But we are not a bottom 5 team without him. In fact, I think the opposite. We are probably a top 15 team without him. At this stage RG3 and the OL are the only things holding this team back from success. But if they bring me in to coach today, I'm still rolling the dice with RG3 for a few more games. He has some skills that give him potential.
I disagree that, right now, the Skinds are a top 15 team (regardless of who they put on the field.
The offensive line does 1 thing well -- run blocking while moving to the side. They are bad at power run blocking and they are bad at pass blocking.
The WR's are above average.
One RB is above average; the FB is above average. The backups are average at best.
The defensive line is, at its best, average. ILB's may or may not be average, depending on how Robinson plays. The OLB's get local press for sack ability but they change no games and they cannot pass cover.
CB's are iffy --- if Hall can play up to what he did last year and if Amerson isn't torched regularly the duo may achieve 'average'.
The S's suck. Watch the CB's follow a WR and hand him off to a S who isn't there as they did regularly last year.
Special teams sucked miserable ### last year. Lots of local press says they'll be improved this year. With a tremendous amount of luck and effort they might achieve "average" but I doubt it.
This is such an accurate assessment, I'm surprised I didn't write it myself!
There are 32 Teams in the NFL, making the middle point 16/17. My personal feeling is that the Redskins will wind up somewhere between 13 - 20, 12 being the cutoff for a Playoffs-caliber Team. I think 8-8 is a reasonable projection, with a floor of 6-10 and a ceiling of 9-7, based on my opinion of the Team and the schedule.
As much as it's possible for Griffin to/to have regressed, it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility for Cousins to/to have improved. Colt McCoy is occupying a valuable Roster spot for the benefit of both Griffin and Cousins, IMHO. An improved Cousins resembles the prototypical NFL Quarterback more closely than Griffin playing at his current level, but I'm neither certain that Cousins has improved, or that we've seen an accurate picture of Griffin thus far in the preseason. If Griffin brings his preseason play into the season, and Cousins has improved, I'd have no problem with Cousins taking the helm, to see who's more capable of getting us in the win column.
I was impressed with the quick signing of Ihenacho - he's had valuable starter reps on the field, and has been in a locker room with a Championship-caliber contender, which IMHO is an invaluable intangible, not to mention that, even if he's only a 'box safety' he's a substantial upgrade over what we'd otherwise be trotting out at our weakest position. I've gotten somewhat accustomed to nothing being done. I'm especially pleased with the apparent disregard for a Player's 'status' going into whether or not he makes the dress roster. Regardless of how you've gotten here, or how much you're being paid, your ability to factor into putting a winning product on the field should be the the primary decider if you should dress or not come gameday.
Quick word on Meriweather - from my friend who's a former strength and conditioning Coach for the Redskins, Meriweather is not considered by him, or anyone he (my friend) personally knows - players and coaches alike - as a 'dirty' player. All this hitting stuff is a
very recent development in the timeline of the NFL, and was generally accepted, and even coached to some degree in very recent history at the prep, college and professional levels of football. He''s a tremendously talented football player with quite an impressive pedigree - Apopka HS in Florida is one of the most prestigious prep football programs in the nation - 6A State Champs in his senior year in 2001 - and you don't get a full ride to Miami, Fla for nothing - where he won the 'Hard Hitter' Award (yes, believe it or not, they have awards for that sort of thing in all major football schools at the prep and college level :shockandawe: ) in 2004.
He was a FWAA All American and 1st-team All-ACC and a Thorpe Award semifinalist in 2005, and won that nasty old Hard Hitter Award again...
2006, did it again - 1st-Team All-ACC, All American, Playboy Pre-Season All-American and Thorpe Award semi-finalist. Some evil, wicked, mean and nasty Player actually beat him out for Hard Hitter that year. I wonder who that scumbag is.
I applaud the NFL's interest in the health of it's players, but at some point, football is football, and just because atheletes are getting bigger, stronger and faster doesn't necessarily having to legislate the way the game is being played. IMHO, a Player has a choice to play Professional Football, or not, and my personal proper way to address this (which I don't doubt some folks may disagree with, and that's completely their right), is that if you make the conscious choice to play NFL Football, you should have to sign something that acknowledges that football is a violent full-contact sport with certain risks associated with, and by acknowledging this, you waive and hold harmless the NFL for anything that happens to you while playing, because it was your choice to play in the NFL.
I don't know how many casual fans understand the tremendous amount of difficulty associated with having a player 'unlearn' a technique that's been taught and encouraged from the time they first put on a helmet to the present day - and on top of that, having them 'unlearn' said technique when they are playing at the highest level of football possible. It's actually dangerous to the player himself, in the following manner: the one difference separating players who have long careers from short, as related by me to my friend who has real-life insider knowledge of such things, is their ability to translate their game to 'the speed at which the NFL game is played' - players who have long careers are able to make this transition quickly - where the game 'slows down' for them because they no longer have to think about what they are doing - when it becomes instinctive, and can just 'do' rather than 'think about what they are doing', they've made the transition. Many superlative college Players flame out quickly primarily because of their inability to do this, and according to my friend, a majority of players who sustain career-shortening, limiting or ending injuries, do so because they are too busy 'thinking' rather than just 'doing', and get hurt by sustaining contact with players who are 'doing' without wasting the time to have to 'think'. Think about it - in most traffic accidents not involving an extenuating circumstance like weather, alcohol or drug intoxication, or experience involve speed - but not as we traditionally think about it, but rather
'differential speed'.
Asking a football player, especially one playing at the highest level, to do anything that might cause him to think and slow him down on the field, while the majority of other players on the field are playing at full speed without thinking, causes all sorts of problems with injuries resulting from the same 'differential speed' equation. Take it for what it's worth, but that's how it was explained to me by someone who knows the real story.
Then again, I also think (and this will probably generate controversy as well) that it should be mandated in NFL contracts that Team Administration/Players Associations should have an Office in charge of assisting players in financial education and managing their money both in the present and for retirement planning/life after football, but what do I know.
Just one man's opinion...