An observation on teams getting good, "out of nowhere"

[NoCalMike]

First off I think this is a lie, no team gets good out of nowhere. It may be unsuspected, however teams like Dallas & Cinncinatti(sp?) were bad for a chunk of years, however the majority of the teamates REMAINED the same. They sucked for years, but they SUCKED together. Not every player is a probowler right out of college. We need to worry less about probowlers and fame-hogs(no pun intended) and just look for solid blue collar lineman.

Snyder has used the FA totally wrong. FA does not bring championships, FA is to fill a hole or two fast, but not to make up an entire team for 2 years and then start over again.

We desperately need a GM, a F'N FOOTBALL GURU in our organization AT THE TOP DAMMIT.

[Even Madder]

No ****.

The only problem I have with that is that Cincy has horrible ownership and lousy drafts, and they still just needed a swift kick in the ass to turn things around.

Look at these draft picks:

2003 Carson Palmer, Eric Steinbach

2002 Levi Jones, Lamont Thompson

2001 Justin Smith, Chad Johnson

2000 Peter Warrick, Mark Roman

Despite picking near the top of each draft, they didn't exactly have the brightest front office in the world when it came to drafting. Some good ones in there, some weak. They certainly didn't open their checkbooks to sign big name FAs. What turned them around? A kick in the ass from Marvin. Same thing in Dallas.

What the Skins need is not just a clear strategy from the top, which is clearly lacking with the Snyder/Cerrato braintrust, but a serious kick in the ass. These guys lack motivation. Desire. Heart. Call it what you want. Instilling heart requires leadership, and it can come from the owner, from the headcoach, from the assistant coaches, even from the players themselves. In Washington, however, it comes from nowhere.

That's the problem. So hire whatever GM you like, and it will still exist, unfortunately. The only way to "fix" this team is to put ass-kicking leadership in at all levels to demand accountability and drive results. Maybe that requires new coaches, owners, GMs, players -- and maybe not. But this team seriously needs an attitude change.

[bubba9497]

Dallas is winning with Defense. Parcells kept the defense and DC Zimmer, intact win he came aboard.

Washington improved players on offense, but undercut the defense with the problems at DL.

also, Dallas and Cincy both have been fortunate with the injury bug.

1 year turnarounds are the exception rather than the rule.

[JerseyGator]

Does anyone have a bettier one-two combo this year than Rudi Johnson and Cory Dillon with the Bengals? I like Rudi Johnson in college. We often win when drafting an SEC stud RB, no matter what the scouts say (see Emmitt).

[gridironmike]

Originally posted by NoCalMike

Snyder has used the FA totally wrong. FA does not bring championships, FA is to fill a hole or two fast, but not to make up an entire team for 2 years and then start over again.

I believe the '82 Super Bowl champs had 26 free agents.

[dallasfan]

Originally posted by bubba9497

also, Dallas and Cincy both have been fortunate with the injury bug.

we haven't been devestated like New Englad, but we lost our starting center (Al Johnson) and our nickel corner (Donald Mitchel) in training camp for the season, not to mention Derek Ross missing the first 6 games (yeah we cut him later but he made the defense a lot better when he manned the slot), and Pete Hunter playing the first 3 or 4 games with a cast on his arm. Since then we lost another center (Gennaro Dinnapoli) for the center, and Ryan Young has missed 3 or 4 games. And then a couple weeks ago we lost Aveion Cason for the season. I wouldn't exactly call this fortunate.