Washington Redskins: Sunday's Loss Isn't the End of the World

Loyal reader, I, more than anyone, would love to see Mike Shanahan and Donovan McNabb hoist the Lombardi Trophy together in—of all places—Dallas, Texas this February, but that probably won't happen.

Thankfully this past Sunday I was out of the country and unable to watch the game.  I had set my DVR to record it (mostly because I thought it was going to be a blow-out win for the Skins) but since the St. Louis Rams beat us down I just deleted it when I got home.

I'll admit when I heard about the loss I was pretty low for about 20 minutes, however I walked out to the beach and watch the waves roll in and it kind of gave me some clarity on the 2010 Washington Redskins.

The opening night win on Sunday Night Football over Dallas was great.  It filled me up with so much adrenaline that I didn't get to bed until a good hour or so afterward.

The loss to the Houston Texans was heartbreaking but at the same time it showed our offense could put up points in bunches, something we hadn't seen from this franchise since, really, Brad Johnson was our quarterback.

So what, you might be asking, did I take away from the loss in St. Louis?

I took away that my delusions of grandeur from the first two weeks of the season were probably misplaced.

What we have here is a team in transition. 

Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan took over a team that had foolishly traded away draft picks and signed high-priced diva talents that don't work well with others.

With the uncapped year there were very few unrestricted free agents out there to bring into the fold and the Skins had even fewer draft picks to work with.

Allen and Shanahan made the most of what they had.

One of the very first things they did was go out and get a franchise quarterback by trading away their second-round pick, then did what they could to address the holes on the offensive line as well as running back and wide receiver.

Because the free-agency pool was so shallow this season the team had to settle for some older players.  They've been criticized for having the oldest team in the league, but they've still got to field a team and they had to do it with older veterans.

Like I said, this team is in transition; a mix of some guys left over from the Gibbs-2.0 era and other guys jumbled in from the Zorn/Cerrato experiment.

For Shanahan to be successful he needs his guys in place.  And this is going to take a season or two.

He got off to the right start with getting his franchise quarterback and one hell of a tackle in Trent Williams.

Look for that to continue in the 2011 offseason when I predict a first-round pick of another offensive lineman or maybe a running back or receiver.  Not to mention free-agent additions to those positions as well as getting the right personnel in place for Jim Hasslett's 3-4 defense.

However, don't get me wrong.  I'm not writing this season off as a lost cause just yet.  I still think this team has the talent to win enough games to make the playoffs (as of right now we're only one game off the division-leading Eagles who we play this week).

I'm just asking the ownership and fanbase to be patient.

I often think back to where this franchise might be had Marty Schottenheimer not started out 0-5 in his first year.  Even though he finished 8-8 with a ton of momentum he was let go in favor of the dreadful Steve Spurier.

Had owner Dan Snyder been patient with Marty this franchise could have been like the Chargers, (who Schottenheimer went on to coach before being let go after a 14-2 season) constantly winning the division.

Hopefully all of this talk from Snyder's PR people isn't just talk and Danny boy has learned a thing or two about the NFL.

Also, when this season is over—no matter how the team does—Snyder will realize that Shanahan took over a 4-12 team that was scattered with guys that don't necessarily fit his offensive scheme or his defensive coordinator's scheme. He'll also realize the virtue of patience will benefit his team far more than his money will.

So loyal reader that's all for now.  Being 1-2 sucks but there is always next week.  Follow me on Twitter for more pointless opinions our favorite team (@jomac006), and Go SKINS!