Shanny Has Two Weeks To Avoid Armageddon

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

..... We were 90 seconds from the division lead. 2 games and 90 seconds later, the season is over.

As the stark realism begins to set in, there's something intrinsically wrong with your whole structure if one loss, with still another 9 games to play for, however heart-wrenching that loss was; can totally finish your season to all intents and purposes.

Something inherently wrong indeed.

Hail.

[#98QBKiller]

6-1 or were done!

Damn right!

[SkinsWarrior81]

This team makes it really, REALLY hard to want to drive 3.5 hours for every home game. I hope they figure this out. It is embarrassing being a Skins fan at times. Hell, I had a 6 year old child in our stadium talking **** to me for 3 hours during the game. He became a Panthers fan 2 days ago. Do you know how annoying / frustrating it is to watch that kind of performance only to have the cackle of an annoying prepubescent child chattering on in your ear for hours? the drive home was quiet and lonely.

The defense is putrid. It cannot get worse. Fire Hasslet today and let Raheem take it over.

[illone]

Beating the Eagles won't change anything.

Mike would have to win out to convince me he is the right guy to coach the Skins.

This team plays like losing is it's job.

[Hiro]

My prediction for next year: Shanny gets fired (the whole staff goes, except for maybe Raheem Morris), Bruce Allen becomes true GM and reunites with Gruden.

Please, dear god, NO!

If we're going to fire Mike Shanahan, and essentially clean house, I want us to do what we've been needing to do. Hire a young, true up and comer coach (not an obscure position coach like Zorn was) but maybe get a guy like Mike McCoy (OC Denver), Greg Roman (OC San Fran), Vic Fangio (DC San Fran) or Perry Fewell. Hell, promote Kyle for goodness sake.

If Shanahan is out of here, I'm personally done with retreads.

[Skinsfan In NM]

I still think that Mike will get next year. I do see some changes in our defensive coaches. And at this point a full clean house wouldn't be to much to ask for on that side of the ball.

[JohnnyUtah]

Please, dear god, NO!

If we're going to fire Mike Shanahan, and essentially clean house, I want us to do what we've been needing to do. Hire a young, true up and comer coach (not an obscure position coach like Zorn was) but maybe get a guy like Mike McCoy (OC Denver), Greg Roman (OC San Fran), Vic Fangio (DC San Fran) or Perry Fewell. Hell, promote Kyle for goodness sake.

If Shanahan is out of here, I'm personally done with retreads.

I am currently more down on Shanny than I ever have been. Maybe there really is something to the age of successful coaching, but Shanny is conflicting with his two positions. If...IF we are talking about replacements...well, ****... I will dream big and look for a Sean Payton. We usually do well with free agents. Not that he would ever leave NO, I don't think.

All of that being said, I'm not giving up on the season. We have a QB that can keep us in every game. I am all set on the Brandon Banks on offense experiment though.

[pjfootballer]

That "bottoming out" moment happened yesterday with the loss to the Panthers. It was a dreadful performance. One we've seen over and over again around this time of the year.

I get frustrated easily...I'll even give up on competitive parts of the season easily, but I don't lose HOPE that easily. I'll hold out hope for a coach/season/player probably too long before I throw in the towel. I haven't thrown the towel yet, but for the first time in the Shanny era, I picked it up yesterday. I have it in hand.

I should probably just give up right now. Give up on the season and on this staff. I don't blame anyone who has already. I have a close friend who did not watch the game yesterday and said after 20 years he's officially done. We're talking about a die-hard here...but he says he is distancing himself and will only watch if they are on national TV and he has nothing else to do. He says he believes the organization to be hopeless beyond repair and he will no longer subject hinmself to it; not even RG3 has renwed his hope.

Yes, we've seen it over and over again. Different year, same mistakes and same results.

I have no more HOPE that things will CHANGE. We should really look into changing our "racist" name from the Redskins, to the Washington Basement Dwellers, because that's our rightful place in the NFC East. Or the Washington Jokes, because that's basically what we are to the rest of the division.

I'm like your friend. I've been a fan since 1976 and this is the worst I've ever felt. I turned the game off after Steve Smith caught the touchdown and had the Broncos-Bengals game on while I read the paper. Then, after I read the paper, I started watching James Bond movies for the rest of the night. I didn't watch anymore football after the 3rd quarter of the Broncos game.

I have no more fight in me. It's not fun anymore. Even when we win, it's heart-wrenching and ugly to watch. I should have washed and waxed my truck yesterday. Per my sig, I give up.

[kleese]

Beating the Eagles won't change anything.

Mike would have to win out to convince me he is the right guy to coach the Skins.

This team plays like losing is it's job.

I disagree with that....if going 10-6 was the only way you'd be satisfied this year then your expectations were too high and unrealistic.

If ALL we do is beat the Eagles, then yeah, it means little.

But lets say we beat Philly and then play well and lose to the Boys on Thanksgivng. Then lets say we split home games with the Ravens/Giants and split road games with the Browns/Eagles then end the season beating Dallas. That would be 7-9 with a very competitive second half of the season. I could take that and feel good about it.

My hope is that if we can beat Philly it will vault us to a positive finish.

Do I have any faith in that happening? Of course not.

But that is my "realistic" hope/goal at this point and if we do it, the season would likely have met my minimum requirements.

[darrelgreenie]

Re: Mike Shanahan's statements

The more I listen/read Mike Shanahan's statements in context I wonder if he attempt (albeit failed attmept) was to set up an alibi against poor play for the rest of the season.

Maybe Mike realizes (once again during his tenure) that this team is not as good as he thought?

The fact of the matter is that if a team cannot beat a 1-6 team at home in a "must win game" then the outlook for the rest of the season is bleak.

If Mike meant anything from his statement (which he might not at all) then we should seen some major line-up changes right?

Then if the team struggles he can say well we struggled because we're trying out players and trying to build for the future.

Judging from how docile the media has been with Mike he probably thought he could toss that out there and they would accept it like the accepted a bunch of his other outlandish statements.

[Skinsfan In NM]

I wouldn't even be completly discouraged if we lose out, but atleast look like a real football team out there on the field. It's truly sickening when you see passes being dropped that should be caught. Defensive scheme that just puts zero pressure on the opposing teams qb. I mean come on man do we need the coach to break out the "football for dummies" guide?

[Chris 44]

I'm very interested in seeing how Shannahan responds after the bye. Yesterday he looked defeated. Not just during the presser, but watching his reaction on the sidelines after varous plays. He didn't seem emotionally attached, he seemed defeated and apathetic. I dont recall him getting upset with any of the referees decisions that in the past would have resulted in a red faced, neck vein popping tirade toward an official or player. Most bothersome to me is that his mannerisms suggest that he dosn't have any answers as to how to right this ship and may now just be along for the ride.
I hope I'm wrong and that the injuries to key players and experimental play calling given the new QB and running back are the principal factors for the current state of the team. However, I am really leaning toward this being a coaching staff / scheme which has been exposed more and more as the season progresses (trick plays to mask a lack of talent at WR and OL) and finds itself now in a position where they realize that they have no answers going forward. If the offense were making strides each week I could live with our subpar defense, but the offense, once the bright spot of the team just a few short weeks ago has regressed badly.

[darrelgreenie]

We must finish the season strong.

We must play better across the board.

We must win some games.

No excuses.

We are who we have.

Unless they give some reason for optimism over the rest of the season............all bets are off.

[gortiz]

I'm very interested in seeing how Shannahan responds after the bye

no mystery here man ... skins are 4-16 the second half of the last two season ... Shanny is 0-2 after byes and strange enough both games have been to the Eagles. One of those post bye games was the 59-28 game where Vick went off.

I have no faith in Shanahan when it comes to "lighting a fire" under his players. He seems so distant and unconnected. I don't there there is anything closely resembling passion and urgency when it comes to this team.

You know why? Cause he has nothing to prove ... he's getting paid, he's counting the days until he can get out of here.

[Chris 44]

I disagree with that....if going 10-6 was the only way you'd be satisfied this year then your expectations were too high and unrealistic.

If ALL we do is beat the Eagles, then yeah, it means little.

But lets say we beat Philly and then play well and lose to the Boys on Thanksgivng. Then lets say we split home games with the Ravens/Giants and split road games with the Browns/Eagles then end the season beating Dallas. That would be 7-9 with a very competitive second half of the season. I could take that and feel good about it.

My hope is that if we can beat Philly it will vault us to a positive finish.

Do I have any faith in that happening? Of course not.

But that is my "realistic" hope/goal at this point and if we do it, the season would likely have met my minimum requirements.

Kleese, if the 7-9 season were to play out at this point I would be ecstatic. Given the injuries to key players this would give us a lot of optimism going into next season knowing we would have these players back and another offseason to aquire players and get rid of the ones that did not pan out for us this year. In addition to a year under the belt for Griffin and Morris in the system. Unfortunatly at this point I think a 5-11 scenario is more ralistic.