Post Game Thoughts

[Shane]

I buy the idea of letting Ramsey play out the rest of the season, but what I don't buy is that he wins the starting job for next year unless he shows himself to be a superb quarterback. He doesn't get the mantle in my view just by avoiding "stumbling mightily." That's not a winning standard. I don't want the stability of sticking with someone who doesn't earn the job.

For the sake of the team, who plays has to be based on performance. That is the message to send because then players know that they play based on factors they control. Marvin Lewis didn't do that this year when he just handed the job to one player who hadn't earned it. The team went down. It was the message of saying my judgment is more important than your opportunity to prove yourself. It was an egotistical move.

I think you set a period up where the competition runs, from this time to that time. If you don't want to go until the last preseason game for whatever reason, that's fine, just pick a time, set aside preconceptions and prejudices, and let the players play, and let the player who plays best win the job.

As far as the concern about who gets 90% of the snaps in practice during the regular season - that to me doesn't seem relevant to the basic need to let the players play themselves into a job.

I agree that Gibbs should make the decision in that he is the judge; there simply has to be a fair, equal playing field where players are chosen based on how they perform not on other factors.