DC Sports Bog: Fred Smoot speaking more Redskins truths

[TSO]

You know what? I absolutely loved the team of Hernandez, Smoot, Springs and Matich last week. That was perfect. Please keep BMitch out, he just ruins it and has to be all snide and amused at how bad we are. I don't mind it when people tell it like it is or go off on some aspect of the team, but when they do it to the point that it seems like they're enjoying it?

Hell no. BMitch has crossed that line one to many times for me and I actually stopped watching the show because of him. I just happened to put it on this week and saw he wasn't on and actually enjoyed the show again. I can live with Hernandez thinking he's funny when doing the same thing because it's just a couple comments here and there, but BMitch goes on these long rants and takes over the show reminding us over and over about how awful everything is. Thanks, I noticed BMitch.

If BMitch was a poster here he'd be one of those types the mods always work on shutting up, lol.

I definitely don't agree with everything they were saying but it was refreshing not to have to feel like getting smacked in the face a few more times after just watching a game where I had already taken bout fifty of them.

[Destino]

Ah yes, let's all listen to Smoot he is full of wisdom and good judgement. Let's agree with the points of a guy who hasn't been around the team in years and who's highlight performance over the last 5 years was banging hookers on the Vikings love boat.

Marty, Spurrier, Gibbs, and Zorn. I think Smoot knows a lot more about the redskins organization then most. He doesn't have answers but he does have the experience to make him worth listening to. No need to hate Smoot...

[wilco_holland]

Smoot is just a great fun guy. Need to love the honestly.

...and he is a ´Dutch´ player. At least he thinks so XD.

[Chump Bailey]

He's pretty much 100% right on.

Except that part about Tom Brady and Jason Campbell. If you really believe that, you're insane

[wrecker]

Why does everyone forget that Champ wanted to leave because management was junk. Norv, Marty, and Spurrier were coaches during Champs very brief 5 years......5 years and 3 head coaches, you wonder why he would want to leave?

Well he's had 4 head coaches in the last 4 years (including 1 interim) at Denver and he resigned with them. Also we gave a draft pick to Denver in the Bailey / Portis trade.

I recall another big reason he wanted to leave is because his wife hated the area. Can you say ***** whipped?

[Skinsinparadise]

He contradicts himself, he can actually rebut some of his own criticism with his own statements made at the same time.

You got shanny might not be the guy, implying maybe we should dump him -- while making a whole big statement about coaching instability killing this team including preventing JC from being Tom Brady. He doesn't like recycling old coaches because they are behind the times unless they are old Redskins coaches, that makes a lot of sense? shanny was out a year, Gibbs was out more than a decade, but the former is bad and the later is good. He says they are only 4 great players from catching up, but at the same time gives a sense of panic about how they build their roster. He totally ignores how they approached free agency and the draft this year. His critique seems to be 2 years behind.

[KDawg]

Campbell has certainly performed better than Grossman or Beck. However, Campbell was not replaced by Beck or Grossman. He was replaced by Donovan McNabb. A move that was pretty much universally praised by fans and media alike...until it didn't pan out.

Glad you put "pretty much universally praised" because I didn't like it. I thought McNabb would be an upgrade to Campbell, which, I was wrong about. But I didn't think he'd make enough of a difference to warrant the trade.

---------- Post added November-17th-2011 at 07:37 AM ----------

Ah yes, let's all listen to Smoot he is full of wisdom and good judgement. Let's agree with the points of a guy who hasn't been around the team in years and who's highlight performance over the last 5 years was banging hookers on the Vikings love boat.

Well, do you honestly believe that the way we've been doing things is the best way to help this team?

Can you even remotely argue the logic that we need to "draft more fat guys"? Or is it that some just don't like what Smoot had to say, so they wanna hurl insults at him in an attempt to hurt his credibility?

He's got some outstanding points. He's also a bit... delusional... about others. It's a guys opinion. Just like yours.

[Skinsinparadise]

Ah yes, let's all listen to Smoot he is full of wisdom and good judgement. Let's agree with the points of a guy who hasn't been around the team in years and who's highlight performance over the last 5 years was banging hookers on the Vikings love boat.

You got a point here. I watch him on Comcast talking about how they need to play Redskins football where they consistently play every play with heart and do it well. Smoot for the most was a guy who talked a good game but as a player was pretty inconsistent. I recall that game with the Vikings where he talked a storm against Steve Smith and Smith flat out embarrassed him. He was IMO far from a shutdown corner or a model player.

[S.T.real,lights,out]

He makes some good points and then he make points that dont seem to make much sense to me. And the only Diff between JC and Brady is not just coaching please. JC is and never will be in Brady's league.

[DJD2]

He loses all credibility when he compares Campbell toBrady.

[paloosa]

I agree with Smoots points and I think people are misunderstanding the point that Smoot was trying to say about the Campbell/Brady comparison. He wasn't saying that he would be as good as Brady but that Brady only had one HC to deal with and everything that the Patriots have done is kept people who were within the organization in the Coaching positions. The offense hasn't changed and he has allowed to perform under on system where Campbell hasn' had the luxury. But who knows what Campbell would have turned into if he had the same luxury. Everyone can see the dude can play and perform but no growth when you have that much change in your career. Name another franchise that has that much change in their organization over the saem period of time and has been successful? There isn't any. What if Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan or even Tony Romo sits to pee had that adversity, do you think they would be as good as they are now? Who knows. We can all speculate because we have seen them play for a few years in the same system with time to throw unlike the Redskins QB's. So no one, not even I can say that these guys would be successful under those circumstances.

[wrecker]

He loses all credibility when he compares Campbell toBrady.

I really don't think he was literally saying Jason = Brady. He was using that as an analogy to make his point about a QB being in the same system can develop and realize his full potential.

Jason never had that opportunity so we will never know how good he could have been.

Edit: paloosa beat me to it.

[WhoRUSupposed2Be]

Rex Grossman is a better quarterback than Jason Campbell. I will take Rex as my QB over Jason as my QB 10/10 times easily.

Jason Campbell is literally incapable of moving the ball without an elite running game (such as he occasionally had with us, and as he's had in Oakland) and an above-average to elite offensive line (the o-line was only truly bad in 2009, and was above average in 2007 and the first half of 2008). And the coordinator thing has always been overblown - the Al Saunders offense is just a scaled up version of the Air Coryell.

Rex is mistake prone, and is at best average in general, but he's the kind of QB that will look really, really good if everything is going right. Like in 2006 with the Bears. Jason Campbell even with a truly elite run game and a above-average supporting cast looked average at best, and had a lot of his yards come from screens and dumpoffs to McFadden and the like. I suspect that if this team had Oakland's talent on offense, we'd not only have a winning record, but Rex would put up some pretty good stats. I also suspect that Campbell would be truly horrendous on this team, because he's bad at reading defenses, has a pretty slow release, and is dumpoff/screen reliant.

Smoot is an idiot who gets people to believe him because he says stuff that the "Joe Average Fan" thinks makes sense. Just like Lavar and Dukes and the rest of the jokers on 106.7.

:applause: My sentiments exactly

Oh, but Freddy tells the truth though.

[wrecker]

The disfunctional Redskins organization IMO destroyed 2 first round QB's careers in JC and Patrick Ramsey.

I think both had the potential to be very good QBs if Snyder and Vinnie were not constantly changing coaching staffs.

We hire a coaching staff that doesn't fit the current roster. After 2 years of drafting and signing players to fit their scheme they are fired and the process starts over.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Although I am very uneasy about the way Shanahan is operating so far I have to give him the benefit of the doubt until next season.

If there is no improvement then he needs to go sooner rather than later. The last thing we need is to draft a franchise QB and have the Shanaclan fail after another 2 or 3 years and have to start the process over again.

We will then be on our way to destroy yet another potentially good QB.

There is ABSOLUTELY no reason that a 3rd year coaching staff shouldn't be able to produce a winning record unless they are inept.

[Jeffro]

Marty, Spurrier, Gibbs, and Zorn. I think Smoot knows a lot more about the redskins organization then most. He doesn't have answers but he does have the experience to make him worth listening to. No need to hate Smoot...

Umm, I dont think I'm "hating" I think that a player who hasnt played for a team for over 5 years could be considered "hating" when he shares opinions on what they need to do to win and how they handle their business. Unless of course he no longer plays football and has transformed into an analyst.

---------- Post added November-17th-2011 at 10:22 AM ----------

Well, do you honestly believe that the way we've been doing things is the best way to help this team?

Can you even remotely argue the logic that we need to "draft more fat guys"? Or is it that some just don't like what Smoot had to say, so they wanna hurl insults at him in an attempt to hurt his credibility?

He's got some outstanding points. He's also a bit... delusional... about others. It's a guys opinion. Just like yours.

Yes, I actually do believe for the last year and a half we've done everything we could. That's my opinion, to me the only thing people get on Shanahan about is the QB situation and quite frankly I dont think people can see the forest threw the trees. When you draft a QB you pretty much are dedicating 3-4 years to that person, given our draft position I dont think Shanahan had that comfort level with any of the QBs.. right wrong or indifferent that was his decision to make and just because hindsight shows guys like Dalton has looked good doesnt mean you can bash him for what he felt was right at the time.

In terms of "draft more fat guys" It's half dozen of one, half dozen of the other.. this team is being rebuilt.. this team has a million needs, priority of drafting is subject to opinion. Shanahan has clearly tried to improve the OL, have some of the guys worked out great? no. Do we have a lot of injuries on that line? Yes. Was that line looking decent at the beginning of the year? Yes.

Did I hurl an insult? Yes I did, but it was retalitory for a player deciding he wanted to "share his opinions" on a team that is already in the dumps, that he hasnt been on in 6 years? Yes. In terms of outstanding points, I'd sure like you to share what you think they are.

[TheLongshot]

Glad you put "pretty much universally praised" because I didn't like it. I thought McNabb would be an upgrade to Campbell, which, I was wrong about. But I didn't think he'd make enough of a difference to warrant the trade.

I'm also in this category. Unless you saw this team as a playoff team within the next three years, the trade made no sense. I don't know anyone who would have looked at this team and thought, "playoff team".

He loses all credibility when he compares Campbell toBrady.

While Smoot does his usual exagerating, his point is still sound. The infrastructure around Campbell wasn't good, with an OL that deteriorated every year he was here, the only offensive weapons to throw to were Moss and Cooley and the continual changes in offensive systems. (Despite people here saying otherwise, the change from Gibbs to Saunders was bigger than what people expected, given Brunell's struggles with it.) It is hard to become a master of an offensive system when they keep changing it drastically.

Yes, Campbell probably wouldn't have been a great QB, but I think he was a pretty good one, and could have been better with the right support structure around him. Certainly, he's the best QB we've had in years, and superior to everyone who has replaced him here since.

[rookieskin]

Also, Jason Campbell would never be Tom Brady. Even as a guy who thinks JC got a raw deal, he would've never been Tom Brady. Successful? Yes. Tom Brady? No.

So how successful could Cambell be?

You have no idea. We will never find out what he could have turned into had Shanny kept him and made him the starter.

The point is, rather Brady or not, he has the trajectory to be successful, FOR ANOTHER TEAM.

That is the point.

---------- Post added November-17th-2011 at 10:49 AM ----------

Carlos Rogers is another recent example.

[TheLongshot]

The disfunctional Redskins organization IMO destroyed 2 first round QB's careers in JC and Patrick Ramsey.

I think both had the potential to be very good QBs if Snyder and Vinnie were not constantly changing coaching staffs.

Last I checked, it was Spurrier's decision to resign, Gibbs' decision to bring in Saunders, Gibbs' decision to retire. Certainly you can hang Zorn and all of that situation onto Vinny and Snyder, but the vast majority of problems were caused by the coaching staffs.

Although I am very uneasy about the way Shanahan is operating so far I have to give him the benefit of the doubt until next season.

If there is no improvement then he needs to go sooner rather than later. The last thing we need is to draft a franchise QB and have the Shanaclan fail after another 2 or 3 years and have to start the process over again.

We will then be on our way to destroy yet another potentially good QB.

There is ABSOLUTELY no reason that a 3rd year coaching staff shouldn't be able to produce a winning record unless they are inept.

Unfortunately, you seem to be reflecting the problem with this team: all we've ever done in the past decade is change coaching staffs and not build anything. Why can't we develop late round picks? Because the coaching staffs who drafted them are gone and the new staff doesn't have these guys in their plan.

While I wasn't a fan of hiring Shanahan, he should get his 5 years to turn this thing around. Getting rid of him would be falling into the same pattern we have for the past decade, which isn't a successful one.

[KDawg]

Yes, I actually do believe for the last year and a half we've done everything we could. That's my opinion, to me the only thing people get on Shanahan about is the QB situation and quite frankly I dont think people can see the forest threw the trees. When you draft a QB you pretty much are dedicating 3-4 years to that person, given our draft position I dont think Shanahan had that comfort level with any of the QBs.. right wrong or indifferent that was his decision to make and just because hindsight shows guys like Dalton has looked good doesnt mean you can bash him for what he felt was right at the time.

The boat was immediately missed on the trade for McNabb. I still believe we would have been better off with Campbell. Not because I believed he was better than McNabb, I admitted earlier that I thought McNabb was an upgrade to Campbell. But keeping Campbell wouldn't have cost us the draft picks used on McNabb. Draft picks that could have been used on a corner stone player such as a QB, an OT, an OG, a NT... There's a lot of places that pick could have been used.

In addition, trading for Jamaal Brown was also an absolute failure.

That said, he knew he needed to address RT and QB and he attempted to do so. That's okay, and good. He missed, though. and missed bad.

Hindsight was never really a part of my thought process. Dalton looked good in the combine and was on my want list. He played quite well.

Now, my universal opinion has always been you don't take a player for the sake of drafting the position. You have to like the piece in order to properly utilize it. Obviously, Shanahan didn't like any of the pieces, which again, is okay. Problem is, he thought Beck/Grossman were NFL caliber quarterbacks to begin with. And with all of his high praise, he had most of us fooled too, as the thought process seemed to go something like: "Well, I don't see it... But he's at practice with the team every day, so he has to know something that we don't!"

So I did no "bashing" of Shanahan. Your rant on that subject matter is wrong. I'm okay with opinions, we all have them, but please, don't put words in my posts.

Over the years we have ignored the lines. My criticize wasn't just aimed at Shanahan, but rather this organization. You build a house from the foundation up, not the roof down. The lines are the foundation. What I will say is that Shanahan and Allen did well in addressing the defensive front. I would have started with OL and then went DL, but, that's personal preference. He started the restocking of the trenches, and for that I am extremely grateful.

But we didn't dedicate the resources necessary to the offensive line. You said it yourself. The line looked "decent" and the absence of depth was bitterly apparent. That could be addressed this year... But I'd say Smoot's point still stands. To this point, we could afford to get more "fat guys".

Just because he's been off the team for five years (by the way, he hasn't been) doesn't mean a whole lot. I'm sure he still talks to guys. I'm sure he still follows. Hell, it seems like he's a fan with his continued usage of the term "we". And, he's been in that locker room a lot more recently than pretty much any of us have.

He's not correct with all of his points, but his overall point is accurate. We have a lot of work to do.

[Commander PK]

Ah yes, let's all listen to Smoot he is full of wisdom and good judgement. Let's agree with the points of a guy who hasn't been around the team in years and who's highlight performance over the last 5 years was banging hookers on the Vikings love boat.

I decided not to go here, but I'm kind of glad somebody did. The truth is, Smoot is a funny guy to listen to...but he wasn't exactly a model of football professionalism either.

[Brotherz]

I've heard enough, let's replace Lavar with Smoot. I will offer myself to be the fat white guy replacement for Dukes.

---------- Post added November-17th-2011 at 11:40 AM ----------

I decided not to go here, but I'm kind of glad somebody did. The truth is, Smoot is a funny guy to listen to...but he wasn't exactly a model of football professionalism either.

This is a fundamental mistake that is made by many network executives as well. They put emmit smith on tv as an analyst because he WAS the model of professionalism. They put Jerry Rice on tv for the same reason. They are awful. They don't offer anything.

I agree smoot isn't the model of professionalism but so what? Why would that disqualify him from being knowledgeable about the problems the skins are facing. He is speaking the truth. He is speaking accurately about the situation. Antonio Pierce is a fantastic point about our player personnel dept. Guys like Lavar arrington are on the radio speaking with just as bad english as Smoot (maybe worse) and all he really says is "snyder sucks" over and over.

Look at some of the really strong analysts out there and they weren't the best players and they weren't the best professionals either. Michael Irving was incredibly talented but was he a consumate professional? Dilfer? That guy from the bachelor? Locally, the best guy on that post-game show is Trevor Matich!! He's never putting on a hall of fame jacket. Being an analyst, especially about a local team that you played for is about connecting with the fans and providing them with real opinion based on some experience in the league. Smoot could do that. I liked what he has said. I think he's honest and real and I don't see an agenda.

---------- Post added November-17th-2011 at 11:48 AM ----------

Unfortunately, you seem to be reflecting the problem with this team: all we've ever done in the past decade is change coaching staffs and not build anything. Why can't we develop late round picks? Because the coaching staffs who drafted them are gone and the new staff doesn't have these guys in their plan.

While I wasn't a fan of hiring Shanahan, he should get his 5 years to turn this thing around. Getting rid of him would be falling into the same pattern we have for the past decade, which isn't a successful one.

Firing Shannahan or anyone else on this staff in my opinion would be insane. Honestly, I can't even fathom what the down side of seeing the next 3 years of this rebuild could possibly be? If you fire him you have to admit that you go back to year 1 of the rebuild with a different coach/system etc right? We are in year two of our rebuild now. In any rebuild, I would think that the fun part of it is years 3-5 with each successive year being the most fun. The worst years of the rebuild are years 1-2. Why would anyone not want to see the "fun" parts in exchange for starting over the bad parts?

Firing this regime now is like trying to swim the english channel, getting half way across and turning around and swimming back to shore because you got tired.

[Commander PK]

This is a fundamental mistake that is made by many network executives as well. They put emmit smith on tv as an analyst because he WAS the model of professionalism. They put Jerry Rice on tv for the same reason. They are awful. They don't offer anything.

I agree smoot isn't the model of professionalism but so what? Why would that disqualify him from being knowledgeable about the problems the skins are facing. He is speaking the truth. He is speaking accurately about the situation. Antonio Pierce is a fantastic point about our player personnel dept. Guys like Lavar arrington are on the radio speaking with just as bad english as Smoot (maybe worse) and all he really says is "snyder sucks" over and over.

Look at some of the really strong analysts out there and they weren't the best players and they weren't the best professionals either. Michael Irving was incredibly talented but was he a consumate professional? Dilfer? That guy from the bachelor? Locally, the best guy on that post-game show is Trevor Matich!! He's never putting on a hall of fame jacket. Being an analyst, especially about a local team that you played for is about connecting with the fans and providing them with real opinion based on some experience in the league. Smoot could do that. I liked what he has said. I think he's honest and real and I don't see an agenda.

The problem I have with Smoot is pretty much the same one that I have with Lavar. They both talk about the Redskins, as if when they were players on the team, they weren't part of the problem. They weren't part of the culture. If I had the time and inclination, I'm sure the old news is still available on the internet showing that they both had up and down tenures, and their performance wasn't consistent.

Smoot is entertaining I'll give him that. He's better than Brian Mitchell also, who seems to take pleasure in bashing the team week in and week out.

[Destino]

Umm, I dont think I'm "hating" I think that a player who hasnt played for a team for over 5 years could be considered "hating" when he shares opinions on what they need to do to win and how they handle their business. Unless of course he no longer plays football and has transformed into an analyst.

FYI - Fred Smoot was a Redskins in 2009.

[Commander PK]

I'd have no problem, if a guy like London Fletcher retired this year retired from the Redskins and then wanted to criticize the moves the organization has made over several years no problem at all.

The guy has put it on the line every single day of his tenure as a Redskin. From preparation, to his leadership, to game day.

[courier2003]

I think Smoot was on the mark with his comments. The high turnover with coaching staff has been one problem. I think with any organization, football or otherwise, when you keep having a high turnover rate with the upper-level personnel, it prevents the people who work below them (in this case, the players) from developing into better "employees." It also affects the overall morale. Has anybody else noticed the lack of willingness by the players to go out and give 100% on the field during this losing streak? Players who were unsuccessful with the Redskins have gone to other teams and excelled for one main reason. The overall work environment was much better. If I was a player and had to choose where I would go, then I would be much more inclined to accept a position with a team that has a stable work environment and take a lower salary than vice versa. Snyder's money hasn't solved the problems with this team. Only a change in the way certain things are handled will make a difference.