Resetting 2014 Expectations

[alwaysaskin]

I really think that the Norv years might have been underrated. I mean, if you look at the records, Norv had 3 winning seasons, after 1995, in 1998 we regressed, mainly to Frerrotte being done as a starter, and the fact that Norv was competitive with Frerotte, Westbrook, Connell, and other scrubs on Offense was a real indicator of the bang we got for our buck. Not signing Trent Green was the dagger, but 1999 showed a vast improvement. Had Snyder not played Fantasy Football in 2000, and had he not hired peg boy Cerrato, it might have been reasonable to expect continued improvement from Norv. Do I see that with Jay? The juries still out, the rate this team has played at shows me a sloppy, undisciplined team, if we want to compare talent, this team had more talent with Jay than Norv had in his first year, and yet we look much worse, is that coaching? I'm looking at this season to see if Jay will make the players fit his system or adjust the system to the players. The truth is that the Norv years are second only to Gibbs II in terms of post Gibbs I glory days

[TradeTheBeal!]

My expectations are to enjoy some great action from the Caps and the Wiz and get some stuff done around the house on Sundays with the RedZone on in the background.

[fwo40]

Rookie Head Coach. QB learning to be a totally different type of player.  Money spent on the WR position instead of the secondary.  Baffling Morgan Moses draft pick & Shawn Lauvao FA pickup.  And retention of Haslett - anyone expecting playoffs or close to playoffs coming off a 3 win season with those circumstances....well there was too much Kool Aid to begin with.

[skinsfan1523]

Wrong thread

[justice98]

My expectations are we'll scuffle to 6-10.    

[HtownRocks111]

This is interesting to me.  Realistically if our special teams were improved and we didn't give up the Texans game and Eagles game... we'd be 3-2 right now and I have a feeling our fan base would be much more optimistic and I'm not sure why exactly.  Offense/defense would be just as bad, and no one has ever won the superbowl off of special teams alone.  I think our foundation has to be shook up.  I think Dhall has reached the end of his tenure here.  So has Santana (which he won't get much play time this year anyway), our Oline needs new faces in every spot except LT, Stephen Bowen needs to go, Perry Riley may need to be gone, Orakpo needs to see the other side of the door, 

 

Shoot, it's a shorter list at who I want to stay so let me start there...

 

RGIII, Kerrigan, Amerson, Garcon, Djax, Almo, Jordan Reed (1 more yr of injuries and hes a goner), Trent Williams, Keenan Robinson and Tress Way, and the rookies from this year.  Everyone else I just have no faith in anymore.

[justice98]

Lets face it what issues do we have right now that would help if we drafted correctly?  TE and I will also say Kicker.  We drafted for these positions and we ended up cutting them.  This is where we have to get better.  Our later picks much be at least serviceable starters.  When I see Neils Paul get his ass handed to him blocking, I am WTF?  couldn't we find a solid TE in the 6th round that can block?  When I see Kai, not be able to kick it past the goaline and consistently see other teams get solid to great rookie kickers I am pissed.  It should be this hard.  Our scouting department sucks...lets face it.

 

I really think Niles might not've been in the best of condition to play.  He seemed to play like a dude that got concussed and helped off the week before.  Yeah, he's not a good blocker even in the best of circumstances, but he looked shakier than usual.

[Laron Burgundy]

Whether we like it or not, Trent Murphy is going to get first swing at Orakpo's job. That's why we took him so high.

If we're drafting in the top-5 and a beast OT is there to pair with Trent and we go passrusher, CB, etc. I'll have a heart attack.

A dominant DL prospect would be the only exception, but NT and 3-4 DE rarely go that high, its usually edge rushers which as I said, OL is a higher priority.

We can turn this offense and maybe team around in ONE year if we spend a high 1st and high 2nd on a stud OT and stud interior OL. It protects the QB, allows you to pound the ball and keep the defense off the field and push other teams around.

Most importantly, it gives us an IDENTITY, smashmouth OL and running game with a talented WR corps as a bonus.

We roll out Trent-2nd rounder-x-x-1st rounder next year, for example, and you become competitive VERY quickly even totally independent of how RG3 and the defense progresses, because you can control the clock and rough up teams.

 

True on this.  I haven't gone through all the video yet, but there are currently 3 OT (Ogbuehi, Scherff, Peat) I would be thrilled about drafting that early.  Gives me some comfort that we may be able to trade back and still get one of them.  Don't know if I would go o-line for 1st and 2nd simply because our defense needs so much help next year.  Orakpo likely gone, Riley and our safeties need to be replaced, Hatcher will be one year older.  We won't be able to hit all those needs, but as things currently stand I think our defense will be even worse next year.

[Conn]

Honesty, I don't care about the defense next year. It's not going to matter if we improve our defense from bad to mediocre if we ruin Griffin's chance to develop into our franchise QB.

Get a creative DC in here and do what you can with the defense next year, but if the players available are anywhere near BPA, invest in the OL and by proxy Griffin's future with our picks in the top 2-3 rounds.

[Laron Burgundy]

Honesty, I don't care about the defense next year. It's not going to matter if we improve our defense from bad to mediocre if we ruin Griffin's chance to develop into our franchise QB.

Get a creative DC in here and do what you can with the defense next year, but if the players available are anywhere near BPA, invest in the OL and by proxy Griffin's future with our picks in the top 2-3 rounds.

I disagree on that. I'm all for spending major resources on the o line but it's only part of the equation. Seattle and San Fran have sheltered their scrambling qb's by having great lines and a running game, but also defenses that keep scores down so those qb's don't have to throw 30+ times a game. You can find immediate starters in interior linemen later than you can find that in d linemen or safeties. Of course it all depends on who is there when we draft, so the point is kinda moot at the moment.

[NewCliche21]

Rookie Head Coach. QB learning to be a totally different type of player.  Money spent on the WR position instead of the secondary.  Baffling Morgan Moses draft pick & Shawn Lauvao FA pickup.  And retention of Haslett - anyone expecting playoffs or close to playoffs coming off a 3 win season with those circumstances....well there was too much Kool Aid to begin with.

 

Yeah, who would expect a rookie coach to make the playoffs?  Surely not the Harbaughs.

 

Same excuses every year.  I'm sick of it; just ****ing win already.  Bengals are one of the top teams in the league, Seahawks started rebuilding right when we did, Eagles went from 4 wins to winning the division with a rookie coach and nobody at quarterback, and so on.

 

Just effing win.

[Cooleyfan1993]

Yeah, who would expect a rookie coach to make the playoffs?  Surely not the Harbaughs.

 

Same excuses every year.  I'm sick of it; just ****ing win already.  Bengals are one of the top teams in the league, Seahawks started rebuilding right when we did, Eagles went from 4 wins to winning the division with a rookie coach and nobody at quarterback, and so on.

 

Just effing win.

kinda hard to win when the starting QB is out until at least week 11 and the starting defensive CB is out for the season, and the defense is sucking, and the QB throws 5 interceptions against a divisional opponent. not even Bill Bellicheck could win games here.

[Laron Burgundy]

kinda hard to win when the starting QB is out until at least week 11 and the starting defensive CB is out for the season, and the defense is sucking, and the QB throws 5 interceptions against a divisional opponent. not even Bill Bellicheck could win games here.

You mean like when Vick got hurt on the Eagles last year and foles stepped in? Eagles d wasn't that great either and was in a transition year to boot!

There's no excuse for us to have dropped games to the Texans and Giants as easily as we did. I wouldn't mind if they were just losses, but we weren't competitive in 3 of our 4 losses so far.

[Thinking Skins]

You mean like when Vick got hurt on the Eagles last year and foles stepped in? Eagles d wasn't that great either and was in a transition year to boot!

There's no excuse for us to have dropped games to the Texans and Giants as easily as we did. I wouldn't mind if they were just losses, but we weren't competitive in 3 of our 4 losses so far.

We were competitive against the Texans. (4th quarter 8 minutes to go and the score is 14-6. We get the ball back and its 2:00 to go and we're down 17-6. If we had stopped them on that drive we have a legit chance to win that game).

We beat the Jaguars

We were competitive against the Eagles (4th quarter. 2:25 to go we get the ball at their 41 with the score 37-34)

We were not competitive against the Giants

We were competitive against the Seahawks (4th quarter. 3:35 to go and they get the ball. We're down 24-17. We stop them on that drive and we have a chance to tie or win it).

[TheLongshot]

To be honest, my expectations were never that high for this season.  I was thinking 8-8.  Course, with all the injuries, it has kinda trashed that expectation.

 

Then again, the defense is playing better than I was expecting it to.  I was figuring that the offense was going to need to outscore what the defense has been giving up, but the defense hasn't been as much of a liability as I thought.  Course, with RG3 out and Cousins still learning how to play in the NFL, the offense hasn't been all that yet.

[chipwhich]

To be honest, my expectations were never that high for this season.  I was thinking 8-8.  Course, with all the injuries, it has kinda trashed that expectation.

 

Then again, the defense is playing better than I was expecting it to.  I was figuring that the offense was going to need to outscore what the defense has been giving up, but the defense hasn't been as much of a liability as I thought.  Course, with RG3 out and Cousins still learning how to play in the NFL, the offense hasn't been all that yet.

 

You really should watch more of the games.

[Rufus T Firefly]

We had a perfect opportunity for a full-out rebuild when Shanny came aboard and he blew it with the McNabb trade. That whole roster shouldve been flushed and we should've basically became an expansion team. Instead we tried to build fast again and it failed miserably. Right now we're stuck in purgatory and I have no clue who we're going to get out of it?

That's very true.

 

However, this offseason was also a great opportunity for not a full rebuild but a plan that could have really set the team up for a run in a couple of years and we punted on that as well.

[NewCliche21]

That's very true.

 

However, this offseason was also a great opportunity for not a full rebuild but a plan that could have really set the team up for a run in a couple of years and we punted on that as well.

 

Silver lining may be Allen giving up the GM position and getting someone who actually knows what he's doing to flush the team.  If Allen did it, then we'd be totally ****ed.  I hear that new guy in Cleveland is pretty good; wish we would've gotten him.

[Rufus T Firefly]

Silver lining may be Allen giving up the GM position and getting someone who actually knows what he's doing to flush the team.  If Allen did it, then we'd be totally ****ed.  I hear that new guy in Cleveland is pretty good; wish we would've gotten him.

Well, it's not a silver lining until it happens. But even if it does, we'll be in worse shape than if someone had been here a year earlier and set the team up the right way.

[SkinsFTW]

To be honest, my expectations were never that high for this season.  I was thinking 8-8.  Course, with all the injuries, it has kinda trashed that expectation.

 

Because our front office sucks and we've been garbage for years but that doesn't stop the Chiefs from going 11-5 or the Eagles from going 10-6 or the 49ers from going 12-4 or the Ravens from going 11-5 or the Cardinals from going 10-6 or the Falcons, Chargers, just about every other team that's turned it around with a new coach.

 

We just have low expectations because Snyder and his clown show of a front office has been screwing it up since the 90's. It's sucked so bad he caused it to presuck for 6-7 years before he even bought the team

 

From now on I'll just turn games on Sunday and think "WWABFD" What Would A Browns Fan Do

[Laron Burgundy]

We were competitive against the Texans. (4th quarter 8 minutes to go and the score is 14-6. We get the ball back and its 2:00 to go and we're down 17-6. If we had stopped them on that drive we have a legit chance to win that game).

We beat the Jaguars

We were competitive against the Eagles (4th quarter. 2:25 to go we get the ball at their 41 with the score 37-34)

We were not competitive against the Giants

We were competitive against the Seahawks (4th quarter. 3:35 to go and they get the ball. We're down 24-17. We stop them on that drive and we have a chance to tie or win it).

 

Just because the score was close doesn't mean it was exactly competitive.  We couldn't move the ball on the texans, scoring just 6 points is indicative enough of that.  Then against the seahawks we needed the most ref interference I have ever seen just to lose by 2 scores at home.  They controlled the pace of that game from start to finish.  Again, score was close, but we were outplayed and outcoached heavily.

[rskin72]

Well, I had hoped that we could compete this season for the NFCE title.....as thought the east would be down.  But....this season almost has a similar smell to last season where week after week many would think we could get a W and climb back into the east picture.....but it was not to be. 

 

It really doesn't matter how close we may have been to a W in a couple of games where we played ok....we did not do enough to win which is more predominate in our recent past than is a comeback for a significant W. 

 

I am still undecided on the FO under BA.....but certainly would think that there is a lot more work that needs to occur there, especially within the scouting department. 

 

We need Oline help....immediate starters, not guys we draft or get in FA, then either cut them or sit them on the bench for a couple of years.  

 

I would get rid of Haz....and then let his replacement look over our pieces/parts on D and make the decision where assets are most needed......I would think Dline then work back.....but there are several holes that need to be filled. 

 

And one poster....maybe Chipwich....mentioned....we need SOME part of the team to be dominant.  Right now our D is middle of the road (based on yardage allowed).....our O is ranked 7th based on same parameter of yardage.  Our ST play has shown issues still and certainly is not currently a strength of the team.  So...would think that with some Oline help, and the playmakers we will have under contract for the next season....we could be a pretty potent offense. 

 

Harder to tell about the D......I believe that the correct DC could make a positive impact right now....like Marinelli has apparently accomplished down in Dullass as they were thought to have had a very suspect D prior to the beginning of the season. 

 

So...I have not given up on the season....but we need to win a few games here....and will need to beat some teams that we are not supposed to beat.....especially when we have that opportunity like we had vs the Beagles. 

[SkinsFTW]

Well its going to be difficult since at least with Shanny we ALWAYS had a working running game, even before Morris it didn't matter if it was Hightower or Royster or Helu or whoever but we always got yards running it. Right now we have a qb that can keep drives going and make some big plays but NO running game even with Morris healthy and Cousins only has a handful of games played so it won't always be pretty.

[Diehard Otis]

I will concede that this is going to sound like a familiar refrain over the past 10 years/3-4 coaches...but here we are. 

 

The Redskins are 1-3 and almost certainly staring 1-5/2-4 right in the face. The rest of the division is hitting its collective stride and playing very good football as well. Many, many people didn't expect much this season, but a few of us thought that with a few breaks we might be a sneaky 8-10 win team. However, we've dealt with some injuries, laid a couple early-season eggs, and missed a couple opportunities to secure a win in Philly. All of that adds up to some very long odds of turning the season around to contend for anything. 

 

But there is still plenty to watch and look for over the final 75% of the season. Personally, I want to see the following things over the final 12 games:

 

1) Leadership from Gruden --> This early-season challenge is a nice opportunity for Gruden to show us how he will handle the head coaching gig here. We all know how Gibbs was able to weather the 0-5 storm in 1981 to lead us through the best decade in team history. Certainly we can't expect that, but I would love to see us finish stronger in November and December than we started in September. For the first time in a while, that would mean something to me. 

 

2) QB Improvement --> I'm still on the fence about this position and honestly I still don't care which guy takes this position and runs with it. There are pros and cons to either scenario. If Griffin becomes the guy and takes a step forward this year, that's comfortable for all of us and it comes with a lot less controversy. If Cousins does so, you get the feeling that he will play in more games over the next several years. Either way, I want a nice feeling that we can have productive and consistent play from the position moving into Gruden's next few years. 

 

3) Youth --> If we do lose a couple more games in October, I would want to start seeing some of our "backup plans" at certain positions. We have been forced to play a couple of young players in the secondary which could become exciting. We drafted a talented OLB despite having two entrenched starters, so I wouldn't mind seeing Murphy take some reps from Orakpo assuming we don't plan to pay him. I would also be all for shaking things up along the OL. Why not? 

 

4) Pride and Enthusiasm --> This is more a byproduct of #1 and #3, but I want to see the players flying around and playing hard/fast. The Seahawks were a mediocre team before they became who they are. Sure, the talent they've added has led to them being a contender, but they forged their identity before they became good. I want us to begin to do the same immediately. I want to see this team come together under the head coach and play inspired on every play, knowing that better days are around the corner. 

Regarding the original post:

 

I agree that the team's circumstances present an opportunity for our Head Coach to gain some growth.  There definitely is opportunity in adversity.  And heck, I'm old fashioned.  I believe in giving The Coach a healthy benefit of the doubt so that his methods can be proven sound in time. 

 

But no one around here wants to hear that.  All they see is the slow start.  And yes, I'm disappointed too, but its too early to know how things will play out this year & going forward.  I remain hopeful.  Even if I become the last man carrying the flag.

[longball]

What expectations? We are still dealing with some of Shanny's personnel acquisitions, the major being my zone blocking scheme does not require talent so ignore O-line. Over the next 1-2 years we need to go young in all areas of the field Oline and D, and gain depth.These receivers are wasted with no Oline, and forget the argument between RG or Cousins. Neither is safe behind this line. We need to create and coach talent. Look at what the Seahawks have done. We need a competent GM that has a track record for young talent, not old timers.