Has the team mailed it in? (If so, why?)

It's been said in this thread already, so I'll reiterate. This team's had injuries to key positions. They're missing their top 2 receivers in Garcon and Davis, the best pass rusher in Orakpo, a line hog in Carriker, and the secondary has been banged up and bruised including 2 guys (one injured, one suspended) who were supposed to be big contributors who haven't played. The depth on this team clearly is lacking, and you're asking guys who should be playing sparingly (if at all) to contribute as starters. On top of that, the Skins are 18 million in the hole salary cap wise, and will be again next year. That is money that would normally help build depth, and it's simply not there.

The team has 2 weeks to regroup and get ready for the next 7 games, and show what kind of toughness they have. If you think we take it hard when the Skins lose, there are 53 men in that locker room who take it that much harder. And on top of that, you have fans who question them day in and day out. While I won't give them a free pass being 3-6 at this point, I will give them the benefit of the doubt in that they haven't mailed it in yet.

I think this is a terrific post. I am concerned about Shanahan's post-game comment, and I worry that some of the less mature players in the locker room might take it the wrong way (I think he intended to use it to motivate his team, although I think it was a bad way to go about it -- I think he was trying to say, "Let's see what we're made of now that we're facing real adversity.").

But as badly as the last two weeks have gone, there's a lot left to this season. We have the Eagles twice (they don't scare me), Dallas twice (they don't scare me much either -- we put up more points on Atlanta than Dallas did last night), the Giants again (and our guys ought to be primed to kill), Cleveland (not a good team), and the Ravens (seem to be able to play without key guys on defense). If we can put up a few more wins here and salvage a respectable season, I doubt everyone will be calling for the coach's head, given our horrible injury situation and lack of depth. (Haslett's head, on the other hand, seems likely to roll.)

He still looks hesitant to me when dropping back and throwing, especially from under center.

I think some of that comes from his WRs dropping a ton of balls. He doesnt really trust them so he is hesitant to let it happen.

I disagree with you then. You really think Chris Chester, Will Montgomery, Ryan Kerrigan, Lorenzo Alexander (just to name a few) have mailed it in?

Our offensive line was abused thoroughly yesterday, and I've never heard the Panthers d line heralded as anything special. Yeah, the oline mailed it in yesterday. Kerrigan has the strength and talent to beat most blockers one on one, but like most of the d line we're not seeing any explosion off the ball and our guys are getting blocked effectively one on one. The lack of explosion and push really evident. I watched replay video of Jenkins and Cofield just bumping up against o lineman, clearly not playing hard to create pressure.

Didn't see much out of Zoe yesterday. I noticed Riley had a down game from the trend he's been on.

So let me flip this: do you honestly see anything close to 100% by a majority of players over the last two weeks?

Stephen A is killing Mike on first take.

"He needs to go, he's a waist Of time for Washington "

Man you aint kidding,he went off
Antonio Pierce on shanahans ass too
And of course Shanny is gonna backtrack and say thats not what he meant,we'll never know for sure,but its already done the damage

I won't say the players "mailed it in", but I will say they have lost confidence in the coaches and system. Also, our culture is one where failure/losing are acceptable. For example, penalties, dropped balls, missed assignments....nothing happens to any of these guys, no accountability. How do you enforce accountability when the OC (who has been bad for 3yrs.) has no concern for his job security?

Enough is enough. If I'm Snyder, I can get the same results for a whole hell of a lot less than $ 7M / yr.

On top of all this, the Shannys are stunting RG3's development. This gimmickly college read option BS isn't developing RG3 into a Brees or A. Rodgers type QB. RG3 is extremely bright and accurate, stop holding the young man back and let him play the NFL game....will his Comp % drop, yes. Will he be far better long term, absolutely.

The best post I've read in a long time...especially the last paragraph. I think you're the first one to say it plainly. Lonely are the brave.

This is my point, RG3 isn't Cam or Vick, he's got the ability in the passing game that's on par with Luck and will develop into a Brees/Rogers/S. Young type QB....if given the chance. I haven't been doing the DVR and going back over the games play-by-play or invested in the all-22, but the only time KS is opening up the offense is when we're behind and he has to.

I don't mind the RO every once in a while, but let RG3 work out of gun in a traditional NFL passing O more. Our WRs are good enough to get open vs. Zone and are good enough to beat press. Especially with MS throwing in the towel on the season, open the O up and let RG3 learn.

The one counter argument to running a more traditional offense, that btw is the only way to be an elite QB in pro football, is that our o line is too weak to protect consistently. We have a garbage player at RT and our interior over achieves but struggles against tough d lines.

But the lack of solid pass protection is just another indictment of the regime.

All that said I don't think we're avoiding a more traditional offense solely to protect RG3 from getting pancaked. From everything we've seen, this brain-trust cannot put together a traditional scheme that consistently generates points. We don't spread the field. We don't create mismatches. We don't see play-calling/play-design that exposes our opponents weaknesses from week to week, play to play. As I've said, this is among the worst coaching I've seen in pro football. It's really just a continuation of the Zorn era, but a cult of personality around Shanahan has kept the realists at bay up to this point anyway.

The one counter argument to running a more traditional offense, that btw is the only way to be an elite QB in pro football, is that our o line is too weak to protect consistently. We have a garbage player at RT and our interior over achieves but struggles against tough d lines.

But the lack of solid pass protection is just another indictment of the regime.

All that said I don't think we're avoiding a more traditional offense solely to protect RG3 from getting pancaked. From everything we've seen, this brain-trust cannot put together a traditional scheme that consistently generates points. We don't spread the field. We don't create mismatches. We don't see play-calling/play-design that exposes our opponents weaknesses from week to week, play to play. As I've said, this is among the worst coaching I've seen in pro football. It's really just a continuation of the Zorn era, but a cult of personality around Shanahan has kept the realists at bay up to this point anyway.

Whew, you are really Gloating today about this loss.

The best post I've read in a long time...especially the last paragraph. I think you're the first one to say it plainly. Lonely are the brave.

Brave does not equal right though.

Wait, really? Stunting his development? The guy has been UNIVERSALLY praised for his ability to this point in the passing game including reading defenses and making tough throws but he's being stunted in his development? While I will agree with you somewhat about the volume of read option that is our playbook, it's been damn effective, even against the top defenses we've faced.

If Garçon and Davis were both healthy, I think we'd see a slightly more traditional offense but dropping back and expecting Hankerson, Robinson and Paulsen to consistently win their matchups and develop a passing rhythm is a recipe for getting RG3 killed in the pocket.

If you notice in a lot of the passing plays we've got 3 guys in the back field and it's almost all playaction passes. No one is being fooled on play action when you're either behind or it's 3rd and long. No one is being fooled with a wr screen on 3rd and 12. No one is being fooled with QB sweeps in the red zone. Davis and Garcon hurt but again...can you name one WR that Andrew Luck is throwing to besides Reggie Wayne? Hank, Morgan and Robinson are healthy and should be able to get open against Carolina. Get Banks involved in the passing game as well.

If you notice in a lot of the passing plays we've got 3 guys in the back field and it's almost all playaction passes. No one is being fooled on play action when you're either behind or it's 3rd and long. No one is being fooled with a wr screen on 3rd and 12. No one is being fooled with QB sweeps in the red zone. Davis and Garcon hurt but again...can you name one WR that Andrew Luck is throwing to besides Reggie Wayne? Hank, Morgan and Robinson are healthy and should be able to get open against Carolina. Get Banks involved in the passing game as well.

You keep saying that but Donnie Avery isn't exactly some unknown scrub, and they added some nice weapons this year in the draft at TE and WR too.

We need more out of our WRs no doubt. But there's no denying that when you lose your top WR and top TE, it's gonna hurt things a bit.