Lombardi's column

[30gut]

Shanny tried to shoot the moon w/ McNabb.
He failed.
Time to dust off and try again the right way.
But, i respect him for giving it a shot.

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

I truly wish that I was as certain as you are that "Snyder learned the lesson".

True, Shanahan needs to let defensive coaches run the defense' that is not Shanahan's strangth. The problem here is that Haslett is a "defensive guy: and has been knonw as such for all of his NFL tenure.

Yes, but it has been overly argued when people defend Haslett from fault is that Shanahan is the one that made the decision to switch to the 3-4. So the guy that made this important decision is not a defensive coach or expert in defense, much has any experience ever using the 3-4 defense on any of his teams. This was a poor decision.

[takethecake]

I'm surprised I'm the only one who really thought that article was ridiculous. I think we all know that it takes more than one offseason to turn around a 4-12 team no matter who the new coach is. I don't think shanahan has really done anything wrong this season - I'm not buying the whole "his ego hurts the team" garbage. Mcnabb trade maybe... but campbell must not have shown a propensity to run his offense.

As far as the 3-4 situation, it's not like he came in here thinking a 3-4 defense would make us better, I think he did understand that the personnel didn't quite match. I think his decision to run the 3-4 was based on the league-wide shift to the 3-4; I bet in 10 years every team will run it because it does have advantages over the 4-3. Unfortunately we weren't able to draft/trade for all the pieces we needed last offseason, but it's a work in progress.

You just can't write an article like that without mentioning that it's only been ONE OFFSEASON since he inherited a god-awful team. Jesus...

[htownskinfan]

Did you read the comments at the end of the article? Its pretty bad when a cowboys fan is telling us to hang in there

"With all these (snicker!) "experts" posting their analysis of the Redskins' problems and advising of their miracle cures, I don't need to add my thoughts on who might be to blame. Instead, I'll just say that, as a Cowboys fan (and a football fan too), I would like to see all this ironed out in Washington and the 'Skins get back to being competitive, whatever it takes. This team has Super Bowl trophies they've earned, and it's sad to see a proud franchise fall on hard times like this. It happens to all teams from time to time, and I have no doubts that the 'Skins will eventually get it all together and start playing football. I remember times when Cowboys/Redskins games were the ones every fan waited eagerly to see, and that epic rivalry will return. Until then, I advise all the 'Skins fans to keep their chins up...your guys will once again give you something to be proud of. Keep the faith."

[LongTimeSkinsFan]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

The HUGE difference between the way Tampa did business in terms of rebuilding and the Skins is that Tampa accumulated draft picks and used them proficiently such that there are 15 rookies on their squad.


The Skins have traded off draft picks so that they don't have very many.


And from last year's draft, they got Trent Williams as a solid contributor and ...

Let me finish that SC...

"And from last year's draft, they got Trent Williams as a solid contributor and ..." a conglomeration of used up veterans that have already seen their glory days pass them by but are still collecting one last big paycheck.

[skinster]

Originally Posted by Defensewins

Shanahan is a respected offensive coach. Shanahan went from being a QB to being an offensive coordinator to being a Head Coach that ran offense. Shanhan has never coached a defense and has zero experience coaching a defense.
Rather than hiring a very qualified defensive coordinator and letting him run his own defense, he took upon himself to dictate what defense his team was going to run and then hired a coach. Kind of like when Snyderatto hired Zorn to be offensive coordinator before hiring the head coach. No respected defensive coach will come into that kind of situation where he is dictated what defense he has to run.
This is a case where Shanahan got involved with something that he has little experience doing. In fact none of Shanahan's defenses in Denver were base 3-4 and the Redskins have never been a base 3-4. Most of the players on the Redskins defense have not played in 3-4 as the base defense. Not a good marriage.
I will be curious to see if Shanahan will show any flexibility going forward.
Or will it remain his way or the highway?
Snyder learned the lesson, let professionals that know what they are doing run your team.
Is Shanhan open to learning the same lesson?
Shanahan should let defensive coaches run the defense, personnel men run the FO and he should stick to running to what he knows best, running the offense.

I see your point about shanny not being qualified to make defensive decisions, but I do respectfully disagree. If we look at all the defensives in the NFL when shanny was hired, there were 12 that ran a 3-4 and 20 that ran the 4-3. The top 5 scoring defenses were all in the 3-4. 9 of the top 13 scoring defenses were all in the 3-4. Green bay and Denver had switched that year. Green Bay went from the 21st ranked scoring defense to the 7th with the most turn overs, and Denver went from the 30th ranked defense to the 7th. I feel that with Albert being the NT and orakpo being the edge rusher, it looked like we had much better personel than Denver who had an amazing switch (of course that whole albert thing didn't work out, but if you say you expected this to happen you are lying).
From shanahans point of view it was a smart switch. Even now it still seems smart. The three teams that ran the 3-4 that weren't in the top 13 scoring defenses were Cleveland at 21, Miami at 25, and Kansas City at 29. This year, in points per game, kansas city and cleveland are tied at 8th while miami is 11th.
Switching to a 3-4 was for sure the right thing to do. It is the more proven defense, and when hiring a defensive coordinator, it is smart to go with one that runs the scheme that has worked the best. I am happy that we made the switch. I think it will end up paying off for us in the long run, especially with our two young star players, orakpo and landry, performing so well in it.

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by skinster

I see your point about shanny not being qualified to make defensive decisions, but I do respectfully disagree. If we look at all the defensives in the NFL when shanny was hired, there were 12 that ran a 3-4 and 20 that ran the 4-3. The top 5 scoring defenses were all in the 3-4. 9 of the top 13 scoring defenses were all in the 3-4. Green bay and Denver had switched that year. Green Bay went from the 21st ranked scoring defense to the 7th with the most turn overs, and Denver went from the 30th ranked defense to the 7th. I feel that with Albert being the NT and orakpo being the edge rusher, it looked like we had much better personel than Denver who had an amazing switch (of course that whole albert thing didn't work out, but if you say you expected this to happen you are lying).
From shanahans point of view it was a smart switch. Even now it still seems smart. The three teams that ran the 3-4 that weren't in the top 13 scoring defenses were Cleveland at 21, Miami at 25, and Kansas City at 29. This year, in points per game, kansas city and cleveland are tied at 8th while miami is 11th.
Switching to a 3-4 was for sure the right thing to do. It is the more proven defense, and when hiring a defensive coordinator, it is smart to go with one that runs the scheme that has worked the best. I am happy that we made the switch. I think it will end up paying off for us in the long run, especially with our two young star players, orakpo and landry, performing so well in it.

More "proven"? How about that Baltimore defense that won the Super Bowl? Or the Giants D that helped them get theirs?

[Bushead]

Maybe i'm in the minority here, but these article seems to just be trash: lot of speculation, lot of hearsay, and a lot of talking about nothing.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by takethecake

I'm surprised I'm the only one who really thought that article was ridiculous. I think we all know that it takes more than one offseason to turn around a 4-12 team no matter who the new coach is. I don't think shanahan has really done anything wrong this season - I'm not buying the whole "his ego hurts the team" garbage. Mcnabb trade maybe... but campbell must not have shown a propensity to run his offense.

As far as the 3-4 situation, it's not like he came in here thinking a 3-4 defense would make us better, I think he did understand that the personnel didn't quite match. I think his decision to run the 3-4 was based on the league-wide shift to the 3-4; I bet in 10 years every team will run it because it does have advantages over the 4-3. Unfortunately we weren't able to draft/trade for all the pieces we needed last offseason, but it's a work in progress.

You just can't write an article like that without mentioning that it's only been ONE OFFSEASON since he inherited a god-awful team. Jesus...

Yeah, if this was year 2 of Shanahan, this article would make a lot more sense. Right now it's premature.

[sportscurmudgeon]

Originally Posted by LongTimeSkinsFan

Let me finish that SC...

"And from last year's draft, they got Trent Williams as a solid contributor and ..." a conglomeration of used up veterans that have already seen their glory days pass them by but are still collecting one last big paycheck.

Sadly, you are much closer to "correct" than you are to "incorrect". :vomit: