What's Considered Success for Next Season?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by jsarno

I agree with the general thoughts here. 10+ wins.
If we fail to reach the playoffs next year, we failed as a team.

If we see another 5-8 win season, expect HUGE changes. Gibbs retirement, being the biggest. Most coaches being fired. Probably an overhaul on offense and defense. Basically we don't want to see us fail next year for the fact of how far it will set us back in terms of changes.

If Joe Gibbs, Gregg Williams, and Al Saunders can't get it done here, who the hell can??? It's not the coaching. It's the QB position. Brunell wouldn't threaten deep down the field, and Campbell is still learning.

We go as far as Campbell takes us. I think he can win 10 games after a full offseason of work.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

If Joe Gibbs, Gregg Williams, and Al Saunders can't get it done here, who the hell can??? It's not the coaching. It's the QB position. Brunell wouldn't threaten deep down the field, and Campbell is still learning.

We go as far as Campbell takes us. I think he can win 10 games after a full offseason of work.

EVERYTHING is about coaching! If Campbell doesn't produce (for instance) then the coaches need to break down what he's doing wrong and coach him to success. If they leave him alone to figure it out on his own, do you think he'll ever be successful? Heck no!
If the offense doesn't do well there are other reasons...we have all the tools, saunders said so himself. So it will be on his shoulders to succeed.
Williams is getting rammed for his defense this year, and in some cases, rightfully so. He hasn't made good adjustments for holes he has in his D, but he has had injuries. A bottom 3 defense is horrible. If something is not working, then the only way to fix it is by coaching. The coaches are the generals, they run the show...if they fail, then it's their flaws that failed. The players obviously have faults in this, but coaches need to adjust to the strengths and flaws of players.

[dmek25]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

If Joe Gibbs, Gregg Williams, and Al Saunders can't get it done here, who the hell can??? It's not the coaching. It's the QB position. Brunell wouldn't threaten deep down the field, and Campbell is still learning.

We go as far as Campbell takes us. I think he can win 10 games after a full offseason of work.

this is the most logical, thought out posted here, ever

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

If Joe Gibbs, Gregg Williams, and Al Saunders can't get it done here, who the hell can??? It's not the coaching. It's the QB position. Brunell wouldn't threaten deep down the field, and Campbell is still learning.

We go as far as Campbell takes us. I think he can win 10 games after a full offseason of work.

I think it is a combo coaching and QB. I used to think it was more coaching but the last several seasosn around the league have made me a realize how black and white the qb position is for an NFL team. With a QB playing well you have a chance to win every game. With him playing poorly you have a chance to win maybe half your games if you have a good defense and decent players around him. To be successful with a poor or even mediocre QB you need a stellar defense. (See Balt and Chi)

It seems that a lot of people think the QB position is overrated but I think if anything it is underrated. Take Peyton off of Indy and they are a 8-8/9-7 team at best. Put him on Arizona and they win 11-12 games. Same in Minny.

I think though you also have to have good coaching with a solid scheme. The more and more I see Seattle and Philly play the more I realize how flawed their offenses are. I don't think it is a coincidence that their performance is all over the map the last 4 years. Even with good QBs they struggle to over come limited offensive shcemes and sometimes shoddy coaching.

The Pats are a perfect example. They really haven't been super talented but they have a great scheme on both sides of the ball, quality coaching and a super QB.

Basically to me good coaching and scheming overcome the spots where you have mediocre players. But the scheme or coach can't overcome having a poor QB. You need both to compete year in and year out.

[MTK]

Anything less than the playoffs is always a disaster.

[Smurf85]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Anything less than the playoffs is always a disaster.

AMEN!

[onlydarksets]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Anything less than the playoffs is always a disaster.

Making the playoffs doesn't mean it isn't a disaster, though. 8-8 will make the playoffs this year - would that be a success next year? Obviously not. Playoffs are a component, and it's good you bring that up, but we need to rack up some wins too.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by onlydarksets

Making the playoffs doesn't mean it isn't a disaster, though. 8-8 will make the playoffs this year - would that be a success next year? Obviously not. Playoffs are a component, and it's good you bring that up, but we need to rack up some wins too.

This is what I'm trying to get at, sort of. Is a successful season gauged by total number of victories or a playoff appearance?

[dmek25]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

This is what I'm trying to get at, sort of. Is a successful season gauged by total number of victories or a playoff appearance?

to me, its about getting into the playoffs. once in, anything can happen

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by dmek25

to me, its about getting into the playoffs. once in, anything can happen

I can sort of agree with that too, although having a better record is "Supposed" to make it easier for a team to get through the playoffs, but you are right...once in anything can happen.

I just want to go back to the feeling I had in Gibbs I where each and every Sunday, you expected the Redskins to win, and if they lost, then it was unusual!

[Beemnseven]

I think the offense picks it up, gets into the top ten, and I'll even venture to say there will be slight improvement with the D (how much worse can it get?).

Still, there are too many problems with the team overall, and not enough solutions.

7 - 9.

[Gmanc711]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Anything less than the playoffs is always a disaster.

Exactly.

With the talent we have on this team, thats gotta be a minimum. We have the talent to win in this league, and against the teams we play. I only really saw us outmatched once and that was against Indianapolis and the first game against Dallas/Philly; other than that there isnt a game I can look at and say we shouldnt have won.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Gmanc711

Exactly.

With the talent we have on this team, thats gotta be a minimum. We have the talent to win in this league, and against the teams we play. I only really saw us outmatched once and that was against Indianapolis and the first game against Dallas/Philly; other than that there isnt a game I can look at and say we shouldnt have won.

I agree with you that only a few times this season we were significantly outplayed, although I would add the first New York game to that list.

In spite of everything that has happened to us, injuries, playcalling, subpar performance, midseason QB change, inability to force turnovers, there is still no real reason why this team doesn't have 7 wins. Looking at the six close losses; Minnesota, Tennessee, @ Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and @ St. Louis, and even throwing in close wins like Dallas and Jacksonville...our record was 2-6 in those games. In a fair world, should we not be 4-4 in those games? If you just look at those 8 games, we weren't outplayed at all (on the average) by our opponents in those 8 games. So how else can you explain us only winning 25% of those close games other than it not being our year?

The very simple answer is this: We got better than expected efforts from most of our opponents this year. We had a lot of games with teams coming off their bye or teams with their backs against the wall. Tennessee was 0-5. They are 8-2 since playing us. Philly had lost 3 in a row going into the Week 11 matchup with us. Atlanta and Tampa Bay were both on losing streaks.

It gives me hope for next year because even if we play no better than this year (something that shouldn't be too hard), if things even out and we go 6-2 in close games next year, that puts us in great shape to go 10-6 with no improvement. And I fully expect us to improve.

[djnemo65]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Anything less than the playoffs is always a disaster.

Yeah, but that's not unfair, because this is a team that mortgages its future every year in order to win right away. Rebuilding is one thing, but we haven't had a rebuilding season since Snyder bought the team.

[Beemnseven]

Those hoping for an easy schedule are in for a rude awakening.

While we have pansies like Arizona and Detroit at home, and yet another away game at Tampa Bay, we'll be at New England, at the Jets, at Green Bay, and at Minnesota.

At home we've got Arizona, Buffalo, Miami, Chicago.

That's tough.