The Shanaplan Gets Accelerated

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

What if they draft a guy at the RB position in or above the fifth round? Does Hightower, coming off injury, really have a great shot to beat out a rookie?

The roster would have room for both

[redsk1]

We're in year #2 of MS and BA. Small steps. I think we had a good draft. Next year we'll have Jenkins, TH, CC healthy hopefully, SM, a second year Kerrigan, Lightensteiger, Trent Williams in his prime, and a full draft class which will most likely contain a 1st round qb.

I wanted to see some improvement this year...but it might not be measured in wins and losses. It's going to be tough to gauge w/ the injuries, but regardless I happy where we are. Year 4 I want to see some wins.

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by redsk1

We're in year #2 of MS and BA. Small steps. I think we had a good draft. Next year we'll have Jenkins, TH, CC healthy hopefully, SM, a second year Kerrigan, Lightensteiger, Trent Williams in his prime, and a full draft class which will most likely contain a 1st round qb.

I wanted to see some improvement this year...but it might not be measured in wins and losses. It's going to be tough to gauge w/ the injuries, but regardless I happy where we are. Year 4 I want to see some wins.

The improvement can not be measured by wins. The improvement of the offensive line and defense is massive. The year before Shanahan was hired the level of play and talent level on this team was one of the league worst. This improvement in the level of play is still present even despite all of the injuries. That says even our backups are better. But we are still losing win-able games.
One of the few areas where we regressed is replacing Carlos Rogers with Josh Wilson. Rogers is playing very well and getting noticed in SF. Wilson has been a downgrade. Kevin Barnes has not impressed with his opportunity of more playing time. I am glad Shananhan and Haslett are giving the young guys like Barnes a look and more playing time, to see wha twe have. But I am growing tired of seeing Barnes get beat. I have seen enough of Barnes to know he is not an NFL starter and most likely never be more than a good back up. Wonder why we have not seen more of Buchanon and Westbrook?

[Lotus]

^^ You two are correct about improvement perhaps not showing up in wins. Look at the Lions. Last year they turned an important corner although such was not well reflected in their record. This year the improvement for them comes to fruition in the standings.

[mlmpetert]

Learning the depth of your team for each position is defintely the silver lining when it comes to injuries. I posted this in an another thread but the Redskins were the 10th oldest team at the start of the season:

2011 NFL team age ranks at 53-man cuts - NFC West Blog - ESPN

I think 2 years ago we were the oldest. At the end of the day i dont really think it matters how old your team is because there are guys like Fletcher or Daniels who continue to play at a high level into the golden years. Old "vets" also seem to help younger players learn the nfl ropes. That said, i do think its important to have a good mix of young guys on the team that can take over when a player retires/gets cut.

We do have a lot of unproven (usually younger) guys and hopefully they will step up and take advantage of an opportunity whether its from injury like Cook at center or from poor play like Beck at QB. My biggest concern is on the defensive side of the ball, hopefully players will just get better in their positions as time goes on. And WR should have a lot of good battles.

Oh yeah, Hightower is definitely going to be here next year.

[Meks]

th should be resigned.
high hopes for helu I just think he needs to get the ball more... more than torrain or closer to a 60/40 at least ..

wr - Austin needs more looks... hankerson hopefully shapes up and gets.his mind on football and not twitter...

CB - really wish we could have worked it out wit Los ..

s - lets hope otogwe gets back and Landry settles down into playing smarter football.

another thing... wither get banks the ball on some screens or wildcat or he's gonna become worthless on the roster soon

[mooby]

Originally Posted by Meks

th should be resigned.
high hopes for helu I just think he needs to get the ball more... more than torrain or closer to a 60/40 at least ..

wr - Austin needs more looks... hankerson hopefully shapes up and gets.his mind on football and not twitter...

CB - really wish we could have worked it out wit Los ..

s - lets hope otogwe gets back and Landry settles down into playing smarter football.

another thing... wither get banks the ball on some screens or wildcat or he's gonna become worthless on the roster soon

Bullee DAT. Seriously though before the season started I feared the new kickoff rule would minimize Banks' contributions to the roster, and so far they have. He really hasn't had very many opportunities to break one so far, and I'm not sure whether it's him in a slump or bad blocking, or a combo of both, but he really hasn't made the impact he made last year.

[DCtoAZ]

I really hate 2012 draft talk in October of 2011. W - T - F

1. WR .. Moss is a total bummer, he is solid & always has been. Austin has shown me enough that he IS a playmaker. Niles PAUL seems to me to be a steal, I love this kid for some reason, he's tough on blocks and just seems ready to step up. Hankerson is the one that really bothers me, I was so juiced up when we drafted him. Hopefully he has finished his humble pie & can use his talents with this opportunity.

2. RB .. Hightower will be back next year, are you crazy ? He was in full BEAST mode when healthy. Helu is special and a GREAT pick, but I highly doubt he's an every down back. Torrain, there is the tricky one. If ATV can stay healthy & have a year like last year and the Rams game. This dude will make waves & take pressure of the QB.

3. CB .. Everyone is right about Los, we made a mistake. I don't think Josh Wilson is that bad, I just think we all got so frustrated with the non-playmaking ability of Los that in ultimately over shadowed his entire game. That being said, Los cost us at least half a dozen games by not catching an easy pick. I'd love to see them draft/trade/sign a STUD CB to go along with D-Hall.

4.Safety ... I know the bears just released Chris Harris, he was second team all Pro last year ? He should be on Redskins One right now.

5.QB ... Beck isn't on a 4 game trial to get "Crompton" some starts. Are you freaking kidding me. Crompton ??? C'mon man. Beck has the reigns for the rest of the season, he deserves his shot & I think if we revisit this thread in 4 weeks we may be saying some different things about all these guys. I don't even wanna think about drafting a QB in the 1st round next year. I can't take this every season. I want Beck to step up and earn the support of DC.

Bottom Line : The Young Guns have time to shine. Put up or shut up.

Let's go surprise those damn Bills and bring it. They are hurting on D & we need to take advantage of that neutral site. Helu & Paul going to have big big days.

[calia]

For all the talk that the Redskins cannot turn things around in a year (and that we need more like four), while I might be inclined to think a year is unrealistic, four seems indulgent. Look at the vastly improved Lions, Bills, and Raiders this season (heck, even the Bengals look decent). Granted, all three have been drafting a few players upon which to build a foundation for a few years, but so have we (e.g., Orakpo, Williams, Davis) -- just not enough of them. But these are each franchises that have been bottom dwellers for a long, long time. Why can't we seem to climb out of the cellar for anything other than a brief period when Gibbs II was here (for 2 of the 4 years)?

I think part is the competition of the NFC East. While the teams may not be the forces they were in teh 1980s and 1990s, it's still a smashmouth division and the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys have each had better success than we have had. Part is clearly a decade of Cerrato -- whom I dislike perhaps more than Randy White, Michael Irvin, and some of my other favorite Cowboys to hate. Cerrato did more damage to us than any opposing team, player or coach ever did. But even this doesn't seem to explain why it is that our team has been just so flat out disappointing since about 1992.

I really, really hope BA and MS can turn it around. And maybe these young guys stepping up and playing well will be the first real signs of it.

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by calia

For all the talk that the Redskins cannot turn things around in a year (and that we need more like four), while I might be inclined to think a year is unrealistic, four seems indulgent. Look at the vastly improved Lions, Bills, and Raiders this season (heck, even the Bengals look decent). Granted, all three have been drafting a few players upon which to build a foundation for a few years, but so have we (e.g., Orakpo, Williams, Davis) -- just not enough of them. But these are each franchises that have been bottom dwellers for a long, long time. Why can't we seem to climb out of the cellar for anything other than a brief period when Gibbs II was here (for 2 of the 4 years)?

I think part is the competition of the NFC East. While the teams may not be the forces they were in teh 1980s and 1990s, it's still a smashmouth division and the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys have each had better success than we have had. Part is clearly a decade of Cerrato -- whom I dislike perhaps more than Randy White, Michael Irvin, and some of my other favorite Cowboys to hate. Cerrato did more damage to us than any opposing team, player or coach ever did. But even this doesn't seem to explain why it is that our team has been just so flat out disappointing since about 1992.

I really, really hope BA and MS can turn it around. And maybe these young guys stepping up and playing well will be the first real signs of it.

They all have guys who can score and stop scores...often. Aka, they have playmakers. Fred Jackson-beast. Stevie Johnson-beast. Darren McFadden-beast. Suh-Beast. Megatron-Beast. And so on. And they're all home grown.

[DCtoAZ]

Originally Posted by SirClintonPortis

They all have guys who can score and stop scores...often. Aka, they have playmakers. Fred Jackson-beast. Stevie Johnson-beast. Darren McFadden-beast. Suh-Beast. Megatron-Beast. And so on. And they're all home grown.

So your saying .. Orakpo not a beast ? Kerrigan not a beast ? Davis not a beast ? Williams not a beast ? ... Landry although older, is still a beast ? ... ALL HOME GROWN ....

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by DCtoAZ

So your saying .. Orakpo not a beast ? Kerrigan not a beast ? Davis not a beast ? Williams not a beast ? ... Landry although older, is still a beast ? ... ALL HOME GROWN ....

Orakpo is a pussy.

I dare him to prove me wrong on Sunday.

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by DCtoAZ

So your saying .. Orakpo not a beast ? Kerrigan not a beast ? Davis not a beast ? Williams not a beast ? ... Landry although older, is still a beast ? ... ALL HOME GROWN ....

They are, bud. We just need even more beasts. MOAR MOARRRRRR. RAWR. I'm a greedy man.

[Paintrain]

Originally Posted by calia

For all the talk that the Redskins cannot turn things around in a year (and that we need more like four), while I might be inclined to think a year is unrealistic, four seems indulgent. Look at the vastly improved Lions, Bills, and Raiders this season (heck, even the Bengals look decent). Granted, all three have been drafting a few players upon which to build a foundation for a few years, but so have we (e.g., Orakpo, Williams, Davis) -- just not enough of them. But these are each franchises that have been bottom dwellers for a long, long time. Why can't we seem to climb out of the cellar for anything other than a brief period when Gibbs II was here (for 2 of the 4 years)?

I think part is the competition of the NFC East. While the teams may not be the forces they were in teh 1980s and 1990s, it's still a smashmouth division and the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys have each had better success than we have had. Part is clearly a decade of Cerrato -- whom I dislike perhaps more than Randy White, Michael Irvin, and some of my other favorite Cowboys to hate. Cerrato did more damage to us than any opposing team, player or coach ever did. But even this doesn't seem to explain why it is that our team has been just so flat out disappointing since about 1992.

I really, really hope BA and MS can turn it around. And maybe these young guys stepping up and playing well will be the first real signs of it.

Truly? It's because we hadn't sucked enough.. Staying the 4-7 win range for the past 5 years has put us just outside of striking distance for a Suh, Megatron or a top QB. We needed a good old fashioned 1-15 stinker to get one of them.

I know it's unpopular to say this but I've said it before. Gibbs II set this franchise back a LONG time. The decisions made during that era and the resulting decisions from it (examples: not re-signing Smoot therefore having to draft Rogers instead of Ware, trading for Brunell instead of playing it out one season with Ramsey then trading picks for Campbell and as a result not trying to sign Brees, etc, etc, etc) are what pushed us to the edge, Vinny launched us over the cliff. The fact we went to the playoffs twice under him is a testament to what an amazing coach and leader he is but his personnel skills are a molten pile of feces.

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

Truly? It's because we hadn't sucked enough.. Staying the 4-7 win range for the past 5 years has put us just outside of striking distance for a Suh, Megatron or a top QB. We needed a good old fashioned 1-15 stinker to get one of them.

I know it's unpopular to say this but I've said it before. Gibbs II set this franchise back a LONG time. The decisions made during that era and the resulting decisions from it (examples: not re-signing Smoot therefore having to draft Rogers instead of Ware, trading for Brunell instead of playing it out one season with Ramsey then trading picks for Campbell and as a result not trying to sign Brees, etc, etc, etc) are what pushed us to the edge, Vinny launched us over the cliff. The fact we went to the playoffs twice under him is a testament to what an amazing coach and leader he is but his personnel skills are a molten pile of feces.

Franchises are only set back as long as they keep on doing stupid moves. Any franchise can turn it around in 3 years if they draft well and use FA judiciously, even that team that picked JaMarcus Russell. We are in year 1 of finally waking up and smelling the smelling salts. Had we woken up earlier, the turnaround would have already occured.