The More Things Change.....

I said I would give Shanahan and Allen a year or two to get things rolling for the Redskins after eleven years of failure under Snyder, but I have not understood anything they have done since they got here. When they released eleven big name players before free agency I thought they were gutting the team and starting from the ground up. But when you look into our backfield next year and see McNabb, Portis, Johnson, and Parker, it is going to look like the all-decade team for the 2000s as we head into the 2010s. Kind of like when we had the all-decade team of the 1990s, in 2000. I will still give the pair some time, and until I see otherwise, Snyder is always guilty until proven innocent. You just have to decide to rebuild or make a run; with the O-line we have now, we can not make a run in the East. And with tonight's trade, if the Eagles use those picks as wisely as they usually do, we may not be able to make a run for a while.

Of course I hated McNabb, I have railed against him for a while now as a loser who chokes down the stretch. Nothing has changed, but when he puts on the burgundy and gold, of course all Redskin fans should cheer for him. (The only exception to this rule was Deion. I can honestly say I would be more proud to say OJ Simpson was a Redskin then Deion.) But McNoring is not the right choice. Sticking with Campbell was, but he has essentially been shown the door, and it is unfortunate. He gave everything he had, even when his team was crumbling around him both figuratively and literally. He was sacked 23 more times than McNabb the last two years, but still played in every game and finished with a higher completion percentage both years. That has always been my knock on McNabb; besides choking, McNabb has never been an accurate QB with a career 59.0% completion compared to Campbell's lifetime 61.2% with a shoddy line and coaching. McNabb can't get the ball to his receivers as well as Campbell despite the fact that he has been playing in the same system his entire career, while Campbell has had his changed annually. Imagine what Campbell can do with consistent coaching and another 5 years before he hits McNabb's current age.

It is not just that I think Campbell is better. I hate Deion, but at least we didn't give up draft picks in the division to get him. A second and a third or fourth round pick doesn't sound like much, but look at just the histories of just these two teams. Grimm, Mann, Gary Clark, Lohmiller, Tre Johson, Raymer, Stephen Davis, Jansen, Dockery, Smoot, Betts, Cooley, McIntosh, and of course Vinny's 2008 triumvirate of receivers and McNabb's current targets were all drafted in the second or third rounds. In those same rounds the Eagles have drafted McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Westbrook, Trotter, Dawkins all the way back to Chris Carter and Cunningham. All of those opportunities go by the wayside in order to make a run this year, or if we can extend McNabb, next year?

I think most Skins fans will be happy about this, but I can't get on board this move. They will use words like "battle-tested," "proven," and maybe even "great leadership" at McNabb's press conference. And it is true, it has been proven that when big battles test him his great leadership has produced nothing. The Eagles are the Buffalo Bills of the NFC, but at least the Bills got to the Super Bowl. TO got the Eagles there once, and McNabb lost the other four championships. A while ago. The Skins have had eight coaches since McNabb was drafted. McNabb has made 6 pro bowls; a fluke last year when no one else wanted to go, and then you would have to go back to '04. Sine 2003, he has started all 16 games once. Only five QBs older than McNabb will be in February have ever won a Super Bowl; Starr, Unitas, Staubach, Brad Johnson after Snyder booted him for George, and one other guy.

Here is where there is one glimmer of hope. Elway was the oldest guy to win a Lombardi, a constant loser until Shanahan grabbed the reigns and he won when he was 36 and 37. Maybe they think McNabb will work out just as well despite having no line around him. Or maybe McNabb will work out like the last QB the Eagles traded to us, Sonny. But lets face the facts, we worship Jurgensen because he has been such a constant prescence in DC since the 60s, but he was traded to us at 30 ,not McNabb's 33, and posted a 52-49-3 record and won no Lombardi trophies. Lets not let our expectations drop to being ok with playing well even if we do not win rings, that would make us no better than the lowly Eagles fans that we love to mock. I am going to give these new guys some time, and try to be extremely cautiously optimistic. Like how about this: imagine if by some miracle McNabb actually does win a Super Bowl here and all of Philly packs up and moves to Canada in shame? Or, if Snyder keeps grabbing guys like Haynesworth and McNabb who only play half the season sometimes, will he only charge half the price on tickets, merchandise, parking, and hot dogs? Hope abounds everywhere.