The Bruce Allen/GM Thread

[Skinsinparadise]

29 minutes ago, XtremeFan55 said:

Bruce Allen is exhibiting bunker mentality.  Not only does he cowardly refuse to address the media but I just noticed that his Wiki page doesn’t list his wife Kiersten nor his kids.  He probably knows how unpopular he is and is trying to protect his family by keeping them well under the radar.   The ‘Dark Lord’ is indeed dark and prefers to operate in the shadows.   

 

I've posted some about this when Cooley talked about it about a year ago. He said that Bruce is very aware of the fans not liking him.  Keim said something similar and said Bruce gets it but is confused as to why.

 

To me the interesting subplot that's converging from a number of places is that it seems like Bruce buried this from Dan well because Dan supposedly doesn't pay attention to much media wise aside from the WP and just assumes WP is just on a some wild witch hunt so he doesn't take it seriously.  So it is plausible to me that Dan is a bit shocked by the outcry at Bruce as some say he is.   

 

With the caveat that yes its certainly possible for beat guys to get things wrong, however, Russell to me has the hottest hand at getting things right about the FO for awhile now.  And if he's right about people in the building stunned about what Lombardi said about Bruce recently -- that to me is the most interesting thing I've heard in a long time relating to the inner workings there.  Because all really Lombardi said was Bruce wasn't involved at all in football decisions with the Raiders.   So that's construed as a shot?  Lombardi was basically saying what I've said for years which is Bruce isn't a personnel guy so why is he in charge of personnel.   That's not a shot, that's a fact and that goes double with how Lombardi said it -- he simply said Bruce wasn't involved at all, not in draft and personnel meetings, nada. 

 

So what would be shock worthy in all of that?  The only thing that hits me is that perhaps Bruce either told people in that building that he was involved in personnel decisions in Oakland in a gloating way?  There is also a narrative that Jon Gruden and not Bruce was the defacto personnel decision maker in Tampa but none of that has been laid out that concretely as it has been relating to the Raiders in the past.  Multiple people who cover the team said they hear Bruce takes great pride in considering himself a football guy and that was part of the 106.7 guys narratives that Bruce won't pigeonhole himself into the business role alone.    So if Russell's take here is accurate -- I find it very amusing and telling that people in that building are shook by Lombardi saying Bruce wasn't involved with personnel while he was there.

 

 

 

[FrFan]

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

10 hours ago, wit33 said:

 

Copy and paste this for the 6 average to above average teams that make playoffs each year. 

Well, at least you're using the ceiling of "making the playoffs" which is the apex of the ambitions of the Redskins organization. But, apart from the two NFC East teams, all the playoff teams this year had at least a +81 point differential. Last year, there were three teams below +76. So no, playoff teams aren't playing weak schedules to a virtual tie.

 

But (slightly) over a third of the league makes the playoffs each year. So you can certainly make the case that a couple of "average" teams slip in every year. Those are the teams that we all know aren't going to go anywhere once they are in. It's awesome that we have team that aspires for such heights. 

[Peregrine]

4 hours ago, Califan007 said:

And that's the thing about getting rid of Bruce...fans think they have any real say-so in this, but all the #firebruceallen hashtags deluging the Skins' twitter feeds and angry posts here on ES don't mean anything, at all. Never has, never will. The reason is because it's easy and it's action that is rarely backed up by anything. Fans do this stuff because it's easy and doesn't require any sacrifice on their parts. If you're not willing to sacrifice anything then it doesn't mean anything. And Dan and Bruce know this. Which is why they don't give a ****. They see the disconnect between fan anger over how Allen is supposedly manipulating Snyder in order to keep his job, and fan desire for Snyder to be manipulated by their anger lol...either way, it would mean Snyder is being manipulated. And no fan should EVER want the owner of their team to be manipulated into moves by anyone, even themselves.

Your misunderstanding and underestimating, much like Snyder has done.  The hashtags arent for Dan, people know he doesnt care.  They are for everyone else.  Most importantly, they are meant to be seen by the media and politicians.   Because the more the media piles on, the more embarassing it gets outside of the organization, the more likely 1 important even fails to unfold for the Redskins.

 

And thats a new stadium.  

 

And THAT will be the nail in the coffin, the thing to make Snyder stand up and take notice, because if politicians see the constant negative coverage, how much the fans all hate Snyder, then politicians will do what politicians do:pander to the people for votes.  If he cant get new land for a new stadium, it will be the biggest blow possible for Snyder and Allen both, and delivered courtesy of the fans who had the backbone to do something, even if something small.  Because for Snyder, nothing is more important to a team than its stadium.  It IS the biggest asset on the books, and effects valuation unlike any other asset.  And for Allen, if the politician gladhanding business type cant get a stadium for Snyder, then hes messed up at job numero uno.

[MassSkinsFan]

#NFLSaveOurSkins

[Riggo-toni]

#nonewstadium

[Rufus T Firefly]

#hashtag

[Skinsinparadise]

Loverro

 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/13/bruce-allens-stranglehold-redskins-tightens-brian-/

Yes, of course Allen is coming back. He didn’t drive Lafemina and his team from the building only to surrender power.

Not only is Allen, who has become the object of the wrath of an angry Redskins fan base, staying on as team president in charge of football operations, but 

 

he is taking over the business side as well — the job that Lafemina had.

Allen drank Lafemina’s milk shake.

 

As I’ve written before, I always believed Lafemina, a former NFL executive who was hired in May, and his crew were not long for Redskins Park, though I thought they might last longer than seven months, forced out a few days before Christmas. Lafemina spoke about things like honesty and transparency — a foreign language to Allen, and, for that matter, to Snyder as well.

 

The owner bought into Lafemina’s plan early, and was told that things would get worse before they would get better, sources said.

That opened the door for Allen to engineer a campaign against Lafemina, and with each small crowd at FedEx Field and the transparency embraced by the new business team that led to a narrative of a once-proud franchise in trouble — which, of course, was the truth — Allen used those stories and images to undermine Lafemina every chance he got, sources said.

 

Soon, Snyder soured on Lafemina and his team. All of this came to a head at the end of November with the team claiming Reuben Foster, the San Francisco linebacker released by the 49ers after his Tampa arrest and imprisonment on domestic violence charges (which have since been dropped by the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s office), Foster’s third arrest in 12 months.

 

Lafemina went to Snyder and Allen with direct feedback from corporate ticket holders upset with the Foster acquisition, sources said – and they were rebuffed.

 

“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” one source said.

They were all gone a few weeks later.

 

Now Allen is calling all the shots, from the turnstiles to the trade market. To the victor go the spoils, right?

His kingdom was on display at the final home game on Dec. 30, a few days after Lafemina and company’s departure — a stadium with perhaps 10,000 Redskins fans surrounded by about 40,000 Philadelphia Eagles fans.

[SkinsFTW]

Time for Doofus Dan and Bumbling Bruce to break out another can of:

 

[skins island connection]

7 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

 

 

 

 The minority owners have some say-so in the organization, don't they?

Are they approachable via email, twitter, etc?

 

Or are us fans up **** creek without a paddle?

Would a lawsuit be feasible ? If anything, to draw attention and more negativity among the media?

[Skinsinparadise]

48 minutes ago, skins island connection said:

 

 The minority owners have some say-so in the organization, don't they?

Are they approachable via email, twitter, etc?

 

Or are us fans up **** creek without a paddle?

Would a lawsuit be feasible ? If anything, to draw attention and more negativity among the media?

 

Minority owners are our best shot IMO.  I'll see if I can figure it out.   My gut though is the stadium needs to play out some before giving it a hard go where they'd make a change. 

[Riggo#44]

I firmly believe that the Orioles will be in the playoffs before the Redskins

[Birdlives]

Allen has to come back. Until we’re clear of the Smith contract we don’t have the ability to build a team. Allen put us here, of course he should ride out the mess he’s created! He should be fired within minutes of us getting free of that cluster**** and not be aloud to have any say in anything else football related. Hopefully the harvest fest keeps him well occupied.

[Jericho]

13 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

 

 

Never really thought about, but kind of amazing how sad that is. And as pointed out, 12 of the 13 that made the Conference Championship have made a Super Bowl (not the Vikings though). Though I'm kind of amazed and slightly pleased to join the Cowboys on this list, who normally have a pretty solid record. Sucks for us, but really sucks for them. Mutually assured destruction?

[Malapropismic Depository]

Ya know who loves Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen right now ?

 

Kendall Fuller

[Wildbunny]

2 hours ago, Birdlives said:

Allen has to come back. Until we’re clear of the Smith contract we don’t have the ability to build a team. Allen put us here, of course he should ride out the mess he’s created! He should be fired within minutes of us getting free of that cluster**** and not be aloud to have any say in anything else football related. Hopefully the harvest fest keeps him well occupied.

I see your point, but I'm not sure that is a good idea.

 

He's the kind of guy that could do an even worse move to try to get out of the mess he created... Which will probably backfires as well and takes us into a deeper hole.Then you'd want him to stay so we're out of this mess twice?

 

Not me thanks...

[goskins10]

6 hours ago, Birdlives said:

Allen has to come back. Until we’re clear of the Smith contract we don’t have the ability to build a team. Allen put us here, of course he should ride out the mess he’s created! He should be fired within minutes of us getting free of that cluster**** and not be aloud to have any say in anything else football related. Hopefully the harvest fest keeps him well occupied.

 

I get what you are saying - lie in the bed you made. However, who knows what kind of much more long lasting destruction he can do to the team trying to desperately save himself. Sorry, he has to go. 

 

Here is another thought. Someone else coming in can make the tough decisions to get the team out. for example, I would agree to an injury settlement with Alex. The CAP hit next year wold be extraordinary. But you are then done with it. There are a bunch of moves that can be made to create CAP - moves that are tough but need to be made. Not the right place for details but they are there. 

 

The point is Bruce will just keep digging deeper, especially given his arrogance. Who knows what kind of even more long lasting damage he can bring. 

 

 

[Skinsinparadise]

Not saying Dan pays attention or should.  But the idea that its crazy for an owner to pay any attention to what their fans are saying -- case in point here

 

https://nypost.com/2019/01/13/hal-steinbrenner-is-taking-pulse-of-yankees-fans-on-social-media/

 

 

Steinbrenner is seeing divided Yankees fanbase on social media

 

Believe it or not, Hal Steinbrenner likes to know the word on the street.

When it comes to Manny Machado, and the increasing likelihood that the free-agent infielder will wind up somewhere besides The Bronx, the street must be giving the Yankees’ managing general partner a splitting headache.

Has a baseball player ever polarized Yankees Universe as effectively as Machado?

When the Yankees agreed to terms with free-agent infielder DJ LeMahieu on Friday afternoon, making it clear that Machado wasn’t in their plans, the reaction on social media — from my vantage point, at least — was fiercely divided.

A boatload of interlocking-NY enthusiasts, expressing concerns about both Machado’s controversial personality and the preponderance of right-handed bats already in the team’s lineup, expressed relief, noting that no one wanted him anyway. A seemingly equal boatload of Yankees fans accused Steinbrenner of being cheaper than a tenement owner in 1930s Brooklyn and vowed that Yankee Stadium consequently would be empty next season.

[COWBOY-KILLA-]

We seem to be at Next-Level disfunction this year. We deserve better as a fan base. Gruden has to be depressed as well, given he’s the front man to this terrible band...Here’s hoping we pull a rabbit out of the hat this year, chances are slim.

[Skinsinparadise]

5 minutes ago, COWBOY-KILLA- said:

We seem to be at Next-Level disfunction this year. We deserve better as a fan base. Gruden has to be depressed as well, given he’s the front man to this terrible band...Here’s hoping we pull a rabbit out of the hat this year, chances are slim.

 

Actually for me I hope they don't pull a  rabbit out of the hat.  Not interested in Bruce's latest gambit to secure 8-8.  Enbrace the stink, its the perfect season to do it IMO. 

 

https://nypost.com/2019/01/13/dolphins-basically-planning-to-tank-in-tua-tagovailoa-head-turner/

 

SPORTS

 

Dolphins basically planning to tank in Tua Tagovailoa head-turner

 

[FrFan]

I like Trevor Lawrence in 2021, but we're so dumb that we are not going to tank.

[SkinsFTW]

Wow, in 2011 when the Redskins were just about half way through this cluster**** of Dan Snyder's ownership almost none of you wanted the Redskins to suck for Luck, now it has become much more popular though things aren't really more screwed up right now. It has been pretty consistent since Gibbs retired the 2nd time.

 

BTW, I was all in on the suck for Luck bandwagon. The team was going nowhere without a Qb and those 2 extra wins cost the Redskins 3 first rounders and a 2nd for a QB who had no idea how to play the position. We moved up 4 spots for a home wild card loss and several years of hilarity.

 

Sell the team Doofus Dan.

[kwitt]

11 hours ago, Riggo#44 said:

I firmly believe that the Orioles will be in the playoffs before the Redskins

Yes indeed.   And my O's will be really bad for another 3 years or so.  But I am actually excited for the Orioles future.  Their terrible owner is finally out of the picture and they are the brink of a smart and trusted rebuilding process.  The Redskins owner is a young man.  There truly is no hope.  It took me until this year to finally come to terms with this.

[SkinFanInMinn]

4 minutes ago, kwitt said:

Yes indeed.   And my O's will be really bad for another 3 years or so.  But I am actually excited for the Orioles future.  Their terrible owner is finally out of the picture and they are the brink of a smart and trusted rebuilding process.  The Redskins owner is a young man.  There truly is no hope.  It took me until this year to finally come to terms with this.

Not to hi-jack this thread for the O's but this is what the Skins need to understand.  It was hard watching the O's this year, obviously.  But now there's a lot of excitement in the O's fan base because they brought in a young, experienced, forward-looking general manager and is giving him the reins the rebuild the franchise from the ground up.  There's no illusion that the O's will be good in the next 2-3 years but the future looks bright for them.  The Skins could revitalize the fan base easily in the same way but I doubt The Dan has the vision or willpower or whatever to do it.

[Thinking Skins]

4 minutes ago, SkinFanInMinn said:

Not to hi-jack this thread for the O's but this is what the Skins need to understand.  It was hard watching the O's this year, obviously.  But now there's a lot of excitement in the O's fan base because they brought in a young, experienced, forward-looking general manager and is giving him the reins the rebuild the franchise from the ground up.  There's no illusion that the O's will be good in the next 2-3 years but the future looks bright for them.  The Skins could revitalize the fan base easily in the same way but I doubt The Dan has the vision or willpower or whatever to do it.

 

See, you're talking about that but what I want is just some sense of a future within the team. Like, if I squint my eyes and don't look directly at the outcomes, I can say we were buiilding a DL and possibly a defense. But whats that based on? Payne and Allen? Can we count R. Foster? Can we count SDH? I thought we could count Z. Brown and DJ into that, but they're looking to be quickly replaced. 

 

So do we have anybody that I'm looking forward to seeing next year, that we're building around? Again, all I can see are Payne and Allen.

 - Kerrigan's great but is getting old, same with TW. 

 - Norman's old and about to be cut rather than pay that salary. And even with him, I don't get excited about seeing him play the way I did with Champ and DG. He's more of just a guy with a mouth who we pay as a number 1, but not somebody that can take over a game. 

 - HaHa has talent but has been MIA since he got here. 

 - Monte got praise for that handful of games last year (really that first game where he got the int) but has done little since. 

 - Guice has been hurt

 - AP is old

 - Doctson is a disappointment

 

I was excited at the beginning of the year because I legitimately thought we had a top 10 if not top 5 defense this year. I was wrong. That's in part because players didn't live up to their hype (Monte and Moreau for example), but also partly because we didn't use players correctly (why was Moreau inside and Danny/Stroman outside so much when their roles should have been reversed), why didn't we play Anderson more, or SDH more, or Alexander more, why aren't we more aggressive, especially when we saw that our DBs couldn't hold long? 

 

That said, I was also a big fan of some of the WRs who I thought could break out if given a chance. Harris had a 100 yard game but after that kinda did nothing and gets no separation. Not having QBs that could throw him open didn't help, but this became the story of our WRs this year (1) just praying that we could get good starting field position, (2) praying that they caught one or two passes on a given drive, (3) knowing that they wouldn't break a tackle or have any separation, just hoping that when the drive eventually stalls that we can depend on Way to change the FG position or maybe Hopkins could kick an extra long FG. 

 

With the nationals, when they were going through their 100 loss seasons, we saw things like Harper, Rendon, Strausberg, and J. Zimmerman, and lets not forget R. Zimmermann who was already there building something. So while we were going through the losses, we could look up and say this team is going to be something good one day. With the Skins, part of the reason I get mad about the 8-7-1, 7-9, and 7-9 seasons is because its not like I see players and say "they're going to be a dominant force one day", again with the exception of Payne and Allen. 

 

And this reflects directly on the front office - Dan, Bruce, Doug, Kyle, Eric and Alex. I've been the first guy to be happy that we're investing in the draft but we've got to be better than just filling a roster with par players. Where's the player that's going to knock a few out of the park? Where are the players who are going to change a game? Who do we have that can take over a game? 

 

And what I fear is that we're going to just do what we've been doing again - fill these holes on the team with par players to keep us from tanking. Who knows, maybe we will find a few steals who can turn the team around, (and maybe Allen really is that guy for the defense), but I fear that we are playing it safe too much and going for the guys that "fit our system" rather than the guy that can be an absolute wrecking ball.