thundercleetz

I don't think it's a matter of effort or interest with Ngata, I think he's simply injury prone and is consistently dinged up.

I agree and to add to that maybe Kubiak only wants to be a HC. He might be taking a year off and throw his hat into the HC scene next season.

Nothing personal just meant it would be a good twist in our good rivalry

I hear Kirby's energy is awesome and players love him. I wouldn't be against him either. He could be a guy just waiting to break out. It would be nice to have him stick it to the Steelers.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tjiQ6yv0Dg4&feature=youtube_gdata_player&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtjiQ6yv0Dg4%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_player

I'm really hoping for Shanahan. Tim convinced me, while I don't it's fair to blame Hostler for the offense's faults this season, hiring him would be more of the same old. We need a fresh start with someone from the outside coming in with an unbiased perspective and is able to identify the problems that have been plaguing our offense over the years. I really don't see how It makes sense for Hostler to get the job. If Shanahan gets it Hostler can still stay on the staff as a QB or WR coach. Shanahan is a very smart football mind, choose Hostler and we lose out on that. I have a lot of Skins fans as friends, and while a lot of them blame Shanahan for locker-room unrest this last season, the general consensus is that he is a smart coach.

Shanahan and Kirby get second interviews according to twitter. Hopefully a decision is made soon. Suspense is killing me.

The big three are definitely Monroe, Arthur Jones, and Pitta. Realistically Arthur is probably gone. He is a good player, still with solid potential, but someone is going to pay him elite player money. We cannot afford that. Tough loss but Brandon Williams showed good flashes. Remember Brandon was a D2 player. Get an offseason in an NFL weight room and this guy will be a monster. Ozzie is really good at finding cheap d-line depth as well. Monroe and Pitta should be affordable. Monroe will command a good sized contract but nothing crazy. Maybe something similar to what the Colts paid Gosder Cherilus, 5-years $34.5M with $15.5M guaranteed (maybe a little more due to being a LT and a inflation). Monroe also has a vested interest in the area as his wife is from Columbia. Pitta on the other hand is already 29 years-old coming off a major injury. Pitta and Flacco are best friends. I think there is a really good chance we sign him long-term, if at the very least give him a one-year deal to prove he's fully healed from his injury. Daryl Smith would be nice to retain, but MLBs are a dime a dozen. This is also why we drafted Arthur Brown. I wouldn't overpay for Smith but would love to have him back. I love Iheadigbo but his style of play does not compliment Elam's. We need a true free safety so Iheadigbo is probably gone. The rest of the guys I would not bring back. Even for the veteran minimum these guys don't justify their production. We have a lot of draft picks, fill their spots with younger guys and other team's cap casualties. In conclusion if we being back Monroe and Pitta I'll be happy.

Different era of football. Maybe the Skins win the Super Bowl that year maybe not. Heck it's a different era of football since Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer won Super Bowls. We'll never see teams like that again. But to answer your question IF Mark Rypien did what he did in 1992 today, some team would pay him that money. You bring up a good point though. The Redskins showed in the RG3 trade teams have no problem giving up two first round picks for a QB. Should we have traded Flacco for two first rounders? You guess is as good as mine. Pure hypothetical here as food for thought. Say we traded him to the Jets and drafted Dee Milliner and Sheldon Richardson. That does us no good if we strike out and end up with a bad QB. That's the risk you take. I'd argue a team is better off with an above average QB than two Pro Bowl defenders.

I agree with you completely on the QBs. The alternative is much worse than signing your above average QB to a huge deal however. And if you have a case like Flacco, where you have proven you can win a Super Bowl with an above-average guy, you're stuck paying him. As much as the QBs above make (throw in Ryan, Eli, and Rivers too), two things: if their respective teams didn't sign them someone else would have. And two, those teams would most likely be in a much worse position if they didn't sign them (except the Bears, maybe). There are only so many Lucks and RW3s that can be drafted.

Good post. Once again I don't have the NFL package and I'm not skilled enough to see any of these things on one TV watch-through, so I'll take your word on it. I'll admit you've convinced me I'm a lot more bearish on Hostler now. I still maintain it's hard to coach guys when you have fringe talent that is not practicing during the week because of injuries, but good point with the Pats receivers. I think part of our problem is we never have able body receivers. At least the Pats have guys in there that can practice. How much of what you said would you put on Flacco for not working with his receivers to get down the timing? We always hear about other QBs hounding their receivers for timing and route precision.

Not changing the argument just saying everyone is praising the Seahawks, Colts and Niners for good cap management. We'll see how good they are when they have a $200M contract on their payroll. We've debated bad contracts before. Bad contracts are relative. The only bad contract IMO is Ngata, but we only have one more year before we can cut him and get some savings. I'll give Rice one more year before I label him a bad deal. Flacco's deal certainly restricts us, but my point above, that is a problem any team with a halfway decent QB has to deal with. Just means you have less room for error elsewhere. Agree with you on Flacco's contract after three years though. It has the potential to really hamper us down. Same problem with Cutler, Romo, Stafford, Ben, and soon to be Luck, Kap and RW3. I have to think the next CBA will include some sort of clause to restrict % of cap on one player. The QB contracts are getting outrageous and it takes away from other players.

We soon forget what terrible receiver coaching looked like under Billick. How much of the problems you stated is attributable to "receiver coaching" and not game planning? How many times did you see the Ravens run pick plays or any other sort of route progression to get guys open for easy throws? What about having quick checks to slants and screens in order to counter blitzes? How many screen did we even run for that matter? As far as our receivers giving away their routes presnap, I do not have the NFL package with the coach's film, much less do I have cable, so I'll take your word for that. That is something you can put on the receiver coach. Regardless, look at the receiving core. Outside of Torrey Smith, what other receiver played all 16 games? That position was a revolving door. And guys that were in there we were crazy to put much responsibility on in the first place. Jacoby Jones is a return guy, Deonte Thompson was a second year undrafted free agent, Tandon Doss was a fourth round pick who was cut, and he had an aging and injury prone Brandon Stokely. Imagine where'd we be without Marlon Brown, who was an undrafted rookie less than a year off of ACL surgery. You an put the blame on the receiver coach but I don't see that as fair when most of your receiving core doesn't practice during the week and is essentially not qualified for the league. The only guy in that group above outside of Torrey with any potential is Marlon. And Marlon made some serious strides as the season went on. Here's what I do know. Under Billick our receivers would never come back toward the QB whenever the QB would buy time. At least our receivers don't give up on routes now. Joe and the receivers love Hostler. Once again, not my preferred choice but I do not see it as scary.

Shanahan is my top choice but if they choose Hostler I don't think it would be as bad as fans are crying. Fans are criticizing Hostler over one year as an OC seven years ago. He had terrible talent and was probably not ready for the role at that point in his coaching career. Players get better over time and so do coaches. I'm sure Hostler has grown as a coach a lot over the past seven years. I know our guys really like and respect him. Not pulling for Hostler myself but it wouldn't be terrible.

I am curious though, hurtin, what do you think of Wilson as a coach?

Unless he completely blows our staff away during the interview I doubt he gets it. Ravens are employing an old Al Davis technique where you interview coaches from division rivals to pick their brain.

Just wait until they have to pay Andrew Luck $200M. Their time to win is these next two years. After that they'll have to be real smart with their cap and there will be no room for error. I also have a feeling some of these free agent signings they made this last offseason will become bad contracts. In today's NFL the three year rebuilding project is no excuse. If you have a QB, good coaching staff, and a front office that drafts well you are in it every year.

Remember guys, we have a hole at FS. Matt Elam is a pure SS, we need a FS who is good in pass coverage. IMO center and FS are much bigger needs than WR.

I thought the same thing! Immediately after the interview I said to my brother: "Sherman just cut one hell of a promo." For those saying Sherman is classless, I think here is a classic case of a player who is as good as he is because he is able to amp up his emotions and adrenaline every Sunday and put it to work. If you took that away from him no way he is as good as he is.

That is what the article said, they are anticipating a Broncos-Seahawks Super Bowl.

One more reason I wouldn't extend Suggs is we already have Dumervil under contract. It's not smart cap management to be strapped down by two pass rushers on the wrong side of 30. Either have Suggs take a drastic paycut for this year only or cut him. No extensions.

Real depressing...

Not the same thing at all. The money involved is drastically different. An established Super Bowl winning coach getting an extension (Billick) is going to be making a lot more money than a first time head coach (Chud). You know what you have in an established coach, first time head coach could certainly flourish down the line.

Actually that was what I was implying. One year after inking an extension, not one year with a new coach. Obviously at that point we knew what Billick had to offer. Your comparison to Jimmy Johnson doesn't make sense.

The way Suggs finished the season was frightening. He was sloppy with his assignments and the sack numbers decreased drastically. I am not sure if I even want Suggs extended. No way I give him a signing bonus of $7 million. I present him with the same scenario as Boldin last year, pay cut or release. He plays out the year to see if he earns a contract extension.