Set it all aside -- Training Camp Begins

[TenandSix:Unacceptable]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

Allen reported to Mike Shanahan at the time. He didn't have the authority to overrule Mike's decision to start RGIII in Game 1 last season.

Are you saying that Allen made logical, measured arguments to not start the season with RG3 and failed? Seems like he was ineffectual at best, at worst he played along and didn't say a peep against his better judgement. Either way it doesn't make Allen look too good imo and no one, not RG3, not Shanny, not Allen, not Snyder should get off the hook for letting it happen. It's exhibit A of a failed season and the 3-13 record are exhibits B-Z.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by TenandSix:Unacceptable

Are you saying that Allen made logical, measured arguments to not start the season with RG3 and failed? Seems like he was ineffectual at best, at worst he played along and didn't say a peep against his better judgement. Either way it doesn't make Allen look too good imo and no one, not RG3, not Shanny, not Allen, not Snyder should get off the hook for letting it happen. It's exhibit A of a failed season and the 3-13 record are exhibits B-Z.

I tend to agree with your premise. At the same time, the coach is the coach and we don't want an owner or GM overriding the coach on game day right?

[TenandSix:Unacceptable]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I tend to agree with your premise. At the same time, the coach is the coach and we don't want an owner or GM overriding the coach on game day right?

This wasn't a "game day" decision. It's a drawn out process that should have been evaluated as time went by and the season approached. Based on similar injuries a week 1 return to the field should have always been considered a stretch. The fact that Robert was definitely not practiced enough or healthy enough to play safely and at a high level should have led the organization, acting in it's own best interest, to override Robert's expressed, and publicized wish to be "all in for week 1". The org should have immediately pumped the breaks on the idea that Robert would press for an ahead of schedule week 1 return and unequivocally stated that Robert's regular season would begin when the organization was fully satisfied that it was the right time to do it. Instead they bent themselves, again, to Robert's burning desire to be on the field.

Yes the doctors said he was safe to play, yes he got some practices in, but no he shouldn't have passed the eye test from the people in charge, and no they shouldn't have expected a second year player to excel at the quarterback position with no preseason games, no offseason, no training camp, and a limited number of practices. There should have been enough combined aptitude and wherewithal from management and ownership to push back Robert's season especially when the schedule makers gave is the gift of a soft opening schedule and a week 5 bye.

It's was a glaring failure, Allen was intimately involved, and the results speak for themselves.

In the end it's all water under the bridge, but Allen is the last person who should be pointing out what a travesty it was, especially at this juncture.

In lighter news I'm starting to warm up to our chances this year...

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TenandSix:Unacceptable

This wasn't a "game day" decision. It's a drawn out process that should have been evaluated as time went by and the season approached. Based on similar injuries a week 1 return to the field should have always been considered a stretch. The fact that Robert was definitely not practiced enough or healthy enough to play safely and at a high level should have led the organization, acting in it's own best interest, to override Robert's expressed, and publicized wish to be "all in for week 1". The org should have immediately pumped the breaks on the idea that Robert would press for an ahead of schedule week 1 return and unequivocally stated that Robert's regular season would begin when the organization was fully satisfied that it was the right time to do it. Instead they bent themselves, again, to Robert's burning desire to be on the field.

Yes the doctors said he was safe to play, yes he got some practices in, but no he shouldn't have passed the eye test from the people in charge, and no they shouldn't have expected a second year player to excel at the quarterback position with no preseason games, no offseason, no training camp, and a limited number of practices. There should have been enough combined aptitude and wherewithal from management and ownership to push back Robert's season especially when the schedule makers gave is the gift of a soft opening schedule and a week 5 bye.

It's was a glaring failure, Allen was intimately involved, and the results speak for themselves.

In the end it's all water under the bridge, but Allen is the last person who should be pointing out what a travesty it was, especially at this juncture.

In lighter news I'm starting to warm up to our chances this year...

It depends on what you mean by "intimately involved." Who plays when was a decision of ShanaDad and ShanaDad alone. Can't knock Bruce for a decision which wasn't his.

[TenandSix:Unacceptable]

Originally Posted by Lotus

It depends on what you mean by "intimately involved." Who plays when was a decision of ShanaDad and ShanaDad alone. Can't knock Bruce for a decision which wasn't his.

If you can't wrap your head around the idea that the GM of the Washington Redskins was intimately involved in the decision I don't know what to tell you...

[KI Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by TenandSix:Unacceptable

If you can't wrap your head around the idea that the GM of the Washington Redskins was intimately involved in the decision I don't know what to tell you...

You could tell the truth and admit that you don't know whether or not Allen was involved in the decision to start RGIII.

Even if Allen was involved, nobody was going to tell Shanny how to run the team. Contractually, he had full authority over football operations. Dan Snyder was the only person who had the authority to stop Shanny but the only way Snyder could have stopped him under the terms of Shanny's contract was to fire him.

[TenandSix:Unacceptable]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

You could tell the truth and admit that you don't know whether or not Allen was involved in the decision to start RGIII.

Even if Allen was involved, nobody was going to tell Shanny how to run the team. Contractually, he had full authority over football operations. Dan Snyder was the only person who had the authority to stop Shanny but the only way Snyder could have stopped him under the terms of Shanny's contract was to fire him.

As I wrote earlier, it doesn't matter either way because if he did try he didn't do a effective job of convincing Dan and Mike. If he didn't it is a classic example of being a lackey/yes man. Neither are admirable traits in a football boss imo. If it's a third scenario, and he was offering an organizational mea culpa, saying they disrespected the football gods by doing it, he should have had a tone of accountability and said it was a mistake that we hope to learn from. In any of these cases his remarks on the subject leave a lot to be desired as does the timing.

I'm ready to move on from this topic and go back to talking training camp, but it goes without saying that Allen wasn't an innocent bystander in the handling of the Griffin post injury situation.