A New Start! Ron Rivera, Dan Snyder, The Front Office, and Anything Team Related (other than name change)

[Conn]

33 minutes ago, Cooleyfan1993 said:

@ConnSKINS26 i think I know which thread you’re talking about in the tailgate and it hasn’t been deleted. Saw it yesterday or two days ago 

 

Huh. Checked the first two pages of the Tailgate and then did a google search that revealed the thread, but when I clicked it it said no longer available/no permission to view which is usually reserved for a deleted thread I think, even one that still shows up as having existed on google.

 

Maybe there's a newer thread that I missed. 

[Koolblue13]

On 5/28/2020 at 8:23 AM, Spaceman Spiff said:

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not betting the farm on this...I'm not even betting the car.  But strip emotion away from everything....it COULD happen...right?  

I've been saying this for a while actually. Three new teams to the area and all have had more success, so less and less kids growing up as fans. I'm hoping for the San Juan Caribs, but it'll probably be the Mexico City Aztecs and a 160,000 person stadium. 

On 6/3/2020 at 7:50 AM, JoggingGod said:

 

Now is a good time and would go along with a new era.

Absolutely the right time for this.

On 6/3/2020 at 5:36 PM, ConnSKINS26 said:

 

Huh. Checked the first two pages of the Tailgate and then did a google search that revealed the thread, but when I clicked it it said no longer available/no permission to view which is usually reserved for a deleted thread I think, even one that still shows up as having existed on google.

 

Maybe there's a newer thread that I missed. 

As usual, we're on the same page. Totally agree.

[Riggo#44]

 

 

 

 

[@DCGoldPants]

I wonder if Ryan Anderson could play Fullback. Too tall? Not heavy enough?

[Conn]

51 minutes ago, @SkinsGoldPants said:

I wonder if Ryan Anderson could play Fullback. Too tall? Not heavy enough?

 

He's been our situational FB for a couple years now. We don't need a full-time one unless they can catch passes and we use it to dictate defensive alignments like Kyle Shanahan is doing in SF.

[dyst]

Good, I like Ryan Anderson. I hope he continues to play. Seems like a solid player.

[JSSkinz]

I didnt post this to create debate so please dont but I think it falls in line with the thread title and I doubt the team would have been this proactive in the past.

[dyst]

....must resist commenting....must resist....but yea good, I hope this is supported across all of life.

[@DCGoldPants]

1 hour ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

 

He's been our situational FB for a couple years now. We don't need a full-time one unless they can catch passes and we use it to dictate defensive alignments like Kyle Shanahan is doing in SF.

 

He was the guy? I thought it was another backup LB.

 

We need a FB with this OL if they want to run in 2020. Won't need to stack the line to stop the run with the current guys. 

[NickyJ]

4 hours ago, Riggo#44 said:

 

Put Ryan Anderson in at LT and LG. 3 birds with 1 stone.

[method man]

If you go sign Jason Peters for a year, you get yourself a pretty solid OL.

 

Peters / Charles / Roullier / Scherff / Moses

 

Not too bad. No real studs outside of Scherff but you arguably have at least average players at each slot (although yes jury is out on Charles)

[Burgundy Yoda]

My thoughts on Ron Rivera supporting his players?

Spoiler

Good.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Here is the link to the entire Ron Rivera zoom press conference:

 

 

A few thoughts:

 

1. The most important line in the entire presser was right at the beginning when Rivera said, "I was hired to lead this entire organization."  If there was any doubt about who's in charge, and who's going to remain in charge, there shouldn't be.  Ron is 100% in control of the organization, and he can delegate what he wants to.  We'll see how it works out.  But that's what it is.  

 

2. It's just impossible to listen to this presser and not be impressed by how professional Rivera is AND compare and contrast that to the coaches and FO people  the 'Skins have had over the past 25 years. He comes across genuine, thoughtful and practical.  He talks about reading the constitution and the amendments, the Bill of Rights and the oath of office.  He talks about listening and creating action plans.  He talked about getting advice from sports psychologists, and some faith advisors who he knows, as well as listening to folks in the organization.  He always seems prepared.

 

Pete Haley said something on the  Redskins Talk Podcast that with previous people in the organization, you were always on your edge of your seat for the foot in mouth statement.  "The culture is damn good," "Winning off the field," whatever nonsense Jay said about running in the I formation 50 times, just about everything that came out of Vinny, Spurrier and Zorn's mouths.  Shanahan telling the media he was trying to be honest because he wasn't always honest.  (shaking head at that one.)  

 

The only good communicator since Gibbs I was Gibbs II and "frankly" one year of Marty.  Literally everybody else has sucked.  They haven't been good communicators, they haven't been thoughtful, they haven't been compassionate, they haven't been prepared, and they have been prone to say the wrong thing all the time.  

 

Rivera isn't Belichick, or Pete Carroll, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay or maybe even Doug Pederson. But in listening to him, and contrasting him with the last regime, you can't help but just feel the organization is in better hands.  Will it work?  Dunno. They have A LOT of work to do on the roster, and we have to see the improvement in the preparation and game-day coaching take effect.  Personally, I like the way they've approached this off-season.  They tried to get offensive weapons in FA, but came up a bit short. That happens.  They have brought in a few stop-gap guys, and drafted a few guys who might turn into something down the road.  But we'll see.  The biggest question is at QB. 

 

To me, what they're doing this year is essentially making this the QB evaluation year.  If Haskins really steps up, they can be even more aggressive in FA next year.  If he doesn't, then they are in the market for a QB and still have a lot of cap room to play with.  Pretty smart.  

 

Personally, I've always liked Rivera. I think his teams have always been well prepared and tough.  This year's record is going to be almost entirely dependent on if Haskins can be a middle-of-the-pack QB.  If he can, they can win 6-8 games with an improved defense, mostly just based on improved coaching.  If he can't, then they are going to struggle.

[Voice_of_Reason]

On 6/10/2020 at 6:43 PM, method man said:

If you go sign Jason Peters for a year, you get yourself a pretty solid OL.

 

Peters / Charles / Roullier / Scherff / Moses

 

Not too bad. No real studs outside of Scherff but you arguably have at least average players at each slot (although yes jury is out on Charles)

But in the end it doesn't you no good to do it right now.

 

They need to see Charles and Christian at LT in camp. You have to TRY and get one of those guys to play LT for the year and see if they can do it. 

 

I think Martin is the leader in the clubhouse for LG.

 

Maybe it's because I watched a lot of LSU games because my wife is from Louisianan, and is a fan, but Charles was a hellofa good LT on a hellofa good OL when he wasn't suspended for being an idiot.  Minus the suspension and off the field stuff, I think he gets picked MUCH higher.  I've heard about concerns about his "length" or "wingspan" for a tackle  (I always get the heeby-jeebies talking about how "long" a guy is or how he has good "length") however his film is really good. 

 

Personally, I'd try him out at LT, or possibly at RT.  Moses has had 1 good year and a whole lot of false starts and holding penalties since then.  Bruce/Jay loved Moses.  Rivera/Turner are going to do their own evaluation and see what they have.

 

Ideally, Charles fills a tackle spot, Martin could fill in at LG.

 

But you need every practice rep you have to first teach, and then evaluate, the situation.  Bringing in Peters almost stops that from happening.  And FWIW, Ron basically said exactly that in his Zoom presser, where he specifically called out WR, LT and LG as 3 positions where they have young guys they need to evaluate before bringing in veterans.

[HTTRDynasty]

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Since "Happy Thanksgiving," it seems as though Dan is doing what he said he was going to do.  It seems as though he has turned the keys to the bus entirely over to Rivera, and is being informed and supporting him, rather than either making stupid decisions or not being in touch at all.

 

The biggest issue Dan has had over the years is finding the right advisors. He's had 3 primary advisors since he bought the team: Vinny Cerrato, Joe Gibbs and Bruce Allen.  The issue when Gibbs was here is he went along with Vinny still being in the building.  In that regard, Marty was much smarter than Gibbs.  When he got the job, he threw Vinny out immediately and replaced him with John Schneider. That made a lot of sense.  When Dan fired Marty, he hired Vinny back.

 

With Vinny as the primary advisor, Dan basically ran the personnel side of the franchise, for whatever he cared about.  He didn't care about the backup tackle, for instance. He cared about big names, starters and QBs.  Vinny enabled Dan's instinct to be aggressive, and fed it.  

 

With Gibbs as the primary advisor, at least there was the feeling an adult was running the show, and Gibbs is such an amazing coach and motivator, he was able to overcome (to some extent) his, Dan's and Vinny's shortcomings at roster construction.  A lesser coach, those 4 years look MUCH worse than they do.  Conversely, with a really good personnel guy to lean on, they might have been better.

 

With Bruce as an advisor, with a few very notable exceptions, Dan was somewhat disengaged, and deferred most of the running of the team to Bruce.  He said hiring Bruce was his attempt to be a better owner.  There are places where you definitely see his fingerprints, especially under Shanahan, with the trade for McNabb and Griffin, but on the whole Bruce enforced fiscal responsibility, and did things his way.  And Dan deferred to him, not because he was forced to, but because he bought in to what Bruce was selling.

 

Now his advisor is Rivera.  There is nobody else in his ear.  Ron talks directly to Dan, and this seems very important, he does so fairly often.  So Ron is "managing up."  Ron gets it.  It seems that for now, Ron can do what he wants, and as long as he keeps Dan informed, it works.  And as long as the team performs, I don't expect that to change.  

 

 

 

[Malapropismic Depository]

Turner said something that I love. "You want to be as unpredictable as possible. You don't want the defense to know what you're gonna do".

That is so freakin refreshing, because one of the most frustrating things we've seen during all the Skins' basement-dwelling years, is that they've been so predictable on offense.

 

I always wondered, has a reporter ever asked Turner, about any awkwardness in coming to work for Snyder, after the negative way his Dad left the building ?

It could be a total non-issue, but I think it's worth asking. I've seen a lot less relevant or intriguing questions asked, many times.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

5 hours ago, Malapropismic Depository said:

Turner said something that I love. "You want to be as unpredictable as possible. You don't want the defense to know what you're gonna do".

That is so freakin refreshing, because one of the most frustrating things we've seen during all the Skins' basement-dwelling years, is that they've been so predictable on offense.

So you think on running on 70% of 1st half first downs over a 6 year period for a < 3 yard average is predictable?  

 

I still can't believe there are those that still argue with me that the 1st down play calling wasn't a major, major flaw which could have been a relatively easy fix with just a modicum of a "self scout." (Thank you Bill Callahan.)   

 

I agree, that's very refreshing. I'm really hoping they come out with a "shock and awe" type of offense, and just do all kinds of crazy things with bizarre personnel groups.  Go out there with weird combos, use the RBs they have all over the field, etc.  Just be really creative and unpredictable, because that's the easiest way to force a defense to be vanilla.

 

My concern is with the limited off-season work and meeting time, and the fact almost all of the offensive skill guys are either rookies or second year guys (minus AP), it's going to be hard to implement.  Also, the OL is a massive concern.  It's tough to be creative if your LT is looking up at the clouds in the sky or at the back of the DEs jersey the entire game. 

 

5 hours ago, Malapropismic Depository said:

I always wondered, has a reporter ever asked Turner, about any awkwardness in coming to work for Snyder, after the negative way his Dad left the building ?

It could be a total non-issue, but I think it's worth asking. I've seen a lot less relevant or intriguing questions asked, many times.

I think it would be a good question to ask.  However, I think the answer has to be, "yeah, I don't have a problem with it" or else he wouldn't taken the job in the first place. I think a savvy reporter could make a story out of this by asking a lot of questions about the past, and how Scott felt back then, what he's learned, how he was able to put it in the past, and what he and Dan discussed to make him comfortable.  But if it was just a question or two, my bet is you'd get some type of a non-answer.  I do wish somebody would write that story, though.   

 

It was reported Dan "interviewed" Scott Turner, or was "in on the interview," and there were people who immediately got all up in arms about it, saying Dan was ALREADY overstepping his bounds on his new "coach centric" approach.  When I think it was less of an interview and more of a session with a psychologist:  

 

Dan: "So, Scott, when your father was HC, I insulted him, put vanilla ice cream on the DCs desk, made him wait around for hours after we lost a game, and then fired him with a winning record.  How exactly does that make you feel?"  

 

I think under the circumstances, Dan HAD to talk to Scott before he was hired to make sure there were no ill feelings.  I doubt very much Dan asked Scott many, if any, football related question.  If Scott had grievances or concerns, he was given the opportunity to air them.  If Scott had issues with Dan, they were able to work through them, or he's deemed them not really important and just goes on with his job. 

 

Also, Ron's a pretty smart guy, and is close with the Turners.  If you think for one second, after talking to Dan, Ron didn't call up Norv and ask him his thoughts, you're nuts.  This guy read the constitution + amendments, Bill of Rights and the oath of office to prepare for a conversation with Eric Reed.  You don't think he would call his OC, and presumably friend (Norv was the HC in SD when Ron was the DC), and find out everything he possibly could find out about Dan?  Of course he did.  And if Norv had a real serious beef with Dan, he would probably have REALLY cautioned Ron and his son not to take the job.  The fact both Ron and Scott took the job tells me Norv didn't lobby against it, which probably means Scott's ok with it.  

 

What will be interesting is if at some point, if things are going somewhat well, you see Dan and Norv in a box together. That would be interesting...

 

The other thing, Scott's seen his father fired a bunch of times at this point.  As a HC, he's been fired from the 'Skins, The Raiders and San Diego. He's also bounced around a bunch as an OC.  Scott grew up with football.  He's probably well aware of how it goes at this point.  

[Malapropismic Depository]

13 minutes ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

I agree, that's very refreshing. I'm really hoping they come out with a "shock and awe" type of offense, and just do all kinds of crazy things with bizarre personnel groups.  Go out there with weird combos, use the RBs they have all over the field, etc.  Just be really creative and unpredictable, because that's the easiest way to force a defense to be vanilla.

 

 

 

 

Yes, that was actually the context of the subject - their RB's ; and how they are all so versatile, that almost no matter which RB you put in there on any given play, the defense can't be sure what they're going to do - hence the unpredictable style.

[method man]

On 6/14/2020 at 9:33 AM, Voice_of_Reason said:

But in the end it doesn't you no good to do it right now.

 

They need to see Charles and Christian at LT in camp. You have to TRY and get one of those guys to play LT for the year and see if they can do it. 

 

I think Martin is the leader in the clubhouse for LG.

 

Maybe it's because I watched a lot of LSU games because my wife is from Louisianan, and is a fan, but Charles was a hellofa good LT on a hellofa good OL when he wasn't suspended for being an idiot.  Minus the suspension and off the field stuff, I think he gets picked MUCH higher.  I've heard about concerns about his "length" or "wingspan" for a tackle  (I always get the heeby-jeebies talking about how "long" a guy is or how he has good "length") however his film is really good. 

 

Personally, I'd try him out at LT, or possibly at RT.  Moses has had 1 good year and a whole lot of false starts and holding penalties since then.  Bruce/Jay loved Moses.  Rivera/Turner are going to do their own evaluation and see what they have.

 

Ideally, Charles fills a tackle spot, Martin could fill in at LG.

 

But you need every practice rep you have to first teach, and then evaluate, the situation.  Bringing in Peters almost stops that from happening.  And FWIW, Ron basically said exactly that in his Zoom presser, where he specifically called out WR, LT and LG as 3 positions where they have young guys they need to evaluate before bringing in veterans.

 

For me, personally, doing our best to keep Haskins healthy is more important to me than Martin's development.

[Koolblue13]

On 6/20/2020 at 12:32 AM, method man said:

 

For me, personally, doing our best to keep Haskins healthy is more important to me than Martin's development.

Turner has such a quick hitting offense with a ton of movement, so I think it's a lot of quick read and fire plays which will definitely help out Haskins.

[Anselmheifer]

2 hours ago, Koolblue13 said:

Turner has such a quick hitting offense with a ton of movement, so I think it's a lot of quick read and fire plays which will definitely help out Haskins.

I agree. He ran a quick hitting offense at Ohio State with great success. 

[redskindan07]

With the news of 87 different shareholders and investment firms with financial involvement of more than $620 billion in assets, asking Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to end their business with the Washington Redskins due to the racist nature of the team’s nickname. You've have to wonder what Dan is thinking. I don't think the pressure has ever been as high as it is now financially speaking.

 

[Rex Tomb]

I'm thinking I'm glad I bought a new Redskins hat from 47 brand before it all goes away. I have to imagine that Snyder will stick to his guns and the various companies will, as well.  There's too much business to be lost in this for them if they do pull out.  

10 minutes ago, redskindan07 said:

With the news of 87 different shareholders and investment firms with financial involvement of more than $620 billion in assets, asking Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to end their business with the Washington Redskins due to the racist nature of the team’s nickname. You've have to wonder what Dan is thinking. I don't think the pressure has ever been as high as it is now financially speaking.

 

How come they aren't going after the Cleveland Indians or the Florida Seminoles?  

[redskindan07]

That's a good question and something that I've always wanted to know. Seems that the Redskins, Indians, and Seminoles would all in the same boat