Great article comparing Phins and Skins: "A Tale of Two Tanks"

They were 0-4 in the twilight of September. They hadn’t competed; in fact, against a marginal competitor in Week 4, they’d lost by a margin of over 20 points. But this was all according to the plan. This team wasn’t supposed to win this year, anyway.

They had offloaded players for a treasure trove of assets before and during the first quarter of the regular season. They had long-term candidates for their rebuild all across the roster, and they used these games, not to place unnecessary playoff pressure on their players’ shoulders, but to set a foundation of development. All the while, locking up the greatest asset of all: The first overall pick.

It’s losing with a purpose. It’s all part of the plan.

Two NFL teams are tanking. But this anecdote applies to only one. The Washington Redskins 2019 season has taken many by surprise, but none more than the Redskins themselves. It’s a cautionary tale, about accepting reality, and having a cohesive plan. A tale of two very different tanks.

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...the Dolphins have put themselves in a position where this historic ineptitude will benefit them in the long run, if they play their cards right. After trading Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills, and Minkah Fitzpatrick, they have three first-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft. They have seven total picks on Days 1 and 2 in 2020, and they have fourteen total picks. They’re projected to have over $117 million in cap space next offseason.

It’s ugly right now. But it’s all part of the plan.

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From 2016 to 2018, the Miami Dolphins went 23-25. The Washington Redskins went 22-25-1.

In the offseason of 2019, the Redskins made Landon Collins the highest-paid safety in the NFL. The move highlighted an otherwise quiet free agency, but they also signed former Giants offensive lineman Ereck Flowers and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. These moves negated third-round, sixth-round, and seventh-round compensatory picks that they would have been projected to receive from the departures of Preston Smith, Ty Nsekhe, and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, respectively.

In the 2019 NFL Draft, the Redskins received high marks from draft media, amassing talent on Days 1, 2, and 3. Their class was punctuated by the acquisition of former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, and former Mississippi State edge rusher Montez Sweat. Other picks, such as Terry McLaurin and Cole Holcomb, also showed promise.

Washington traded up for Sweat, sacrificing a second-round pick in 2020. It was a move, and an offseason, resemblant of a team going all-in on immediate success. But the acquisition of Haskins, a rookie quarterback, suggested a potential conflict of interest in D.C. Why did a team that was starting over at the game’s most important position, think they could make the leap in 2019?

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The Redskins have one first-round pick in 2020. They don’t have a second-round pick. Their one asset that’s commanding value, Trent Williams, they refuse to trade. And they’re projected to be nineteenth in the NFL in cap space by the turn of the new league year.

It’s ugly right now. And no one saw it coming.

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One team prepared for the tank. The other refused to see it coming. And now, the stark contrast between the two is only growing.

Both the Dolphins and Redskins are 0-4, with no end in sight to their incompetence. But for the Dolphins, this failure was an expected part of their master plan, and it’s allowed them to reload for a monumental 2020 NFL Draft. The Redskins depleted their own future assets to go in on competing in 2019. For them, this failure is a nightmare in broad daylight.

The root of the problem? The Redskins front office was complacent. They failed to introspect and self-scout. They were lazy. And now, they’re paying the consequences for their short-sighted view of mediocrity. Mathematically, yes, one could say they were close. But structurally, functionally, they were closer to a total collapse.

Things will get better for the Dolphins. They turned the page, and took the first step in the next direction in unison. Before anything changes in Washington, the Redskins need to embrace the ugly, exchange costly, aging veterans and un-aligning players for draft picks, and re-assess the very foundation of the franchise. Otherwise, they won’t see the next tank coming, either.

Degarmo wrote:I'm sure Goodell and the NFL are furious about this, but it's their failure.  If the system were different, teams wouldn't HAVE to do this.  As it stands now, it's the highest return on your gamble.

Degarmo wrote:No, no, it's not the winless that's the issue, it's that the NFL feels that teams are abusing their own draft system by "tanking".  Well, the NFL set up these rules, so it's not the teams' failures, it's the system's failure.  If they want teams not to use the most-efficient way of rebuilding, then they can't leave that path wide open.

I get that it sucks to watch the product the Dolphins put on the field this year, and people don't want to pay to see it. But is watching a winless Redskins team any better simply because they have 'popular' veteran players like Vernon Davis, Adrian Peterson and Josh Norman? Would the 0-4 Dolphins somehow be more exciting with Laremy Tunsil and Minkah Fitzpatrick? Crap is crap, the way I see it.

"Integrity" is such a hard thing to judge, and I don't see any way the league could prove anything either way.

Wouldn't the Bengals have been guilty of hurting the "integrity of the game" by keeping Marvin Lewis as head coach for like a hundred years with no playoff wins??? I say that only half-jokingly...'integrity' is just a difficult, and maybe impossible, thing to prove.

Damn, but I think we're going to beat these guys next week, based on what I saw against the Pats today.

white1 wrote:Hey you should have kept your mediocre veteran QB because he's better than Fitz! Don't trade him! Hey you can't trade Tunsil and Stills

white1 wrote:Flores will have our team ready.

white1 wrote:I don't know if anyone shares this view, I legitimately had fun watching the first half of the Chargers game.  We were competitive, loved watching Parker, Rosen, McMillan all make some nice plays.  I even found myself bitching and yelling at the TV about Rowe's coverage and the missed FGs.  So no, the tank has not been all doom and gloom for me.  It's an interesting team to watch.  In fact, I'm sure I would be LESS INTERESTED if we still had Tannehill, who you could argue is a better starting QB than Rosen.

mercury22nathan wrote:i really believe even if the Phins had kept all those players, they'd still be sitting at 0-4 right now.

mercury22nathan wrote:they better be ready to face a heavy and frequent dose of Adrian Peterson all day long cause that's what Callahan is gonna hit them with.

Yep, Callahan is old school and wants to run the ball. Plus, he'll need to establish the run in order to take pressure off McCoy or Haskins.

We did a great job against the run last week, so hopefully that continues. Run D just might be the biggest key for the Phins this week - stop the run and we're in this game.

Callahan took over Monday for fired coach Jay Gruden and made his presence felt on his first day running practice. Captains were stationed in front of their teammates during stretches. Players said they jogged more between drills -- and after practice, they ran sprints the width of the field. That's something they haven't done since training camp.

The offensive linemen who have worked with Callahan the past five years are used to the daily sessions of post-practice work. They stick around for 30 minutes each day -- and work 30 minutes before practice -- for extra work. On Wednesday, every group stayed with its position coaches for a session Callahan dubbed the developmental period.

They played music during stretching, but it was turned off for individual drills, unlike in most of the previous weeks. At 0-5, the Redskins knew something needed to change.

The players have already had multiple meetings with Callahan since he was named interim coach. On Wednesday, he laid out what was expected of them in practice.

"It's really again the focus of fundamental football," Callahan said. "I thought we got through a lot of good physicality and a lot of good fundamental drilling. I think that's the key. I think that's the name of the game. If you're not good in your fundamentals, you're not going to have them later in the game. That mental toughness about fundamentals is important, and if you don't practice them every day -- it's just like a golfer when he's on the tour. If he's not on the driving range hitting balls, he's not going to get better."

Collins said other differences were the tempo and planning for situational football. Callahan also spent time focusing on the first play of a drive, both offensively and defensively.

The Redskins have been an undisciplined team. They've committed the second-most penalties and too often blew coverages on defense. Because of the penalties, Callahan wanted to bring in the officials. But he is also known as a stickler for details with the line, stressing the exact placement of their hands for example.