The Redskins "Quandary" the rest of the year.

[Jeffro]

Hi Everyone,

Just figured I'd share some random Redskins thoughts coming out of the bye week and into a big game vs. Philthy.

I think the Redskins are in a real quandary in lots of areas:

The first one being QB, I'm one of the folks who believe that our offense has looked extremely poor because of Rex and Rex alone. I believe Kyle knows how to call games and put up points but I don't believe he's got faith in Rex's overall game to call that style of game which limits us BADLY. I think he's done enough to stay in games but I think we're 3-1 vs 1-3 because our defense. I believe Rex owes the defense Rolex watches. I also think that because our record is 3-1 and not 1-3 they've got to let Rex stay at QB, even though deep down they probably know it's not the right decision. Going with Beck at QB would go against what Shanny preaches from his players.. This, is a real issue and one that could clearly doom us..

The second one being RB, I really believe that we've got a similar issue at RB. I think Hightower clearly won the job in preseason, we're 3-1 but in truth, he hasn't looked that great lately. I think Helu and Torain in his limited action have looked much better. Hightower is cutting to the sidelines too quickly and not trying to get up field for yards which exasperates the issues with Rex having to complete quick passes over the middle which makes me cringe even typing it. I think that Shanny has managed this quietly but I think this could become an issue later this year when debating who to start etc.

The third issue is TE, I personally believe that although the two TE set looks good on paper its hard to actually achieve. Cooley wants his touches and wants to get paid like a top 5 TE and be game planned like a top 5 TE. At the same time, Fred Davis has potential to fill that same role except he's younger, lighter and faster. Cooley also looks to be losing a step and the knee injury doesn't help. Worth considering a trade at the trade deadline?

The forth issue... OMG this schedule that looked favorable at the beginning of the year isn't looking so good now... LOL... Carolina, Bills and 49ers I had as easy wins... not so much now.

And time to take a run at guess the record the rest of the year... I'm wearing my insanely-over-optimistic-I'm-drinking-the-cool-aid-despite-the-fact-that-I-know-I-have-every-reason-to-be-cautious-hat this morning

Oct 16 vs Philadelphia - Loss

Oct 23 @ Carolina - Win

Oct 30 @ Buffalo - Win

Nov 6 vs San Francisco - Win

Nov 13 @ Miami - Win

Nov 20 vs Dallas - Win

Nov 27 @ Seattle - Win

Dec 4 vs New York Jets- Win

Dec 11 vs New England - Loss

Dec 18 @ New York Giants - Loss

Dec 24 vs Minnesota - Win

Jan 1 @ Philadelphia - Win

HTTR Guys, and I feel good that we're at least competing with a sunny bright future.. I <3 Shanahans.

[KDawg]

Rex is a stop gap. We'll find a QB in this offseason, in my opinion. Be it Matt Flynn (Packers), Josh Johnson (Bucs) in free agency, or we'll draft one.

Running back isn't a problem. Three guys makes a three headed monster. They all can run all of the plays, but each has a different strength. Hightower runs outside zone pretty well aside from the last few weeks, Helu runs inside zone well and Torain is a power runner. Hightower is probably the best pass protector of the three as well, which makes him a stud of a third down back and a situational back. Our backs are a great advantage to have in this game. We need to utilize them all to their fullest potential.

No to trading Cooley. Two TE sets are NOT hard to achieve. Cooley has said nothing about wanting top 5 money from what I've seen. Both he and Davis on the field is a weapon. Cooley isn't healthy at the moment, though. He needs to heal up and you'll see the advantage we have. With him running at H-Back and then subbing Darrel Young in for power sets/a different look, we have a good solid change of pace scheme in place.

For the life of me I can't figure out why people want to dump all of our depth.

[rookieskin]

Dang, 12-4 with a bad QB?

I thought my kool-aid was strong.....

[SWFLSkins]

I think you put to much blame on Rex, afterall it is the Shanahans that picked him to start so any limitations were already known. I also think Rex has been limited by the play of the OL at times and the wideouts inability to get open consistently. Not that Rex has been perfect, but neither has the playcalling of the play of others in the offense. Hey for a growth year I am feeling okay with all that.

[wrecker]

Oh no! Not another Rex sucks, Torain should start, and trade Cooley Thread.............. :chair: :doh:

[Jeffro]

.For the life of me I can't figure out why people want to dump all of our depth.

I'm not suggesting we dump depth if we don't have too, my comments about RBs weren't in a "trade" type of mode, they were more about who starts the games and sees primary touches. There is no point in trading RBs or even considering it as we're in on the cheap on all of them really which is awesome.

In terms of Cooley, again, I'm only begging the question on what we do there... trust me, it will become an issue. Cooley is bringing in like 3.7m, Fred Davis is bringing in 555K. If Davis continues to play like he is we're going to have to address that. I don't believe we can afford two 3m+ TEs on the roster personally. I'm not against keeping them at all, just bringing up the real point that it is likely to become an issue going forward.

[KDawg]

I'm not suggesting we dump depth if we don't have too, my comments about RBs weren't in a "trade" type of mode, they were more about who starts the games and sees primary touches. There is no point in trading RBs or even considering it as we're in on the cheap on all of them really which is awesome.

In terms of Cooley, again, I'm only begging the question on what we do there... trust me, it will become an issue. Cooley is bringing in like 3.7m, Fred Davis is bringing in 555K. If Davis continues to play like he is we're going to have to address that. I don't believe we can afford two 3m+ TEs on the roster personally. I'm not against keeping them at all, just bringing up the real point that it is likely to become an issue going forward.

You think we can't afford two TEs when there is now a rookie wage salary in place?

[SWFLSkins]

Oh no! Not another Rex sucks, Torain should start, and trade Cooley Thread.............. :chair: :doh:

Yeah but this is a three for one sale!

[Redskins4ever]

Overall, from my perspective, Grossman has been playing fine. Yes, he threw INTs the past couple of games, but every QB does. Look at Tom Brady. Look at Eli Manning. Look at it this way: Grossman is indeed an upgrade from the QB position last year. He's looked stellar at times via the NYG game and Arizona Cardinals game.

Roy Helu could end the season as the starter. I agree that Tim Hightower's running style is not as effective as that of Torain and Helu. I like Hightower in the role of a 3rd down back, not a starter. Although he won the starting job legitimately, Ryan Torain should be the starter and the only reason he isn't was because of injury.

Chris Cooley can still play. With Fred Davis having a great season so far, Cooley's role has been limited. But he still gets his reps and he still gets his receptions. If Mike Shanahan trades Cooley I'd be not only surprised but mad as hell.

Those games against the Bills, 49ers, and Panthers will be close games. But they are games that we are capable of winning.

[Jeffro]

Yeah but this is a three for one sale!

Honestly, the thread wasn't about bashing those guys, just to spark debate about how the current records affect the outcome for those guys. Do you believe if the defense struggled and we were 1-3 people would still be indicating that Rex played OK, Hightower is fine and Cooley is fine even if the end of the game stats were the same? That's all this thread was meant to be. It wasn't a bashing thread, I support them all being there as much as the next guy, I just truly believe that our record (and I guess at some levels thats all that matters) has masked some areas of the team that are suspect.

[SWFLSkins]

Honestly, the thread wasn't about bashing those guys, just to spark debate about how the current records affect the outcome for those guys. Do you believe if the defense struggled and we were 1-3 people would still be indicating that Rex played OK, Hightower is fine and Cooley is fine even if the end of the game stats were the same? That's all this thread was meant to be. It wasn't a bashing thread, I support them all being there as much as the next guy, I just truly believe that our record (and I guess at some levels thats all that matters) has masked some areas of the team that are suspect.

News flash the team is 3-1 and you said in your OP this, "I think the Redskins are in a real quandary in lots of areas:

The first one being QB, I'm one of the folks who believe that our offense has looked extremely poor because of Rex and Rex alone. I believe Kyle knows how to call games and put up points but I don't believe he's got faith in Rex's overall game to call that style of game which limits us BADLY"

BTW, what makes you so sure Kyle knows how to call games? With Rex as his QB and a two score lead he threw on 1st and ten, Rex admitted the poor execution and said it was a good play call. I disagree. The team was getting over 7 yards a carry at that point.

And don't even get me started on Cooley, you bashed him while he is down and still hurting. He'll be back and the two TE set works for the Redskins. This was a bashing thread and to top it off you could have easily bumped a thread on all three. How's that for debate?

[Chase M]

12-4? Well hot damn

[HogNose]

We are 3-1.....and the sky isn't falling. Rex isn't fully to blame for all of the offensive/red zone prpbs. Little Shanny gets a little too cute and over confident with his play calling sometimes and puts Rex in some bad positions. At least we don't have Jason Campbell anymore. Rex is a huge step up from old "deer in the headlights".

[laurent]

I'm with you on Rex, but you're being way too kind in predicting this teams success. Out of all of those teams on the remaining schedule I don't see a single game I would chalk up as a win to be quite honest. Historically, our division games can go both ways, to have us going 3-1 in those remaining games is way too optimistic. To me 2-2 seems just about right.

Carolina and Minnesota don't have many wins between them, but based on how they've played I wouldn't chalk either one of them up as a win. They've been in games right up to the end and with a few breaks here and there they could be right around .500. I can see us split those games, especially late in the season when a veteran Vikings team is playing loose in the spoiler role. 1-1

Miami and Seattle are just about the only games I'd chalk up as W's. Miami is just awful, and Seattle catching lightning in a bottle isn't going to distract from the fact that they're terrible. 2-0.

Buffalo and San Francisco are the two surprise teams right now. They're riding high, but I don't think they're as good as the record suggests. They've gotten all of the breaks going in their direction early in the season, and typically those kind of things tend to even out over the year. The 49ers defense seems like a bad matchup, but I like our chances against their offense especially in a 1pm game. The same matchup problems I see against the 49ers should be reversed against Buffalo. We're more physical than them on both sides of the ball and they're due to come back to earth soon. With solid QB play I could see us going 2-0, but I don't see Grossman overcoming that 49ers defense. 1-1

That leaves the Patriots and the Jets and to me this will make or break our season. The way the Jets season has been going they will be in desperation mode and a veteran team like the Jets will be a tough matchup. Health and how well the Washington offenses manages to progress will make the difference here. Barring catastrophic injuries on New Englands side, I don't see us being in a position to beat them, and as much as I've enjoyed the season so far, I don't think Washington has a win against the Jets in them. 0 - 2.

That leaves the team at 9-7 and given our NFC record likely on the outside looking in. A far cry from where everybody expected us to be, but definitely a lot better than what I thought this team would accomplish this season.

It's easy to get swept up in the euphoria, but I don't think people should lose track of the fact that this team is still very much in the rebuilding stages and a decent QB away from making noise in the playoffs.

[RandyHolt]

Rex has converted a LOT of 3rd downs, I think the defense could be thanking him too. We must be in the league leaders for converts.

Kyle may have outsmarted himself, thinking teams would game plan for Davis and give Cooley some touches. It should work itself out in time once Young gets back and Cooley is not a FB/RB.

Shanahans backup plan to an RB is looking good right now. I think this torain should be renumbered 46.

I love the ismail quandry's of being 3-1.

[wrecker]

We must be in the league leaders for converts.

No, I think the Eagles have us on this one.

[No_Pressure]

I picked us to be 8-8 this season before it began. We're 3-1 and we could still easily become that 8-8 team. We almost didn't get it done against St. Louis, we lost a game we should have dominated against Dallas, and we almost lost to the 1-4 Cardinals at home.

The team has changed and we do have a good defense now but our offense has been all over the place, and it has been getting worse in certain areas as the season has progressed. We ran the ball well last week and our offensive line is playing better, but our WR's have had 2 bad weeks now, Rex has had 2 bad weeks now, and we aren't putting up enough points to consistently beat teams. Unless we change how our offense has been playing we're going to start losing more of these close games most likely. Our high range is 10-6 I don't think we'll be any better than that, our low range is 6-10 and I seriously doubt this is a 6-10 team.

Oct 16 vs Philadelphia - Win: off the bye and the Eagles are sucking.

Oct 23 @ Carolina - Win: Tough game on the road but I think we'll contain Newton alright.

Oct 30 @ Buffalo - Loss: I think we won't be able to score enough to keep up with Buffalo.

Nov 6 vs San Francisco - Loss: I think this is one of those games we should win but we'll lose in a heartbreaking letdown.

Nov 13 @ Miami - Win: I don't think we'll let the Dolphins come close.

Nov 20 vs Dallas - Loss: I don't think the Cowboys are good but we lost to them with half their offense out or injured, we couldn't run on them, we couldn't pass on them.

Nov 27 @ Seattle - Win: I don't think we'll lose to Seattle, I think they'll still have a losing record and be a little down at this point.

Dec 4 vs New York Jets- Win: Jets are overrated.

Dec 11 vs New England - Loss: I hate Tom Brady.

Dec 18 @ New York Giants - Loss: We really suck on the road in New York.

Dec 24 vs Minnesota - Win: Minnesota is terrible.

Jan 1 @ Philadelphia - Loss: I feel like Philly will be playing spoiler and if they didn't recover from this bad start this might be Andy Reid's last game as head coach (if they didn't fire him already).

That would give us 9-7.

[skins2victory]

Oh no! Not another Rex sucks, Torain should start, and trade Cooley Thread.............. :chair: :doh:

Took the words right out of my mouth........ The little yellow dude, hitting another little yellow dude with a chair was a good way to sum it up as well

[Newera]

I just don't see Rex getting through the whole season. At some point this year, Beck is going to get a look see. Probably after a couple disappointing loses.

[Redskin Diehard]

Jason Campbell didn't light it up while he was here... I will grant you that but somehow... after being forced into his 6th offense in six seasons of playing pro football, his W-L record is 11 and 9 since we traded him to oakland while the redskins W-L record is 7 and 13 during the same period. Again... jason never proved himself to be a stud-in-the-making while he was here but what he has proven after moving on to the pitiful azz oakland raiders (arguably the redskins of the west for the last decade)... is that he's a productive NFL qb, nothing more... nothing less. He may never rise to a pro bowl stature but what he's shown me is we should have let somebody else have donovan, kept jason and we would have been up a 2nd and a 4th round pick when all was said and done (Shanny & Son might have landed their dream QB with one of those picks). I was one of jason's harshest critics when he was here but honestly, compared to rex (height, quickness/mobility, arm strength, decision making) what did we really gain by throwing jason in the trash?

[SkinsFTW]

12-4?????

Pass that **** over here man. I need some of that. Even with the 3-1 start I have a hard time seeing us finish any better tha 9-7 this year and that's without any major injuries happening.

[Redskin Diehard]

We are 3-1.....and the sky isn't falling. Rex isn't fully to blame for all of the offensive/red zone prpbs. Little Shanny gets a little too cute and over confident with his play calling sometimes and puts Rex in some bad positions. At least we don't have Jason Campbell anymore. Rex is a huge step up from old "deer in the headlights".

---------- Post added October-10th-2011 at 07:43 PM ----------

Jason Campbell didn't light it up while he was here... I will grant you that but somehow... after being forced into his 5th offense in six seasons of playing pro football, his W-L record is 11 and 9 since we traded him to oakland while the redskins W-L record is 7 and 13 during the same period. Again... jason never proved himself to be a stud-in-the-making while he was here but what he has proven after moving on to the pitiful azz oakland raiders (arguably the redskins of the west for the last decade)... is that he's a productive NFL qb, nothing more... nothing less. He may never rise to a pro bowl stature but what he's shown me is we should have let somebody else have donovan, kept jason and we would have been up a 2nd and a 4th round pick when all was said and done (Shanny & Son might have landed their dream QB with one of those picks). I was one of jason's harshest critics when he was here but honestly, compared to rex (height, quickness/mobility, arm strength, decision making) what did we really gain by throwing jason in the trash?

[darrelgreenie]

I think the Redskins are in a real quandary in lots of areas:

The first one being QB, I'm one of the folks who believe that our offense has looked extremely poor because of Rex and Rex alone. I believe Kyle knows how to call games and put up points but I don't believe he's got faith in Rex's overall game to call that style of game which limits us BADLY. I think he's done enough to stay in games but I think we're 3-1 vs 1-3 because our defense. I believe Rex owes the defense Rolex watches. I also think that because our record is 3-1 and not 1-3 they've got to let Rex stay at QB, even though deep down they probably know it's not the right decision. Going with Beck at QB would go against what Shanny preaches from his players.. This, is a real issue and one that could clearly doom us..

I think they expected better play from Rex.

I think QB play is the one area that could most use improvement.

The second one being RB, I really believe that we've got a similar issue at RB. I think Hightower clearly won the job in preseason, we're 3-1 but in truth, he hasn't looked that great lately. I think Helu and Torain in his limited action have looked much better. Hightower is cutting to the sidelines too quickly and not trying to get up field for yards which exasperates the issues with Rex having to complete quick passes over the middle which makes me cringe even typing it. I think that Shanny has managed this quietly but I think this could become an issue later this year when debating who to start etc.

I think that we have a good "problem" at RB.

I think Torain ran very well against a bad run defense and had the benefit of some pretty good blocking.

Hightower and especially Helu have a quickness, ability to make defenders miss in space and the ability to hit cutback lanes that Torain lacks.

But, with all that being said Torain provides value to a running attack also because he's less cutback/ad-lib he's a frontside runner that will hit frontside holes aggressively and keep a defense honest.

The third issue is TE, I personally believe that although the two TE set looks good on paper its hard to actually achieve. Cooley wants his touches and wants to get paid like a top 5 TE and be game planned like a top 5 TE. At the same time, Fred Davis has potential to fill that same role except he's younger, lighter and faster. Cooley also looks to be losing a step and the knee injury doesn't help. Worth considering a trade at the trade deadline?

See above w/ RBs.

Good "problem".

The forth issue... OMG this schedule that looked favorable at the beginning of the year isn't looking so good now... LOL... Carolina, Bills and 49ers I had as easy wins... not so much now.

The merit of strength of schedule pre-season is a myth, the quality of a team is fluid throughout the season.

Unless we get much improved QB play I'm sticking with my 8-8.

[rick7423]

Oh no! Not another Rex sucks, Torain should start, and trade Cooley Thread.............. :chair: :doh:

Yes, I agree. This is getting really old.

In Shanahan I Trust!

[Thirtyfive2seven]

Oct 16 vs Philadelphia - Loss

Oct 23 @ Carolina - Win

Oct 30 @ Buffalo - Win / loss

Nov 6 vs San Francisco - Win / loss

Nov 13 @ Miami - Win

Nov 20 vs Dallas - Win

Nov 27 @ Seattle - Win

Dec 4 vs New York Jets- Win /oss

Dec 11 vs New England - Loss

Dec 18 @ New York Giants - Loss

Dec 24 vs Minnesota - Win

Jan 1 @ Philadelphia - Win

.

Hey there, great post but I completely disagree with your breakdown of the schedule. I agreed with your observations regarding Rex which is why I find your predictions so mind boggling. The way I see it there isn't really a way the Skins will score enough points against some of the tougher defensive teams. Philly is a divisional game and the record goes out the window when you play a team within your division. They are in desperation mode at this point. Buffalo is going to be tough as their d has been playing really well too. San Fran looks legit and Miami isn't a walk in the park either. Dallas again, yuck. Seattle I think we may be able to sneak by. Jets will be close due to their defense and the Pats will just outscore us.

Cheers and HTTR