is that you are not an Eagles fan. There are obvious reasons no one would want to be an Eagles fan, but the most damning one came after they were knocked out of the playoffs yet again this year. They seem to be under the impression that they had a good year. Ask your favorite Eagles fan what happened and they will tell you that they had a great year, and they are definitely better than the Redskins. (Who of course were rebuilding.) Winning the NFC East one of the few years that only one team went into the playoffs from it is not a great year in that division for anyone but the Eagles. When you boil it all down, the Redskins could not muster a playoff win. But neither could the Giants, Cowboys or Eagles: they all ended up with a big goose egg as well. I think that is a pretty big disappointment for the Giants and Dallas fans (though Dallas should be used to it by now with Romo there so long,) of course its a disappointment for Redskins nation, but is quite alright for the rabble in Philly and I find that tragic. Skins fans always overrate their team going into the season, but never overrate them coming out. Without a trophy, it is no good.
My cautious optimism for the season should have been a little lighter on optimism and heavier on caution as things turned out. I thought Shanahan would have these guys ready to play every game, and by the time our older guys started to get knocked out, the younger guys that he drafted would fit right in and start segwaying into the future of the Shanahan era. A bad early draft class did not help us when our starters began to go down, and the leftovers from the Snyder/Cerrato era played typically. All year the Skins said their second round pick was Donovan McNabb, and he turned out to be the biggest bust of all this year. However, they payed $3.5 million to have the opportunity to resign him, and unless we can get a comparable pick back for him, I keep him around another year. (My guess is that the Vikings would like one more shot at a Super Bowl and will trade big for him.)
There were a lot of signs of life. The Skins beat both of the teams playing in their conference championship. The Patriot are the only other team that can say that, and that is only because they played the Jets three times. Shanahan had them ready to play almost every week, with NY, Philly, St. Louis, and Detroit as the exceptions, and the rest of the losses can be blamed on the fact that he is still playing mostly with Cerrato's guys. Banks is the most exciting kick returner we have had in recent memory, and that includes Brian Mitchell who was great, but not nearly as exciting. Trent Williams shows that the Skins are much better at picking offensive lineman in the first round than they are at picking QBs and WRs. Torain, when healthy, is just as effective as any running back Shanahan has ever had. Cooley continues to be solid, and Fred Davis would take his job if he could just learn how to block. Rex Grossman is much better than most Skins fans thought, even though he is clearly no QB of the future. And Moss is still consistently good as the top wideout, and would be great as a second option.
The Haynesworth fiasco centered around him thinking he was the number one guy on defense, and therefore in his mind the whole scheme should be tailored to him. As it turns out, Orakpo and Landry are clearly the two best guys on that side of the ball, especially in the 3-4, and are the ones who should be built around. Fletcher is solid anywhere you put him, but his age should concern you. Finally, the starting corners are right around average, which isn't bad on a team that is the mess that Shanahan inherited. Rodgers is probably worth re-signing to a 3 or 4 year deal as long as we don't pay through the nose and he promises to at least try to catch an interception.
And that's it, everyone else can go. Seriously, the Skins are solid at KR, have a mentoring QB, 1 RB if he stays healthy, a slot WR, 2 TEs, a LT, 2 LBs, a SS, and are so-so at the CBs. Everyone else is replaceable except for Shanahan. Give the guy time, I don't care if he is 3-13 next year; he is rebuilding, and we can start to evaluate him year 3. All the Skins fans who just wanted Snyder to stay away from the team can't change their minds now. It will take a while to wash his stink off this team and franchise, and Shanahan can undoubtedly do that. Winning a Super Bowl is irrelevant right now, they just need to climb back into a spot where they can make the playoffs consistently again. Then we can start to think Super Bowl. It just takes time and will be disappointing. Not the same disappointment as the last few years, but disappointment with hope of something better. If you can't get on board with a little disappointment become an Eagles fan. Philly is kind of like your pee-wee soccer team; every year seems like a great year to them, no matter the failures.
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