JLC: Michael Vouches for Abundant Talent; How About You?

[letzgoterps]

I looked and couldn't find this. If it's posted, I'm sorry and just delete this post.

But I'll leave this right here...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/

Posted at 5:30 PM ET, 12/17/2008

Michael Vouches for Abundant Talent; How About You?

Made the mistake of channel surfing the other night and caught a little bit of Redskins Nation, where Larry Michael was pontificating about how much talent the Redskins have.

Michael was sitting there with Jim Zorn, and was quite miffed that a reporter - in this case, Jason Reid (The Mayor) - would question Zorn about the lack of obvious talent at certain positions and point out what a detriment that is to the coaching staff. Michael then proceeded to prompt and cajole Zorn into boasting about the excellent talent procurement we've seen over the years here (Michael managed to do this with a straight face).

Of course, during what amounts to 30-minute infomercial for the team, based on misstatements of fact, no coach is going to publicly call out his boss. So I'll do it for him.

Let's take a whirl around the Redskins roster, compare it to the rest of the division, and put it in a league-wide perspective as well, shall we?

Click link for rest of article.

[letzgoterps]

Aside from the snide comments and the personal attacks, I feel that some of the points he made were completely accurate. His overall point has been made in many other threads on here, especially lately.

Still hate this guy and the way he goes about doing it. Imagine doing this in the real world.

[Stophovr6]

"So there you have it. It's just as simple as canning another coach, handing him this supremely young, talented dynamic roster and finally getting to the promised land. They're so close, again. Just another high-priced free agent and the right coach away, surely."

LOL, so true.

[redskins59]

JLC isn't popular around here, but I gotta agree with him here. You can't blame Zorn for all failures. Having said that, Saunders was producing last year, with Collins as the QB. Zorn promised Snyder and Vinny that he would start Campbell in order to land the job, so I don't blame Zorn here either. He's doing what he needs to do.

[Voice_of_Reason]

Wow,a jlc article that I mostly agree with. Tear it down. There are more wholes on this team than I can count.

[SkinsHokieFan]

You certainly you cannot entirely blame Zorn

But this same cast of characters has had strong finishes the 4 years with Joe Gibbs.

Every year the team was playing better in December then in September (even 2004 and 2006)

That isn't the case this year. And that is what disturbs me, the fact that the team has regressed

They haven't looked like the 4-1 team since the first Eagles game to be honest.

The team was still healthy for the Rams, Browns and Lions but went 2-1 in those games and didn't exactly dominate any of them

[SkinsTillIDie]

JLC isn't popular around here, but I gotta agree with him here. You can't blame Zorn for all failures. Having said that, Saunders was producing last year, with Collins as the QB. Zorn promised Snyder and Vinny that he would start Campbell in order to land the job, so I don't blame Zorn here either. He's doing what he needs to do.

Yes, Collins played well for three and a half games - then struggled mightily in the playoffs. Jason Campbell was being talked about as an MVP candidate in the first half of the season - just because Collins played well for a few games, when no opposing team had any tape of the offense as he quarterbacked it, doesn't mean a thing really.

JLC is spot on with his assessment here: we truly are a team devoid of talent in too many areas. We don't need stars at every position (look at the Giants, etc. ec..) - but we need our full allotment of draft picks each year, and we need to draft smart. Last year's draft was clearly, in retrospect, a draft full of foolish errors in judgment.

We need to completely rebuild the offensive line, likely a 3-year project, and defensive line. By the time this is done, Santana Moss, Randle El, Fletcher, Washington, Springs, Griffin, Taylor, etc. etc. will all be finished. If it were up to me, I would trade Moss now and try to recoup a 2nd or 3rd round pick, before his value dissipates. If we can lose with him, we can lose without him, and at this juncture, he is a progress stopper for Thomas and Kelly.

It's clear that this front office never had a 3-year plan, never foresaw problems down the line, and never had a sustainable strategy to keep the team improving each year. We're not going to get better without good drafts, and that won't happen with four (4!) picks this year, with a front office that has routinely botched most of its tremendous opportunities. Fred Davis as a 2nd round pick, when we have the oldest offensive line in the league and a probowler in Chris Cooley? Really? How many snaps does a backup tight end receive in a game, versus a starting offensive lineman?

Unfortunately, this team isn't nearly as close to contending with the elite as some here hoped for/expected (including me) - and this isn't Jim Zorn's fault. We need to give him at least 2 or 3 more years to implement his system and build a team. We will never win if we continue to recycle coaches and if we fail to have sustainable drafts.

[Spartacus87]

JLC isn't popular around here, but I gotta agree with him here. You can't blame Zorn for all failures. Having said that, Saunders was producing last year, with Collins as the QB. Zorn promised Snyder and Vinny that he would start Campbell in order to land the job, so I don't blame Zorn here either. He's doing what he needs to do.

Yeah, Collins was great, until he threw two pick 6's in the playoff game.

No owner or GM would ever look to stick with a 37 or 38 year old system QB in favor of a 26 year old recent first round pick. Especially when you're turning over the coaching staff and dealing with a guy considered to be one of the best QB coaches in the game.

People who play the dumb "Collins/Saunders vs what Snyder wanted Zorn to do" card are just completely pretending to have some kind of brilliant 20/20 hindsight, when in reality, Collins would be even worse right now than Campbell given his limited physical abilities behind our pathetic o-line.

LaCanfora may be a hack 95% of the time, but he's right with all of this.

Zorn got handed what is essentially a 2-3 year rebuilding job (and we're experiencing exactly why with the way the lines are faltering down the stretch) and all of a sudden he's the key scape goat for the Redskins being built very poorly.

Why are the Redskins mediocre? It ain't Zorn, it's all the picks we traded away the last 3-4 years. We made our bed and now we're forced to lie in it.

[Spartacus87]

You certainly you cannot entirely blame Zorn

But this same cast of characters has had strong finishes the 4 years with Joe Gibbs.

Every year the team was playing better in December then in September (even 2004 and 2006)

That isn't the case this year. And that is what disturbs me, the fact that the team has regressed

The 2007 run to the playoffs was an anomaly of pretty large proportions.

We had a guy like Lorenzo Alexander coming out as a premiere utility player, playing all 3 ways and making key plays, we had Randall Godfrey showing up as a big run stopping linebacker, Collins as the nice story of taking over after sitting on the bench the majority of his career...the team played out of their minds in the wake of Taylor's burial and with extremely great motivation from Gibbs, who he himself said that he thought that was probably his best coaching job of his career.

Once Gibbs walked away and we lost that Hall of Fame motivation, our team, to quote Dennis Green, became exactly who we thought they were.

A bunch of lost picks, an old o-line, useless DTs, and virtually no real WR depth.

[zoony]

JLC, the consummate professional, grinding his personal axes via the Washington Post.

[BoRnAndRaiSedSkinsFan]

I used to be a huge JLC hater. I've worn the homer glasses all my years as a Skins fan. I've taken them off this season. As of late, I find myself agreeing with a lot of what JLC says. Ever since the Portis incident, I feel he's been on the mark. Larry Michaels is the biggest homer ever and I wonder if he really believes what he says. If he does, give the guy points for enthusiasm. This team definately needs an overheaul on both lines before they're ready to compete. We do have talent...it's just everywhere but the lines.

[Metskins]

I'm kind of surprised that no one has cast a disparaging word on JLC yet.

My how times have changed....

OOPS!! Should have refreshed my browser. Thanks for not letting me down, Zoony!

[StillUnknown]

can't stand the guy, but he makes some valid points in that piece

[westcoasthog]

Much of what he said is true but the reason nobody likes him around here is the way he writes. He sounds like an 11 yr old nerd writing about why the bully is a big dummy head. What a joke this guy is. Even when he is making valid points he still comes off as an A1 douche bag!

[zoony]

So where was this article when we were 6-2? Or was JLC busy writing happy time stuff?

He's still a hack. I'd say 95% of the posters on this board have more knowledge of the game of football than JLC. He's a soccer fan from Baltimore who pursued a career in Sports Journalism. Even this, the article he wrote, he didn't have the knowledge to come up with it on his own. He hears someone else say it, so he writes a story in his blog.

As for him being right- who cares if he is? We were talking about this team not being very good on ES.com weeks ago. No thanks- I'll continue to get my knowledge from other places. JLC gets no credit.

JLC serves a purpose to post breaking news and to print quotes from players and coaches. That's it. Sooner or later the Post is going to realize they could be paying an intern to do it.

[zoony]

Much of what he said is true but the reason nobody likes him around here is the way he writes. He sounds like an 11 yr old nerd writing about why the bully is a big dummy head. What a joke this guy is. Even when he is making valid points he still comes off as an A1 douche bag!

That's because he's a journalist, not a football guy.

[kingfish50]

Even a liar will tell the truth every once in a while. Agree with almost everything he said except for the never ending excuse for JC. JC is what he is and that is a below average QB who's as good as he's ever going to get. Time to get whatever we can for him in some kind of trade.

[ST is my boy]

I pretty much agree with everything here.....and its depressing to read it in print.....how swiss cheese this team really is.

[@DCGoldPants]

Does this means that if the Skins are winning. They are winning the pissing contest with the Sports Media?....and if they losing. Then the Media is winning (and happy?)

[McD5]

1. Fire Vinny.

2. I am sure Larry is a nice guy. Can't ever take a thing he says seriously.

3. JLC is mean-spirited.

[SlobberKnockinFootball]

I'm sorry, I know you guys hate him because he's just venting about how lame duck this organization has been... but to be fair you have to give him credit for when he actually is right.. Stop grinding your axe because he has good points.

Zoony you say where is this article when you're 6-2? Well, you could easily write the same article when we were winning. We all knew we had a lot of deficiencies on our roster that haven't been addressed in over 5 years. Nothing new here.. it's the same old same old.

As I have said in a previous thread.. People who keep calling for a coaches head is ignorant. We've been ****ing and moaning for the past 5 years that we can't score over 20 points a game.. Well, we've trucked in new coaches, new coordinators (who've had success in this league) and the results are still the same.. Why is that you ask? It's because we've had the same sack of crap for talent on the offensive side of the ball for this time frame. I might be a tad off on how long they've been together but you catch my drift here... Stop calling for the coaches when it's the sorry lame excuse players we have on our offensive side of the ball.

Until that unit is blown up and re-vamped you can expect the same result even if you had Bill Walsh calling the plays.

[mcarey032]

Larry Michael seems like a nice guy, but in truth he is a total lackey. He just is that company man who sees things and tries not to say anything negative. Nothing wrong with him having his perspective just so long as you know that he is just total lackey for the skins. I think that he would probably say the same things if this team were 6-10.

[Mackdaddydean]

JLC isn't popular around here, but I gotta agree with him here. You can't blame Zorn for all failures. Having said that, Saunders was producing last year, with Collins as the QB. Zorn promised Snyder and Vinny that he would start Campbell in order to land the job, so I don't blame Zorn here either. He's doing what he needs to do.

You can't blame Zorn for all failures, but you can blame him for most of them IMO. Anytime you see a team go 6-2 against some of the best teams in the league and then end up at 7-7 thats coaching. Yes, there were injuries and what not but for the most part we kept the offense and defense intact. The players didn't stop being talented or knowing how to play the game. The coach didn't get them ready for the Bengals game and one could argue not for many of the games we lost. The only thing that was obviously starting to fail was the gameplans and that is ALL on the coach.

[McD5]

You can't blame Zorn for all failures, but you can blame him for most of them IMO. Anytime you see a team go 6-2 against some of the best teams in the league and then end up at 7-7 thats coaching. Yes, there were injuries and what not but for the most part we kept the offense and defense intact. The players didn't stop being talented or knowing how to play the game. The coach didn't get them ready for the Bengals game and one could argue not for many of the games we lost. The only thing that was obviously starting to fail was the gameplans and that is ALL on the coach.

You are under the incorrect assumption that our team is stacked with talent.

22 Positions on the field. How many of those 22 are in the upper echelon of the league?

How many of those 22 are in the bottom echelon of the league?

And that isn't including the kicker or the punter, neither of which exactly sets the world on fire.

Then grade the backups. And throw in a FO that doesn't support the coach in front of the players.:2cents:

[JGordon_3]

You guys can hate JLC if you want to, but the truth is as much as he may not be objective, neither are most of the posters on this board, just all the way on the other end of the spectrum. I like to call them apologists. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil about the Skins.

That was an articulate well-written piece without a shred of hatred or venom spewed. He approached that article as an incoming GM probably will look at our roster after replacing Vinny this offseason. Please God!

Our talent isn't anywhere near the level of some of the elite teams in the league. Why can't some people on this board see that? I think it's obvious.