AmishGangsta;1502402 said:
I think the Skins defensive coaching staff got a little too confident in their system, thinking they could just plug any player into the lineup. Over the last two years, they've lost key players like MLB Pierce, S Clark and CBs Walt Harris and Fred Smoot - this list doesn't include the players who were injured last year.
I think that's a perceptive analysis of the situation... but don't even go there about the "players who were injured last year", because the Skins weren't really bit that bad by the injury bug last year... there were a LOT of teams out there that had it worse than they did...
And before you turn this into a Skins versus Cowboys thing, the Boys also got off pretty light on the injury front last season... ALL teams have SOME injuries, and if the Skins were unable to cope with the ones they did have, that's an indictment of management's fondness for throwing big dollars at free agents, leaving them little room under the salary cap to pay for quality backups...
The experts would have you to believe that the line was the biggest problem on the team, but don't you think it's kind of odd that the Skins didn't make ANY additions to that area of the team in the offseason?
Oh yeah, there were NO problems at all on the defensive line last year... never mind that the Skins ranked next to last in total defense, and that defense starts in the trenches... never mind that they ranked dead last in sacks, six sacks behind the next-worst pass rushing team... never mind that they ranked 26th in rushing defense, giving up 4.5 yards per carry...
The Skins' defensive line play was ATROCIOUS last year, arguably the worst in the league... so yeah, I find it more than "strange" that they didn't address this glaring weakness, I find it incomprehensible...
The funny thing is, you're so drunk on the burgundy kool-aid that you think this is an endorsement of your defensive line, rather than an indictment of the questionable thinking being practiced by your front office...
If you guys go to war with that same defensive line this year, it's gonna be another long year for Commanders fans, and for Commanders DBs, even if they ARE a bit improved in the secondary...
As far as the offense is concerned, they lost one player, who had some pretty darn good linemen surrounding him. "Dock was our project and he left for a larger contract" said Guard Randy Thomas.
Dock was a project - a successful one, but he was the weak spot on the line - and let me emphasize that this was one of the strongest units on the team. The loss can't help, but I doubt that it will make as much of a difference to the lines performance as some have suggested.
It will when you can't replace him with anything remotely as good... it will hurt even more if you get an injury or two on the offensive line, as the guy who would have been your first backup off the bench will already be starting... so when that happens, you'll have to put a lesser player in to fill the hole created by that injury...
You guys had five good starters last year (you downplay Dockery's ability, but I can tell you I would have been happy to have the Boys sign him), and little to no depth... this year, you have four good starters, one questionable starter, and even less depth... so even if fully healthy, that line is not liable to be as efficient as it was last year, and if the injury bug bites, things could get ugly in a hurry...
Bluntly, y'all haven't done a whole lot when it comes to improving your talent base this offseason... it would seem that the coaching staff is gambling heavily on a bunch of their incumbent starters improving, but when push comes to shove, you're talking about a talent base that was only good enough to get you to 5-11 last year... as a result, if the Skins can get back to .500 this year, you guys should be turning cartwheels in the FedEx parking lot...
