Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeRedskin
What facts are you speaking about? The obvious, well-known ones (McNabb, his actual win-loss record, his preseason comments about Beck/Grossman)?
Or - are you suggesting that you know additional facts which are not public knowledge?
If the first, true enough, their have been missteps - clearly. At the same time, after two seasons with a losing record and no hope of playoffs, the team clearly still believes in Shanahan and is willing to play for him. Not so at the end of either Zorn or Sprurrier. Those teams just quit and were playing out the string. As you implied, these last two games are important for this team going forward. Minnesota is a team that a "good" team should beat at home. Going out with a win against a division opponent, in their stadium, is a way to make a statement for the following year. I hope it breaks down that Philly needs to win that game and we then beat them.
Bottom line, Shanahan's numbers may not reflect a sea change in the way this organization is being run but, I would suggest, the way this team is playing at the end of a second losing season does.
I think these last two games are important for the team going forward. Avoiding double digit losses would be significant.
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Sorry, there was an inconsistent emphasis in that sentence. Reading again makes it seem like I'm working some sort of inside slant. With regards some sort of secret organizational disdain for the job the head coach is doing, I can really only say that
other organizations are skeptical. I don't know anything about what the team or other coaches or execs or owners of the Redskins think.
Anything I actually say about Mike Shanahan's line of thinking is pure observation or speculation.
I don't think it's accurate to say that Spurrier or Zorn's teams quit on them. I think it's accurate to say that the organization quit on Zorn at some point during the 2009 season (which it hasn't yet -- at least obviously -- done with Shanahan).
Obviously, with a team that hasn't won three games in a row for Shanahan yet and with a team that hasn't gone 3-3 in the division since Zorn was the coach, there is plenty for the team to prove down the stretch here. I'd say a 7-9 record with this kind of finish would put the team on schedule, pending future moves. It does not mean, to me at least, that the team is on the right track in spite of all the other evidence, but it would be an important first step, particularly with all the youth that is playing for this team.
I think the record would show with the history of this team that they probably aren't going to be that competitive in both of these last two games. So hopefully they can go out and show a couple more opponents that they can play a little bit.