The main thing we learned from the
Washington Redskins' loss to the St. Louis Rams is that it's going to take two more drafts to rebuild the team, not just one. The Redskins have now been beaten in consecutive weeks by two of the youngest teams in the league, and they've faded badly in the fourth quarter while doing it. That's not about scheme, or one or two positions on the field, or some weird curse-like malaise. It's about their inability to punch the other team in the mouth.
The
Redskins are getting physically pushed around. The truest truism in the NFL is that players trump system. The problem isn't so much
Jim Haslett's blitz-happy 3-4 defense, or Kyle Shanahan's offensive playbook, though both are a little too cute. The real crux is that the Redskins don't have enough core strength - and by that I mean the muscle, the hard midsection, that is the foundation of any strong structure.
They are paying for years of roster rot, the organization's refusal to build good young quality depth on the interior lines, and that problem has defeated every single coach who has come through Redskins Park. If you were wondering why Mike Shanahan's 2010 version of the team looks so much like Jim Zorn's 2009 version, there's your answer.
Quality line play isn't something that can be built overnight. There is no quick fix for it through free agency. It requires a two- to three-year commitment to draft picks, and patience while players get to know and learn to trust each other, and there is no accelerating that process. It will require a kind of patience that the franchise has not been willing to show in the last decade.
Everyone knows that when a good team has a bad Sunday, it has to be able to fight its way out of trouble physically.
