Time to accept this year's team for what it is

[SPare]

2001 is and has been a season of transition. While a playoff appearance would have been nice, I think that most of us really expected a finish of somewhere between 7-9 and 9-7. And guess what, that's essentially the team is.

Is it any easier to accept the fact that there were 4 games that we lost that were eminently winnable... NO. Hey, even the top teams have games like that. Deep down, does anybody accept even one loss for the team? Probably not.

On the plus side, there is a lot of reason to believe that this team is setting up for next year's run. There is a good core of talent, most of which is still young. The skins have been competitive in all of their games since mid October. The shortfalls in talent are relatively few, and easy to spot (like QB, widebody DT).

The only things that will make me sour on next year's prospects is a coaching change or some major FA SNAFUs

[bulldog]

yes, the team has some good young talent, the question is whether Marty Schottenheimer is going to complement that talent by acquiring key players at the quarterback spot, at wide receiver and on the defensive line the team desperately needs.

I have a bad feeling that Marty may in fact decide in the end to bring Banks back or get an equivalent talent for next season, trying to fill in and get by rather than finding the answer.

I am hoping this is not the case. But his intransigence over Jeff George makes me wonder.

The other factor is, this team has been outcoached the past 2 or 3 games when the season was on the line. How come the Redskins were not the team that was able to pull out the trick plays like the Eagles and Bears did to break those games wide open?

Seems whenever the Redskins audible or go to a 'special play' the other teams are always prepared for it and stuff it, at least since the option play against Seattle.

The combination of poor execution and clock management by Banks and the predictability of the coaching staff in gameplanning has contributed mightily to the team losing 3 of the past 4 games.

The only game that was won, in Arizona, was the one contest where the Redskins had a clear talent advantage.

Where the games have been close, the Redskins have come up short at the end consistently.

And that is a cause for concern when looking at the coaching staff.