BGO.C.D. - Heaven Can Wait

[TSO]

thesubmittedone, I agree with a great deal of your commentary. I think Grossman can play. What killed nearly killed Grossman's career was his decision-making, not his talent level. He can be a very efficient QB when he's making good decisions. I thought there was a lot to build on in those 4 games from last season. I think it's possible the effusive praise for Beck may be as much about saying to Grossman 'show me you want and are ready to be the guy' as it is true endorsement of Beck. Only issue I'll take from your comments is related to McNabb. Stats can be misleading. McNabb is talented enough he should always look decent statistically. But he threw for fewer TDs and more INTs than at any time in his Eagles career, he looked positively lethargic out there, apparently wasn't particularly interested in feedback from his offensive coordinator, and the offense could get very little going with him under center. He was pretty bad. It's not debatable - Shanahan blew that move. I applaud him for moving on quickly , and if you were going to take a risk on a vet QB, it was a reasonable risk. But it was a bad call to bring McNabb in in my opinion.

Hmmm... I definitely see where you're coming from and I'm not arguing that McNabb had one of his worst seasons statistically speaking, but our offense was by no means anemic... that's not saying it was good, either. All I'm saying is, I don't think it was so far-fetched for Shanahan to believe McNabb can be a good fit in this system. Exactly what had McNabb done with the Eagles to prove otherwise? We all know Shanny loves mobile (not necessarily speedy, just mobile enough) passers who can throw accurately on the run and that is what McNabb has shown for pretty much his entire career. Yes, he'll always throw a bunch of balls in the ground every game, but overall, his ability to make something out of nothing with his legs (and I don't mean running for first downs, just moving in the pocket, buying time, and finding the open guy by improvising) seemed like that's exactly what would be a good fit in a system that utilizes the bootleg and likes to get the QB in space.

That's why I just don't agree with anyone saying Shanahan blew that move. It made sense at the time and still makes sense... it's just too bad it didn't work out and McNabb was way too stubborn to play within the system, and I'm glad you're one of those who can give credit to Shanny for moving on quickly. We haven't had a coach willing to do that in a long, long time. I'm just on the line of thinking that a franchise QB who can effectively execute a good offensive system is so important and vital to the success of your team (well, at least a very, very high percentage of that success is due to that, ahem, don't yell at me Oldfan! :pfft: ) that if you think you've got one and you can bring him in for a third round pick you do it. Shanny saw, as the season progressed, that Rex was not only able to give the same level of play to the team as McNabb, but also lead extended drives that chewed up the clock a little so he rightfully made the change and parted ways with McNabb who would cost triple the expense, but that doesn't change whether the decision was right or wrong in the first place. I think it was both correct to bring in McNabb as well as correct to part ways as soon as this was understood.

But, yeah, I am a bit of a homer, so I am open to being totally wrong, lol. I've just been extremely pleased with what Shanny has done thus far since coming in. I haven't seen an FO like this since I was a little kid... so practical and professional.

[Tarhog]

I thought the McNabb deal was worth the risk at the time. Skins fans, give our history of giving away draft picks like ketchup packets, may howl at the waste of those picks, but the truth is that given McNabb's resume, he came pretty cheaply. The biggest thing I questioned about the decision was that we pulled the trigger knowing that Andy Reid wasn't blinking an eye about giving McNabb over to a hated rival. That should have set off alarm bells and really made us question the potential move. Reid is one of the 2 or 3 best coaches working today. He doesn't make many mistakes. With Shahanan coming off a long NFL absence, he'd have been smart to put more stock in the assessment of a guy like Andy Reid. Just sayin'.

[Oldfan]

I thought the McNabb deal was worth the risk at the time. Skins fans, give our history of giving away draft picks like ketchup packets, may howl at the waste of those picks, but the truth is that given McNabb's resume, he came pretty cheaply. The biggest thing I questioned about the decision was that we pulled the trigger knowing that Andy Reid wasn't blinking an eye about giving McNabb over to a hated rival. That should have set off alarm bells and really made us question the potential move. Reid is one of the 2 or 3 best coaches working today. He doesn't make many mistakes. With Shahanan coming off a long NFL absence, he'd have been smart to put more stock in the assessment of a guy like Andy Reid. Just sayin'.

I criticize Mike Shanahan on some things, but I listen closely when the man talks about grading QBs. I thinks that's his strongest suit. So, when the trade for McNabb went down down, I was baffled.

Andy Reid learned his WCO from Mike Holmgren, a WCO purist. But when he signed to coach the Eagles, Donovan McNabb was drafted. Donovan is not a WCO QB. Coaches don't design offenses for QBs with his skillset. So, Andy had to virtually abandon the WCO and build the DMac Offense, which is basically a good, big play offense but one unable to play ball control when needed.

That was a smart thing for Andy to do for a talented young athlete-QB, but it made no sense for Mike Shanahan given that McNabb was 34 when the trade happened. Jason Campbell would have been a better fit in our scheme.