Bringing the Pain-1st half edition

2009 has been a crap-tastic sports year for me. The Hoyas fell apart in the Big East, every NY Met with talent got injured for most of the season, Kobe won another title but at least I had the Redskins to look forward to in the fall, right?

Despite all of the off season QB drama and the typical training camp circus I had high hopes for this team, predicting a 10-6 record from this team. Damn was I WAY wrong. Rather than rehash the pain and agony of everything that went wrong this 1st half of the season I'd like to see a few things to make the rest of the season more bearable and provide SOME hope for the next regime and the short term horizon.

-Move Laron Landry to SS and insert Kareem Moore or Reed Doughty at FS for the rest of the season. Landry is playing terribly at FS in the run support game. He seems incapable on determining tackling angles on the fly and has provided ZERO impact in the passing game. He was drafted as a SS and is playing out of position based on circumstance of Taylor's death. The tragedy has been compounded by the poor football decision of leaving Landry in a position he simply doesn't play well. Hopefully a new coaching staff will move him to a position and role that he's better suited for.

-Play the damn kids! I don't understand the rationale (besides Zorn's stubbornness) behind not activating and playing Rinehart, Barnes, Mitchell every week. We've seen Will Montgomery, NEXT! Why is Fred Smoot still active? NEXT! Antwaan Randle-El, nuff said. NEXT! Let' see some Thomas, Kelly, Mitchell on the field. Let's see some Moss in the slot. Let's see some Kelly in the slot. Let's just see something DIFFERENT than what we've seen.

-Give Sherm Lewis a bigger role. I said after week one that Zorn's stubbornness would cost him his job. While play calling may be only about 30% of what the ultimate problems offensively have been, it's significant enough. The past 2 weeks, we've scored 17 points each, gained more yards and have been effective in converting in the red zone. It's not coincidence. I hope that whoever is the new coach consults closely with Lewis, who sadly is the only offensive coach whose judgment I trust, to get a feel of what our players are capable of.

-Follow the Brown's lead. I can't believe I typed that, but the Browns are doing a smart thing (wow, two crazy sentences in a row!) by starting the 'czar' search now. Snyder needs to remove Vinny from any football related decision making role. He needs to open up the 'President of Football Operations' search immediately. Start having discussions with people sooner rather than later. Look, everyone with a pulse knows that Zorn is done and a complete staff, organization and roster overhaul is coming. Quit wasting time acting otherwise. The biggest disservice that is being done to this franchise is management still acting like we've got a chance.

I will root for the Redskins to win each and every time they take the field, but I also recognize that a 2-14 disaster is EXACTLY what this organization needs. I yelled at the TV once yesterday. Once. That was Campbell's 4th down pass to Kelly that landed 3 yards behind him. Count me among the fans who is well past angry and where apathy has set in. I just hope the team does things over the next 8 games to make the rest of the season bearable.

I feel ya Barnes & Mitchell should have been playing

Paintrain - I guess I should have worded my other post about going 2-14 differently but your last paragraph (1st sentence) was what I was trying to get at.

Paintrain: You said:

"-Play the damn kids! I don't understand the rationale (besides Zorn's stubbornness) behind not activating and playing Rinehart, Barnes, Mitchell every week. We've seen Will Montgomery, NEXT! Why is Fred Smoot still active? NEXT! Antwaan Randle-El, nuff said. NEXT! Let' see some Thomas, Kelly, Mitchell on the field. Let's see some Moss in the slot. Let's see some Kelly in the slot. Let's just see something DIFFERENT than what we've seen."


In principle, I could not agree more. I agree that Montgomery is not "the answer" at offensive guard unless the question is, "Who is the least effective pass blocker starting on an OL in the NFC East?" But who do you put in there in his place who has showed ANYTHING yet. Rinehart and Williams are large human beings but other than that ...??? Do you really want to see D'Anthony Batiste at guard? Montgomery is not all that good but I don't see anyone on the depth chart that I have any confidence in at all.


Smoot remains active because Tryon can't play either. The only play Tryon seems to have mastered so far is the one where he chases a guy into the end zone about 4 yards behind the guy with the ball. Granted, Fred Smoot was overrated when he was at his best and is nowhere near as good as he used to be. But do I REALLY want to see more of Justin Tryon? No...


ARE is - - and has been - - an overpaid punt returner since he got here. And now he doesn't return punts all that well. Sit him down and play just about anyone else in his place. Frankly, I'd play Mitchell in the slot because I am becoming convinced that neither Thomas nor Kelly is going to amount to much more than a journeyman WR in the NFL. Mitchell may not either, but he hasn't been nearly as disappointing as the other two stiffs.

I have to disagree about Landry having ZERO impact in the pass game. How many passes get by him? The only one I can think of was in the lions game when he got sucked in after Stafford had a day to throw & the wr went upfield for a td. Other than that, Landry's impact is unseen for the most part but significant.

ARE might be overpaid but he's still a decent slot reciever. He's making plays still, and doesn't drop the ball when it's well thrown.

Good points about lewis.