Surprising Praise from Don Banks

[The Wicked Wop]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/don_banks/12/26/snap.judgments/1.html

So much for the delusional notions that the Redskins were tanking their games late this season to improve their draft status and maybe land a franchise quarterback. No matter how you feel about Washington's handling of veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb, let's at least be honest enough to admit the Redskins offense has looked better these past two weeks with Rex Grossman in the lineup and McNabb on the bench.

Grossman was 19 of 39 for 182 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the overtime win at Jacksonville, and he's thrown for five scores and three interceptions in his two starts replacing McNabb. He's not the future in D.C., but he's far from a disaster at present.

About the only real quibble you can have about Grossman right now is his decision to do the Gator chomp after firing a touchdown pass to tight end Fred Davis on Sunday. Maybe it was being back in Florida that got him all nostalgic for the Spurrier era.


Don't know how much better on offense we actually looked today, but the defense contributions by our young guys should not be understated. A couple back to back weeks where a number of different youngsters stepped up......very encouraging. Get on Shanny all you want for not being politically correct, but getting to know who can play and who can't is critical before the start of next year.

[Burgold]

I'd say Grossman had a pretty good day... he completed 19 of 39, but had about 4 or 5 intentional throw aways and another 4 or 5 nearly perfect passes to Cooley that were drops. So, in terms of being on target he was 19 of 29 for about 250 or so... he did his job.... not fantastically, but pretty well.

[SWFLSkins]

Sadly Grossman has looked better.

[Darkstarr]

Yep i agree. As much as i wish for a quicker back who has more homerun threat, i must admit Torain is looking like a real viable rb to start the year next year also.

[tr1]

Why do so many have trouble acknowledging that Grossman is doing well?

He's led us on long drives, put the ball where it was supposed to be, and has had his fair share of passes dropped.

All of this behind a very, very suspect o-line.

He's a breath of fresh air.

[WhoRUSupposed2Be]

Why do so many have trouble acknowledging that Grossman is doing well?

He's led us on long drives, put the ball where it was supposed to be, and has had his fair share of passes dropped.

All of this behind a very, very suspect o-line.

He's a breath of fresh air.

I agree with this.

[joeknows]

I agree with this.

there is nothing to add to it.... i agree as well.

[Spartacus87]

Not gonna lie, I wasn't very happy about the Gator Chomp Grossman decided to throw in for Jacksonville.

But still, he does look better than McNabb so far.

[BoRnAndRaiSedSkinsFan]

Grossman has played well so far. He would have been better today if the coaches had decided to run the damn football. The only thing McNabb has on him is pocket awareness/elusiveness...but it hasn't hurt the team so far. Should be interesting to see how he does in the Giants game next week.

[Duckus]

Look, I really really really like McNabb. I freaked out when he was benched. I did not think he was the source of our problems. But Grossman has out played McNabb. Why is it so hard for people to say that?

I saw this stat today and it really stood out to me:

McNabb's first 2 games - 1-1 with 1 throwing TD (this includes his Houston game - his best game of the year)

Grossman's first 2 games - 1-1 with 5 throwing TDs

5 to 1.

[scampbell1975]

I can't stand Don Banks. The dude is a total Tony Danza looking, no research doin' hack. Hard to imagine he finally got something right. I guess a blind squirrel...

[scruffylookin]

Of course Rex has played far better than TwoFace but try telling that to TwoFace's sycophants. They still refuse to give Rex an ounce of credit. It's okay though. I really have found it entertaining watching people like Pumpkinhead on the Comcast postgame show continue to make excuses.

[MartinC]

Not gonna lie, I wasn't very happy about the Gator Chomp Grossman decided to throw in for Jacksonville.

But still, he does look better than McNabb so far.

Looking at your sig I have a shrewd idea why you were unhappy about the Gator thing .......

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Of course Rex has played far better than TwoFace but try telling that to TwoFace's sycophants. They still refuse to give Rex an ounce of credit. It's okay though. I really have found it entertaining watching people like Pumpkinhead on the Comcast postgame show continue to make excuses.

Let it go scruff. He's gone. You won't be seeing him in a Redskins uni again, all things being equal. No need for any more name calling

Let it go man.

BTW, did we decide if last week's outing was better than Week 2's? I'm easy either way, but the offer still stands for you to give me that sig. if you feel vindicated that it was.

Hail.

[Painkiller]

Basically, it boils down to this. Grossman going in and McNabb hitting the bench have done nothing to change the team's fortunes for the worse.

Grossman is not the second coming, nor is he a disaster. Again, this tell us more about McNabb then it does Grossman.

[Number 5]

Having Portis and Torrain out is what started our downfall on offense....we basically had no running game plus Ganu missed key field goals. After that, it was all about poor morale for offense and poor defense.

[celticsalmon]

I think the Grossman experiment confirms that Kyle's system works. If an average quarterback can operate it, imagine what a good QB can do in it. McNabb is a v. good quarterback, but he had not desire to change his way of doing business. So, the Skins really do need a rookie to groom. As for the criticism that Mike doesn't know personnel-he was salivating for Sam Bradford!

[TD_washingtonredskins]

So far I think he's looked a little bit better than McNabb and the team results have been a push (we'd have lost to Dallas and beaten Jacksonville with McNabb in my opinion). The fact that he's the same or better is evidence to me that we don't need to spend $16M on McNabb next year.

[Boss_Hogg]

Grossman has made some fantastic passes, he has had terrific ball placement. It's too bad Cooley can't catch a cold.


Not gonna lie, I wasn't very happy about the Gator Chomp Grossman decided to throw in for Jacksonville.


hmm, I wonder why :sarcasm:

[joeknows]

i for one am happy to admit i may have been wrong. i never in a million years thought that Grossman would be equal to or better than Mc5. he is arguably playing as well if not better than Mc5 and who knows... maybe getting full time snaps in practice and consistently starting he may turn out to be pretty good after all.

my point is... if Grossman is playing at this level and has not consistently started the last few years... it is expected that he would be rusty. maybe some regular work and he may be true starter material again?

---------- Post added December-27th-2010 at 08:44 AM ----------

also i would like to say he has surely thrown some pretty passes!

[authentic]

I'd say Grossman had a pretty good day... he completed 19 of 39, but had about 4 or 5 intentional throw aways and another 4 or 5 nearly perfect passes to Cooley that were drops. So, in terms of being on target he was 19 of 29 for about 250 or so... he did his job.... not fantastically, but pretty well.

I would prefer to say it was average rather than good. It was really a mixed bag. Definately didn't have the game he had last week. But he did contribute to the win.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I would prefer to say it was average rather than good. It was really a mixed bag. Definately didn't have the game he had last week. But he did contribute to the win.

I'd agree. He got a C yesterday. I'm not on the McNabb side of things, but it felt like a game that we'd have won with either QB. Now, the Dallas game, in my opinion, ends in a blowout with McNabb in there.

[mattsb84]

The offense is still putrid. Moss did well, Torain did well when they gave him the ball. Grossman did poorly, although the one int shouldn't have counted ( i mean really?!). Even with Cooley's drops, he still barely completed 50% and didn't put up much yardage. Reminds me of Mark Brunell. Ugh. Growing pains.

[TotalRecall]

Grossman looks better than McNabb, but he's still lacking in the decision-making. I don't like how he tries to force throws. That's why he gets picked-off a lot!

[joeknows]

Grossman looks better than McNabb, but he's still lacking in the decision-making. I don't like how he tries to force throws. That's why he gets picked-off a lot!

its fixable though

[TGI Jef]

i do like Grossman's intensity. i know McNabb has been an extremely accomplished QB throughout his career, but if he was intense on gameday it certainly didnt translate to those watching the game on television.

i liked the whole team's intensity yesterday. it does remind you that for every haynesworth, there is also a London Fletcher who won't let anyone take a play off during any game at any point in the season.

Grossman is not the longterm guy at QB, but maybe he is also that type of leader.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

The offense is still putrid. Moss did well, Torain did well when they gave him the ball. Grossman did poorly, although the one int shouldn't have counted ( i mean really?!). Even with Cooley's drops, he still barely completed 50% and didn't put up much yardage. Reminds me of Mark Brunell. Ugh. Growing pains.

To be fair, adding 5 completions to this 39 pass attempts would have put him at about a 61-62% completion rate. That's pretty good. It also would have bumped his yardage over 200 (probably). Also, if you drop that INT and just make it an incompletion, I'm pretty sure we'd like this from our starting QB:

24/39, 215 yards*, 1 TD, 0 INTs

The yards are pretty conservative estimates based on the drops. He was relatively accurate all day with the exception of the 4-5 balls he just threw away when nothing was there.

---------- Post added December-27th-2010 at 10:21 AM ----------




Grossman is not the longterm guy at QB, but maybe he is also that type of leader.

Especially with Luck possibly waiting until 2012, I'm warming up to the idea of letting Grossman have 2011 to see what he can do. You have to assume we'll have a couple additional draft picks in 2012 to use as currency to potentially trade up to get Luck. We already have a 4th for Campbell and I think it's quite likely we might get SOMETHING for Haynesworth and McNabb. I also would be OK with trading Cooley (as I've been for 2 years now) for a pick or two.

We could enter the 2012 draft with a handful of extra picks we might be able to use to trade up to get Luck.

[SWFLSkins]

Why do so many have trouble acknowledging that Grossman is doing well?

He's led us on long drives, put the ball where it was supposed to be, and has had his fair share of passes dropped.

All of this behind a very, very suspect o-line.

He's a breath of fresh air.

It is just suprising considering McNabb and his lack of grasping the offense, which is in fact a form of the WCO, so I don't quite get the learning curve or the hey he does not practice that hard considering reports early on in camp. Yes, Grossman has been a breath of fresh air, but still can throw an INT at any given moment.

[ArmchairRedskin]

If Grossman plays well against the Giants we'll have a lot to consider this offseason. Lets say he throws 3 TD's, no picks and we win the game. How can you not give him a shot at starting next year?

[authentic]

If Grossman plays well against the Giants we'll have a lot to consider this offseason. Lets say he throws 3 TD's, no picks and we win the game. How can you not give him a shot at starting next year?

If he goes into the offseason with that sort of momentum, then we will be able to think long and hard about drafting QB in 2011. We would have an option to wait for 2012, and use this upcoming draft to address other areas with the high pick.

[ArmchairRedskin]

It is just suprising considering McNabb and his lack of grasping the offense, which is in fact a form of the WCO, so I don't quite get the learning curve or the hey he does not practice that hard considering reports early on in camp. Yes, Grossman has been a breath of fresh air, but still can throw an INT at any given moment.


McNabb has seemed so lackadaisical about everything this season. From his dropbacks to his drive to all the drama that has surrounded him. He just seems so aww shucks about it all. I dunno. He's been a major disappointment to me. At this point I'm willing to keep an open mind about Grossman. Not much else you can do. There isn't any sure-fire solution to the QB situation at this point looking forward.

[Bang]

If Grossman plays well against the Giants we'll have a lot to consider this offseason. Lets say he throws 3 TD's, no picks and we win the game. How can you not give him a shot at starting next year?

I think he's earned a shot at it already. He hasn't been great, but as someone else pointed out, he's showing that he does know the system and that it works. I like his preparation, I ilike his determination, hunger and chip on his shoulder, I like his team-first attitude, and I really like his patience in allowing plays to develop.
He's made some mistakes, but there have been other "bad" plays in which he's nearly taken a sack and thrown it away rather than try to force it and give up a pick. He looks klutzy on those plays, but he lives to fight another day, or play. It happened several times yesterday.. he waited til the last second and ditched it out of bounds when nothing came open. Oh well, next down, no yards lost, and we still have the ball. (The only reason I even bring it up is that the Rex of old would have tried to force it.. and we see what has happened to his career as a result. It looks like he's learned some patience and matured a bit.)
Considering McNabb absolutely positively has to be gone, the only other QB with a contract is Beck.
Grossman must be re-signed if for no other reason than that.

~Bang

[TD_washingtonredskins]

If Grossman plays well against the Giants we'll have a lot to consider this offseason. Lets say he throws 3 TD's, no picks and we win the game. How can you not give him a shot at starting next year?

I think, no matter what happens vs. New York (let's keep in mind how awful McNabb looked a month ago against the Giants and how poorly our entire team has played against them recently), Grossman is the front-runner to begin the season as our starter. If we draft someone, I doubt we'd throw him in there in September. I also don't see us acquiring a FA or trading for a QB when we have Grossman who has shown to be adequate.

[War Paint]

Grossman has played well so far. He would have been better today if the coaches had decided to run the damn football. The only thing McNabb has on him is pocket awareness/elusiveness...but it hasn't hurt the team so far. Should be interesting to see how he does in the Giants game next week.

Yeah, I think the coaches were kind of doing the preseason evaluation on Rex. That's why they weren't running the ball often IMO.

[ArmchairRedskin]

If he goes into the offseason with that sort of momentum, then we will be able to think long and hard about drafting QB in 2011. We would have an option to wait for 2012, and use this upcoming draft to address other areas with the high pick.


I agree with you if we can land a guy that isn't a compromise. Otherwise just build up the rest of the roster. No need to force the issue.

[authentic]

One think you can say about Grossman is, though he isn't as athletic as McNabb (which is obvious); he's pretty darn good when given protection. Give him time to step into his throw and he's pretty accurate and can actually LEAD his WRs with his passes. McNabb on the other hand has a great arm and is able to improvise when protection breaks down, but even when given protection on alot of plays this season, he had the habit of overthrowing and underthrowing wideopen WRs. I'm sure this is part of what drove the Shanny's crazy.

[ArmchairRedskin]

Grossman has been stellar at times in his career. He's just so wildly inconsistent. I mean he's just as likely to have a 4 pick game as a 4 TD game. He's not unlike Cutler in that regard. He just doesn't have Cutler's arm or his thick skull. If the coaches can get the guy to limit his mistakes then by all means, give him his shot next year and let him earn it or lose it based on his play here. Throw the past out the window.

[Pick6]

I don't think Grossman is a long-term answer, but could be good enough to carry us through next season. I think we could work on other things with draft and free agents. Who knows what will or should happen. I do know one thing, Kyle's system works well and McNabb just didn't fit in it.

[ejay183]

I say give Grossman a contract next season if he does good in the Giants' game and let him fight for the starting job.

[andy614]

Sadly Grossman has looked better.


Why sadly? I don't care if Grandma Moses is back there...as long as we get a W.

[mossomo]

Why do so many have trouble acknowledging that Grossman is doing well? He's led us on long drives

And leading the receivers. Spreading the ball around. Not too mention, getting Cooley some touches.

[Darkstarr]

The offense has looked better under Grossman. Another brightside is the Oline did not give up many sacks this week, and the ground game again looked good at times. Seems to me i can see a nice ground game coming along. Another off season of work and i would not be suprised if the Skins are looking at a top 10 rushing attack next season.

[darrell1106]

Yep i agree. As much as i wish for a quicker back who has more homerun threat, i must admit Torain is looking like a real viable rb to start the year next year also.

He can't stay healthy. We need someone else back there as the 1-2 punch.

[illone]

Why do so many have trouble acknowledging that Grossman is doing well?

He's led us on long drives, put the ball where it was supposed to be, and has had his fair share of passes dropped.

All of this behind a very, very suspect o-line.

He's a breath of fresh air.

Can't really argue with this post.

One thing, maybe the Oline isn't as bad as we thought it was?

[tr1]

Can't really argue with this post.

One thing, maybe the Oline isn't as bad as we thought it was?

Well, there were some moments yesterday when Grossman was still in his back peddle, and a guy was on top of him.

Grossman also makes the o-line look better by throwing the ball away instead of taking a sack...and, he has created some extra time with roll-outs and dancing in the pocket.

My only issue with him in the long term is arm strength.

[thomasroane]

The offense has looked better under Grossman. Another brightside is the Oline did not give up many sacks this week, and the ground game again looked good at times. Seems to me i can see a nice ground game coming along. Another off season of work and i would not be suprised if the Skins are looking at a top 10 rushing attack next season.

That's the most important aspect of what we've seen from the Offense since the change. I think we're seeing that the rest of the offense (O-line, RB's and Receivers) are not as bad as we were lead to believe; namely from all the McNabb apologists. Grossman did a much better job of working with his O-line yesterday. Don't get me wrong. I know there are some positions that need to be upgraded. Center and a big number 1 receiver. But the fact that we have a decent core of players means that Shannahan doesn't have to go into this draft and free agent period desperate. They can take the Best Player Available instead of reaching. And they can get someone who will fit their system. Grossman isn't the long term answer. But between he and Beck management may be able to bargain from a position of strength.

[Painkiller]

Why sadly? I don't care if Grandma Moses is back there...as long as we get a W.

Why "sadly"?

Because many people are more interested in being "right" then to admit that the correct decision was made to bench McNabb. Argue the point about bringing him here at all if you want, but that point is really irrelevant as to the benching itself.

Some alleged "fans" of the team are so adamant that Shanahan has somehow "wronged" McNabb, that they want the whole team to pay.

I know, it makes no sense to me either.

[Dirt]

Haha! I forgot all about him doing the gator chomp! That was awesome, even though I'm a Gator hater.

Rex showing a little swagger was cool. At the time, it was his 5th touchdown pass in as many quarters I believe. Although the offense slowed down big-time (3rd downs guys...) Torain took over toward the end and it was enough for a W. That's the kind of wins we're used to getting, it's just crazy how many are actually going to overtime.

If there is a god, and he doesn't hate the Redskins, we will blow out the Giants this Sunday, giving us our first blowout win in FOREVER (not counting OAK last year, Jamarcus in the game...meh)

Yea you heard me, blow out the Giants.

[TD Riggo]

Not gonna lie, I wasn't very happy about the Gator Chomp Grossman decided to throw in for Jacksonville.

But still, he does look better than McNabb so far.


Give the guy a break. There are a LOT of Gator fans in J'Ville. (I'm a lifelong Gator fan, but I live well south of Jax) and he had an opportunity to score an early TD in a stadium where he had many great moments as a Gator. It served as a tweak to Gator fans who are Jags fans.

[wrecker]

Why "sadly"?

Because many people are more interested in being "right" then to admit that the correct decision was made to bench McNabb. Argue the point about bringing him here at all if you want, but that point is really irrelevant as to the benching itself.

Some alleged "fans" of the team are so adamant that Shanahan has somehow "wronged" McNabb, that they want the whole team to pay.

I know, it makes no sense to me either.

I think of "sadly" because of giving up 2 high draft picks when we would have had an adaquate QB to start with and maybe used our 2nd rounder on a WR, NT, LB, FS or Center.

[chasefan31]

I agree that with Grossman at QB the offense is running much more efficient. Except when they had him roll out to the wrong side of the field a couple times in a row early in the game. I know you can't roll the same way every time, but there were 2 in a row that he rolled out to the left and couldn't throw because he had to stop, turn his body and reset before barely throwing the ball away. That was really ugly. It was the definition of working against your own scheme.

[Dukes and Skins]

I think of "sadly" because of giving up 2 high draft picks when we would have had an adaquate QB to start with and maybe used our 2nd rounder on a WR, NT, LB, FS or Center.

Hindsight is 20/20 though, what we thought would happen is that this move would work out and allow us to not have to worry about the QB position for a while. Instead it didn't and it sucks no one is going to disagree with that, but at the same time by us being wrong it has allowed us to finally realize we need to rebuild up this team the right way

[wrecker]

Hindsight is 20/20 though, what we thought would happen is that this move would work out and allow us to not have to worry about the QB position for a while. Instead it didn't and it sucks no one is going to disagree with that, but at the same time by us being wrong it has allowed us to finally realize we need to rebuild up this team the right way

When Shanahan gave up 2 high draft picks for McNabb, he and Kyle had 11 years of film to watch. I would think a professional head coach and OC would have 39/1 "foresight" on that before making that move. Especially when they already had a QB that the OC brought in, has a good relationship with and was apparently comfortable with.

[MikeK]

There's a big Gator fan base in J-ville, thus the "Gator-chomp" from him.

[Bang]

I liked the Gator chomp. I hope he does it six times against the Giants.

Nice to see someone fired up that isn't named Fletcher.

~Bang

[Dukes and Skins]

When Shanahan gave up 2 high draft picks for McNabb, he and Kyle had 11 years of film to watch. I would think a professional head coach and OC would have 39/1 "foresight" on that before making that move. Especially when they already had a QB that the OC brought in, has a good relationship with and was apparently comfortable with.

Right and what I'm saying is they were hoping he'd be a Jake Plummer type QB where you can have him for a while and he holds down the position and you can rebuild up the team, unfortunately the trade didn't work out and yes it sucks that we lost out on the picks but it's not like it'll be the end of the world for us