The Bruce Allen/GM Thread

[Skinsinparadise]

Was just watching an ESPN show where they skewered the Redskins for this move and went on about how this organization is famous for not doing the right thing -- then someone on their panel said look its clear based on decision making in that organization that they are just stupid over there.

 

It made me think of Mike Jones's segment on 980 the other day where he goes from what he hears -- the people there (implying Bruce and Dan by how Jones said it) they think they are the smartest people in the room and brighter than everyone else. 

 

I agree with Finlay here, this MNF is a really high stakes game.  They've had a rough 2 weeks or so.  They got overtaken by the division rival as the new team to beat in the NFC East.  They got hit with this Foster move in a major way and I agree with the reporters who suggest that they expected a PR hit but they didn't anticipate the intensity being this loud.  Doug inadvertently created more legs to the story yesterday.  They got the dynamic of Alex might being done or at least might be done for 2019 but they are still saddled with his big contract for years, regardless.   You got Swearinger questioning the team's practice habits.  It's gone below the radar here but even the cheerleader story had some recent legs.

 

So am doubting Dan is happy this week.  If that its followed with a loss in Philly, am thinking, Oh boy. 

 

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/redskins/redskins-season-has-hit-tipping-point-and-which-direction-unknown

Should Washington drop the game to the Eagles, they will have squandered a 6-3 start into a 6-6 record. The pressure will mount on Jay Gruden, Bruce Allen and the entire front office. This collection of coaches and personnel executives can point to just one playoff game in their tenure, and that was a loss, as their only postseason "success."

 

None of this even addresses the recent acquisition of Reuben Foster, something that will drive a large percentage of the fan base even further from the team. 

 

It's reasonable to believe Gruden and Redskins players when they say that adding Foster - twice accused of domestic violence - will not be a distraction. Signing Foster will have no impact on the blocking or tackling Monday night against the Eagles.

 

At the same time, adding Foster to a three-game losing streak will only add to the tornado of negativity currently engulfing Redskins Park. 

Players understand the severity of the upcoming game.

 

"This is the playoffs for us," linebacker Mason Foster said. 

 

In every sense of the word, the entire Redskins organization is desperate for win. A loss could bring questions that nobody in Ashburn wants to answer.

 

The good news, if there is any right now, is that this Washington team has typically responded when their backs are against the wall. That spirit needs to show up in Philadelphia. 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I honestly believe that the last 2-3 weeks have turned the final 5 games into a do-or-die scenario for Allen/Gruden. And, to be as objective as possible, a lot of the reason is outside of their control. But, I do think Snyder will get fed up if an uplifting and promising 5-2/6-3 start turns into a 8-8 or worse finish...especially with the backdrop of empty stadiums, PR backlash from the media, etc. 

 

More than ever, I think their fates are completely tied together. I think anything short of 9-7 will result in Allen and Gruden being let go and the team marching on under the leadership of Lafemina, Schaeffer, Williams, and Smith. I am a pretty big fan of Gruden, but in many ways this would be an extremely silver lining for me if it's the bi-product of a bad finish. 

[Skinsinparadise]

Boswell hitting some good points IMO

 

Daniel Snyder’s biggest issue with Redskins fans is his failure to understand them

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/daniel-snyders-biggest-problem-with-redskins-fans-is-his-failure-to-understand-them/2018/11/29/41f5197c-f413-11e8-80d0-f7e1948d55f4_story.html?utm_term=.69d8d242903e

 

One by one, Daniel Snyder creeps into the heads, the water-cooler conversations and the kitchen table chats of his Washington NFL fans and forces them to abandon their love of his team because they find him so consistently and unendingly at odds with their core values.

 

Basically, Snyder insults them. He spits in their faces and thinks he can get away with it, even though the massive evidence of empty seats in his own shrinking stadium should wise him up.

 

So, one by one, they leave, seldom because of any one decision, but because of his annual avalanche of actions that range from the annoying to the infuriating.

 

After 20 years as owner, Snyder can’t or won’t change. So, the trajectory of his team’s popularity now seems cast in stone: down, down, down, year after year, with brief upticks for occasional rays of light, such as the mirage of this season’s 6-3 start.

 

...It takes no imagination to predict the long-term demise of the Snyderskins fan base, only good eyesight. Look at FedEx Field.

 

About 15 years ago, a former GM of the Orioles told me, “You are watching the destruction of a great franchise.” Now, Baltimore, 47-115 last season, has lost 55 percent of its attendance from 20 years ago. It took many years for an awful owner to bring his own team that low. The deed was done in much the same manner as Snyder: with a hundred little horrors, not one huge malfeasance.

 

Despite removing seats from FedEx Field, Snyder’s team appears to have the NFL’s lowest percentage of occupancy, though the team won’t reveal the stadium’s current capacity. The team that fibbed for years about its infinite waiting list now sees its tickets sold on the secondary market for the price of a deluxe latte. Every game has thousands of empty seats, and many who do trek to the Dangeon cheer for the visiting team.

 

....This morning, I got an e-mail from a reader that included the following: “How can I continue supporting the team when the leadership views the world so differently than me? . . . I am so conflicted.”

 

This is how you lose ’em, Dan: one at a time.

 

Snyder and his enabler-in-chief team president Bruce Allen think that this Foster flap will blow over. They’re right: Most controversies recede. But that misses the bigger problem. This team, year after year, finds new ways to kill the enormous love it inherited from previous, far better, stewards of the team. Snyder Syndrome is progressive.

In accounting, many businesses are sold for more than the value of their tangible assets. That excess intangible value is called “goodwill.” When Snyder took over the team, that goodwill — much of it residing in our hearts — was colossal. Now, every year, that goodwill is impaired.

 

Who knew that a relationship between a town and a team, begun 81 years ago, might someday be so deeply impaired by just one man who, while born and raised here, reflects the values and behavior of so few of us?

[RandyHolt]

You don't see the 15 for piling on called very often. And indeed, it is not going to be called a penalty anytime soon. But its time to pile on our beloved Skins again.

 

Heh I know of one guy that probably doesn't mind that his recent bad news gets buried...

[HardcoreZorn]

Sure will be interesting if Foster is proven innocent or if he’s found guilty and Skins cut him and he never plays a down here. Man oh man.

[Skinsinparadise]

Feel bad for Doug, he shouldn't be the outward shield for them

 

 

 

 

[Dissident2]

What did Doug Williams just apologize for? 

[Skinsinparadise]

1 minute ago, Dissident2 said:

What did Doug Williams just apologize for? 

 

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

1 minute ago, Dissident2 said:

What did Doug Williams just apologize for? 

Tater tots.

[Dissident2]

Yeah, I saw the presser, but I have no idea what comments he's apologizing for. Trying to google it and not finding them at the moment. 

[drowland]

At this point the FO better hope Foster is found innocent, stays out of trouble moving forward and plays at a high level since this "low risk football decision" has turned into a huge embarrassment.  

2 minutes ago, Dissident2 said:

Yeah, I saw the presser, but I have no idea what comments he's apologizing for. Trying to google it and not finding them at the moment. 

 

He said something a long of the lines of DV being small potatoes compared to other stuff NFL players have done.  

[Skinsinparadise]

Listening to Sheehan's podcast now.  He's harsh but doesn't sound angry -- says it falls in the FO's bucket of dumb.  He said he can't think of anything riskier than what they just did to their conundrum of fan apathy.   

 

He says he knows first hand some of the people who work in PR for them, etc and suggest some of whom are incompetent and they have limited emotional intelligence.    Suggesting more or less that he's seen things first hand that would amaze and might share (though he didn't say he would) some stories on that front someday.

 

His opinion is they are limited intellectually over there and they are also arrogant and its that combination which has done them in over the years.  The way he explained his point it sounds like he's squarely referring to Bruce-Dan.  He goes how tone deaf can one organization be. 

 

Talks about remembering the winning days and days where the organization was marked by class.  But they just aren't bright.  He repeats the worst combination for any company is to both be dumb and arrogant because they don't learn from their mistakes because they don't see them as mistakes

 

 

As for below, yep I bet they all underestimated the story. 

 

 

[Dissident2]

3 minutes ago, drowland said:

He said something a long of the lines of DV being small potatoes compared to other stuff NFL players have done.  

 

Ahh, thanks. Now that image I saw earlier makes sense. Totally missed those comments. 

 

 

[bird_1972]

1 hour ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

I honestly believe that the last 2-3 weeks have turned the final 5 games into a do-or-die scenario for Allen/Gruden. And, to be as objective as possible, a lot of the reason is outside of their control. But, I do think Snyder will get fed up if an uplifting and promising 5-2/6-3 start turns into a 8-8 or worse finish...especially with the backdrop of empty stadiums, PR backlash from the media, etc. 

 

More than ever, I think their fates are completely tied together. I think anything short of 9-7 will result in Allen and Gruden being let go and the team marching on under the leadership of Lafemina, Schaeffer, Williams, and Smith. I am a pretty big fan of Gruden, but in many ways this would be an extremely silver lining for me if it's the bi-product of a bad finish. 

 

From your lips to God's ears

[bakedtater1]

28 minutes ago, Rufus T Firefly said:

Tater tots.

Yes?

[Riggo-toni]

I like Boswell, but fans aren't turning away in droves because we have signed/claimed questionable characters; we are abandoning the team because they have sucked, and will continue to suck, for so long.

And they suck because our owner doesn't know how to set up a proper front office structure, a shortcoming infinitely magnified by his utter inability to recognize talent, compounded by his propensity to favor familiarity over competence.

[Hooper]

Not a big Mike Lombardi fan, but do agree with him here --

 

"Allen does not care about the culture or the locker room; he is only interested in adding what he perceives as talent. Once he adds a player to the roster, that player then becomes Gruden’s problem, not Allen’s. Did you notice how unhappy Gruden was when having to answer questions? He can call it a “team decision” all he wants, but it’s clear that he’s been left out there to deal with the fallout of what was ultimately Allen’s choice."

[TD_washingtonredskins]

12 minutes ago, Riggo-toni said:

I like Boswell, but fans aren't turning away in droves because we have signed/claimed questionable characters; we are abandoning the team because they have sucked, and will continue to suck, for so long.

And they suck because our owner doesn't know how to set up a proper front office structure, a shortcoming infinitely magnified by his utter inability to recognize talent, compounded by his propensity to favor familiarity over competence.

 

That was a point I was attempting to make...

 

By and large, most of us want to watch good and winning football. We aren't in this for friends or role models. It's true I'd probably not like a team full of bad guys, but I'd be lying if I said a couple here and there really bother me. If this team starts to win somehow (even with this current front office team), the fans will be happy. It's not like New England fans turned on the Super Bowl champion Patriots every time they were questioned about spying or deflating footballs. 

[Skinsinparadise]

26 minutes ago, Riggo-toni said:

I like Boswell, but fans aren't turning away in droves because we have signed/claimed questionable characters; we are abandoning the team because they have sucked, and will continue to suck, for so long.

And they suck because our owner doesn't know how to set up a proper front office structure, a shortcoming infinitely magnified by his utter inability to recognize talent, compounded by his propensity to favor familiarity over competence.

 

Agree the stinking is the lead dance -- but the aura of decisions that seem outwardly incompetent and tone deaf IMO adds to the feeling of hopelessness to the losing.  Ditto having little faith and respect for the head decision maker.  They aren't really losers in recent years but mediocre but if you feel like the decision makers are incapable of taking the next step -- I think again that lends to the feeling that it won't improve IMO.

 

I can have a bad meal at a restaurant but if I like the chef I figure hey they had an off night or I ordered the wrong thing and I'll come back.  But if I don't care for the chef, I probably won't.  And I don't think we here are the audience, we are as hardcore as it gets and by extension forgiving as to watching the team and following it.  But I think Loverro is correct in that the casual fan is a different breed and looks like they are losing some of them judging by attendance and TV ratings. 

[Est.1974]

15 minutes ago, Hooper said:

Not a big Mike Lombardi fan, but do agree with him here --

 

"Allen does not care about the culture or the locker room; he is only interested in adding what he perceives as talent. Once he adds a player to the roster, that player then becomes Gruden’s problem, not Allen’s. Did you notice how unhappy Gruden was when having to answer questions? He can call it a “team decision” all he wants, but it’s clear that he’s been left out there to deal with the fallout of what was ultimately Allen’s choice."

 

Gruden did look uncomfortable. But I don't care, he's paid millions to have a pair of balls and deal with it. Gruden loved Foster pre draft, and even said Foster was his favourite combine interview. At that stage, most of the world knew Foster was a ****ing mentalist. Not that I can justify Fosters actions, the facts will come out soon enough.

 

But Gruden isn't a child. He's an NFL HC. Man management and dealing with the press isn't difficult in his role. He could have cut them off at the knees straight off.

 

But he didn't....and squirmed like hell for over ten minutes. Self inflicted. 

 

 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

6 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

I can have a bad meal at a restaurant but if I like the chef I figure hey they had an off night or I ordered the wrong thing and I'll come back.  But if I don't care for the chef, I probably won't.  

 

You have the analogy backwards in my opinion...yours makes sense and relates to a fan base tolerating a bad season from a good organization (for example, the way we all tolerated 1988 when Gibbs was here). But, if this exact front office won consistently, no one would care about the rest...

 

What if you don't like the chef but get a great meal every time you eat at a restaurant? You'd probably be perfectly fine going there because you're enjoying your food on a consistent basis. 

[Skinsinparadise]

8 minutes ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

 

You have the analogy backwards in my opinion...yours makes sense and relates to a fan base tolerating a bad season from a good organization (for example, the way we all tolerated 1988 when Gibbs was here). But, if this exact front office won consistently, no one would care about the rest...

 

 

My point is since they lose and or mediocre -- the front office antics or whatever people want to call it dig the knife in deeper.  it's bad to lose but IMO it evens adds some gravy in a bad way to lose or be mediocre and feel a bit embarrassed along with it about the decision makers and their moves.  And it also lends to the feeling that help isn't on the way.  The brilliance IMO of the Browns changing their FO with big names is it gives fan some hope in the midst of the losing.  We don't have that here.  So while I agree the mediocre streak is certainly the key -- all the other stuff twists the knife and in a big way. 

 

8 minutes ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

 

What if you don't like the chef but get a great meal every time you eat at a restaurant? You'd probably be perfectly fine going there because you're enjoying your food on a consistent basis. 

 

My analogy about the restaurant was about trusting the decision makers where even if they did something I like, I'd more likely give them the benefit of the doubt.  

[Est.1974]

Gruden is perfectly fine with the Foster pick up.

 

He just didn't know how to manage the press.

[Veryoldschool]

Allen will be here as long as people blame him instead of Snyder.  As long as people blame Allen he has tread left on the tire and more service to give Snyder because in my view Allen's primary job is to take the blame for Snyder's moves.

 

I think Boswell summed it up well.  

[Skinsinparadise]