Are you buying into the Shanaplan?

[TheMalcolmConnection]

One guy who has played admirably when he's been called into action is Maurice Hurt. Haven't seen him this year, but he was so soft coming into the league (athletically). I wonder how much better he can get if he keeps lifting and getting lean.

[Dirtbag59]

Yes, the Shanaplan is working. Patience is paying off and I couldn't be happier.

[NC_Skins]

I voted no because I wanted to be the Lone Wolf in my fight against the establishment. In this case, the Lone Goat is a better description.

[Hog1]

I would be All In Hook, Line and Sinker.......except Mike is:
Too old, burnt out. Need a younger guy that can connect with the players...
Never that good...Only success came in a weak division.....
Can't do shit without a HOF QB...nothing without Elway...
Can't do shit without a HOF RB...nothing without Terrel Davis....
His system can't work in the New NFL.....
That college shit won't work...Defenses will figure it out....

AND his kid is shit and couldn't get a job without ......daddy.
I would have more in reply to the topic here but the MF'r is..
.......Holding me back! HTTR

[Alvin Walton]

I'll buy in when we become a playoff team. Until then hes just another coach.

[SCRedskinsFan]

Originally Posted by Alvin Walton

I'll buy in when we become a playoff team. Until then hes just another coach.

Wow, you'll buy into the plan (that's the question) when it comes to fruition...

Brilliant. We need more inspired insight from you...

-- sarcasm meter off --

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by Hog1

I would be All In Hook, Line and Sinker.......except Mike is:
Too old, burnt out. Need a younger guy that can connect with the players...
Never that good...Only success came in a weak division.....
Can't do shit without a HOF QB...nothing without Elway...
Can't do shit without a HOF RB...nothing without Terrel Davis....
His system can't work in the New NFL.....
That college shit won't work...Defenses will figure it out....

AND his kid is shit and couldn't get a job without ......daddy.
I would have more in reply to the topic here but the MF'r is..
.......Holding me back! HTTR

Strong post.

[GTripp0012]

I've bought into the 2012 Redskins. I'm not going to pretend that I had some great faith that the season wasn't over at 3-6. I had assumed it was. Mike Shanahan and co have changed my mind on the direction of the season. I believe they are going to finish as NFC East champs.

Long term, I mean its Griffin's show here. Sunday was cool and all, but long term it's going to be difficult to sustain that offense without more of a burden on the quarterback. I think he can handle it. I'm not sure he isn't the MVP of the league this year.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

I consider myself an early adopter of the Shanaplan. I said many times in this past offseason that my evaluation of him began in earnest this year because of the horrible roster he inherited and the stunted offseasons in 2010 and 2011 due to the labor situation. I willingly ignored the 'he's got a worse record than Zorn' and 'why did (fill in the team here) get better so quickly and we still suck' crowds with a view on the bigger picture.

Not gonna lie, around Halloween, things didn't look good. However, I've been very impressed with the team's performance in the past 6 weeks and think that we have an extremely bright future ahead of us with lots of talented young players and depth.

I think we're in middle of Phase 2 of the Shanaplan.. Phase One-Purge the old roster. Phase 2-Build a younger roster around a young franchise QB. Phase Three-Develop a sustainable winning program to pass down to Kyle. I anticipate a 3 year extension for Shanny this offseason and an extension for Kyle which includes a succession clause.

It's worth pointing out that he inherited an awful roster (from himself) this past offseason and still managed to stage something of a turnaround to the point where we made a worst to fighting for first move in the standings behind a main acquisition (Griffin), a surprise emergence (Morris), and a bit of internal development (Trent, Monty). So the idea that he needed all this time...I mean look at the top performers during this winning streak. That didn't take very long at all.

[SBXVII]

I have bought into the Shanaplan. The last 2 yrs I said MS needed to get players to work in his system. The first yr the team could only run cause McNabb was horrid at throwing. The second yr the team threw more cause the OL were not creating holes for the RB's. In the past 10-15 yrs this team could not break 20 pts a game. This yr we have a run game and a passing game and they are breaking 20 pts almost every game.

Offense= Fixed. for he most part.

Defense is another story. I still feel there's got to be someone better then Haslett out there. But the players have stepped up big in the last few games.

[Paintrain]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

It's worth pointing out that he inherited an awful roster (from himself) this past offseason and still managed to stage something of a turnaround to the point where we made a worst to fighting for first move in the standings behind a main acquisition (Griffin), a surprise emergence (Morris), and a bit of internal development (Trent, Monty). So the idea that he needed all this time...I mean look at the top performers during this winning streak. That didn't take very long at all.

Stunning what a full and proper offseason can do for a rebuild.

I've noticed you've positioned yourself quite well on both sides of the Shanahan argument. On one side you were against him from jump, point out all of his missteps as proof you were right.

On the other hand, you said in the Should Shanahan Be Canonized thread, "We always had the talent for 9-10 wins this year. It looked real dismal at 3-6, but it turns out the team was underachieving at that point. They've overachieved the last five games. And the end result is now a two-game season against Philadelphia and Dallas to determine the NFC East. We're right where we're supposed to be. so if we win the NFC East then it's 'well that's what they should have done' so no actual credit is deserved. Well played but kinda talk radio-ish for me.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

Stunning what a full and proper offseason can do for a rebuild.

I've noticed you've positioned yourself quite well on both sides of the Shanahan argument. On one side you were against him from jump, point out all of his missteps as proof you were right.

On the other hand, you said in the Should Shanahan Be Canonized thread, "We always had the talent for 9-10 wins this year. It looked real dismal at 3-6, but it turns out the team was underachieving at that point. They've overachieved the last five games. And the end result is now a two-game season against Philadelphia and Dallas to determine the NFC East. We're right where we're supposed to be. so if we win the NFC East then it's 'well that's what they should have done' so no actual credit is deserved. Well played but kinda talk radio-ish for me.

Read closer. Before Griffin vs. after Griffin. It's two different analyses of two different timeframes, not two different arguments straddling the same topic.

There's no reason that with Griffin, the team shouldn't be in the 9-10 win range. But before he was acquired, the team just wasn't very good.

How quickly the Redskins have got this thing going in the right direction says a lot about the five year plan. I know some people are going to see this as an iceberg effect, which, I mean sure, I guess. But the preponderance of evidence suggests as recently as midseason, the Redskins hadn't figured out anything re: being on the right track. In the last five weeks, they've done very little wrong at all. And they're on pace to sustain it.

Contrary to the belief that everything was planned all along, including the losing, this turnaround has been as sudden and unpredictable as it has been enjoyable. Almost out of nowhere, the Redskins started doing smart things, and they are starting to pull away from the mediocre competition they struggled with previously.

[Skinzman]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

It's worth pointing out that he inherited an awful roster (from himself) this past offseason and still managed to stage something of a turnaround to the point where we made a worst to fighting for first move in the standings behind a main acquisition (Griffin), a surprise emergence (Morris), and a bit of internal development (Trent, Monty). So the idea that he needed all this time...I mean look at the top performers during this winning streak. That didn't take very long at all.

See, its posts like this that has me shaking my head. One of the reasons that I have said patience is whats needed. It didnt take long at all...

There is one MASSIVE inherent problem with that ideology on the grand scale of things though. It leads people to draft QB's like Gabbert or Sanchez!!! And then wait... and wait... and wait... for them to break through. And then teams sign WR's at a high cost out of panic to help out even though they might not fit your system.

Shanny messed up with McNabb, but after year one, he did look to build the main part of the team through the draft. He also deserves credit for passing on Gabbert, when most fans wanted him. Even Dalton, who looks to be good, but I still dont expect him to win SB's unless Cincy puts together a great defense. He waited for that stud QB to be available and went all in for him. Draft Gabbert, and its 3 more years of losing before we cut ties. Then the QB search begins again.

It didnt take long at all once he had a couple of drafts to get some youth, and then identified that guy at QB, and signed the WR's then. And dont hand me that Garcon isnt valuable because of the almost unheard of thing of getting injured in the NFL.

There is a right way and a wrong way to build a team. We finally have something resembling of it being done the right way, and your attitude is all it takes is one draft to win SB's... Which leads me to why posts like these make me shake my head. Because you have no clue about building a team and yet I wasted my time not only reading your post, but also responding to it.

[GTripp0012]

Its really arrogant to hold yourself up as the model for "the right way" to build a team while winning 40% of your games, but we're quickly getting away from the point.

It's going to take a long run of consistent, good play to balance out those first two years, and it's not something you can turn around in a five week period of the regular season. Those who say otherwise are jumping to conclusions. But it's been a really good start.

[The Goat]

Coaching, in every aspect no less, has improved pretty markedly. Offensively, we saw the number of busted plays go from 5+ to 1 or 2 per game to 0 or 1 per game. That's pretty dramatic IMO. Defensively, we stopped minimizing our talent. London is staying in the middle more and getting zone time on pass plays. Rob Jackson is developing. Guys are swarming with intensity.

But I don't think we've been outperforming our talent over these last 5 games. I think execution has improved nominally. Passes are still dropped, carries still fumbled, sacks given up. The real story of improvement has been coaching, on both sides of the ball. Kyle's play-calling and Haslett's scheming are the big ones, but we're even getting the little things right all the sudden. Paul wasn't targeted once last game, right?

The real question is whether the improvement continues, or is this just a run? Short of sniffing the SB this season, we probably won't know what this is till next season. Are we gonna be 11-5, or back to 6-10? I'm not talented enough to say "I know" but there are good arguments on both sides of the debate.