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Why are we this bad on the field?


D’Pablo

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So, obviously, the talent and coaching are questionable with respect to this team, but what specifically makes us so below average as compared to even some other two win teams (the Jets beat the Cowboys- we stand no chance of that)? Who are the players consistently missing assignments? Who is physically incapable of making it in the NFL? What plays are we calling that clearly don’t work? What unit would stand to gain the most from better coaching? Are our schemes at issue?

 

The things I’m not interested in hearing are “Snyder,” “Bruce Allen,” or “Front Office.” I am just very curious about our failures from a the “X’s and O’s” perspective.

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Leadership, lack of accountability. Its very simple, they have the talent to compete.  Listen to Dontae Whittner talk about the culture of the team.  The coaches let some players get away with bad play.  This type of thing compounds year over year and we reached a tipping point this year.  

Just now, Fat Stupid Loser said:

Its all directly related to the 3 things you aren't interested in hearing. So I will bow out.  :)

I would say Gruden is a lot to blame as well. 

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The problem or problems begin with the three things you said don't mention.   It all starts at the top. Good and bad organizations are reflections of leadership.  That is true with everything from professional sports to running a small business.   You can't fix the middle or bottom if you're broken at the top. 

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I wouldn't say we are "bad". I mean, its true we technically and easily have the lowest scoring offense in the NFL, at a paltry 108 points through 9 games. Its true some stats say we are historically bad on offense and defense on 3rd down. We might even have a coaching staff that's completely inept at maximizing the talents of our players. And perhaps there's an argument to be made that we have a toxic, mustard gas-esque culture, where our GM and owner are self-absorbed oblivious asshats who have, one could make the argument for, run the team straight into the core of the earth. All that being said, I don't think we are...

 

....screw it. We're ****ed.

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All of the above, plus our coordinators are bad or are under-utilized. Case in point, ex-Redskins thriving on other teams like Preston Smith. Our team's talent goes unused. On the offense's side, the players are always injured. Who picks the coordinators and runs the offense? The head coach. Who picks the head coach and the players? The front office.

 

Montez Sweat has shown me nothing special, but neither did Preston Smith or Trent Murphy. If he doesn't break out in spite of the team, I won't be blaming him like I blamed Preston for being mediocre.

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How hard would you work if the company you worked for had no plan or sense of direction?

 

The Dolphins won a game yesterday, that makes 2 for them and on paper, they have far less talent than we do.  However, the Dolphins jettisoned some of their high priced talent to garner picks for a complete rebuild.  They truly have a plan but also an absence of overpaid egos down there.  They have guys trying to earn jobs for next year and be part of that long term plan.

 

The Redskins have players like Josh Norman mailing it in and collecting money.  We also have some young talent that should be battling to either maintain their roster spot or putting together film for another team to leave this septic tank of damn good culture.  Unfortunately, I think we have too many of the former and not enough of the latter and it spills over on to the field.

 

The level of talent divide, even with the Dolphins plan, is not as large as some people think in the NFL, at least in my humble opinion but when players don't buy in to the vision, you see lack of effort and willingness to put it on the line.  They are on a 1 - 8 team with a lame duck coach.  

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As a result of what you don't want to talk about, I am convinced that when the team takes the field in the era of those you don't want to talk about, they have no expectation of winning and are happy to take the owners money and simply go through the motions on the field. Total lack of motivation as a result of what you don't want to talk about. I would carry it a step further by saying that if I was playing for those you don't want to talk about, I would not want to reward them with winning. I feel sorry for the number 1 pick for 2020 and would not be surprised if he refused to sign.

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So, going by the parameters of the opening post I would start with our off season program

 

Based on everything we heard from draftees and free agents, the Redskins offseason practices and workouts were soft. We're talking tissue paper left out in the rain soft. College guys who arrived proclaimed they were shocked how much harder the college drills were. NFL vets who experienced other teams workouts noted the same things. Gruden's camps compared to everyone else's camps were way too easy. This led to players being out of shape, undisciplined, and not ready for the rigors of the NFL.

 

I'd argue that the Redskins are mentally out of shape, too. How often do we get  team come in that was horrible against the X and every team exploited them until they met up with the Redskins. The Redskins game plans are so rigid and dogmatic. Every defense can call out our plays before we do. Gibbs once showed that if you execute perfectly you don't have to trick 'em, but the combination of poor discipline, soft practices, and hyper-predictable game plans doomed us.

 

The other thing we did far too often was not take advantage of our strengths.

 

If a player is great at X (like Peterson running out of certain formations), we either shelved him or forced him to run out of formations we were weaker at. When we got Norman who with Carolina was an excellent zone corner, we asked him to be a one on one corner like Darrell Green. When we have a good front seven that runs downhill, we rush four, leaving guys who are not good in coverage out in space. When we bring pressure and bring five or six, we combo that with off coverage that's really soft so the QB always has an outlet. In short, we make our good players look bad.

 

Now, you can't overcome a lack of talent and so you have to weigh that in, but a good game plan can make your talent appear better just as a bad one can make our talent appear worse. This year, our hyper-conservative and lazy game plans combined with average talent takes our C and drops it to a D. It takes our A players and drops them to a B. It takes our bad talent and drops them from a D to an F.

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Thanks, Burgold. Literally every thread in this forum is hijacked by discussions about culture, the front office, and Dan Snyder. These are all issues that contribute to a poor product. Yet, this thread is about the objective performance we see on the field, not how Bruce Allen may have said something snarky about Player X, and now no one is capable of playing even mediocre football.
 

If you’re uninterested in engaging in this topic, please don’t litter the thread with what we all already know. I already know you’re right to some degree, but I’d like to know what the next set of players, coaches, front office personnel, and/or owners (we can wish) will have to fix in the coming years.

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1 hour ago, D’Pablo said:

So, obviously, the talent and coaching are questionable with respect to this team, but what specifically makes us so below average as compared to even some other two win teams (the Jets beat the Cowboys- we stand no chance of that)? Who are the players consistently missing assignments? Who is physically incapable of making it in the NFL? What plays are we calling that clearly don’t work? What unit would stand to gain the most from better coaching? Are our schemes at issue?

 

The things I’m not interested in hearing are “Snyder,” “Bruce Allen,” or “Front Office.” I am just very curious about our failures from a the “X’s and O’s” perspective.

 

Our defensive coordinator is clown shoes and had no business retaining his job after last season.  DJ called him out last year said they didn't practice hard and the play calling was crap.  We get a zone CB in Josh Norman and play him in man to man coverage way too much, even though it's obvious that he has lost a step and sucks in man coverage.  This was something that was known as he would get burned in man coverage when he was with the Panthers.  

 

Our offensive play calling since McVay left has been utter ****.  Undisciplined football resulting in way to many penalties, which puts us behind in field position on what seems every drive.  Predictable play calling.  Not utilizing play action when the running game does get moving, so many missed opportunities.  Dumb play calls on third downs, like if it's 3rd and 8, throwing a ****ing screen pass or another play where the receiver is out 6 yards (2 yards shy of the first down marker) and hoping he will get enough YAC to move the chains.  You know, instead of having them run a route that puts them past the first down marker to begin with.

 

Zero ability to make proper half time adjustments, like in forever.  FO/owner drafting QBs they want and not what fits what the coach wants/scheme.  RGIII under Shanny, now Haskins under Jay/Bill.  Etc. etc. etc......

 

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1 hour ago, Burgold said:

So, going by the parameters of the opening post I would start with our off season program

 

 

 

Now, you can't overcome a lack of talent and so you have to weigh that in, but a good game plan can make your talent appear better just as a bad one can make our talent appear worse. This year, our hyper-conservative and lazy game plans combined with average talent takes our C and drops it to a D. It takes our A players and drops them to a B. It takes our bad talent and drops them from a D to an F.

 

Wow, @Burgold, this is at the same time the best and the most depressing post maybe ever posted on this board.... sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry

 

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