Maybe Vinny Cerrato isn't the Anti-Christ

[offiss]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I don't think you are going to get too many arguments about Gibbs the GM being not so hot to this point, but surely you've realized that he's learning from past mistakes.

I firmly believe that anyone can improve their decision-making skills regarding personel. Gibbs will learn faster than most GMs because he is not afraid to admit his mistakes.

If he stays at it, he will become one of the league's top GMs, but I get the feeling that he's going to step down after 2008.

Does he really learn from past mistakes?

Brunell was a big one and he's still on the team, I believe Gibbs has a very hard time swallowing his pride regardless of what he might say. He's an accomplished coach, not GM, which is what he really want's to be, it is a tough pill to swallow especially if your costing your employer 10's of millions of dollars, and that is exactly what's going on right now, Gibbs is spending mega bucks with Snyder fitting the bill. I have seen him do the same thing over and over again since the day he's arrived, overpay for mediocre talent, the fact that we haven't run amuck this year is we are not only capped out, but scared of another big name blunder, we don't know which way to turn when it comes to personel, and I see us some how, some way, screwing up this draft even with only 1 pick, stupid is as stupid does!

Kind of funny in a year when we have 1 legitamate pick we back off of free agency. I think people have the notion that drafting a D-lineman is going to cure all our ill's? Ain't happening! We have far to many holes, and no picks to fill them.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by offiss

I think people have the notion that drafting a D-lineman is going to cure all our ill's? Ain't happening! We have far to many holes, and no picks to fill them.

I think most people understand that our defense is woefully inadequate to the point that it couldn't possibly be fixed in one offseason. I've heard that over and over.

But you have to start somewhere. It's a cliche, but football is a game that's won in the trenches. "It all starts up front," they say. They are right. Our defensive line is old and decrepit. The two starting defensive tackles cannot get penetration, they get pushed around, and they can't stay healthy. We saw that all last year. Yet somehow they're going to turn over a new leaf and get us back on track. I think that's being naive.

No one says that all our problems will be solved with one draft pick no matter where the position is. Until just last season, this defensive line has been neglected in draft after draft. Not since 1997 has a high draft pick been used on the defensive front four. That's far too long.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by offiss

Does he really learn from past mistakes?

Brunell was a big one and he's still on the team, I believe Gibbs has a very hard time swallowing his pride regardless of what he might say. He's an accomplished coach, not GM, which is what he really want's to be, it is a tough pill to swallow especially if your costing your employer 10's of millions of dollars, and that is exactly what's going on right now, Gibbs is spending mega bucks with Snyder fitting the bill. I have seen him do the same thing over and over again since the day he's arrived, overpay for mediocre talent, the fact that we haven't run amuck this year is we are not only capped out, but scared of another big name blunder, we don't know which way to turn when it comes to personel, and I see us some how, some way, screwing up this draft even with only 1 pick, stupid is as stupid does!

Cutting Brunell before this point would have been a mistake. Until Campbell does what we all expect him to do next year, puts together a good year, Brunell is still the best QB we've had since we brought him here.

I agree with you that giving a 3rd rounder for the guy was probably an instance where we jumped the gun a bit, but you have to cut it with the "Gibbs won't let go" sh-t. Gibbs won't let go, because if he did let go, we'd be letting go of our best proven QB, still a very solid backup in this league. If Brunell does his job this year, and plays well as a backup, then I would argue that the trade for him would be a success. If he can give us three years of efficient play (in four years here), even if one is as a backup, you'd have a tough time convincing me or any other reasonable fan that the trade was a mistake.

Gibbs along with Snyder (with the backing of everyone in the organization) did what any good GM would have done--they spent big bucks following a successful season. They tried to bring in talent to get over the hump and win the superbowl. You know what? They spent foolishly. They got no siginificant upgrades while locking up 40 million in guarenteed money. But that was the type of mistake I would expect them to learn from.

Can you honestly say they haven't learned? They certainly approached this offseason very conservatively. Are you telling me that this conservativeness is purely coincidental?

If you honestly think there is no hope for the organization, why do you stick with the team? I mean, changing allegiences based on who's "hot" is cowardly, but if you truely believe that this team will never be good again (a ridiculous notion), why still follow them?

Kind of funny in a year when we have 1 legitamate pick we back off of free agency. I think people have the notion that drafting a D-lineman is going to cure all our ill's? Ain't happening! We have far to many holes, and no picks to fill them.

I think some people do think we are one pick away from fixing the defensive line. On top of the fact that one pick won't make up for another 3 crappy players, we also as fans have to realize that we can't expect a rookie to be a savior as a rookie. He's going to have to take a year or so to learn on the job before he reaches a semblance of his potential. So in this way, I am in total agreement with you that our defense will still play poorly next year. But let me give you two reasons why EVERY Redskin fan should expect us to win more than we lose next year:

1) Offensive potential
2) Law of averages

Even with the defense struggling, the Law of averages believes that we will NOT have the 32nd ranked pass D again next year. Our production will improve simply because we can't have as much go wrong as last year.

Our offense should keep us in games. Because we will be in games, we will have a chance to beat every team on our schedule. We will take our share of losses, and unless Phili's defense blows, we probably won't catch them in the division, but in a 16 game season, strange things can happen.

I expect a 9-7 next year. I would consider anything more than that lucky, and anything less unlucky.