Turnaround Time

I agree. You can't just look at 0-3 right now and say that this regime has reached its ceiling and been given a golden opportunity to have this team rebuilt. Nobody saw the big $36 million penalty coming, and the 'skins are reaping the benefit of that now. Mike Shanahan said it would take about five years to turn this team around, he's in year four. Give him one more year, and if successful - give him a one year extension. If the 'skins continue to improve and make the playoffs, then sign him to a bigger contract.

Good points all around.

I keep going back to the stat somewhere that an NFL players average career is about three years, it's kind of make it or break it in that three year window. And you see a ton of teams get turned around in about that time even if they started with crap e.g. the Lions who just beat us. Absolutely terrible team when Schwartz took over. So I think there's pretty good reasons to say three years is a good benchmark for a regime/HC/GM to show the world their definitely on the right track and improving year over year, though maybe not a contender. On the far end of the spectrum you have Pete Carroll and Seattle looking like contenders after just a couple years, but they started with some real solid talent like Gmanc said about the bears.

I think the turnaround can happen but I think we need some fresh faces on the field to help: More Helu, Darryl Young, Fred Davis on offense. Tanard Jax, Chase, Jarvis and Jackson coming back from suspension. Maybe more Barnett.

We cant expect a turnaround with the same players on the field.

It may have been nearly 5 years ago, but we are STILL feeling some effects from the decade of destruction which was Vinny Cerrato. The damage he did to every level of this organization has not been an easy thing to un-do, but we're getting close.

Without the bogus cap penalty, we'd be in much better shape but we do have a lot more positives than negatives going for us right now. Our season will turn around. Next year, we're going to load up this team when we can return to spending a full salary cap amount.

Every team is different. But perhaps more importantly, turnaround is easy. Sustaining it is what's hard

turnaround is easy.

I bet teams like Oakland, Cleveland and Detroit would disagree.

We had a lot of issues from top to bottom from the previous "leadership" that were not easy to fix overnight. We had horrible contracts on the books with overpaid vets, missing draft picks left for a few years going forward and a roster that was assembled without a clear plan.

Coach Shanahan was probably right about it taking at least 5 years to turn this team around. He and Allen have made incredible progress without having much to work with talent-wise, pick-wise and then the salary cap hit. His second draft where he took us from having 2 picks in the first 4 rounds to a dozen picks overall was amazing to watch.

Good points all around.

I keep going back to the stat somewhere that an NFL players average career is about three years, it's kind of make it or break it in that three year window. And you see a ton of teams get turned around in about that time even if they started with crap e.g. the Lions who just beat us. Absolutely terrible team when Schwartz took over. So I think there's pretty good reasons to say three years is a good benchmark for a regime/HC/GM to show the world their definitely on the right track and improving year over year, though maybe not a contender. On the far end of the spectrum you have Pete Carroll and Seattle looking like contenders after just a couple years, but they started with some real solid talent like Gmanc said about the bears.

Detroit, really, has been rebuilding for years. Every year they would add more #1 draft picks. Almost like the situation with the 49ers. Seems like they had been adding different pieces to the puzzle for several seasons, it just took the right puzzle master (head coach) to know how the puzzle pieces fit together.

From a Redskins POV I would argue we are still 17 million under the cap. We have had coaches who have tried to make better from very little. I don't think it was in this FO gameplan to be playing under the cap for this and last year. I think we will see what Shannahan and Allen anticipated for this team next year.

Exactly!

Add the injury to Robert as well. Without that, we were likely heading into the second round of the playoffs even with the cap situation.

I don't see Mike going anywhere anytime soon; but he has to keep this team fighting through this early season adversity, or all bets are off.

If we are 0-4 come Monday morning I think the panic buttons are hit. Sunday is a must win at OAK.

Nobody can deny the cap penalty hurt us. But that doesn't explain: undisciplined players; unprepared players (RG aside cuz that's different); horrible play-calling through most of Mike's tenure; horrible clock management; unmotivated and uninspired performances, with the exception of an 8 game streak last season.

I also take issue with the notion this team had no talent when Mike took over. The team gave up Zorn's last year and stats looked worse than they would otherwise be, but the defense we had in place prior to Mike's era was vastly superior to what he's conjured up. I don't think anybody can make an honest argument the other way. Yes, that defense was aged and needed additional players, but isn't that what Mike's done anyway? We've added a lot of players to the defense, and it sucks. Again, that's a staple of Mike's coaching/teams over the last decade.

But, I tend to agree with those who say give him the rest of the season IF AND ONLY IF this team starts to show better preparedness, discipline, motivation. IMO those things say everything about where a team is headed.