Its just getting to painful to discuss this team led by the arrogant meglomaniac Shanahan at the moment, so I figured I would give everyone an opportunity to discuss something else, but in typical HH style would still cause a basic 50-50 split in views and lead to some spirited discusion.

Yesterdays Pacquiao v Marquez fight.


So how did you guys see it?

Personally I thought Manny had a chance if the judges gave him every single close round to win by maybe one round with at least one judge scoring a draw.

But when they read out the decision and one Judge scored it 116-112 then I was sure Marquez was going to win because I figured that mean one Judge had given Marquez a couple of the close rounds, so I was shocked when Manny won, not because I thought he didnt deserve it but I couldnt find a 8-4 win in ROunds for him anywhere.

Still I am always happy for the scorers to favour the aggressor on points over the counter-puncher so was happy enough for Manny to get the win.

What say you?

P.S.  If you dont care about this issue, you dont need to post that this is a Redskins fight not a boxing site, I am well aware of that after posting here for 3 years, but when your team is on a massive losing streak then maybe some of us would like to discuss something else, if you dont, then please ignore this post at your leisure

The internet stores all.

“I feel very good about both quarterbacks. we can win with(either one),” "They played well enoughtoday for people to see that, even outside our organization.”  coach Mike Shanahan said.......  25-08-2011

Obviously at the end of the day you want to make the rightdecision,” Shanahan said, “so that’s why you don’t make a quickdecision -especially when you have two guys that you believe in and you’re not really sure what direction to go in at the time  Same post-game, after Ravens pre-season)

Mike Shanahan on Beck before pre-season games....

MIke Shanahan on Grossman (And sort of both) before pre-season Games

I had a lot of belief in Rex Grossman. We're gonna play the best player at the end of camp, but I do believe in both those guys. I've watched them practice. You make decisions based on practice. I've watched both these guys for a year, I like what they bring to the table

Kyle Shanahan on Beck (and this really is the doozy)

My first year as a position coach in the league, Houston had me scout all the quarterbacks coming out that year," Kyle Shanahan said. "That was the JaMarcus Russell year, with Brady Quinn, Trent Edwards, Kevin Kolb and Beck. So they asked me who I'd pick if I had the 10th pick in the draft. I told them Beck. They said he's not worth the 10th pick in the draft. I was standing on the table for him. I've never seen a guy play that well in college."

Standing on the Table screaming for Fucking John Fucking Beck... really.   Can we please get Kyle Shanahan as far away from the Personnel decision making side of our organisation as possible please.  Its bad enough hes running an offence that has scored one TD in 3 games, but at least his game calls dont destroy an organisation for a decade.  GET HIM AWAY FROM THE DRAFT ROOM.

I'm sure I have missed some absolute classics so feel free to add them in the comments below

Continue reading this post »

I was thinking of this on the weekend watching the USC Stanford game.

If you look at Indy without Peyton Manning and look at all their blown first round picks you would have to say to get a guaranteed once in a decade going to be a Top 5 QB in the league for his entire career QB is worth more than anything in the new, no hitting no defence NFL right.

My final view was that if we had the 12th pick I would honestly give up 10 years of 1st Round Picks to move up with MIami/Indy to get Luck

My feeling is you can get elite players at just about every other position than QB or LT in later rounds of the draft or Free Agency.  Unless you luck into an injury risk that pays off like the Saints did with Brees no team is letting a Franchise QB or LT walk in Free Agency, and unless its Brady its real tough to find any 2nd round or later QBs that are franchise players in the current NFL.  Plus if you have an elite QB that first rounder is likely in the 20's anyway

So the question is how many years of 1st Round picks woudl you give up for Luck.  my answer is 10 as long as Luck would be happy to go to a team with 10 years of no picks int he first ROund

The emporer has no clothes.

That much is clear now, many of us were against the Shanahan hiring from the start.

Some jumped off when he signed McNabb and dumped JC17 for a ridiculously low price for a NFL QB with as many starts as he had in a QB needy league.

Many lost faith when he took an effective 4-3 defense and without the personnell to pull it off went to the maddening fultily of the 2010 Haslett 3-4

Some then jumped off when he benched McNabb for the 2 minute drill.

More departed when he dumped McNabb for good and ran a PR campaign to discredit the QB that he himself gave away the crucial pick 37 plus a 3rd rounder the following year to acquire.

When he came into the season with the awful Beck/Grossman QB combo and tried to make us beleive that his system was such genius that he and he alone could reclaim these 2 QB's from the NFL scrap heap and make them stars and prove his own genius.

But through it all there were the apologists, the excuse makers and the true believers.  A bunch of people in the media and on this page who continued to beleive that SHanahan was the answer, when all evidence said otherwise.  No Head Coach had ever taken 2 teams to a Superbowl Championship.  Shanahan had been FIRED in Denver after poor performance for the better part of a decade in a terrible and weak division.  They pointed at the Elway Superbowls forgetting that even though a Head Coach is incredibly important, having John Elway sure does make a Head Coaches job a lot easier than having Rex Grossman or Beck.

For those of us who had the temerity to criticise the ridiculous moves in the begginning of the Shanahan era there was venom and vitriol.  Every step of the way Shanahan had to prove his genius rather than just helping this team grow and commit to the re-build that was so neccesary after the horrors of the Zorn era.

Giving away a competent QB and 2nd 3rd and 4th round picks to go for the win now move of getting Donovan McNabb and Jamaal Brown was disgraceful.  This is not hindsight, those of us crying out for a true rebuild of this team saw the folly of it from the start.

Moving from a 4-3 to a 3-4 after giving away the draft picks neccesary to fill the holes created by this change of scheme was just utter madness.  It was coaching/GM schizophrenia, were we trying to win now McNabb/Brown or building for the future by changing scheme.

Hiring his son no matter his qualifications was a poor move because it screamed of nepotism and told the world that not only was Shanahan here for a number of years but he was so confident of his genetic genius that he would also give us his son after we were finished winning SuperBowls with him.

Well Mike, the NFC East is not the AFC West, this is brutal division, there are no Al Davis Raiders and Herm Edwards Chiefs to beat up on over here.  In a league that is evermore dependant on Stellar QB play in the no-contact on recievers era your zone stretch running plays are not going to take a team far.  And Rex Grossman and John Beck were never the answer.

Jason Campbell was the perfect QB for a rebuilding team, he provided solid, middle of the pack QB numbers for a team that was committed to a multi-year rebuilding program.  Without McNabb & Brown we would have been able to grab a Nose Tackle and Middle Linebacker along with a receiver or Free Safety to help rebuild real areas of need in middle rounds of the draft.  With a cheap and loyal QB for 3 or 4 years we could then have waited until this year coming up to grab a decent QB in a deep class at the position, Matt Barkley or Landry Jones for instance.  And when that player came in he could have competed with Campbell for the position on a team that had started to fill its many glaring holes.  But Shanahan knew best, well look at the Shanaplan now apologists.  We cant get stops when we need them and we cant score points.  We are a Joke, and as long as Shanahan remains so will our status as a cellar dwellar in a tough division.

No doubt the apologists will lauch there usual tired defences of this regime in response to this post, but the facts are on the field for all to see.  Shanahan may be a decent coach but he never should have been given Personnel control.  Bruce Allen is not the answer either, he along with Gruden (another saviour in waiting) presided over the complete destruction of the team painstakingly built by Tony Dungy in Tampa and like Mike was fired.  Tampa now looks good because they committed to youth, youth at QB, youth at RB youth all over the field and most imporantly.... YOUTH ON THE SIDELINES AND FRONT OFFICE.  But its OK Shanapologists use the same old tired excuses, the facts were on the field in Toronto and will be on another 9 fields as the season winds down.  Another 4th place finish in the NFC East another TOp 10 pick, this is the result of the Shanaplan.

You think that game was tough for you, imagine not only waking at 4am for the game, not only being excited all week once I was aware the Skins were televised for the game, abut imagine then struggling to sleep because of the excitement so my 4am wake up came after 2 hours sleep meaning I'm at work on 2 hours sleep and for what, to watch that monstrosity of a performance.

I wish I wasn’t too lazy to look up stats, because I am pretty sure that taking into account the 4th quarter in St Louis Rex threw picks on something like 6 out of his last 10 or 12 drives, and with that being the case I am dumbfounded why Shanny did not pull him after the 3rd interception.

To be honest I didn’t mind the first one cos that turned out to be the equivalent of a good punt after being 3rd and long but his play from then on was just disgraceful.

What made me more despondent than the interceptions however was this simple fact.  When he completed a pass I was genuinely surprised, when we had a 3rd down I had zero belief and when he had his pass intercepted I was not the least bit surprised.  That’s not from anti-Rex sentiment, it’s just my honest instant reactions.  Very sad.

Now to the rest of the game.

The Zero Blitz is exciting, but it has already burned us once (v Dallas) and it will burn us again before this year is out.

Why is it that everyone in the stadium, and even me 12000 miles away knew Vick and Reid were going to try and open the game with the same play that worked last to open the game last year except Haslett who didn’t send Hall and Wilson back ready to pick off the pass, instead leaving Landry exposed again (luckily it fell incomplete, but that was a real interception opportunity missed)

Speaking of D Hall, that dude has a turning circle of an Oil Tanker, any time a QB has any time in the pocket, once a WR manages to get Hall to with his back turned he has absolutely no recovery skills whatsoever, every time he has to turn he is so looping in his movement he has no hope of stopping the pass.  Carlos at least knew how to sit on a Receivers shoulder for more than one move, Hall gets the odd pick but gee he gets beaten a lot.

As bad as Rex was, it did seem our receivers struggled to get separation all day.

Kyle abandoned the run to early, I know it’s hard to commit to the run when you keep getting stuffed at the line and you are behind on the scoreboard but with the way Rex was playing Kyle had to show more patience and try it for another series or two in my opinion, at least on 1st AND 2nd down, too often we got stuffed on 1st down and Kyle went pass pass, when he should have used the run to try and get us more 3rd and shorts instead of leaving Rex with many 3rd and longs which is when Rex throws his stupid picks.

Wilson has to be one of the best Tackling Corners in the NFL, he is not afraid of contact and always wraps his man up and brings him down, was really impressed with his game.

Landry is a beast when blitzing and a real threat around the line of scrimmage but I have some (limited) concerns about him when he is forced to patrol the middle of the field 20 yards behind the line.

Trent’s injury is going to hurt..... a lot.

Bit of Aussie provincialism here admittedly but how good is Sav Rocca playing, the cynics would say that with all of our 3 and outs he gets a lot of practice but the dude is just a beast right now and was a big reason we at least managed to stay competitive with him helping us dominate field position even after poor offensive series.

B-Rak was amazing but I fear his first contract talks, Snyder has shown he is more concerned with signing other teams Free Agents than looking after his own guys and B-Rak looks like he is the sort of guy who could quickly get frustrated with all the losing, I know it’s not smart with injury’s being such a danger for D-Line players but I would like us to sign Orakpo long term before he becomes a Free Agent, like a year before.

Davis was solid, but all these fools who think we should just dump the ultra-loyal Cooley can maybe shut up now, with Cooley out of the game our Offense lost a guy who can consistently get open, that’s what Cooley still offers and he draws a defence’s attention.

So much for the 3 elite RB's theory, terrible outing by all, but I think the line and the play-calling have their share of blame their also.

Really liked how Beck looked, but probably smart not to get too carried away, it was a short burst and the Eagles were playing a lot of Prevent D, but still other than his McNabbian propensity for worm-burners I thought he looked really solid and how nice was it to see an Athlete back there when he had to run after seeing Rex lumber around like an injured Rhino for the last few weeks.

So in conclusion a really dispiriting game,  That ridiculous Zero-Blitz on 4th and 20 call against Dallas that cost us the game looks even more indefensible now we are 3-2, remember without that we are still leading the division at 4-1 now.  We still have real depth issues on this team and if Shanny can get this group to 9-7 then he has done a great job as coach this year, but remember he is also the GM of personnel acquisitions so it remains his fault that this is the group he has.  I am really confused right now, but I shouldn’t be, St Louis are just awful, the Giants were banged up, the Card may be worse than St Louis (Kolb sucks and like I have said since Week 1 last year he is a scared player) so really we have beaten 3 bad teams and lost to a half decent team (Dallas) and a good team (Eagles)  We are 1-2 in the division so why do I still have a modicum of belief in this team?  The only reason I can think of is that I have hope in Beck, and surely that is madness.

Gee being a Skins fan is painful, and unlike you lot I wasn’t born there and had this team given to me with my first Nappy, I chose this bloody team, why oh why I will never know.

Form your friend down under, a melancholy goodbye

HTTR

G'day All

Unbelievable but once again the Skins game is live on TV In Australia, and for those without Pay TV once again it is Live on Channel One the Free to Air Digital Sports Channel.

That makes it 4 out of 5 games shown in Australia this year and with the 2 Sunday games shown, already one more Sunday game than we got last year. 

I love it because listening to the Radio Broadcast on-line can only tell you so much, I trust my own eyes much more than the ESPN980 guys.  And as much as I respect the views expressed on here and last year was forced to draw many of my conclusions on the team from the reviews of the HH community there is nothing better than being able to watch the game yourself and draw your own opinions. Plus with Foxtel IQ (our version of TIVO I think) then I can watch the games multiple times and watch plays multiple times focusing on all areas of the field.

With no more Monday or Sunday Night Redskins games that I am aware of, this might be a brief moment of joy for us all, so please take advantage of it Skins Down Under.

Some observations from the St Louis Game

Rex was great in the first Half, but needs to learn situational football in the 4thquarter with a lead.  Yeah the Santana pick was not his fault but there is no need to be going over the middle into danger in that spot.

His arm was much improved on the week before, where two many of his sideline throws floated and barely got there, this time he stepped into his throws with much more authority.

Trent was impressive. I think that Howie Longs kid might be overrated but my word Trent dominated his side of the line for much of the game.

We need a stretch the field threat in the passing game, hopefully Armstrong comes back in good form, but we really need a big quick receiver, as much as it is an anathema to me, I am thinking maybe WR in the 1st Round this year if none of the Landry Jones / Matt Barkley QB's are available (Though this Brees Contract thing in New Orleansis worth keeping an eye on, I know he is a major part of the community down there but it seems there is some real tension between management and Brees there, now that would be a Snyder Brinks Truck move I could get behind!!!!)

Wilson the new CB is awesome, big big fan.  Still wish we had kept Carlos though (and yes I said this before the season, not just since his interceptions in the last week or two)

Torainwas terrific, for my money Hightower trys to go outside the stretch too often, Torainhas the great 'one cut and go' running style that exploits the holes in the Stretch game much better than Hightower getting stuffed on the sideline for yet another 1 yard gain trying to go around the D.  Helu is great too.

London Fletcher, LEGEND.  More career tackles than Ray Lewis, has the SB ring, could he be a sneaky Canton candidate at some stage?

Landry still does not look healthy to me.  Hopefully the Bye week has done him good, but personally I would have left him out of the Rams game to give him 2 more weeks to get fit.

Again we need more receiving weapons and Cooley clearly is walking on one good leg at the moment, let the guy get healthy so hes fit for the tough part of the schedule in December.

Love our special teams.

Kerrigan and Orakpo could be the Freeny and Mathis of this decade.  They are going to terrify the QB's of the NFC East for a decade as long as Snyder does the right thing and spends the same money on keeping his own guys has he has spent a habit spending on other teams guys (mercenaries) over the years.

Our interior of the D-Line is much improved from last year, though that's not saying much, it could hardly get worse, but this year they are actually good, really like Bowen.

and finally what the hell were the Rams punt returners doing and why did the refs keep bailing them out??

G'day All

Last time I will mention this sport I promise, but just found out that this year the AFL Grand Final (AUssies Rules Superbowl) will be broadcast in the US on ESPN2.  So if you want to check out a different sport and see it at its highest toughest level then this would be a great opportunity to see the game.

Like I say this is our Superbowl, we get 100 000 to the game, halftime shows, pre-game shows, big hype, parade through the city of all the players the day before the game all that good stuff.  And it should be a cracking game no matter who makes it this year.

My team Hawthorn suffered devastating injurys but if we can win our next two play off games and make the GF we will give it a good shake.  COllingwood and Geelong are the favourites and are playing an amazing attacking style at the moment with ferocious tackling when forced to defend.  Sydney, Carlton and WEst Coast are the outsiders but all bring different styles and will be entertaining if they make it..

Anyway, I love the Skins but I also love this sport and my beloved Hawthorn, so 3 weeks time, Saturday October 1 at 3pm our time, so I think that is Friday night about 10pm for you guys, but its on ESPN 2 so it should be easily accessible for you all anyway.

Hope some of you watch it and would love to hear your views on our Game.

G'day All

So happy to get the game televised in Australia yesterday, as we dont get many SKins games on the TV down here, thought I would take the opportunity to offer my (limited knowledge) review of the game.

Overall

Do not get ahead of ourselves, this was a severely weakened Giants team, particularly on Defense as has been made clear everywhere already.  You should win these games at home, so as we say in Australia, "lets keep a lid on it"

However you can only play who is in front of you and we took care of business thats a good sign for sure.

QB

Its easy for forget now after the strong finish, but Rex was AWFUL to start the game, even his completions were often high and it seemed at stages as if he thought all our recievers were 6'8".  However, once he put a drive or two together it seemed his confidence improved and I thought he made some really top quality NFL caliber throws,  By NFL caliber I mean small windows, after watching a ton of college games through the weekend it always amazes me how much smaller the windows are for NFL QB's to aim for and Grossman did an awesome job of squeezing the ball into some tight spaces, without being reckless.  Take out the first quarter and the fumble and this was a really encouraging performance.

O-LINE

I am no expert here, so I am happy to be corrected or argued with, but I Thought our O-Line was pretty awful, especially early.  T-Will got pushed back ALOT and Brown got beaten a few times, but it was the interior of the line that worried me more, we always seemed to be retreating, and remember this was against a D-Line missing Tuck and Osi.  I have real concerns here.  I try to watch just the O-Line on a number of plays and on every replay and it really felt like we got beaten up pretty bad inside.

D-Line

Really impressed, particularly on the interior of the line.  The 7th Rd pick, Neil or whatever his name is was awesome, not just the 2 sacks tho they are the headline grabber, but he seemed to win his battle everytime, and got real push into the backfield, I thought we dominated their Centre and Guards.  Orakpo was kinda quiet and until the interception I saw very little of Kerrigan, but once he got the TD his confidence lifted and he improved.  Solid performance (yes I'm aware KErrakpo are officially LB's but for this exercise I include them as part of the D-Line or pass rush)

Recievers

Made some great catches early on Rex's bad throws but then let themselves down by dropping some catches they should have easily taken, especially AA who was average all day.  'Tana was terrific in my opinion and Davis looked great, not just his stats but he just seems leaner and fitter this year than last year.  Is this the case, have their been any storys on this because to me he just looks a lot more athletic than in the past two years.  Gaffney was solid.

Secondary

Got beat a couple of times on deep balls but generally kept the play in front of them without ever looking threatening or dominant.  Would love your input on these guys cos I really didnt even notice them much, maybe cos Eli didnt test them out to often.

LB's

London was awesome, and we generally tackled well wrapping up the ball carrier except for a couple of Arm Tackles that Jacobs shrugged off, one leading to a TD

Running Backs

I though Hightower danced too much but then again the O-Line didnt really open any holes for him, would have liked to have seen more of Helu, but I think the running game just gave us balance to the play calling without much in the way of positive yardage, but again I blame the O-Line more than Hightower and he did well on the TD run to get outside.

Special Teams

My man Sav was awesome, I keep telling you guys about Aussie punters and he was fantastic, and the FG block was huge, Banksy had a couple of decent returns, really really solid Special Teams play all around.

Coaches.

Absolutely loved the call to go for it on 4th down early when we were in the purple zone (too far for FG, but to close to punt) thats the area I always get angry when coaches try to pin teams back with a punt and end up giving away possession for 15 yards of field position when it inevtiably goes into the endzone.  Calamity Haslett who I will admit I am not a fan of called a great game, not being to blitz happy unlike last year and generally keeping the game in front of the secondary. 

Cheerleaders.

Gotta Love the Gold Bikini tops, they looked amazing in HD, some absolute stunners this year.

Anyway no Skins on TV in Australia next week so I will be back to watching arrows go up and down the NFL.com site, so I hope you dont mind me indulging a rare opportunity to critique the full game.

HAIL TO THE SKINS

G'day All

I know there are a couple of you that come to this site, just a quick note to let you know that for the 2nd year in a row the Skins game will be on TV in Australia.  ALso for those without Cable it is on ONe not Foxtel so the good news is that you can all watch it. 

6:15am Channel One

For the rest of you, my internet is screwie at home right now so if it has issues I will be on twitter  @ozsportsdude so If I cant join the hogshaven game thread my twitter runs on my phone so would love to get into a chat during game with some of you.  Ken and Kevin prepare to be bombarded with tweets by me @hogshaven.  But if any of you others wanna follow me I will follow you back and we can direct message each other during the game

G'day All

I have a question on what makes the optimal Running Back, but this I dont mean who is better out of Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson and Roy Helu  but what a team would prefer from a Running Back.

When I look at HIghtowers stats tonight, he has 9 Carries for 56 yards, which looks great, but then you see he had a 37 yard Gain for a TD (which also is great) but the downside of this is that he then had 8 carries for 19 yards.  This got me thinking.'

Would you prefer to have a Running Back that had a true 5 yard a carry average, as in, generally (not always obviously as that would be impossible) the guys makes between 4-6 yards on every play by moving the pile and helping set up plenty of 2nd and manageable situations.

Or would you prefer a game similar to Hightowers example tonight, where he has a couple of long bursts, but still averages out at 5 yards a carry, meaning there were 2 or 3 1st down generating field position changing great plays but a number of runs that left us in 2nd or 3rd and long situations,basically wasted plays.

Is the big play threat enough of a counterweight to all the dead plays, particularly if you are a bit shaky at the QB position.

I do not know the answer to this question, I can see the benefit in both, and I suppose the optimal is to have 2 backs in a tandem who provide both threats, but for the sake of this thougt exercise imagine you just have a feature back and a 3rd down back....  Which style would you choose and why

G'day All

We dont get many pre-season games here in Australia so havent had a chance to see the new look skins yet, so was wondering how Williams was looking, amongst my many complaints about Shanahan one was him taking WIlliams over Okung, but Williams made it pretty clear last year why SHanahan is a superbowl winning Head Coach and I am a Commercial Analyst by I felt looking very solid.

On top of that Okung is injured once again, and once again its a lower leg/ankle thing and when these 300lb guys start getting multiple lower extremetie injuries I start getting very nervous about their long term prospects, making WIlliams seem an even better choice.

So is he still looking good, does he appear to have made a 2nd year leap or regression, and with the pre-draft whisper campaign about his work ethic, those who have been to camp, how does his motivation look?

G'day All

As most of you know I am a huge fan of the Redskins who happens to have no affiliation, not only to the DC area but even the United States.  Born in England but raised in Australia it means I not only love the 'Skins but also follow a variety of other sports, hence this rather strange for a Skins site post.

I think if we are being honest, with Beck/Clemens/Grossman our QB options this is going to be a tough season, I have already said my main hope for the season is that we get a dozen starts into 10 -12 under 25 year old players and start developing the future, but I come here today to give you the opportunity to follow a winner.

As I have adopted the Redskins, an unfamiliar team, from an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar sport for the last 20 years, I offer you the Hawthorn Hawks of the Australian Football League.  The final are fast approaching in the AFL (that weird sport with the 4 sticks at either end of an oval) and the mighty Hawks sit in the 3rd spot on the ladder.  On ESPN3.com and even ESPN2 TV you can follow some regular season games (4 rounds left) and then the Finals.  The Hawks play an exciting style, are young and in Lance Franklin and Cyril Rioli have two of the most exciting players in any sport in the world on their team.  Feel free to join your fellow Skins fan and like me adopt a team from the other side of the Pacific (only I crossed West to Follow the Skins you can cross East to follow the Hawks)

If you have an open mind and are willing to go beyond your normal comfort zones, I guarantee you that you will have 6 or 7 weeks of great sport fan fun as the Hawks launch their assault for a Grand Final appearance (Superbowl) and hopefully a championship.

If you are not interested I totally understand, but with so much pain on the horizon this year, I thought I would give you an opportunity to follow a team that in its own sports is young, tough and exciting, something we hope the Skins will be in 2 to 3 years, but are unlikely to be this year, so I offer you this opportunity while we wait.

GOOGLE  AFL US TV GUIDE for viewing details if you are interested, I think if you are prepared to give it a try you will be entertained.

Now lets hope I am wrong about the Skins, lets hope Beck is the great undiscovered QB treasure and that we make an assauly on the playoffs in 2011-12, who knows if you give the Hawks a chance, you may have double celebration this year  HTTR

G'day All

I am really confused about Carlos moving to San Fran.

If he was seeking huge money and a long extension then for sure I would be hesistant to sign the guy.  But he has signed a One Year Deal in San Francisco and I am sure we could have beaten that without hurting our cap.

Yeah he dropped interceptions and that was frustrating, but a dropped interception is still a pass defensed and he is a solid if not spectactular corner.  In a league where the passing attack becomes more prevelant every year and 4 WR sets are almost commonplace I just do no understand giving up a cheap cornerback.  Wilson is an upgrade but we are going to need 3 corners on the field quite often, particularly when Phili come to town and Rogers would have been useful in all those situations.

So I am wondering, did we make him a reasonable offer?  Did he maybe reject this offer cos he didnt want to play the slot? Or did we just let him walk?

I feel if we just let him walk that is incredibly short-sighted, the guy was frustrating but he was still a good solid NFL caliber corner back and good solid players are not something the Redskins have a surplus of at the moment,

Superstars are great to have, but building blocks like Rogers, inexpensive, Top 30 at their position players are the the building blocks of champions, I am really suprised we just let him walk, if in fact that is the case.

I was just looking at the schedule for us this year and the season opens very well for us to build some momentum and maybe kick start a suprising season (tho with Beck-Grossman-Clemens I have very little hope at all)

But assuming we get somewhat competent play from them and the rest of the roster starts to over-perform we could conceivably be above .500 around week 7

Wk 1    GIANTS     Our recent history is awful, but maybe that means we are due (probable loss)

Wk 2    ARIZONA   Even if they get Kolb, I beleive he is the most overrated QB in the league, I watched him last year for all his starts, he was often terrible, and if they dont get Kolb, CleBeckMan will have their one game of the year where they are the superior QB   (WIN)

Wk 3   @ DALLAS  Orakpo will abuse Free and the D may carry us to a win (WIN)

Wk 4    @ STL          Another very average team, the NFC West coming up on the Sched may save the Shanahans (WIN)

Wk 5   BYE

Wk 6   PHILI           Best team in our division, a probably heavy loss (painful to say, but true)

Wk 7   @ Carolina  Again a very average team, even if Newton is more Vick than JaMarcus he will not be great straight away and they have a roster with nearly as many holes as ours (WIN)

So as you can see after 6 weeks we should be 3-3 and with a bit of luck could be 4-2. 

Momentum is the most undervalued commodity in sports, with it confidence grows and suddenly a suprising season can grow with it.  With Buffalo and San Fran to follow Carolina even if the Eagles do give us a beatdown we have a cushy 3 game stretch to follow it that should get our confidence back.  Once you are 6-3 or 7-2 at the midpoint confidence and momentum will steal you another win, and boom, your basically in the playoffs.

One question, is this 100% wishful thinking or just 95% dreaming

G'day All

Sorry I have been away for a while, but the lockout angered me on a number of levels, number one, I planned to come and visit you all this September, but the lockout meant I could not plan my holiday far enough in advance so I have had to postpone it until next year, so my pathetic protest was not logging into NFL.com or posting about the lockout.  But now its over I'm back.

Anyway my frustration grew this morning when I saw an article saying that Jamaal Brown was a Free Agent.

This means that as far as I can tell this was what Shanahan did in his first year.

Gave away pick 37 in a particularly deep draft

Gave away our 3rd and 4th Round picks in a draft that was lacking at the top end, but accoring to the 'experts' had good depth in the mid rounds.  (Forget the moves made to get those picks back the facts are we lost those picks)

And what did we get in return

A 6-10 season and now the two players we gave away the treasure trove for are gone, so basically we gave away 3 key building blocks for the future to get a 6-10 season, and on top of that gave away a perfectly competent QB in Jason Campbell for a 4th rd pick in 2012 (I believe)

I am so angry about this, particularly when you consider we switched to a 3-4 meaing we desperately needed those picks to fill the gaping holes in our defence, plus we needed wideouts and well, basically every position except Tight End, Left Tackle and Strong Safety.

So annoyed, I just feel like the pain will never end.

Please tell me why I should have hope this year, becauase with the BEck/Grossman QB competition and the gaping holes all over the roster, coupled with a Football Department that seems to be in a crazy win now mode and unprepared to do the long term planning for the future I just see 3 more years of below .500 seasons.

I would love nothing more than to be wrong, can someone tell me why I am

G'day All

I was wondering this the other day, and as always came to the learned members of HH for an answer (even the 'poster formerly known as RVA Parks'!!!)    :)

With more and more teams moving to a 3-4, you would think a proven NT like Rogers would have had some value for Cleveland 'trade wise' even if they had decided to part ways with him.  So the question is, if Cleveland decided they could not flip Shaun Rogers for even a late round pick, when he fits the D-Line requirements of an NFL moving more and more to a 3-4 then what hope do we have to get any value at all for Big Al??

I fear the market has been set, and that Cleveland has just announced to the NFL world, that surly, off-field issue magnet D Lineman have no trade value.  Which means with Haynesworth, we either cut the ties now, or Shanahan makes nice, cos hopes of a 2nd or 4th Rd pick for him seem to quickly be fading.

Mind you with the Lockout looming maybe none of this will matter anyways!

G'day All

The Cleveland Browns just cut Shaun Rogers. he is due $5.5 million this year and has off field issues apparently.

However he is a big bulky NT and knows the 3-4.

He is also 31.

Everyone on this site, knows that I want us to go young, so I am probably against this.  But for some reason I have it in my head that it was just a couple of years ago he was making a number of Big Plays (maybe I am wrong)

So although, on a philosophical level, I am against this, and would much prefer to try and Draft an NT (or better yet sack HAslett and go back to a 4-3 as the 4-3 suits 2 or our 3 best players on Defence, B-Rak and London. but I digress)

So I am prepared to be swayed by competing arguments.

As I say, philospohically I am against this, but if it is just Off-Field issues that are the reason he is being cut, and he is still productive then maybe I should keep a more open mind,  As a FA at least he wont cost us Draft Picks.

Thoughts???

G'day All

I made this point in a reply earlier, but as this has been a big theory of mine for a long time, I thought I would make it its own Post.

The NFL is currently trying to grow the game internationally.  I think this is sensible, as the NFL already dominates the US so to grow the game, internationally is where the space exists for growth.

They do this by having an NFL game in London every year, but I feel this is misplaced for a few reasons.

1.  The 100 000 ppl who turn up to Wembley, are the British NFL Diehards anyway, meaning it is not the most effective way to grow the game.

2.  Europe has a 100+ year love affair with Soccer, it is deeply woven into the Fabric of European life, passed down from Father to son to son over generations much like NFL in the US and it has the same issues that Soccer has trying to grow in the US for this very reason.

These two points mean that Asia is the logical place to try and grow the sport for a number of reasons.

1.  There is no major traditional Asian sport woven into the Fabric of their culture.

2.  As Asia becomes more Westernised at all times, the groun is fertile for the growth of sport.

3.  Baseball took off in Japan purely from the US presence their in the post war years, proving point 2

4.  Asia is the economic engine of the world at the moment as a billion ppl join the middle class, TV Rights will be huge and grow even more over the next 3 decades.

5.  Soccer and the English Premier League in particular is growing in Asia exponentially at the moment, but it is a new phenomenen meaning it is not a generational ingrained sport yet, meaning the NFL can win back this ground.

6.  If 10% of Chinese adopt the NFL as their favourite sport, you now have 100 million ppl watching the NFL, doubling the fanbase and raising massive money from new TV Rights.

Which leads to my idea, Asia and Australia are approx 16 hours ahead of East Coast US time, meaning the current SB begins at 10:30 am on a MOnday morning in Australia, and between 8am and Midday across Eastern Asis (Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia etc)

The SB is an event, so if the SB is moved to a Saturday, rather than all of us diehards taking a day off work to have SB partys (mine this year at Hooters, GREAT RIBS by the way) you could have a Billion PPL wake up on Sunday morning, flick through the Channels and see the SB, which is clearly a huge event, even apart from the sport, so many ppl would watch, just to see what all the fuss is about, and then even if only 5% of these ppl develop a love for the sport, you now have 50 million new fans for the sport, thats a 50% increase in NFL fans when you assume there are a 100 million NFL fans in the US. (complete guess)

Now there will be traditionalists who would raise bloody murder about moving the SB from a Sunday, and you know what they may be right.

People would then fear that the NFL would see the success of this and want to move NFL games to Saturdays in the regular season, so that throughout Asia their new fans can watch games live on Sunday, rather than DVRing the games as I do now on a Monday then watch when I get home.  This would ruin the High School Friday, College Saturday and NFL Sunday pattern that works so well in the US.

So my question to the HH readers is this.

Would you be angry if the SB was moved from Sunday?

Would the NFL ever consider this?

Do you even care about the NFL growing as a sport internationally?

G'day All

I want once and for all to get my views on the Redskins down in a coherent manner.  My frustrations with the current regime, and my desires for what I want to happen.  Due to some ppl on here preferring to get into petty point scoring arguments, rather than discussing the team, and the fact that my posts are bashed out in 20 seconds between doing stuff at work, so occasionally are grammatically incorrect and never researched, I just want somewhere to have my views properly expressed.  For example, ppl seem to think that I believe Mike Shanahan is a terrible coach, there could be nothing further from the truth, I know he is a great coach, one of the best in the NFL, I just happen to believe he is the wrong coach for the Redskins at this stage.  If Jim Caldwell were to be fired tomorrow, I think Shanny would be the absolute best or at least a Top 3 option for that job.  I just don’t think he is right for our team currently.

 So why does that matter, because the pathetic point scorers (PPS) on this site, take any criticism of Shanahans work here and go and grab his winning percentage in Denver to back him up, which just completely misses the point.

 So below I will try (and remember I am banging this out in 10 minutes while I wait for  a report to run) to explain myself clearly.

 Mike Shanahan

As stated above, Mike in my opinion is a great NFL coach, a potential HOF coach, with a track record to match.  However, his best work, whether it be OC in San Fran or as a HC in Denver has come with a mature team.  Other than late round running backs he has a ‘spotty’, at best, record in the draft, and when he was given full control of Personnel matters in Denver it led to his downfall.  But really even saying that is missing the point, its not that I don’t want Mike Shanahan the coach having full Personnel control,  It is that I don’t want my HC to have full Personnel control FULL STOP. If Bill Belichek, arguably,  the best Personnel man of the current HC’s, I still wouldn’t want him with full control, Checks and Balances in all areas of life work, that’s why I wish we had a strong Personnel man as GM, not a contract tsar like Bruce.

Again, if Belichek or Caldwell were to go, and I was a fan of those teams, I would want Shanahan, but I think if you look at his track record, it truly is one of making really good teams into great teams, not making terrible teams into good ones, fluky one playoff win seasons with Jake Plummer notwithstanding.

Kyle Shanahan

Undoubtedly an uber-talented young Offensive mind, one of the new breed, with Josh McDaniels of pass happy, innovative OC's.  However, there are reasons I believe he is wrong for this particular team.

1.  The dynamic between OC and QB is by its very nature one of tension and occasional conflict.  An OC believes in his plays and the system and has set ideas on what should work.  A QB is out there and often sees things differently than his coach.  It is the HC job to mediate these disputes, but when one half of that equation is your son, clearly the whole dynamic is screwed up, and that is unfair on the QB whoever it may be.  For those who don’t believe that this dynamic is crucial and exists, go and read a ‘story of the season’ book sometime for any successful NFL Franchise.

2.  Mike has traditionally relied on a heavy dose of the run in his offence, but Kyle is much more new school and pass happy.  Listen to NFL Networks Sounds of the Game for any Skins game,   It is a constant barrage of Mike complaining about not running enough, telling Kyle to commit to the run etc.  Now some conflict between HC and OC on play calling is sort of a good think I suppose (that checks and balances thing again)  but it appears here that they have different beliefs at times, plus the whole father son dynamic screws up the potential for creative tension to create a happy medium between the two extremes.

Jim Haslett

Whether it be politics or sport or anything else, I hate ideological obsessions, and as soon as Haslett committed to the 3-4 this year without the cattle to make it happen I was angry.  People point to Green Bay, but B-Rak is not Clay Matthews he is a very different player.  Plus I just have this horrible feeling, (again PPS, this is a feeling I have no facts) that Shanny spent a lot of last year (where he has told the story repeatedly of that was when him and Jim got together and fell in love with the 3-4) believing he would have the Dallas job, where the pieces actually fit, and then when they ended up in Washington instead, they refused to pivot, change direction and use our players to their strengths.  For example Andre Carter had 12 sacks the year before last.  Well if you know you are committing to the 3-4 and he doesn’t suit it, either trade him before last year when he has some value, or better yet, look at your Defence and acknowledge that your players better suit the 4-3 and swallow your ideological pride and ditch the obsession with the 'genius' of your scheme, and trust the players by putting them in the best position to succeed.

Overall Strategy and the Draft.

This is the core of my frustration.  I deeply deeply believe in the sanctity and value of draft picks (and yes I acknowledge that maybe this is my ideological blind spot, but again I am not running our team)  The McNabb trade for me was the original sin last year.  Even if McNabb worked out I was against it, because it signified a complete break from what I believed we should be doing.  the McNabb trade stunk of 'WIN NOW' when I am convinced that we should have committed to the draft, and accepted that we were 2 or 3 good drafts, with all picks away from truly contending and building a long term contender.

I really hoped that last year we would be the team trading players for picks, for example the 3-4 obsession maybe could have gotten us a 4th rounder for Andre Carter.

I don’t want a one year run, where a couple of smart (lucky) FA pick ups get us to a playoff win, or even a NFC championship game.  No what I want is a team built on a solid foundation, with youth at its core, that is set up to compete for half a decade.  For that I am prepared to accept some short term pain. 

In a different sport in a different country I have been through this process and it is so much more rewarding than one year flashes built of Free Agents, and even the tough times are somewhat enjoyable as you see your young guys and draftees grow into the NFL and learn from their mistakes.

The Main Point however is this

for all the PSS out there, don’t bother replying with your point scoring reasons on why I am wrong, because I WANT TO BE WRONG>  (By all means explain your reasoning in an overall way on why you believe Mike will take us to the promised land, but leave the PSS in the locker for once). 

Because you see I want Mike Shanahan to be the perfect HC for this team.  I want Kyle Shanahan to turn Rex Grossman into the second coming of Peyton Manning and take us to the SB.  And nothing will make me happier than for all that to happen.  But here is a question for the PSS out there.  Even though you love to jump on any perceived inaccuracy or any criticism of the current Skins structure and make bizarre and illogical arguments rather than admit error, just ask yourself this one question in a moment of sober and honest self reflection.

Do you really think this current RedSkins structure, using the same strategy as we did last year, where we trade the middle rounds of your draft for players in the back half of their careers.  Do you really think that this will take us to MULTIPLE NFC Championship games, and see us contend in the brutal NFC East every year between now and 2017?  That is the question that needs to be answered before you go on another PSS rampage.

G'day All

(btw I have decided G'day All is my new default opening as I always struggle to think how to start Fan Posts)

With my beloved Skins once again being out of the playoffs, I have been going back watching what games of ours I have on DVR from the season in a play by play basis trying to look for strengths that maybe underutilized and spotting weaknesses that I did not see when watching the game live, where the flow of the game and the result overtake my analytical powers.

 Now let me make it clear, I am no Football expert, anything but, however I do like to think I am learning and I do a lot of study to try to back up my rudimentary understandings of the game.

 Which brings me to Stephon Heyer

 Many of us, me included have spent a lot of time bashing Heyer about the head, and for good reason over the last couple of years.  But I noticed a couple of things on the replays that have me thinking he is potentially someone who could contribute for us if he was just used correctly.

 Watching the Philly game, I saw him lay two brutal blocks, one on our first touchdown opening up a whole for Torain to run through to open the scoring and one later on another run where he shifted inside and just pulverized the DT.

 So I started watching just Heyer whenever the Camera Angle allowed and now after watching a bunch of games I have decided that any time he needs to backpedal and set up for Pass Protection he is vulnerable, we all know about the Constant False Starts and also how often he is beaten, but it seems to me that even when he doesn’t give up a sack or a pressure and keeps his man off the QB, he is always the linemen who is pushed the furthest back into the Pocket, and he is always struggling.

 However, when he goes forward and helps the running game, man can he open some massive holes and he is aggressive too, he doesn’t push them out of the way and feel the job is done, this dude genuinely forces his opponent back 5-10 yards past the line of scrimmage at times.

 So I was wondering, is Heyer not really a Guard being forced to play tackle because of his size.  I mean even in Pass Protection, it seems to me a Guard is not required to retreat as far as a Tackle so it would take away his nervousness (and consequently some False Start Penalty’s) but also he would actually be able to engage his man earlier, at the LOS rather than retreating and giving the Defensive player a 2 step attack on him, that the Tackle has to contend with.

Now I am just a dumb Aussie, who is basically self taught when it comes to understanding the NFL and the game of Football.  So I am sure that technically I have made some major blunders in my assessments.  \

For example

Maybe Guards are meant to retreat as far as Tackles on Passing Plays
Maybe Tackles are meant to engage their man at the Line of Scrimmage on Passing Plays(however, our guys don’t on the evidence I have seen)

Maybe he is not the right body shape for Guard

Or maybe there are other technical reasons, why what I am saying is wrong.

Which basically why I have written this post, I know there are some guys on here who do know their stuff when it comes to O-Line (BIgFat OLineman for one) so I would love to hear your thoughts on Heyer, and any advice on what I should be looking for when going through my rudimentary analysis of Line Play.

Just one word of caution, any condescending answers, or tone that is condescending will automatically make me get my back up and I will likely ignore your points, if you need any example of what constitutes condescending, refer to any LJP post in the history of this site   :)

If you have read my other posts recently, you will know that I am really thinking that based on the people coming out this year (not a lot of hype) and the potential for Andrew Luck the following year I am starting to believe that our best bet is to trade this Years number 10 pick for picks in 2011.  The going rate seems to be a following years 1&2 or at worst 1&3 for this years 1st Rounder, tho with it being a top 10 pick it seems we could even get a 2011 pick 1-2 and 5 for a top 10 2010 pick.

Alternatively we could straight up swap our pick 43 for a 2011 first rounder.

What does Ron Rivera have to do with this?

Number ONE:  He has been used to coaching in a winning environment in San Diego so just MAYBE he will lack the patience to sit through a year or two of the slow painful rebuilding that Spagnuolo has gone through in St Louis and be arrogant enough to beleive that with a couple of Defensive pieces he can ride Defence to a quick turnaround. 

Number TWO:  He is a defensive coach and with most of the top players in the mock drafts I have read seeming to be Defensive players then maybe just maybe they will take Nick Fairley or Bowers with Pick One and still see a quality Defensive player they feel could be a difference maker still on the board by the time our Pick 10 comes around 

Number THREE:  Related to the above, the QB's in this draft class seem to all have flaws that could scare away Rivera (or anyone really) but also have enough upside to suck some teams in taking the chance of using a Top 10 pick on a player that is not really Top 10 standard due to the drafting teams need at the QB position.  This means, the chances of a Top 5 rated Defensive player falling to Ten and making the defensive guru Rivera amenable to trading for him increases. 

Now if those three  things happen, this will give us the Trading Partner needed if we do wish to trade out of the Tenth Pick for picks in 2011 

Now if Rivera believes in Clausen and that belief remains misplaced, then there is a real good chance, that playing in the suddenly brutal NFC South, Carolinas 2011 pick could easily be Number One yet again, giving us Andrew Luck 12 months from now.  But even if they improve, with us having 2 first Rounders and 2 Second Rounders next year we would have kind of bounty needed to trade up to Pick One to get Andrew Luck, particularly if Shanhan makes nice with McNabb and we can include a ready made NFL QB in the deal to move up in a Trade with Team X on draft day 2011.

The other bonus of this strategy, if there is a rookie wage scale in 2011, we will get Luck Cheap for his first contract, meaning for once the Redskins were the savvy team and the one making smart moves.

Now I know there will be a lot of talk about all our other needs other than QB, but if I have learned anything about the NFL it is that a truly transcendent QB can cover up a lot of other deficiencies in a team, and even an above average one can greatly help.

Look at this years Playoff Teams.  Lets say you put a league average QB in those Teams, someone like Jason Campbell who through his whole career rates somewhere around middle of the pack for QB's in their QB spot, I think that only the Jets and SeaHawks can honestly say they would have made it as far as they did this year with Campbell instead of the QB they have.  Even Cutler who I hate with a passion and would never want on my team is slightly above average, so probably has taken the Bears further than Campbell would have.

We don’t have the multitude of picks or the Defensive genius of a coach to be able to build a team that wins in spite of its QB like the Jets have, we need a great QB, Shanahan has proven he needs a great QB to win a SB, so if we have a chance at Luck, we should take it.  Because going 7-9 this year and having pick 12 will not get us Andrew Luck in 2011.  But the strategy I have outlined above just might.

Look at my recent FANSHOT to see an article that explains just how much teams overvalue THIS YEARS pick over the abstract notion of NEXT YEARS pick.  The strange thing is that as it currently appears 2011 pick one is going to be one of the most Valuable picks of the next Decade, if as expected Andrew Luck is as good as advertised.

Thoughts??

Off that bat here let me say I am not sure if this should have been a Fanshot rather than FanPost, but anyway, this is the one I am most used to using, so there.

Last night, Peter King on his Twitter Feed was responding to fans of other teams who just got new coaches, who were underwhelmed by the names being mentioned but pointing out that when Mike Smith and Jim Harbaugh amongst others were signed, there was much handwringing from those FanBases upset they did not get the big name.

Now in what may be suprising, I did not use this opportunity to once again slam the Shanahan hire (i.e Washington went the opposite of what I consider sensible, such as getting the Tomling and the Harbaugh and once again went for razzle dazzle) 

No I took the high road and tweeted @peterking but  so was Jim Zorn in Washington so sometimes coaches are underwhelming for a reason :)

Soon Peter Retweeted that msg with this reply, a reply that really made me smile as I saw that although it was never written about at the time, the National Media did understand how screwed we were with the Kindergarten Ninja at the helm

RT @ozsportsdude but so was Jim Zorn in Washington......  Vinny Cerrato GM.

Simple concise and to the point.  I dont even think he was arguing Zorn was a good coach (afer Swinging Gate how could he) I just think in 3 small words (or 2 words and an abbreviation to be precise) he felt our pain and pointed out that poor Zorn, for all his failings, really never had a chance, probably also explains why Spagnuolo shunned us at the time as well.

Well its all in the past now and thank god he has gone, but it used to really frustrate me, and I am sure it did some of you, to see the National Media types like Peter King, never attack Cerratto and occasionally quote him as if he was a real GM, not just Snyders mate who was screwing a franchise.  The fact Cerratto used to see himself as competent irritated me as much as his ever present sunglasses.  Now I just hope that maybe just maybe that tweet was bought to his attention and he understands what a joke he was.

With Andrew Luck staying in College should we look to trade our Number 10 pick this year for a 2012 1st and 2nd Rounder if possible

Or maybe trade our 2nd Rounder for a 2012 1st Rounder.

Clearly the best way would be to trade our 10 to a Carolina/Arizona type team who would hopefully have a Top 3 pick the following year (yeah I know its hard to predict, but with a cheap owner, new coach and talent traded away, as well as a brutal division, I think its safe to Say Carolina will get very few wins next season)  Now just think if we stand pat and Trade our 10th pick for a 2012 1 and 2 or 1 and 3 that will give us 2 1st Rounders next year to use to trade up even if Carolina are not the Top Pick, and if we get lucky and they are, we are at the Top of the pile for the Luck Pick?

Or better yet, keep our 10th pick, but trade pick 42 for a 2012 first rounder to maybe a desperate Buffalo or Zona (though Zona is a risk, cos they have a good coach and a weak division and if they improve at QB (McNabb maybe) they will have a decent record) maybe that 2012 1st Rounder is at least Top 10 and again we have 2 first Rounders to trade up.

Now I know this is a MASSIVE RISK, but when we are as QB desperate as we are, is this a risk worth taking to increase your chance of getting the Top QB of the last few years who can set up your next decade.  Plus with the Rookie Wage Scale coming in, we will get Luck Cheap as well.

Seems like this is not a completely crazy idea.

The main risk seems to be the Lockout and how if there is a shortened season, it might mean a couple of lucky wins makes a 10 or 12 spot difference for a terrible team in a draft order.

Thoughts??

G'day All

At last we are getting a College Game on TV this year in Australia and it is the Cotton Bowl.

Its LSU vs Texas (I think, might be Texas A&M or something)

So just a question, is there any players I should be taking notice of for a potential draft pick up for the Skins.

Feel free to nominate anyone, but to be honest I'll see the Skill guys who light it up regardless, so what I am really looking for is some advise on Lineman (both def and OFf) to keep an eye on.

Please advise of anyone you know of though.

Cheers all.

If the unexpected happens and Fisher is returned to the Titans, VY will be on his way out, and more importantly, much like Haynesworth and McNabb with us, Tennesse will have absolutely no leverage in any trade cos the whole world will know they will want him gone regardless.

This means we might be able to get him for as little as a Fifth Round Pick, or a 2012 4th Rounder (a la the JC to Oakland deal)  Maybe even we can just straight swap for Big Al

If this situation presents itself, is this a worthwhile move.

I am not saying it is, though I am not saying it isnt either, just interested in the views of my esteemed fellow fans (even Parks)  LOL

in my view I see it this way

PROS

The guy is a winner, from College to the Pros the kid just wins games, comes up big in big moments and even without great stats, just wins games.

He has great legs, which with our pourous O-Line will be important.

I have never seen this discussed elsewhere, but I am not sure how all the so called experts miss it, but when V Young Plays his RB's always play better than when Collins is playing, I beleive this is because the dual threat of his run, draws some attention from your RB and opens up holes for the Runner, much like Vick does for McCoy in Philly.

If we can swap for Big Al, then it is a dream, we get a QB and rid ourselves of a distraction at the same time.

We will not have to use our 1st Rd pick on a QB, we will get him for basically nothing

CONS

The obvious one is his attitude, will be just be Big Al the QB in terms of clashing with coaches etc

Does he fit the system, I can see him fitting the bootlegs that are a part of the Shannyplan, but I am not sure of his progression reads and all that

VYoung can often be a improviser much like McNabb, we have already seen how much Shanny wants his players to do as they are told.

Not sure how well Young would work with a discipline coach of the Shanny mould, I think he needs a bit of love to succeed.

Anyway let the debate begin

My PC at home is giving me the shits and I have next week off work, so I will be following the conversations on here on my phone, but not posting as some Cookies thing means I cant post from my phone.

So let me take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Xmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.

As always the time on this site has been educational for me, as well as therapeutic (I know thats wrong spelling but cant be bothered looking up the correct one, damn spellcheck has made my mind mushy)

Educational, as I truly beleive this site has the smartest most informed Fans in the Redskins blogosphere, and often I come in with one view, and walk away with it changed (tho not on Shanny as you are no doubt all aware by now)

Therapeutic, as it lets me vent my spleen after yet another agonising loss.

So have a great Holidays everyone, including my constant nemesis PARKS and my occaional nemesis Terps, as well as all my good freinds I have made over the years.

A special thanks to Ken and Kevin, for doing so much great work on this site, I cant imagine how your families put up with the time you spend on this thing, but I truly thankyou for the work you have done to build up a great community here, full of lively debate and lots of humour.

See you in 2011

HTTR

If one person looks at that 30 points put up today and creates a FANPOST praising Grossman or Shanahan and saying he is the future I am going to scream and probably tear my eyes out of my head so I no longer have to read this nonsense.

Also I saw some people got sucked in by the Shanahan press conference saying he wanted to evaluate the QB's.

He had 11 years to evaluate McNabb and chose to trade away our draft future for him and now we have given up 2nd and 3rd Rd picks in consecutive years for a 1 yr QB rental for a losing season.

This is not proof that Shanahan is right to bench him, all it proves is that Personel decisions should be taken off Shanahan right now, his first moves in the Personell area have been complete disasters.

Dennis Morris with our 2nd pick in the draft (admittedly round five)

McNabb for 2010 pick 37 and 2011 pick 7ish

Jamaal Brown for pick 90ish

The geriatric RB platoon in Training Camp

Giving away Campbell for nothing when we could ahve kept him during a re-build.

But pointing out individual mistakes is not the point, the problem is more that there is a attitude of win now, we are one step away at Redskins park that is certain to doom us for a decade.  Listen to Ted Leonis speak sometime, that is how the skins should be run. 

WE are a terrible terrible terrible team, if I see that Fan Confidence poll rise this week I don't know how I will cope with knowledge that such idiocy lives in our fanbase.  We are an awful team, we need to re-build but we have a coach who spent a decade refusing to re-build in Denver and has shown no inclination to do it here.

WE ARE SCREWED

Since the Start of this Season, before they became the National Fairytale, I have been saying on this site how much I wish we were more like the Bucs, and how I just wished we would take the Bucs path to success rather than the same failed strategy of the last decade, and believe me, the Shanahan era is just an extension of everything that has occured in the Snyder era, big name FA (this time the coach himself), trading away picks, the whole we are one step away mentality, that has cursed us and will continue to curse us going forward.

I was thinking about this last night, we are like a Poker Player who raised too high before the flop, and now even though he did not get the cards to help him, feels pot committed and will not gracefully back out and live to fight another day, we keep hoping for a miracle on the river, or that everyone else has screwed up to, well Tampa have shown us that there is a better way.

2 Years ago they got rid of an overhyped coach with repeated failures in his recent history in Gruden and signed the unknown MOrris, with a clear statement that it was time to Re-Build, they traded players for picks, got really young and basically told their Fans  "The next two years are gonna suck, but there is a plan"

Well now, well ahead of schedule they are one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NFL, I just love watching Bucs games, all their players fly around slapping helmets and going crazy after every play, their QB is young and exciting, yeah they are clearly not an elite team yet, but their average age is only slightly higher than Alabama's last year when they won the BCS with senior filled class.

Whereas the Skins are too arrogant and too stupid to tell their fans "Look the last decade has been a disaster, we cant keep doubling down on the Turn and The River, we really need to start again, yes that means there will be minimum 2 more years added to a decade of pain in terms of Win/Loss record, but it is neccesary"  I think Skins fans are smart enough to understand that and will enjoy watching a young team grow, rather than this year watching an old team decay.

Shanahan is not the man for this task, he has a lifetime Winning Percentage to defend if he wants to get into the HOF, (I'm curious will Elway literally drive him there in the car as well as figuratively taking him there)  The trading away of Picks for McNabb is a scandal, as was the Brown trade.  We need to accept we are not going to win now, we need to get younger.  Instead of taking LaGarrete Blount with even a 7th Rd Pick Shanahan invited Willie Parker and Larry Johnson to camp, to back up the 30 year old Portis, again this is a SCANDAL.  The we gave away Campbell because we had no negotiating leverage because the whole league knew he now had no value to us, again a Scandal.

In this off-season, if Shanahan truly cared about the future of this team, every single player would be available to trade for picks, and we should not even be choosy about which Round the picks are in.  The only off-limit players should be

Landry

Orakpo

T Williams

Fred Davis

Anthony Armstrong

Now Carlos Rogers and Hall should only be let go for minimum 3rd Rd Picks (not that we have a choice with the FA Rogers) but everyone else, including favourites like Cooley should be on the block.

We need to get younger, we need to start over, yes this means we will probably win less than 4 games next year, but Tampa won 3 last year and look where they are, CONTENDING, we won 4, were so arrogant we thought we were a QB away from greatness and now we will be lucky to win 6 games.  So we traded away our future, in terms of 2nd Rd Pick last year and the crucial middle rounds this year, for a lousy 2 game improvement.  Well if Zorn was so terrible and Shanahan is so great, shouldnt his coaching alone have got us 2 games, doesnt that mean that the Personnell moves were a complete disaster, yet another scandal in the Shanahan era.

If we beat Tampa this week it means nothing, they are still trending up, whilst we remain in a morass.

It is a desperately depressing time to be a Skins fan, then I watch Tampa and see how much fun Football is meant to be.  How the hell has Snyder took the Redskins, a club with such history and presitge to a position where there fans are jealous of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.....  Good Job Dan, and great work helping him drag us down Mike.

Sorry if I repeat comments I have made in reply to other ppls post here, but after that ridiculous performance yesterday I am that pissed off this is going to be just a stram of conciousness type post, so expect spelling and punctuation mistakes cos I am at work.

Firstly, is Jim Haslett really that arrogant that he thinks that just by throwing his hands in the air after every big play, or by making straight for the corner or safety who was nearest the end of the play when he knows he is on camera that this will deflect our attention away from the sheer awfulness of his defensive scheme and onto the players.

I mean really, how many TD's does there have to be in a quarter before he thinks we will stop putting it down to individual player mistakes and instead focus on his crappy play calling and overall garbage defensive scheme, seriously do he really think that play acting for the cameras is going to make us blame the 260 pound Landry for not being as Quick as a WR instead of focusing on why he was left isolated back there, because the CB passed off the quick WR to a Strong Safety in isolation deep.

Does he think we are so stupid, that we will not remember that our defense last year, whilst not being especially great, and even though it used Landry in completely the wrong position and forced Orakpo into coverage way to often, was still massively better than this one, with essentially the same personell.

Does he really expect us to trust his track record when his track record STINKS.

As for Snyder, does the dude even care about being embarrassed on National Television, does he care that his transparent attempt to pay 3.5 million dollars to McNabb to apologise to him for the Detroit Fiasco would be seen through within about 12 seconds of the deal becoming public.  Anyone who thinks that deal means McNabb will definitely be here next year needs to read the fine print.  I'm not saying he will leave, but dont be fooled into thinking McNabb as a Skin next year is any more certain that it was pre-deal. that deal was a 3.5 million dollar apology for Shanhan screwing him over in public and to prevent any Moss Like expressions of love for his old coaching staff to a National Audience (not that McNabb would ever do that, he is too classy, but hey, better to be safe than sorry)

If Kyle Shanhan is such a playcalling genius, why does the offense perform so poorly, you may say it is lack of talent and that is possible, but a true play calling genius works around a lack of talent, Bill Belichek a true genius made a WR a SB wining CB, Troy or Tony something or other, I am to lazy and to angry to look up his name, but you all know the story.

And finally MIke Shanahan, the man with the same number of non-Elway Playoff wins as the owner Dan Snyder, that would be One.  The man who was known for god-awful draft days when given full control of personell in Denver, and most importantly the MAN WHO WAS FIRED.  This is the main point, everyone talks about Shanahans year away from coaching as if it was a Bill Cowher/Tony Dungy style sabattical, but there is one major difference, Holmgren, Cowher and Dungy left of their own accord, Mike Shanahan, let it never be forgotten WAS FIRED, that is the reason he was out of work, because the Denver Broncos realised he was past his use by date, just like all those Running Backs he bought to town during Training Camp.

We all know RB's have a Odometer that just runs out at some point, maybe that applys to coaches too, particuarly ones who have never won anything without one of the all time greats at the games most critical position.

The Great Joe Gibbs won Superbowls with 3 different QBs and 3 Different starting RB's, that is the definition of coaching brilliance.  Going along for the ride with one of the all time great QB's only proves one thing, it proves you are competent, it does not prove you are brilliant.

I used a FUCKING Annual Leave day for that shit yesterday and the game was over after 7 plays.  This organisation makes me so angry.

Abuse me for being negative in the comments section below if you want, I just dont care anymore, how can you be positve, when you look into the future and we have no draft picks, an aging and talentless roster and a head coach with the media in his pocket, ready to pass the reins to his son in 3-4 years, meaing we have minimum 6 years of these guys in charge.  Oh brother is this gonna hurt, we are a decade from contentind ppl, and that is best case scenario.