine carries. Jay said as much earlier this week in a presser, that they owed it to Perine to get him better looks and they needed to work on the run game. Also, they have made up their mind on QB, so what they did with Haskins is immaterial at this point. Case is going to start. If he struggles, and Colt is healthy, Colt will play. If Colt isn't healthy, they'll stay with Case and try and run the ball more. When they are out of the playoff race, Haskins will get an opportunity. Right/wrong/indifferent, that's the plan. Nobody has said as much, but it's clear through all of their actions. I don't really care what they do as long as they are prepared for week 1. The scenario where I think more playing time is beneficial is with new QB or new Coach. Cooley pointed out that if you're offense hasn't worked together, and is out of sync, does it really matter if it's healthy? Again, I'm not going to kill Gruden about anything in the pre-season. If they come out and get blasted and can't move the ball, we will have to have a serious conversation about why...

I’d be willing to bet a few of the bad teams get good and a few of the good teams get bad. Only because that always happens... Every single opposing tram fan base which cares about these things have the Skins game penciled in as a win. The Skins won’t go 0-16. (Though if it meant regime change I wouldn’t hate it...) so some folks are wrong. And the Patriots won’t go 16-0. Shrug. That sounds like something a college professor would say.

Actually overall based on last year’s results it’s actually like the 3rd easiest schedule overall. Which means nothing. The opening games look tough on paper. But you don’t really know.

At some point Dan is going to run out of patience. I'm absolutely shocked it hasn't happened already. Bruce keeps saying, "We're close." Bruce could have really saved his job by blowing the whole thing up, cutting Alex, trading Trent and Kerrigan, and started a whole re-build in January. That was an option. Instead he convinced Dan that they were close, and to stay the course. They traded for Case Keenum, a "capable" QB, and believe they have the defense and personnel at least to contend for the playoffs. If this turns into an epic fail of a season, 4-12 or there abouts, Dan HAS to ask Bruce what happened. And at some point, he's going to lose patience with the "we're close" line. Especially if they implode. Remember, Dan's first instinct is to be aggressive and impulsive. Also remember that he personally pursued Gregg Williams and whatshisname from the Jets to replace Manusky. The 'Skins were in on Antonio Brown. He had his hand (in some way) in picking Haskins. These are all signs his patience is wearing thin. He'll only be able to hold his water so long before he explodes and fires everybody. I can almost see an Oprah "you get a car, you get a car" type of scene with a "You're Fired! You're Fired!" with Dan standing on a table and screaming at everybody in sight type of thing. You're right, I can see a scenario where Bruce fires Jay and promotes KO and tries to scapegoat Jay. (He might be right, he might be wrong, only time would tell. But it would be a slimeball move regardless.) But I also see a Scenario where the 'Skins finish 6-10 and Dan just can't contain himself anymore and fires everyone and hires a big-name guy to right the ship. Not sure who or how well it would work. But if I can see it, Bruce can see it. Hence I think he has a desire to win now

Here is the problem. Bruce and Jay need to win this year. Trading trent for picks does not help with that. It is in their best interest to try and get Trent back in anyway possible. And if they can’t get Trent back, a pick doesn’t really help them. If they go 4-12, both of them might be fired anyway. So in Bruce’s mind, you might as well wait him out and try and bleed Trent and get him to come back. Even if you can get a first round pick, that just isn’t going to help with your situation. Not saying this is the right answer, however I guarantee you this is the way Bruce is thinking. He needs a short-term fix, not a long-term fix

This might be true, and it might make him able to hang around, but it hasn't really done much to make the team win. If it's true he's burned out and doesn't really care one way or the other, upside to staying and leaving, then I wish he would just defer the stupid stuff to Bruce, in public. "Jay, any update on the Trent situation?" "Yeah, that's between Bruce and Trent. You'll have to ask either of them." That would be basically dropping dynamite, which he hasn't ever really done. I doubt Bruce would, at this point, fire Jay, and it would force Bruce out a bit. Maybe. I think the decision is going to be a group decision. I think Dan, Jay and Bruce will all get together to make the final decision. I can't believe I am saying this, but the "right" thing for Dan to do is to tell Jay that his primary focus for the year is to develop Haskins, and that is more important than trying to go 9-7 and squeek into the playoffs. And WHATEVER Jay thinks is the right way to do it should be done. Play him now, play him later, that's on Jay to decide, but the goal is to develop Haskins this year so we don't have to develop him next year. And Jay's job is not tied to wins/losses and the playoffs, but to the performance and development of Haskins. They should set the expectation they expect close to a championship calibre defense, but they recognize on offense with a new QB, it's going to be tough sledding. I really like the Peyton manning situation comparison, and I've used it before. The Colts were a BAD team when they drafted Manning. Evidence being they had the first pick in the draft. The Colts decided to start him right away, (clearly, as the #1 overall pick), and they knew he would struggle. They created an offense which could simplify both the offense and defense for him, and they got him a lot of experience. They ran a lot of hurry-up. They simplified the line calls. They moved the pocket. And they relied on their best player, Faulk, and the running game. In that first year of Peyton in 1998, they had a "meh" OL, 1 WR (Harrison), and 1 RB (Faulk), and that was basically it. Granted, Harrison and Faulk are better than any WR/RB the 'Skins have. BUT, the 'Skins probably have more options. Reed, VDavis, Guice (if healthy), AP, CT all can make plays. (The question is, of course, can any of these guys except for AP stay healthy?) Honestly, the 2019 'Skins are a better team top to bottom than the 1998 colts. Now, I'm not saying Haskins is Manning, or even can be Manning. But what I am saying is that if you do some of the same things (and maybe some new ones) the Colts did for Manning, it's a great way to develop a QB.

That was a hell of a catch to end the game.