Welcome back Redskins Fans!! A dismal 2009 season has closed putting an end to another looming dark cloud hovering above us for yet one more year. Another season begins, but will these clouds bring with them the sliver lining we so desperately need? From the looks of the moves we've made since the 2010 season opened, we risk blundering about along another uneventful and heartbreaking season. Let's evaluate what we've done so far.
Early January we signed Coach Mike Shanahan to a five year contract with dual responsibilities as Head Coach and VP of Football Operations. I don't know where the logic lies in assigning dual responsibilities without any real way of enforcing his hypothetical powers. Both Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan are rumored to have massive decision making authority, this is concerning because if there are too many chefs in the kitchen nothing gets done. We saw this happen all too often over the past 13 years.
We have heralded Mike Shanahan's record of 16 seasons, a 61.5% W-L rate and 2 championships. How does this match up with some of the greatest names in football coaching history:
Bill Walsh - 10 seasons, 71.4% W-L rate and 3 championships
Don Shula - 33 seasons, 52.8% W-L and 6 championsihps
Joe Gibbs - 16 seasons, 70.8% W-L and 4 championships
Shanahan may be a good enough coach, but we need a rockstar. Comparatively speaking his record is not nearly as impressive as the game changers above. I hope he rises to the occasion and is allowed to coach without being vetoed by his partners upstairs.
Kyle Shanahan is an interesting choice, and honestly I feel his role as Offensive Coordinator, suboordinate to his father's direction may actually streamline communication on offense and better get that squad on the same page. Recall, our defense performed respectably last year, it was primarily our offense that stunk up the stadiums. What's more, he did some good things with the Texans and the Buccaneers. I'll look for a good showing from him this year, especially in clutch games.
Why McNabb and Larry Johnson? First let me address the bonehead decision to bring on Larry Johnson. In his entire career, Johnson only had two 1000 plus yard rushing seasons in 2005 and 2006. Otherwise his yards hover around 600 per season. He has scored 55 rushing TDs over his 6 year career and has never really been an impact player. Now follow this logic, if we agree that Clinton Portis has to be replaced with his statistics at six 1000 plus yard rushing seasons and 73 TDs in 6 out of 9 seasons wouldn't it follow that we would not spend franchise money on someone like Larry Johnson who's preformances pale in comparison to a guy we are looking to replace? Johnson is a bad decision and continues on in the spirit of dumb decisions by our upper management.
Let's take a look at Donovan McNabb. You know what, McNabb has demonstrated tremendous winning capability taking home 92 Ws and only 49 Ls. That's a W almost 65% of the time or 10.4 games per season. His completion percentage is around 59%, but his ATT/INT ratio is also respectable. Statistically his numbers are an INT on 2.1% of his attempts but when compared to the likes of Joe Montana with a win percentage of 71% or 11.4 games per season, a 2.5% ATT/INT ratio as well as a completion percentage of 63.2% and Joe Theismann who's Ws total percentage is 62% or 10 games per season a 3.8% ATT/INT comparison with a completion percentage of 56.7%, McNabb's numbers are up there with the best of them. He has another 3 good years left I believe, though his first year will be one of learning an entirely new system and may pose challenges in producing as many wins as he has done in the past. Now is a good time to recruit the next young franchise QB and have him mentored by one of the best in the game.
We drafted Trent Williams in the first round to beef up our OL, but he was the wrong decision when we weigh what he brings to the team compared to what Russel Okung could have brought. Okung is a solid player with an even temperament. He has well balanced skills and a good sized stature. Williams on the otherhand exhibits clear weaknesses in his pass blocking play and has a lack of respect toward authority and poor work ethic. It seems that someone up the food chain in Redskins management likes to bring on and reward pre-madonna's, pay them a ton of money and screw the team for one more year. I would take discipline, solid play and work ethic over entitlement, lack of respect and inconsistent play any day.
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