"You’re gonna understand, when we put our pads on, we’re coming out there to hurt you."

[War Paint]

That was a fantastic interview.  If anyone hasn't listened to it, they should.  It's probably archived at ESPN 980.

Buzz words and cliches are cool and all but I'm gonna need a little more than that to get excited

I understand why you feel that way, but listening to that interview, it came across as more than just words and coach speak.   You can tell it is going to be our new identity and that anyone on the team who isn't cut out for it will be gone. 

[shakinaiken]

Buzz words and cliches are cool and all but I'm gonna need a little more than that to get excited

 

Buzz words and cliches are generally the only thing you get in May...

 

But i agree with you

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Listen I like Scott a lot. I listened to that interview live during work and he seems like a cool dude.

But every coach/GM has come in and said something similar. Sure the wording was different depending on the given scheme/philosophy but I don't understand why this quote has everyone all giddy.

I'm sure if we go back to articles/interviews that Shanny, Vinny, Bruce, etc gave in their first few months, you'd hear similar "rah rah" comments.

Put it this way: Barry Trotz and Brian McClellan (Caps new coach and GM) would speak very similarly during the offseason. I felt the same way then as I do now hearing Scott's comments

I need to see tangible improvement (like the Caps have shown this year) to fully buy in.

[Brokenstriker]

Buzz words and cliches are generally the only thing you get in May...

 

But i agree with you

I'm with you ... but I take stock in his first off-season.  Even if his FA signings and draft picks don't pan out you can see that he's on that path and doing what he can as a GM to deliver his vision.  Big, fast, strong, focused, smart players with histories of playing hard and through the whistle.  He's taken some gambles that injuries are in the past on some guys but later in the draft and lower in salary ... and in Knighton's case for example given them a clear path to bring it and earn it.  Pretty good for a GM.

[SkinsNoles21]

Not coach speak you whiners. 

 

Yes the Redskins have sucked the past 20+ years for the most part, but that has little to do with Scot McCloughan. 

 

McCloughan's "coach speak" as many of you say, isn't really coach speak. Look at his track record. Look at the past teams he's built. This is his desire for any roster he builds, and to say its only coach speak when he has a proven track record of building San Fran and assisting in the building of Seattle, is kind of silly. 

 

Games can't start today. All he has is words in May. 

[SkinsNoles21]

Buzz words and cliches are cool and all but I'm gonna need a little more than that to get excited

 

Well it's May. What exactly are you looking for?

 

Maybe this one-handed catch by our 7th round pick Evan Spencer will get you excited. He was a true freshman when he caught this. His first career catch

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuJBwqBih6w

[RedBeast]

Hmmmm....For the doubting Thomas's...Sounds like?

"Man that girl broke my heart! I am never dating women again!" What other choice do we have? Gay? Cowboys? Gay Cowboys? Hahahaha

We keep hitting it until we get it right. Thats what we do.

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns! he said

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade!

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew

Someone had blundered

Theirs not to make reply

Theirs not to reason why

Theirs but to do and die

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Fight on, Fight on

Until you have won

Sons of Washington"

HAIL!

[War Paint]

It didn't sound like cliche buzz words to me.  It sounded more like a mission statement and a philosophy that will be implemented.  I think we'll see a more physically tough, smashmouth team going forward.

[Voice_of_Reason]

Not that it matters at all, but I didn't know that he was re-married. 

 

I think what's cool is that he seems to "get it." He sees what DC fans are capable of.  He wants to channel that to the 'Skins.  He knows the type of football team he wants, and he goes out and gets players that conform to that vision.

 

It's why I think he likes Griffin.  He sees a dual-threat QB, in the mold of Wilson (interesting that entering the 2012 playoff game with Seattle, Wilson was in the mold of Griffin, and now that's flipped), a player that can really help a power-run game, and make some plays in the passing game when necessary.

 

The question that I have is on the coaching staff.  Does Gruden's approach, WCO style, really fit with SM's? Will Gruden adapt?  Not sure.  But it's the biggest open question right now.  

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Well it's May. What exactly are you looking for?

Maybe this one-handed catch by our 7th round pick Evan Spencer will get you excited. He was a true freshman when he caught this. His first career catch

Listen I'm on board with Scott but I'm not christening him as the savior like a lot of other ppl until I see results. I liked the draft but I liked Bruce's drafts after they happened too. That's all I'm saying

[DogofWar1]

It might be buzz words, but I prefer those to finesse talk that doesn't pan out.

 

Talking about ZBS sets and strategy is fine and all, or about defensive packages, and such; but when it doesn't pan out we're sort of left deflated.

 

Here, there's no finesse.

 

It's kind of a weird comparison but I'm reminded of a quote from the Dracula-centric manga Hellsing, where a character is explaining to another younger character what makes vampires so dangerous.  The younger character keeps going over the unique abilities; can turn into mist and bats, can control animals and people, can only be killed in very specific ways, etc.  And the older character tells the younger one that all those things matter, but the most important thing that makes them dangerous is just their sheer power.  They're powerful.

 

That's what Scot's aiming for.  We can add the finesse and other tools in later.  In the meantime, when we hit you, it's supposed to hurt.  You're supposed to feel it, and not want to feel it again.  And that's supposed to get in your head.

 

That's why I'm more stoked about this class than I might have been otherwise, just looking at their projections.  Everybody is physical.  The offensive guys all block, and the defensive guys hit you like you just beat up their girlfriend.

[Ghost of]

Theirs not to make reply

Theirs not to reason why

Theirs but to do and die

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

 

 

And on the bright side, while the Light Brigade charge was tactically successful.  As Figges writes, "The objective of the charge was to scatter the enemy's lines and frighten him off the battlefield, and in this respect, as the Russians had acknowledged, it achieved its aim." The error was not finishing off the Russian cavalry who had been routed.  

[War Paint]

Yep, what I take from Scot's comments is that we WILL be morphing into a smash mouth team and are moving away from finesse.  I thought our team has been too soft.  I think that will change going forward and I'm all on board with that.  I've always favored smash mouth over finesse.

[RedBeast]

And on the bright side, while the Light Brigade charge was tactically successful. As Figges writes, "The objective of the charge was to scatter the enemy's lines and frighten him off the battlefield, and in this respect, as the Russians had acknowledged, it achieved its aim." The error was not finishing off the Russian cavalry who had been routed.

It was written "en espiritu" rather than direct historical context

[Bonez3]

Buzz Words?!?!??!?!?!?

 

The guy just went out and went ALL BEEF... I don't think he was giving lip service.

 

Last year there was a thread questioning what was Redskins vision. Well, now there is no question. Great to see a vision and focus going forward.

[RonArtest15]

He's a HUGE believer in Matt Jones.  Wouldn't shock me one bit if this is our starter going into next season.  Likened him to Marshawn Lynch. 

[jflow78]

Not coach speak you whiners. 

 

Yes the Redskins have sucked the past 20+ years for the most part, but that has little to do with Scot McCloughan. 

 

McCloughan's "coach speak" as many of you say, isn't really coach speak....

Not to mention, I'm pretty sure you have to be a coach to use "coach speak". I'm fairly sure this would be "GM speak", which actually has the power to get some things done. 

[RedBeast]

No doubt Bonez...and sorely needed as well as happily received.

[London Kev]

What I find so interesting about this quote is the part I bolded. He's essentially saying that Preston will be an OLB on 1st down, but will be a DE or even a NT on later downs (in other words, the more likely the other team is going to drop back, the more likely he'll be playing inside). 

 

A versatile player like that should be useful against the eagles' ultra quick offense. 

 

 

Listen I'm on board with Scott but I'm not christening him as the savior like a lot of other ppl until I see results. I liked the draft but I liked Bruce's drafts after they happened too. That's all I'm saying

 

You should probably delete the vid, Brave.

[Aireskoi]

I'm going to respond to this a little different probably than most, but I don't care for any of this type of talk going outside of the practice fields, the locker room, and team meetings.  Let the other teams feel what you mean instead of telling them to prepare for a heavyweight fight themselves.

 

Let your reputation speak for itself.  

 

I don't believe teams were going to play soft until they read this, but why give anyone any extra motivation.

 

As a fan I love the idea of being bad-asses, and I don't hate the talk from Scot, but I wouldn't do it myself.  Just do it in-house. 

[War Paint]

I'm going to respond to this a little different probably than most, but I don't care for any of this type of talk going outside of the practice fields, the locker room, and team meetings.  Let the other teams feel what you mean instead of telling them to prepare for a heavyweight fight themselves.

 

Let your reputation speak for itself.  

 

I don't believe teams were going to play soft until they read this, but why give anyone any extra motivation.

 

As a fan I love the idea of being bad-asses, and I don't hate the talk from Scot, but I wouldn't do it myself.  Just do it in-house. 

Scot's just letting everyone know what the vision and philosophy going forward is.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

He's a HUGE believer in Matt Jones. Wouldn't shock me one bit if this is our starter going into next season. Likened him to Marshawn Lynch.

It would shock the ever-loving **** out of me lol...

Whether or not Scot is a huge believer on Jones is pretty much irrelevant. Gruden will have to be thoroughly convinced that the run game is maximized with Jones as starter instead of Morris...

[RedBeast]

I hope the players and coaches just shut up and play. Reputation comes from external sources and is not from projecting what you are going to do or want to do...a la romo. Just go punch people in the mouth, knock em down...our reputation as a strong team will come if we accomplish that.

I do approve GMSM setting the tone and defining our future state approach and strategy.

[Taylor 36]

It would shock the ever-loving **** out of me lol...

Whether or not Scot is a huge believer on Jones is pretty much irrelevant. Gruden will have to be thoroughly convinced that the run game is maximized with Jones as starter instead of Morris...

What is this Gruden running game you speak of? 

[FuriousD]

Most interesting quote for me comes from his comments on Preston Smith (I know, I'm lame, already man-crushing this early):

 

What I find so interesting about this quote is the part I bolded. He's essentially saying that Preston will be an OLB on 1st down, but will be a DE or even a NT on later downs (in other words, the more likely the other team is going to drop back, the more likely he'll be playing inside).

 

So we'll use him at OLB mainly for the run, but he'll be able to use his elite pass rushing skills from the inside. This should answer some of the questions we had on him. I was wondering whether they were going to ask him to lose weight and gain more explosion as an edge rusher, or allow him to play at his weight now (and/or bulk up as well) to continue to play the way he did in college. Now we pretty much know so long as the plan remains as Scot stated here.   

 

Good stuff.  

Don't you know he's no good to us? He's a 4-3 DE for chrissakes!  He doesn't fit here... whaah... 

 

On a slightly more serious note, I don't man-crush much at all but I swear when Scot talks, I can feel it move!