Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Redskins vs. Panthers)

[sportscurmudgeon]

Take a deep breath folks; the 2011 season is on track to be what should have been realistically expected for the 2011 season.

The Redskins are a better football team now than they were in the middle of last year. They are better because they are faster and they are better because they play harder than last year's team did. They are younger and that leads to one of their "weaknesses" for 2011 - - they make bad mistakes at bad times in games. That "weakness" can be cured over time; lack of talent cannot be cured over time except to replace the lack of talent with new talent. There is a saying that, "You can't cure stupid." Well, you also can't cure incompetent...

Mike Shanahan will be the Redskins' coach next year unless Mike Shanahan decides to pack it in and leave or unless he gets caught on video doing unspeakable things to a household pet. Danny Boy ain't gonna fire him. Get past that kind of thinking...

The Mike/Kyle dynamic is NOT helping the team. For those who say that Mike Shanahan never won much without John Elway at QB (sort of correct and sort of not correct because it takes plenty of winning to get to the playoffs even if you get bounced in the first round) let me point out that he won plenty of games without Kyle on the sidelines. He was lots more "involved" in games back in Denver; if you don't believe that, watch NFL Films of those games or talk to the folks who covered the NFL and the Broncos 10-15 years ago. Today, he does not get in the face of his offensive coordinator much at all. Ask Gary Kubiak if that ever happened to him in Denver...

Fans here need to keep expectations within the realm of reality. After a win, the tendency here is for some folks to commission the busts for Canton Ohio for at least a half-dozen Redskins' players. After a loss, some folks here want to throw just about anyone/everyone under the bus.

Reality Check

QB: Neither Grossman nor Beck is anything more than average at the position. Neither looks like they will ever achieve much more than that - - albeit the jury is still out on Beck. It is unrealistic to expect that the Redskins will be an elite team without better play at the QB position and it may be several years until that can happen. Deal with it...

RB: Tim Hightower is/was far and away the best RB on the team. He can/could run, block, catch and carry out meaningful play-action fakes. No one else on the team can do all of that. He is down for the season; the running game will take a hit because of that.

WR: They have been average-at-best for about 5 years and this crop is about what it has been for the last 5 years. Before anyone goes nuts about how great some of the young guys might become, please recall the level of enthusiasm and eupohoria around here several years ago over Malcom Kelly and Devin Thomas... None of the youngsters on the roster now have shown very much so far.

TE: There are two perfectly good tight ends on the roster and Logan Paulson is not too shabby either.

OL: This year's OL is better than last year which was better than the year before. This year's OL is mediocre. That is improvement over previous OLs, but there is PLENTY of improvement possible.

DL: See statement for OL above. Ditto marks here...

LB: Without question the best part of the defense. Kerrigan and Orakpo are young and get better and better. London Fletcher may be very long in the tooth and will likely not be around when the Skins as a team get to be very good, but those three guys make the LB corps significantly above average. For all the bashing Rocky McIntosh takes here, he is not all that awful. He is the least accomplished of the four starters, but he is still above average league-wide.

CB: Given the amount of talk coming from D. Hall, I would say he is an underachiever; unless Wilson is still on a learning curve and has lots more to show on the field, he represents a problem area. The other CBs are not as good as either of those guys so this is an area of weakness.

Safety: Lots of tries for spectacular hits and highlight reel plays out of Landry but not a lot of positive results. He still cannot cover a turtle with a blanket. Otogwhe is a step up from last season. This is not a "great unit" but it is satisfactory.

Getting this team back to being on an even-footing with its competition after the way Vinnie Cerrato ran it into the mud from a talent perspective will probably take at least 4-5 years of good drafting and solid free agency management. The team - - and the fans - - need to realize that there is no single player in the league that could be added to this roster who could make this team into a serious contender to be the NFC Champion. This process will take time, commitment, patience and the ability to assess the team assets in terms of reality - - and not on reputations or "Madden ratings" or anything of the sort.

Stay the course...

[GridIron26]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

Take a deep breath folks; the 2011 season is on track to be what should have been realistically expected for the 2011 season.

The Redskins are a better football team now than they were in the middle of last year. They are better because they are faster and they are better because they play harder than last year's team did. They are younger and that leads to one of their "weaknesses" for 2011 - - they make bad mistakes at bad times in games. That "weakness" can be cured over time; lack of talent cannot be cured over time except to replace the lack of talent with new talent. There is a saying that, "You can't cure stupid." Well, you also can't cure incompetent...

Mike Shanahan will be the Redskins' coach next year unless Mike Shanahan decides to pack it in and leave or unless he gets caught on video doing unspeakable things to a household pet. Danny Boy ain't gonna fire him. Get past that kind of thinking...

The Mike/Kyle dynamic is NOT helping the team. For those who say that Mike Shanahan never won much without John Elway at QB (sort of correct and sort of not correct because it takes plenty of winning to get to the playoffs even if you get bounced in the first round) let me point out that he won plenty of games without Kyle on the sidelines. He was lots more "involved" in games back in Denver; if you don't believe that, watch NFL Films of those games or talk to the folks who covered the NFL and the Broncos 10-15 years ago. Today, he does not get in the face of his offensive coordinator much at all. Ask Gary Kubiak if that ever happened to him in Denver...

Fans here need to keep expectations within the realm of reality. After a win, the tendency here is for some folks to commission the busts for Canton Ohio for at least a half-dozen Redskins' players. After a loss, some folks here want to throw just about anyone/everyone under the bus.

Reality Check

QB: Neither Grossman nor Beck is anything more than average at the position. Neither looks like they will ever achieve much more than that - - albeit the jury is still out on Beck. It is unrealistic to expect that the Redskins will be an elite team without better play at the QB position and it may be several years until that can happen. Deal with it...

RB: Tim Hightower is/was far and away the best RB on the team. He can/could run, block, catch and carry out meaningful play-action fakes. No one else on the team can do all of that. He is down for the season; the running game will take a hit because of that.

WR: They have been average-at-best for about 5 years and this crop is about what it has been for the last 5 years. Before anyone goes nuts about how great some of the young guys might become, please recall the level of enthusiasm and eupohoria around here several years ago over Malcom Kelly and Devin Thomas... None of the youngsters on the roster now have shown very much so far.

TE: There are two perfectly good tight ends on the roster and Logan Paulson is not too shabby either.

OL: This year's OL is better than last year which was better than the year before. This year's OL is mediocre. That is improvement over previous OLs, but there is PLENTY of improvement possible.

DL: See statement for OL above. Ditto marks here...

LB: Without question the best part of the defense. Kerrigan and Orakpo are young and get better and better. London Fletcher may be very long in the tooth and will likely not be around when the Skins as a team get to be very good, but those three guys make the LB corps significantly above average. For all the bashing Rocky McIntosh takes here, he is not all that awful. He is the least accomplished of the four starters, but he is still above average league-wide.

CB: Given the amount of talk coming from D. Hall, I would say he is an underachiever; unless Wilson is still on a learning curve and has lots more to show on the field, he represents a problem area. The other CBs are not as good as either of those guys so this is an area of weakness.

Safety: Lots of tries for spectacular hits and highlight reel plays out of Landry but not a lot of positive results. He still cannot cover a turtle with a blanket. Otogwhe is a step up from last season. This is not a "great unit" but it is satisfactory.

Getting this team back to being on an even-footing with its competition after the way Vinnie Cerrato ran it into the mud from a talent perspective will probably take at least 4-5 years of good drafting and solid free agency management. The team - - and the fans - - need to realize that there is no single player in the league that could be added to this roster who could make this team into a serious contender to be the NFC Champion. This process will take time, commitment, patience and the ability to assess the team assets in terms of reality - - and not on reputations or "Madden ratings" or anything of the sort.

Stay the course...

Definitely one of the best post I have ever read in a while

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

The team - - and the fans - - need to realize that there is no single player in the league that could be added to this roster who could make this team into a serious contender to be the NFC Champion.

except for tom brady or aaron rodgers.

just saying

[htownskinfan]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

Take a deep breath folks; the 2011 season is on track to be what should have been realistically expected for the 2011 season.

The Redskins are a better football team now than they were in the middle of last year. They are better because they are faster and they are better because they play harder than last year's team did. They are younger and that leads to one of their "weaknesses" for 2011 - - they make bad mistakes at bad times in games. That "weakness" can be cured over time; lack of talent cannot be cured over time except to replace the lack of talent with new talent. There is a saying that, "You can't cure stupid." Well, you also can't cure incompetent...

Mike Shanahan will be the Redskins' coach next year unless Mike Shanahan decides to pack it in and leave or unless he gets caught on video doing unspeakable things to a household pet. Danny Boy ain't gonna fire him. Get past that kind of thinking...

The Mike/Kyle dynamic is NOT helping the team. For those who say that Mike Shanahan never won much without John Elway at QB (sort of correct and sort of not correct because it takes plenty of winning to get to the playoffs even if you get bounced in the first round) let me point out that he won plenty of games without Kyle on the sidelines. He was lots more "involved" in games back in Denver; if you don't believe that, watch NFL Films of those games or talk to the folks who covered the NFL and the Broncos 10-15 years ago. Today, he does not get in the face of his offensive coordinator much at all. Ask Gary Kubiak if that ever happened to him in Denver...

Fans here need to keep expectations within the realm of reality. After a win, the tendency here is for some folks to commission the busts for Canton Ohio for at least a half-dozen Redskins' players. After a loss, some folks here want to throw just about anyone/everyone under the bus.

Reality Check

QB: Neither Grossman nor Beck is anything more than average at the position. Neither looks like they will ever achieve much more than that - - albeit the jury is still out on Beck. It is unrealistic to expect that the Redskins will be an elite team without better play at the QB position and it may be several years until that can happen. Deal with it...

RB: Tim Hightower is/was far and away the best RB on the team. He can/could run, block, catch and carry out meaningful play-action fakes. No one else on the team can do all of that. He is down for the season; the running game will take a hit because of that.

WR: They have been average-at-best for about 5 years and this crop is about what it has been for the last 5 years. Before anyone goes nuts about how great some of the young guys might become, please recall the level of enthusiasm and eupohoria around here several years ago over Malcom Kelly and Devin Thomas... None of the youngsters on the roster now have shown very much so far.

TE: There are two perfectly good tight ends on the roster and Logan Paulson is not too shabby either.

OL: This year's OL is better than last year which was better than the year before. This year's OL is mediocre. That is improvement over previous OLs, but there is PLENTY of improvement possible.

DL: See statement for OL above. Ditto marks here...

LB: Without question the best part of the defense. Kerrigan and Orakpo are young and get better and better. London Fletcher may be very long in the tooth and will likely not be around when the Skins as a team get to be very good, but those three guys make the LB corps significantly above average. For all the bashing Rocky McIntosh takes here, he is not all that awful. He is the least accomplished of the four starters, but he is still above average league-wide.

CB: Given the amount of talk coming from D. Hall, I would say he is an underachiever; unless Wilson is still on a learning curve and has lots more to show on the field, he represents a problem area. The other CBs are not as good as either of those guys so this is an area of weakness.

Safety: Lots of tries for spectacular hits and highlight reel plays out of Landry but not a lot of positive results. He still cannot cover a turtle with a blanket. Otogwhe is a step up from last season. This is not a "great unit" but it is satisfactory.

Getting this team back to being on an even-footing with its competition after the way Vinnie Cerrato ran it into the mud from a talent perspective will probably take at least 4-5 years of good drafting and solid free agency management. The team - - and the fans - - need to realize that there is no single player in the league that could be added to this roster who could make this team into a serious contender to be the NFC Champion. This process will take time, commitment, patience and the ability to assess the team assets in terms of reality - - and not on reputations or "Madden ratings" or anything of the sort.

Stay the course...

Great post,although its possible you might be wrong about the 1 guy turning the team around.I say that because of Indy.They were expected to be a 10 game winner this yr.Without Peyton they might not win a game.So I agree with That Guy,but we know thats not gonna happen{getting rogers or brady}
Also I dont think we should stay the course,we need to get rid of Kyle.Like you said,its not working and he should have never been hired to begin with.This is one place Snyder or Allen should have stepped in and said you cant hire your son,too big of a conflict of interest