Official 2013 NFL Washington Diplomats SEASON Thread - Last Game 12/29 @ 1:00 PM vs. Giants

diplomats front runners to sign darren sproles

now we just need
Brandon Spikes
Mike Mitchell
Capt Munnerlyn

and knock it out the park in the draft
 
It's almost like Fred wants to kill his own career.
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he's gone in DC.
Him and gleesh playin 2k14 for a $1000
 
Wouldn't be mad if we picked him up. Plenty of holes I'd like to see filled first but Garcon + Jackson would be :x. The funny thing is that Garcon has some speed too. Surprised they didn't use him as a verticle threat more.
 
DJAX is a *******!!!!

I agree we could have used some O line support or some more DB support. But can't be mad at this at all. With Garcon, Jackson and Roberts....Getting RG3 them weapons :smokin :smokin
 
So Gruden is going to turn RG3 into a real QB huh? Yesss sir!

Welcome Djax! I hope you C-walk into the end zone when you play the Eagles..just don't drop the ball. :lol:
 
That defense and O line tho...
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in the defense's excuse, Haslett has come out and blamed the production on Shanny's "system"

Orakpo has also claimed shannahan has had him handcuffed as far as what he does best. 

but we'll see whats good. Right side of the Oline needs to be addressed. 
 
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Hey I was listening the sports radio over here in DC, and they had a two hour interview with the guy.  First time hes come out to say anything about the ********, RG3, Dan Snyder, and let me tell you he went IN.  Apparently he's going back into coaching.  He said so much I dont even know where to begin.  Some eye openers.

- In the 2012 Draft, his plan going in wasnt to trade up to get RG3.  He actually liked Russell Wilson in the later rounds.  Cousins was the last guy they liked who was projected to go late in that draft as a backup, but they didnt expect to trade up in the first place.  They knew they needed a QB and the McNabb expeirment wasnt working for him ("Ive been in this league for 30 years, and as a coach, you can tell with older players, when they dont want it anymore."  He felt the same way with Haynesworth.  He said neither one would last a year after he cut them and he was right).  But they knew that Draft was loaded with QBs.  Their five guys they evaluated were Luck, RG3, Tannehill, Wilson, and Cousins.

- He said the only reason the team even considered trading up for the pick was because the NFL game the Skins that cap penalty a week before free agency.  He said that changed the offseason for them entirely, out of the blue they lost 20 million in cap room.  At that point, they wouldnt be able to get a QB in free agency, but they really needed a QB, and werent sure if they were gonna get Tannehill or Wilson if they kept their picks.  So drafting a franchise QB was thier main objective that offseason, so they weighed their pros and cons, and Dan and Bruce and Mike "agreed" to trade the picks for RG3.  I put agreed in quotes because the way Mike was talking, he seemed like it wasnt his decision but he didnt say that.

- So much to write lol.  So initially, Mike loved RG3, he just didnt think he was gonna fall to him in the draft.  He figured with the way he likes to run the ball, that zone block style, and the type of athlete RG3 was, that he would be a bona fide stud in a Shanahan offense.  He just didnt think he would be able to get him in the draft.  Again he alludes to Russ Wilson here, but he felt that RG3 was the best QB in the draft, better than Luck.

- He said that the main issue with RG3 was, he's always run some type of read option.  In Baylor, even in high school, all he ever ran was read option, he's never played in a traditional drop back offense his entire career.  He stressed that its not that he couldn't run a traditional drop back offense, its just the fact that he's never done it in his life.  But as a read option guy he's spectacular.  He felt that he could learn to be a tradtional QB, but he would have to start from scratch, and the learning process would take 4-5 in the NFL.  The problem was, because of the pressure from the front office (ALL those draft picks)  he needed to start and produce NOW.  So instead of coaching him up, he really had to throw him out there week 1.  They didnt have a choice.

- Because of the pressure to start him, and the fact that they had no other options at QB, Shanahan felt he had to run read option to give them the best chance to win games.  It kind of stunted his career development, but because he had to win now, he basically tailored his entire offense around running the pistol and read option.  He feels like it can be run successfully in the NFL, but the QB has to do two things, slide and throw the ball away.  He stressed how important it is to not get hit as a QB and that is how the offense can work.  He continued its not necessarily the QB running that makes it effective, its the THREAT of the QB running.  Just having the threat that the QB can take off means you have to get a LB or safety out of position to play spy, and that completely changes the way you play defense.  A QB run only needs to get about 5 or so yards to keep a defense honest, you dont have to break free for a big gain every time, just get enough to keep that safety or LB out of position to make plays downfield, thats what makes the offense so effectiive.  He talked about how someone like Nick Foles can run a similar offense, and Nick Foles runs a 5.2 40, but the threat of him running for a first down or somthing makes that offense so successful.  He talked about how if you run it successfully, teams cant even blitz or play nickel that much because the threat to run or throw is always there.  He said even with a bad offensive line, RG3 barely was pressured by the DLine because the read option changed the way defenses could contain him.  He said in a dropback situation its easier to rush the passer and confuse him because the QB is standing in one place, but as a threat to run the defense has to adjust to you instead of the other way around.  He talked about how Seattle ran the play 10 straight times in the second half against Green Bay to come back and win.

- So much to write!  LOL  So anyway as the season progressed, esp after the bye week, the Skins were on a roll and were playing for the playoffs.  Behind the scenes however, there were grumblings about RG3 not liking the offense.  Apparently RG3 didnt want to be known as a "running QB," he wanted to be known as a passer than can also run.  He wanted to be compared to Aaron Rodgers and not Michael Vick.  Shanahan said that he didnt think much about it, and that he explained to him that running is his strength, and they had to cater to his strengths to give them the best chance to win now. 

-  The Ravens Game.  The Skins were down, but they were driving.  RG3 takes that run, gets flipped and takes that gruesome hit by Haloti Ngata.  Shanahan says, that when he saw the hit he just knew the rookie blew his knee out and was done.  Cousins comes in for one play, and Shanahan is calling plays trying to make the most of the drive, trying to win.  Hes calling plays and the next thing he knows, RG3 is under center.  At this point Shanahan is saying "what the hell is going on here why is this guy on the field?"  He looks at Dr Andrews, and the Dr gives him a thumbs up.  He said, as a coach, there is so much going on during a game, in the heat of battle, you're calling plays and what not, youre not thinking about the substitutions and who can play and whos hurt.  He said that's why the doctor and trainers job is so important, its up to the coach to go to the doctor and say "can he play or naw" and its up to the doctor to give you the ok, and the coach sets the gameplan on what the doctor tells him.  He says during that game, during that final drive, he didnt have enough time to argue with Dr Andrews on whether RG3 should go back in, so he trusted that thumbs up as an indication that hes good to go.  The rest is history.  Cousins in for that final drive, OT, and the next game after RG3 finally collapses on the field.

- After the next game, vs Cleveland that Cousins led to victory, RG3 is again mad.  First, he felt that he should play, and second, he noticed that Kirk Cousins ran no read option plays in the Cleveland win.  RG3 behind closed doors didnt like the fact that the gameplan changed for Kirk Cousins, and if Kirk could run the offense and be successful without read option, why does he need to run it?  He comes back the next week against the Eagles.  Shanahan doesnt talk to RG3 directly about the playcalling in the Cleveland game, but he hears about it in the grapevine, so he takes heed going into the Eagles game.

- Vs the Eagles, Shanahan only runs read option 3 or 4 plays he says.  In one of the plays, RG3 runs to the sideline, and is gimpy after the run.  Shanahan asks him, are you ok to play?  Is your knee still hurt?  RG3 says no, it was his brace getting unbuckled.  He was like is there anything you want to tell me?  RG3 said he didnt think he could run the read option with the knee brace.  He said he ran the play once or twice more after that but they won.  At the end of the game they had a sit down.  He showed him the gameplan vs Dallas, and told him Dallas was gonna play the pass, and that in order for them to win the game and go to the playoffs, they had to run the read option at least 10 plays.  It would be the only way to counter Dallas' defense.  RG3 said ok and that he was on board.  They ended up winning, Alfred Morris got like 200 yards rushing, and RG3 got like 60-70 yards running, and they win and go to the playoffs.

OK Im taking a break Ill tell the rest of the interview....its really good but my hands need a break from typing
 
OK Im back

- The Seahawks game.  Ever since that hit in the Ravens game, Shanahan says he was very scary about RG3 and his health.  At the back of his mind he was prepared for Cousins to come in, but he listened to the doctors, and Dr Andrews especially, said he was good to go.  He asked RG3, if he was sure, but RG3 was like im good.  Again he talks about Dr Andrews, and how at a book signing he said he didnt want RG3 to go back in, in that Ravens game, but when Shanahan found out about it, they had a face to face, and Dr Andrews admitted he was wrong, and gave the thumbs up because he thought Shanahan OKed RG3 coming back in.  He said it was miscommunication all around, and that Andrews was very embarrassed about it. 

- On that goal line play when RG3 looked like he hurt his knee again, after the play he said RG, if youre hurt let me know because if not youre hurting the team.  RG3 said he was good coach im good, so at that point Shanahan was very worried, and by halftime of the game he went to Dr Andrews again.  Andrews said RG3's knee was as good as it was at the beginning of the game.  So he let him play.   In the second half he wanted to run a QB run to the sideline to see if his leg was ok.  On the play, he runs about 4 years and limps to the sideline, Skins side of the ball.  Shanahan says he looked like he was playing on one leg at that point and asked him again, can you play?  you look serioiusly hurt.  RG3 told him that he wasnt coming out and that he'll show him, by the end of the game its gonna be all good.  We all know what happens next

GTG BRB....work
 
Ok so after the game, the offseason.  RG3 came to Shanahan in the middle of the offseason, basically telling him he wasnt gonna run the read option anymore.  He gave him a DVD of some read option plays from his rookie year that he got hurt in.  He showed him the concussion play in Atlanta, the play vs the Ravens, etc.  He said something about, those type of plays are unacceptable, and Shanahan told the radio show the only person he's ever heard talking about something being unacceptable was Daniel Snyder.  At that point he realized that it didnt make sense trying to talk to RG3 anymore, he might as well talk to Snyder about it.  Apparently, when he talked to Snyder, Snyder informed him that the Skins wont run read option anymore, and to give RG3 traditional drop back throwing plays. 

-  The rehab.  In OTAs, Snyder talked to Dr Andrews about the rehab process with RG3's knee.  Mind you he was still very salty about that thumbs up incident and the Seattle game, so he was a little skeptical about Andrews' prognoses.  But Dr Andrews said that RG3 was a super human and his recovery time was incredible.  He said not to hold back, and run every offseason passing drill with RG3 to test the knee and where he's at.  Shanahan said when did the workout with RG3, he was blown away.  He said he was cutting, planting his foot and everything, and was really impressed.  Andrews said he could start week 1, but Shanahan said he wasnt sure and we will see in the preseason after he gets hit a couple times.  Dr Andrews snapped back that RG3 cant play in the preseason, if he were to get hit in the knee it would slow down the recovery and he wouldnt make it to week 1, he told coach to just let RG3 play in training camp and the practices, but not in any of the preseason games.  Shanahan was angry, and tried to explain to Dr Andrews that he needs on field reps in order to be prepared mentally for the season.  He needs to see RG3 react to live defenses and how he would react to getting hit mentally.  But Andrews insisted in order for the leg to heal properly not to play in the preseason.

- Shanahan constantly asked RG3 how he was feeling during camp, how his leg felt.  RG3 kept assuring him he was ok , and he was gonna start week 1.  "All in for week 1, coach.  All in for week one."  Is what RG3 kept telling Shanahan over the summer, he told the radio show.  What's funny, is that was his Adidas slogan that offseason.  I would be a shame if RG3 got back on the field too early because of his Adidas contract, but thats none of my business....

- So the 2013 season was a disaster.  You can argue if he was fully recovered from the surgery, but what was apparent was that he was not flourishing in the traditional passer offense, and he wasnt winning games without the read option.  There was a point even in the middle of the season where coach asked RG3 to try some read option for a few weeks to see if they would be effective.  They scored 45 vs the Bears and crushed the Chargers those two weeks, and RG3 agreed that he was effective in those games, but said he could be good no matter what offense it was.  It wasnt until later in the season when it was apparent they werent making the playoffs, that Shanahan benched RG3 for Cousins and Rex Grossman, he realized he was gonna be gone anyway after he started reporting to Snyder to ask about RG3, so he figured it would be best for RG3's knee and his psyche to shut him down for the season.

- A few other points from the interview.  He feels like RG3 can be a great QB, but if he doesnt want to run with the ball he has to take his passing to the next level.  That means spending as much time in the film room as he does in the weight room.  He thinks RG3 works out more than he studies film and passing.  He also believes RG wont ever get to that level until he loses his ego.  He has to realize there's always someone behind you trying to take your job, and you have to treat the QB profession like that.  He believes Kirk Cousins is a better QB than many people think, and in the right organization people will wonder why he fell so much in the draft. 

- On Haynesworth, he felt like he was a good player, but he wasnt as good as he thought he was.  When Albert said he only wanted to run 4-3, Shanahan told him point blank that he could play in the 4-3 if he wanted to, just not on the Skins.  He told him he was free to go to whatever team he wanted to, but if he was gonna cash that signing bonus, he was gonna run 3-4.  He also told Haynesworth that he was slacking as a 4-3 guy anyway (Half the defensive plays are nickel, and most nickel is 4 guys rushing)  So Haynesworth knew what he was getting into if he was gonna sign that contract.

-  He didnt like the trade for McNabb but that was a Snyder decision.  When Shanahan took over the team, it was one of the oldest in the league, and the last thing they needed to do was trade for an old QB.  But he said McNabb was a professional and thats all u can ask for.  They expected to sign Marc Bulger at the time, but because of salary cap issues they couldnt sign him within a certain frame of time and the did the McNabb deal as a backup in desperation.

-  Like I said he's very much wanting to get back into coaching.  He did the usual "I love the opportunity to coach for an organization" talk that people say when theyre trying to get signed.  He said he didnt know anything about social media until this past year, and now hes more understanding of how social media works and how athletes use it nowadays.  Thought that was interesting.

Anyway thats about all I can think of right now.  The radio show was boosted to hear from him and have been getting on him for a year to do an interview.  Shanahan said he needed some space from the game for awhile, and he didnt want to say anything earlier out of respect.  I think he just wanted to see the Skins fail this season first to prove he was right with his evaluations, but whatever.  The radio show was like, "are you not entertained?!?"  LOL.  I tried to google the interview but not too much came up yet.  I did see hes interviewing for the Raiders job already, so hes back on it

Hope you guys enjoyed the insight.  I sure did
 
I know some have gone and this thread has pretty much passed since the NT name change and recent years of mediocrity, but I am very happy to resurrect this thread :lol:.

I'm not sure where the OGs are, but your boy Kirk has sent us to the playoffs. This feels way different than 2012 run, and I am hoping we ride this wave of momentum into the playoffs (and possibly steal the game at home). Anything more than 4 wins this season would have been a step in the right direction, and the team has far exceeded our expectations.

First step is to beat Dallas in convincing fashion.

Kudos to Scot McCloughan for turning this team around and setting us up for future success.

#YLT
 
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HTTR!

I thought we'd be lucky to go 8-8. Didn't think 8 wins would be enough to win the division though :lol:

Hats off to Kirk. While I think he is a capable QB, and respect how he played his position and rode it out during the RG3 saga, I really hope his new deal is team friendly. (Can't be mad at him for wanting Tannehill type money though.)

Also, hats off to the defense. Guys continued to step up. We finally started generating some turnovers. And if Galette can come in next year and play like the players said he was before he got hurt, I really like our defense going forward. Maybe make a run at Weddle?
 
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