A little History - Frustrated, ticked off, well yes...............but

[Stefanskins]

Since you were only 9, I can't fault you for being confused. In the 4 years Gibbs was here, he won more playoff games (1) than Schotferbrains won the last 15 uears of his coaching career. Herr Marty insisted on retaining GM duties despite having a putrid draft 2nd only to 2008 as the worst Skins draft ever. In 2000 we went 8-8 because of a rash of injuries. In 2001 we had the easiest schedule in the NFL,almost no injuries, and we still finished 8-8. We got blown out by some of the worst teams in the NFL the first 4 games because Schothead refused to give Stephen Davis the ball or pass more than 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, and his brother's defense was a joke. He gave monster contracts to bubble players like Donnell Bennett and Kevin Lockett because they were shameless yes men.

excellent points... still at the time it felt, to me, we were getting it together..

[Stefanskins]

 One person that's being left out of this discussion, and really had an impact on the team's success.

 

  Jack Kent Cooke.

 

  He was an owner that didn't meddle in Gibbs or Bobby's work, he let them do their job; BUT, he'd damn sure let em know if they were messing up.

 For those who weren't around for the good ol' days, Mr.Cooke was the type of man that wouldn't take crap from anyone. If Mara even THOUGHT about pulling any of the crap he did, Cooke would call him on the phone, tell him ' hang up the phone, drop your pants, grab a broom handle, and shove it deep'.

 

 And Mara would.

Great point. I'm guilty of not giving Mr. Cooke as much due as he should get. He was one of the best owners in all of sports. Didn't he own the Lakers too? What you saw is what you got with him. Night and day from Snyder. 

[Bishop Hammer]

Another great franchise move. :-(

[knighthonor]

The problem with this franchise is NOT the head coach.  We fortunately have evolved into a slightly better situation than the majority of time under Dan Snyders ownership, unfortunately we have a long ways to go before he blows up the GM and staffing departments and builds a real front office.  Gruden is fine.

but whats been wrong with the front office? what did they do wrong?

not sure how they are to blame.

[HapHaszard]

You know, I'm a little frustrated by the tone around here... We got throttled, and I get it. And to make it worse, it was a NFC East team. It was a rough game, and VERY painful to watch. There wasn't much that went right at all.

 

I keep hearing that Hee Haw song, you know the one that goes  "Gloom despair, agony on me"  Deep dark depression, excessive misery.

You know Hap, I thought about Gibbs and his start a lot and Coach Gruden and the one thing the man did was adapt, in a big way, maybe not even so much adapt,but flat out change.  Go with what you got. 

 

Right now we have a world class RB and a back up QB ... seems pretty obvious on how we should proceed. I just hope Jay is not afraid to at worst adapt and maybe even change. 

He changed his whole scheme, almost overnight.  It was like there were two different teams on the field.

[KingGibbs]

Best argument I've seen in here in regards to our talent (or lack thereof) is the massive drop-off from starters to backups. Another indictment of our piss poor FO structure or again.....lack thereof.

[HapHaszard]

Best argument I've seen in here in regards to our talent (or lack thereof) is the massive drop-off from starters to backups. Another indictment of our piss poor FO structure or again.....lack thereof.

Up until this year Shannahan was the front office, he was the one that had the final say on who we would draft, or this is what I have read.  We can't judge the front office from one draft.  Its going to take a year or two to determine how effective the front office is.  i do know that more attention was paid this year on reports from the scouting department, which hasn't been the practice in the past.

[S.T.real,lights,out]

I agree with most on here. I dont feel like Gruden is the problem...we have a ton of issues with the D/ST and front office. Dont see any of that changing this year so seems like it will be another long season.

[dballer]

I have two problems with the argument that other teams can lose starters and be ok. One it is not true. Two, losing a starting QB dooms any team. 

 

Lets look at some playoff caliber teams:

 

-Packers lost their starting center and NG and are absolutely lucky to be 2-2. (And that is even with #12 under center)

-Panthers lose their starting DE and RB and FB and they are all of a sudden in a tailspin. (Cam injured, not playing well).

-Many people had picked the Rams to challenge in that division. QB goes down and they are one of the worst teams in the league.

 

-Last year it was the Falcons, go from first to worst, with the loss of Julio being their one big injury. (QB plays poorly). Probably end up back in first this year. 

-Texans go from playoffs to 1st pick with a couple of injuries on both sides of the ball. 

-Packers went 2-5-1 without Rodgers. 6-2 with. Minus the quarterback position we have more talent than GB. No one is killing them for the way they draft or the talent or lack there of on the field, because they have Rodgers. 

 

Make no mistake, our biggest issue is the same as it has been. QB play. The right QB can turn the franchise around. Griffin showed that his rookie year. Lets just hope he can get back to that. 

[KingGibbs]

Up until this year Shannahan was the front office, he was the one that had the final say on who we would draft, or this is what I have read.  We can't judge the front office from one draft.  Its going to take a year or two to determine how effective the front office is.  i do know that more attention was paid this year on reports from the scouting department, which hasn't been the practice in the past.

Sorry Hap, but Bruce had an opportunity to address one of our biggest glaring holes on this team this past offseason because there was an influx of them available. That being safety. Ryan Clark as much as I love the guy does not qualify IMO. How about the RT position? Instead he pulled a typical Snyder move and went after the shiny toy in Desean Jackson after he was released. Bruce also could've allocated nearly $12 million into several positions namely the OL. Instead he gave that money to a guy that is constantly getting stone-walled by LT's. Bruce has gotten off to a horrid start IMO.

 

One more thing. He went out and tried to address the OL by signing one of the lowest rated OL'men in the NFL when he signed Lavauo. Brilliant.

 

Edit-As SkinsFTW pointed out below. Keeping Haslett.

[SkinsFTW]

Up until this year Shannahan was the front office, he was the one that had the final say on who we would draft, or this is what I have read.  We can't judge the front office from one draft.  Its going to take a year or two to determine how effective the front office is.  i do know that more attention was paid this year on reports from the scouting department, which hasn't been the practice in the past.

 

When in doubt, fire the experienced failure at identifying talent and replace him with one who has less experience but has exclusively failed meanwhile keeping the biggest failure on the coaching staff to "show the new guy the ropes" = CHAMPIONSHIP

[HapHaszard]

Sorry Hap, but Bruce had an opportunity to address one of our biggest glaring holes on this team this past offseason because there was an influx of them available. That being safety. Ryan Clark as much as I love the guy does not qualify IMO. How about the RT position? Instead he pulled a typical Snyder move and went after the shiny toy in Desean Jackson after he was released. Bruce also could've allocated nearly $12 million into several positions namely the OL. Instead he gave that money to a guy that is constantly getting stone-walled by LT's. Bruce has gotten off to a horrid start IMO.

 

Even though I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once I'm not a GM, nor do I want to be one.  I don't know who behind the scenes we tried to get and  failed, how much cap room we had at the time, how it would affect the cap in future years, or a lot of other factors that go into building a team.  I do know you can't do it all immediately.

 

Having over 30% of the starting 53 at the beginning of the year either on IR,, or playing with an injury doesn't make for a great game.  Backups are backups for a reason, they aren't as good as the player they are replacing.  Any team that has been mismanaged like this team has been over the years isn't going to be fixed today nor tomorrow.

 

I know that the system we have had in place for a long time, Vinnie, Head Coaches in charge of everything, an owner using the team as his personal fantasy league, hasn't worked. Now we have a model that most teams use, a GM in charge of personnel, a Head Coach in charge of the games. and a scouting department that is listened to. If Bruce doesn't get the job done we will know who is responsible. I'm not a Haslett fan, but I understand that Gruden wanted him and he was the head coach.  Allen and Gruden may not be the answer, but as I said in the OP, its way to early to say this year is a total bust.

[elkabong82]

New rg and rt new DC new safeties and this is a playoff team. All of that is attainable in 1 off season.

[HapHaszard]

For you Hazlett supporters or not:

 

http://www.espn980.com/includes/blog/index.php?action=blog&blog_id=8&post_id=20371

 

Silly Question # 1: Asked by thousands since last Thursday night, will the Redskins fire Jim Haslett as Defensive Coordinator?

Smart Answer # 1 Hell to the No. And they should not. Jay Gruden CHOSE to retain Haslett. Bruce Allen chose to retain Haslett, before Gruden was aboard. Dan Snyder met with Haslett for several hours during the period of great instability in early 2014.

Jim Haslett thought he was a goner on the day that Mike Shanahan was fired. Between an erroneous report that that the entire staff was let go and his meeting with Bruce Allen, Haslett told several players and others that he was done.

That never happened, and it was the best thing for the organization in the short and long term.

Here's why: This organization has been terrible at providing one very key element to being successful,stability. With Haslett, they had a chance to retain a two-time head coach who knew the players, who knew the building and the sour culture and who players went to bat for.

Remember all the times that the Redskins let go of promising talent only to see them have success elsewhere? I do. We all do. That's what happens when you give up on somebody because you are mad or because instead of finding the root of the problem, you want to rebuild the foundation.

 

The same holds true for coaches and executives. What would you do right now to bring back Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider back to the organization? That's right. He's here on Monday night, but not to stay.

Time will tell, but I believe it will be proven that the Redskins made a mistake by not promoting Scott Campbell and Morocco Brown, leaving Brown to leap to a organization that has had its share of chaos.

[HapHaszard]

Just wondering if anyone feels any different now that we have won 2 in a row?

[KDawg]

Just wondering if anyone feels any different now that we have won 2 in a row?

 

I feel the same as I did before. We're a growing team that's going to have ups and downs. We have a lot of work to do. A couple wins or a couple losses shouldn't push the meter too much either way. But at this point, we have three wins. That's the same amount as all of last season. And we're just passed the halfway point. That's progress.

[CrypticVillain]

I predicted 7-9 when the season started. So I really didn't see the need to panic when we lost those 4 straight games, I wasn't expecting much this season anyway. Still not.....

[HapHaszard]

I predicted 7-9 when the season started. So I really didn't see the need to panic when we lost those 4 straight games, I wasn't expecting much this season anyway. Still not.....

To be honest I expected us to win at least 10 games this year, mostly because RGIII was finally healthy.  So much for that.

[StephenDavis]

The Dallas game showed that this team is learning what it takes to win football games. That's huge. I still don't think we'll make the playoffs, but I expect us to win some more games this year. That should make for more winning in the future. I was just glad to see that the team in no way shape or form has given up.