turtle28 Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) https://riggosrag.com/2020/10/21/washington-football-team-2020-a-redux-of-the-2001-season/ Quote Looking at the season thus far, it has an eerily similar vibe to the 2001 team led by Marty Schottenheimer. Let’s get the irony out of the way first. During the 2000 season, Norv Turner was in his seventh year as coach of the team and was fired with three games left in the season, despite having a winning record. Fast forward 20 years, and Norv’s son, Scott Turner, is the offensive coordinator for that very same franchise. Switching to new QBs For Jeff George, Marty was never really sold on him as his long term starter. In Week 2, he went 15-24 for 102 yards, threw an interception, and was sacked five times, as Washington lost 37-0, the franchise’s worst shutout loss in 40 years. After that game, Schottenheimer had seen enough. He didn’t bench George, but went one step further and outright cut him from the team, and said this, per Milton Kent of The Baltimore Sun. “I reached the point where I just didn’t feel that the Washington Redskins could win with Jeff George as their starting quarterback. When I reached that point, I had to try to evaluate whether I thought it would serve our purpose to have him as a backup. I also decided that I didn’t think that was what we should do.” In Haskins’ case, he lasted a few games longer than George had in 2001, before Rivera ultimately decided to pull the plug and relegate him to third-string. After a strong start against the Eagles, Washington lost three in a row, including a stinker against the Browns where Haskins threw three interceptions and lost a fumble, which resulted in 24 points for Cleveland. After the game, Rivera said, “There is a cut-off point for me. There were a lot of guys that put their heart out on the field and, truthfully, they deserve better.” The Cleveland game signaled that Haskins’ leash was getting shorter, but his decision-making on a 4th and 13 in the red zone against the Ravens all but sealed his fate. “I think our best chance to win is putting the ball in somebody else’s hands,” Rivera said. “I think our best chance to have things done in our offense is in somebody else’s hands. That’s what I’m doing. I’m doing that based on what I’ve seen. I just think right now, this is the decision I’m making.” And with that, Dwayne Haskins went the way of Jeff George. Is Kyle Allen the next Tony Banks? With George out of the picture, in stepped Tony Banks. The same Tony Banks who had only won 41 percent of his starts and averaged a fumble per game over his NFL career. If that doesn’t give you the chills, it should. Kyle Allen is essentially the 2020 Tony Banks, as he won 46 percent of his starts and averaged about one fumble and one interception per game during his time with the Panthers. After losing his first three starts, Banks led the Redskins to eight wins over their final 11 games, finishing the season 8-8, and just missing out on the playoffs. If Allen is able to replicate the Tony Banks second half magic from 2001, Washington might be able to sneak its way into the playoffs by winning an especially weak NFC East. It all remains to be seen obviously but, I guess anything is possible. Hopefully for Rivera, things turn out better than they did for Schottenheimer who was fired after just one season. I expect they will because Dan is not quite as impatient as he was 20 years ago. The big difference I would draw between the 2001 & 2020 team is that in 2001 we had a great running game thanks to Stephen Davis and a veteran offensive line which two years before in 1999 had helped Washington to a 10-6 season in which they had a NFC East Division Championship and were w/in a bad snap of making it to the NFC Championship game. Our offensive line now is not a good run blocking OL, our starting TE can’t block, we have a rookie RB learning the position and a play-caller in Scotty Turner who rarely calls run plays. Stephen Davis, that offensive line and our defense carried us to a 5-3 second half of the season in 2001, I don’t see that being replicated. Edited October 22, 2020 by turtle28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtle28 Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) The big difference I would draw between the 2001 & 2020 team is that in 2001 we had a great running game thanks to Stephen Davis and a veteran offensive line along with two young stud OTs in Chris Samuels at LT and Jon Jansen at RT. Two years before in 1999 that OL - minus Samuels - had helped Washington to a 10-6 season in which they had a NFC East Division Championship and were w/in a bad snap of making it to the NFC Championship game. Our offensive line now is not a good run blocking OL, our starting TE can’t block, we have a rookie RB learning the position and a play-caller in Scotty Turner who rarely calls run plays. In 2001 Stephen Davis, that offensive line and our defense carried us to a 5-3 second half of the season in 2001, I don’t see that being replicated. As most of us in this forum know, the 2001 Washington OL w/Samuels, Jansen at the tackles and a veteran interior OL, running game w/ Stephen Davis and an offense built around the running game made our offense now different than 2001. Now, if we had kept Peterson, re-signed Penn or signed Jason Peters or Kelvin Beachum to be our LT, started Scherweitzer instead of Wes Martin at LG to start the season and went w/ a run first offense like I thought we were when Rivera was hired then I’d agree with the writer, but we’ve done the opposite. It still boggles my mind that we are having a pass first/not balanced offense with young QBs and young inexperienced talent around them from the RB, to the TEs to the WRs. The offense approach by Scotty Turner was doomed from the start by not going with a run first approach w/ Peterson having the bulk of the carries & Gibson being our change of pace and 3rd down back. Edited October 22, 2020 by turtle28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offbyone Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Marty also tried to win all the games as opposed to just the ones that conveniently served the narrative he was trying to write. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavar703 Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Marty is probably one of the greatest coaches of all time. Rivera is not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e16bball Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, turtle28 said: After the game, Rivera said, “There is a cut-off point for me. There were a lot of guys that put their heart out on the field and, truthfully, they deserve better.” This was jarring to look back on, given that I had literally just read an article Keim wrote today that included the following: Quote When asked Wednesday whether there was a cutoff point for Kyle Allen, Rivera said there wasn't -- and that there wasn't one for Haskins, either. Edited October 23, 2020 by e16bball 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtle28 Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) 29 minutes ago, e16bball said: This was jarring to look back on, given that I had literally just read an article Keim wrote today that included the following: It’s quite unbelievable. That’s what happens though when you don’t tell how you really feel all the time or you don’t tell the truth all the time, you forget the lies you told before. Edited October 23, 2020 by turtle28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woz Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Schottenheimer finished 8-8. For Rivera to equal (or even beat) that, he will need to lead the team on a 7-2 (or better) the rest of the way. The Woz Sports Book is now open for anyone who wants to give me free money take that action. Call it +2000 to open? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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