2026 Season | Week 2 | Gameday Chatter Thread | Redskins @ Cowboys | 09/20/2026

Chocolate Lab said:
I'm not gloom and doom, but I don't see a lot of reason for optimism on defense. We just don't have enough talent there. How many really good players do we have? Downs, Quinnen, I still think Bland is pretty good... What else? Thompson should be good, though so far he hasn't done anything special. Barham I bet turns out to be good but he's still a rookie. Maybe Lawrence if he can figure it out but right now he's kind of lost. Most players are just too spare.

You can still be solid enough that way if well coached and everyone buys in and does his job, but good teams will still shred you. Washington isn't good, especially without Daniels.

I say that's not gloom and doom because it's kind of what we thought anyway, just be a competent non-disaster this year. I do really wish we had more picks next year and think the Broderick Jones trade will be just another step in the wrong direction that way.
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I think I pretty much agree with all of what you said. Maybe I’m seeing some glimpses of things that are giving me hope but yeah, we are still giving up deep passes a lot. While we got a lot of pressure on the qb, we could ‘t sack him. And all these running quarterbacks, we aren’t containing.

It’s a talent deficit in certain positions, maybe it’s players learning a new system, or maybe Parker isn’t all that.

I guess I’m optimistic that some of it is still a learning process and we could get better. Maybe I’m wrong.
 
Stars said:
I guess I’m optimistic that some of it is still a learning process and we could get better. Maybe I’m wrong.
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I think they can get better, too, and probably will as they stop overthinking, play faster, tighten up zones, etc. I just don't think the upside is very high.

But again, it's not like that is unexpected, either.
 
I'm ok with how the defense played yesterday, it wasn't great but it's about what I was expecting early in the year with a new scheme. Lots of uneven play where they look solid at times, but give up some big plays and sustained drives on soft mistakes.

The real key is that they keep showing incremental improvement throughout the season, start limiting those soft mistakes (leaky QB scrambles, poor zone spacing on 3rd and 18, etc.) and eventually work their way up to being an average group. If they can do that I think you can live with it and still make the playoffs and maybe even win a game.

What you don't want to see are long stretches of play like the Giants game where they just have no idea what's going on, are giving up massive chunk plays on the most basic of concepts, and can't make a play to save their lives. There will be games like that again this year but the key is only having one here and there, not having it for 2-3+ games in a row.

If the defense steadily ascends throughout the year I think you could justify giving Schottenheimer another year even if they don't make the playoffs in the name of continuity on the coaching staff/defense. It'd obviously be a "one last chance" situation based on the defense showing signs of life and the offense still looking good for the most part, but the flip side of that is if we win 7 games and the defense is still looking as dysfunctional as it did against the Giants, it's time to cut bait with the whole group.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
I'm not gloom and doom, but I don't see a lot of reason for optimism on defense. We just don't have enough talent there. How many really good players do we have? Downs, Quinnen, I still think Bland is pretty good... What else? Thompson should be good, though so far he hasn't done anything special. Barham I bet turns out to be good but he's still a rookie. Maybe Lawrence if he can figure it out but right now he's kind of lost. Most players are just too spare.

You can still be solid enough that way if well coached and everyone buys in and does his job, but good teams will still shred you. Washington isn't good, especially without Daniels.

I say that's not gloom and doom because it's kind of what we thought anyway, just be a competent non-disaster this year. I do really wish we had more picks next year and think the Broderick Jones trade will be just another step in the wrong direction that way.
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I'm pretty close to doom and gloom.

I don't think this was much better than week 1, we were just a little luckier this week and the redskins offense is a bit worse than the Giants.

I think worst of all, I'm not convinced it's a personnel issue. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the players are amazing or anything but I don't think they're particularly well coached. And to me that's the worst news of all unless the coaching staff gets better with experience. But I kind of doubt it.
 
Unless things totally fall apart, I think you have to give this group another shot next year even if things don't look so good. We have to have some continuity in the defensive coaching staff for at least once in the last half-decade. It's unfair to everyone to change every single year.

And really, Jerry is never going to hire someone who isn't Dak-friendly first. That's a lot of why BS got this job in the first place. To think Jerry would ever open things up and hire a Mike MacDonald from another team and let him hire his staff is just a pipe dream.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
Unless things totally fall apart, I think you have to give this group another shot next year even if things don't look so good. We have to have some continuity in the defensive coaching staff for at least once in the last half-decade. It's unfair to everyone to change every single year.

And really, Jerry is never going to hire someone who isn't Dak-friendly first. That's a lot of why BS got this job in the first place. To think Jerry would ever open things up and hire a Mike MacDonald from another team and let him hire his staff is just a pipe dream.
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That's the unfortunate truth and why I'm fine rolling with these guys for another year if the defense can work its way up to being respectable, just in the hope that if the defense can improve this season things might click next season where the defense takes a step and the offense is still very good.

As always Jerry and his bullshit will keep this team from ever operating in a way that's close to what a normal organization would. Ideally I'd like to send Schottenheimer into the sun and hire someone like Campanile in Jacksonville who put together a very good defense in just his first year last year. Jacksonville also has some of the forward thinking offensive stuff with Coen from Tampa as well, which you assume he'd bring with him.

But obviously that will never happen in a million years.
 
Genghis Khan said:
I'm pretty close to doom and gloom.

I don't think this was much better than week 1, we were just a little luckier this week and the redskins offense is a bit worse than the Giants.

I think worst of all, I'm not convinced it's a personnel issue. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the players are amazing or anything but I don't think they're particularly well coached. And to me that's the worst news of all unless the coaching staff gets better with experience. But I kind of doubt it.
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We'll know in the next 3-4 games.

We have Baltimore with what is usually a pretty elite offense but then a stretch of very middling offenses in the Texans, Bucs, Packers and Eagles.

If the defense doesn't show noticeable improvement over that stretch and is still tripping over their dicks every other quarter, we'll know.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
Unless things totally fall apart, I think you have to give this group another shot next year even if things don't look so good. We have to have some continuity in the defensive coaching staff for at least once in the last half-decade. It's unfair to everyone to change every single year.

And really, Jerry is never going to hire someone who isn't Dak-friendly first. That's a lot of why BS got this job in the first place. To think Jerry would ever open things up and hire a Mike MacDonald from another team and let him hire his staff is just a pipe dream.
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I disagree. I think you have to cut bait if it doesn't look appreciably better by the end of the year. I think continuity is going overrated if things aren't working.
 
Genghis Khan said:
I disagree. I think you have to cut bait if it doesn't look appreciably better by the end of the year. I think continuity is going overrated if things aren't working.
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I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. If it were me, that's what I would do. I'm coloring this with what Jerry will do. He's going to go Dak-first as long as Dak is here.

The only time I could imagine otherwise is if some Dak confidant could be OC under a defense-oriented HC, but I can't think who that would be. Maybe if Kellen were looking terrible and got fired, but he's doing a good job in New Orleans. I can't see McCarthy doing it, and I'm sure he'll get at least another year in Pittsburgh anyway. Maybe a Nussmeier, but he's already OC for the Saints.

I think the biggest thing we need on defense is more talent, which again is where I don't like our draft picks next year. We need more and higher ones. But Jerry will never current trade players for picks because he's always hoping this will be our year.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. If it were me, that's what I would do. I'm coloring this with what Jerry will do. He's going to go Dak-first as long as Dak is here.

The only time I could imagine otherwise is if some Dak confidant could be OC under a defense-oriented HC, but I can't think who that would be. Maybe if Kellen were looking terrible and got fired, but he's doing a good job in New Orleans. I can't see McCarthy doing it, and I'm sure he'll get at least another year in Pittsburgh anyway. Maybe a Nussmeier, but he's already OC for the Saints.

I think the biggest thing we need on defense is more talent, which again is where I don't like our draft picks next year. We need more and higher ones. But Jerry will never current trade players for picks because he's always hoping this will be our year.
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We're only down a 3rd really, it's not like we have one pick in the top 100.

It's not ideal but not a disaster, if we trade our 1 for Crosby and go 7-10 that would be a disaster.
 
Simpleton said:
We're only down a 3rd really, it's not like we have one pick in the top 100.

It's not ideal but not a disaster, if we trade our 1 for Crosby and go 7-10 that would be a disaster.
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You're right, I'm just greedy. We need talent and the draft is the only place to get it since we hate free agency.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. If it were me, that's what I would do. I'm coloring this with what Jerry will do. He's going to go Dak-first as long as Dak is here.

The only time I could imagine otherwise is if some Dak confidant could be OC under a defense-oriented HC, but I can't think who that would be. Maybe if Kellen were looking terrible and got fired, but he's doing a good job in New Orleans. I can't see McCarthy doing it, and I'm sure he'll get at least another year in Pittsburgh anyway. Maybe a Nussmeier, but he's already OC for the Saints.

I think the biggest thing we need on defense is more talent, which again is where I don't like our draft picks next year. We need more and higher ones. But Jerry will never current trade players for picks because he's always hoping this will be our year.
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I'm more talking specifically about the DC, but I'd definitely be open to changing HCs also.

If I'm looking for a HC in the offseason I think it would make the most sense to go with the best current DC like a Flores or someone as the OC, then bring in a competent OC and count on the offensive personnel to carry you there.
 
Here's a small example of how much coaching can help. I know people clown on Marinelli but he did a nice job all things considered.


Here's the 2014 defensive starters, from a team who won a playoff game and darn near made at least the conference championship.


LDEGeorge Selvie
LDTNick Hayden
RDTTyrone Crawford
RDEJeremy Mincey
LLBBruce Carter
MLBRolando McClain
RLBAnthony Hitchens
LCBBrandon Carr
RCBOrlando Scandrick
SSBarry Church
FSJ.J. Wilcox

That's a stunningly bad personnel group for a playoff team.

We're certainly more talented right now on defense than that group.

The difference is coaching. We're not well coached right now.
 
Genghis Khan said:
Here's a small example of how much coaching can help. I know people clown on Marinelli but he did a nice job all things considered.


Here's the 2014 defensive starters, from a team who won a playoff game and darn near made at least the conference championship.


LDEGeorge Selvie
LDTNick Hayden
RDTTyrone Crawford
RDEJeremy Mincey
LLBBruce Carter
MLBRolando McClain
RLBAnthony Hitchens
LCBBrandon Carr
RCBOrlando Scandrick
SSBarry Church
FSJ.J. Wilcox

That's a stunningly bad personnel group for a playoff team.

We're certainly more talented right now on defense than that group.

The difference is coaching. We're not well coached right now.
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That's EXACTLY the unit I was thinking of as to why our particular group has no excuse to be bottom 10 in the league.

I think we definitely have more defensive talent than that 2014 group and those guys weren't letting teams move the ball on them at will.

So I don't want to hear anything about the personnel. Could it be better? Absolutely.

But there's enough here with good coaching to be a middle of the pack defense.

So if this season ends without a playoff appearance, I would prefer we just clean house.
 
Texas Ace said:
That's EXACTLY the unit I was thinking of as to why our particular group has no excuse to be bottom 10 in the league.

I think we definitely have more defensive talent than that 2014 group and those guys weren't letting teams move the ball on them at will.

So I don't want to hear anything about the personnel. Could it be better? Absolutely.

But there's enough here with good coaching to be a middle of the pack defense.

So if this season ends without a playoff appearance, I would prefer we just clean house.
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Exactly.
 
Texas Ace said:
That's EXACTLY the unit I was thinking of as to why our particular group has no excuse to be bottom 10 in the league.

I think we definitely have more defensive talent than that 2014 group and those guys weren't letting teams move the ball on them at will.

So I don't want to hear anything about the personnel. Could it be better? Absolutely.

But there's enough here with good coaching to be a middle of the pack defense.

So if this season ends without a playoff appearance, I would prefer we just clean house.
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Belichik will probably be available. He could also double as a dallas cowboys cheerleader after that boob job.
 
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