silverbear;1504032 said:
You didn't, I was anticipating a possible rebuttal, and headed it off at the pass...
Ok, I’ll give you that edge - I’ll present to you my case, without using the Cowboys in my example.
Incredible good luck on the injury front the year they finished ranked 3rd...
It was NOT the "same underachieving defensive line", even besides Carter... you also worked rookies Kedrick Golston and Anthony Montgomery into the mix... that's three new players, out of eight regulars used... apparently, they were NOT upgrades over the players they replaced...
You were doing pretty good up until this point - boy did you pick the wrong year to start relying on guesstimates. The year they were ranked 3 on defense was in 2004, they had a substantial amount injuries particularly on defense:
http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-TOTAL/2004/regular?sort_col_1=4
All of these players were starters and suffered major injuries (I don't want to bore you with stats, so I'll make this quick and just list the prominent figures).
Phillip Daniels missed 11 games.
Brandon Noble missed 12 games.
Mike Barrow missed the entire season
LaVar Arrington missed 12 games.
They were forced to start Ron Warner - who no longer plays in the nfl - and Demetric Evans (who?) was also in the rotation; Lemar Marshall replaced LaVar, and Antonio Pierce came out of nowhere and filled in for Barrow - another example of the skins finding projects and making them into superstars, when the experts say the position is too weak for the team to compete.
There's a reason the Bills were willing to throw 7 million a year at him
Yeah, several teams were loaded with salary cap space and had a lot of money to throw around -- due to the new CBA -- and there weren't that many quality guards out there in this year's free agency class. There's no way he gets that kind of money in any other year.
Jason Fabini is a "project"?? Man, he'll be 33 years old when the season starts, he'd best get past that "project" phase... problem is, he's on his last legs...
I don't see Jason Fabini making the team - most likely he'll be camp fodder if he plays like he did with his last team.
The Skins lose ONE PLAYER (besides Arch Delux) on one of the strongest units on the team (Oline, second to only the RBs) and you think they are going to struggle because they lost this “ mischaracterized irreplaceable player - just seems predictable to me, I realize you’re a longhorn fan, I’m not trying to insult you.
Dockery struggled before Buges came into the picture - to put this in better words, Buges got the best out of an average lineman; if you think the reason why he has started so many games for the Commanders is a reason why he’s a valuable asset, just look around the league, at the numerous amount of players who have started -- for many years-- who should be replaced.
Buges has a long history of taking scrubs and making them into stars - Again, I don't want to bore you with pages upon pages of data, but if you want to go there, we can go there.
What happens when Gibbs retires again, and Bugel, Saunders and Williams ALL expect to be his replacement?? Answer-- you see a lot of high priced talent looking for work elsewhere...
I'm very high on Buges, as you can tell - I think he is probably one of the top 5 Oline coaches in the business, but I don't see him becoming a head coach anytime soon, haha
Counting on "continuity", when you're a 5-11 team, seems rather silly to me... you don't get a record that bad unless you have PERSONNEL problems...
Not when a lack of continuity is one of the reasons you were 5-11 to begin with.
Wouldn’t you say that’s the reason the Skins haven’t been successful over the years - lack of continuity? They’ve always had talent in the past.
Let me ask you this, what happened the last time the Skins had an offseason where they didn’t overhaul the roster or make any drastic changes to the coaching staff? (hint 2005).
They made too many changes last year, it’s that simple.
You say they did absolutely nothing, but I see a lot of moves that they made last year as sacrifices that will pay off in the near future.
First and foremost, they bring in Al Saunders and the players have to learn a new offensive system. “If it aint broke, why fix it” stated starting tailback Clinton Portis - but I disagree with the assertion that the offense wasn’t broke, after all, the skins did put up the fewest amount of yards in a single playoff game than any other team in history.
On top of a brand new system, you bring in a large quantity of new players: Randel-El, Brandon Lloyd, Andre Carter, Adam Archuletta, Fauria etc…
On defense you bring in a new secondary/cornerbacks coach (Jerry Gray) and after starting cornerback Shawn Springs gets injured, you are forced to start guys like Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph - who are #4 cornerbacks, when they drink their milk - then you wonder why the secondary suddenly looks like it’s never seen an NFL practice facility before.
In the middle of the season, you make a QB change - you put in a guy who had never started in the NFL before. He had been practicing with the third unit - then you wonder why the receivers aren’t getting the stats that their huge contracts demand.
You can't expect to make so many drastic changes in one year and expect to get instant results - we've seen it over and over with the Commanders.
Let me ask you this: When was the last time we had some stability in DC?
No, I'm not talking about both the Clinton and Bush administrations leading double terms in office from 1993-2007, I'm talking about the Commanders 2005 season.
Coming off of a losing season, they supposedly had more holes on the roster than the titanic. They remained complacent, without making any splash in free agency excluding maybe the Coles for Moss trade, which was inevitable.
Do you remember all of the talk? They spent the off-season supposedly twiddling their thumbs. The sky was falling, they were doomed; the expectations were at a minimum. However, one thing that people seemed to miss out on that year, was the fact that - for the most part - the Commanders remained stable in their coaching staff and had consistency on their roster. Which later proved to be a successful season, when the Commanders were approximately one game from competing for a championship.
That kind of sounds familiar doesn’t it? This year they make a couple solid moves, but nothing that‘s going to earn them the once coveted “off-season title“. In free agency, they sign a solid MLB in London Fletcher who has more tackles than anyone in the NFL over the last 5 years and who already knows Gregg Williams defensive scheme. They bring back a blast from the past and fan favorite in Fred Smoot. They re-sign a couple of their own players - (Betts, Wade, Yoder, Jimoh, Fox), and re-structure a few contracts of some of their current starters (Portis, Moss, Jansen, Thomas, etc…
Let me tell you this, all the Commanders needed this off-season to improve was a little stability.
Personally, I like a lot of the moves the Commanders made last year, you just can’t expect instant results with so many changes - but some of these moves were impossible to avoid - that much is evident.
So what does the future hold?
You have an Al Saunders offensive system that has been in place for a year - let’s not forget that his offense has been proven to be - when given time - one of the most effective offenses in the league, over the last few years.
This will be the first time ever in Jason Campbell’s young NFL career where he has an entire off-season to prepare to be the starting quarterback; It is also the first time he’s ever been in the same offensive system in back to back seasons - both in his collegiate and professional career.
Gregg Williams and his defense were a top 10 defense in the league, 2 out of the last 3 years - last year’s defensive collapse being the exception; with all of the solid players they have added, what makes you think they’re going to completely disappear off the face of the planet next year? If it happens again, and they make no progress next year, I will be very surprised.
