Swearinger drops injury bombshell....calls out teammates

[SoCalWizFan]

Your are right, I have no idea how Kerrigan is viewed in the locker room. And there is no doubt that he is VERY respected by all for his play. My point was less about Kerrigan and more about how this team lacks on the field an locker room leaders in general. No doubt Trent is one. And I think Cousins is developing into one. But on defense, I don't see it as much. A guy or guys that can rally the defense when it really needs to rise up for a critical stop. Some do this via their mouth and some via their play. But on this defense, we don't see it much.
Swearinger is at least trying to hold his team accountable. I like that.

Good Sign: New Redskin D.J. Swearinger Named Captain

Here is what his teammates had to say about Swearinger when he was named team captain. It just appears that the team wanted someone who was vocal & appeared to backup his play on the field (at least effort wise). Nothing wrong with that - different strokes for different folks. By all indications Kerrigan is one of the quietest guys on the team & perhaps doesn't really want this role.

Less the injuries & a pickup or two I have no major issue with the defense & believe that whatever problems exist have more to do with talent than effort or leadership.

 

[Sportster 72]

Your are right, I have no idea how Kerrigan is viewed in the locker room. And there is no doubt that he is VERY respected by all for his play. My point was less about Kerrigan and more about how this team lacks on the field an locker room leaders in general. No doubt Trent is one. And I think Cousins is developing into one. But on defense, I don't see it as much. A guy or guys that can rally the defense when it really needs to rise up for a critical stop. Some do this via their mouth and some via their play. But on this defense, we don't see it much.
Swearinger is at least trying to hold his team accountable. I like that.

What spiked my initial comment was the comments about Kerrigan. I would have understood more if the comment was "wow, after two weeks the guys on defense rallied around DJ so much they named him captain."

Now this is probably going to sound stupid but why should guys need to be rallied? I wasn't an NFL player but I was a US player in another sport and I didn't need someone to tell me I should play hard. The caveat to is the interference from Dan and some players feeling privileged. If that was the case I don't think they would listen to DJ, Kerrigan or anyone else. I have a simple question, who sent the tone and expectations for the team in the 80s?

 

[Sportster 72]

I love how you assume that professional grown men pick their team captains based on who they want to have a beer with and not who's putting in the work, bringing n everyday, and holding themselves and others accountable, including the coach.

My first comment, how is that different than you assuming Kerrigan is lacking? You were the one that brought his name into this. I never gave it a thought. Years ago in my opinion Ryan Clark would have made a good team captain but instead they let him go. How was he different than DJ other than the method they used to get the message through.

 

[kbso83432]

I never said Kerrigan was lacking. I mentioned Norman and Breeland. It wasn't a personal knock on RK. I love RK. It was just alarming that a guy who has never played here can come in and immediately take over the locker room at the players request.

 

[Sportster 72]

I didn't see it as a big deal. Not to mention did you see our defense last year. It wasn't very good this year but I believe that was due to injury.

Maybe I didn't understand your post, your quote was "Kerrigan?"

I like DJ, he is pretty good in the run game. He helps the young guys. If I had to choose between him and Kerrigan I would choose Kerrigan. My opinion in a short span the guy that had the biggest overall impact on the D was Jonathan Allen. He made the linebackers better. He made the pass rushers better which in turn helped the secondary. This last paragraph has nothing to do with captains. Just me running off with the mouth.

 

[kbso83432]

All good.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

I didn't see it as a big deal. Not to mention did you see our defense last year. It wasn't very good this year but I believe that was due to injury.

Maybe I didn't understand your post, your quote was "Kerrigan?"

I like DJ, he is pretty good in the run game. He helps the young guys. If I had to choose between him and Kerrigan I would choose Kerrigan. My opinion in a short span the guy that had the biggest overall impact on the D was Jonathan Allen. He made the linebackers better. He made the pass rushers better which in turn helped the secondary. This last paragraph has nothing to do with captains. Just me running off with the mouth.

Yep but again perhaps a lot of the players prefer a vocal leader, and Kerrigan will never fit that role. If you are stating you prefer Kerrigan or Allen's abilities - then NP w/ that. In terms of being a captain that is all about the preferences of the team members - not us. You also can't compare any of this to how things were done in the 80s or 90s. Players & people in general think much differently in this era (for better or worse).

 

[Sportster 72]

Yep but again perhaps a lot of the players prefer a vocal leader, and Kerrigan will never fit that role. If you are stating you prefer Kerrigan or Allen's abilities - then NP w/ that. In terms of being a captain that is all about the preferences of the team members - not us. You also can't compare any of this to how things were done in the 80s or 90s. Players & people in general think much differently in this era (for better or worse).

Mostly I am stating it doesn't make much different. Any group of people sports or not you have certain people that like these guys etc. etc. Really I am not looking for Kerrigan, Allen, DJ, Norman or anyone else to have to get the team up. Players should be able to get themselves up. Not everyone can but they should be able to.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

Mostly I am stating it doesn't make much different. Any group of people sports or not you have certain people that like these guys etc. etc. Really I am not looking for Kerrigan, Allen, DJ, Norman or anyone else to have to get the team up. Players should be able to get themselves up. Not everyone can but they should be able to.

Fair enough. I agree for the most part, but there are certain leaders that can push people even farther in difficult situations. Should NFL players need to be pushed? No - but it is just human nature & we all have our flaws & good & bad times. Having said that - again I don't believe that most issues that the Redskins had on defense were related to effort. I truly believe they were related to injuries and a lack of talent.

If they make the rt moves going forward (big if) then they should be OK. IMO they should keep focusing on the front 7 & not worry as much about the secondary (which has some good young talent). As an example - unless they get a bargain I would let Breeland walk & keeping adding talent up front if possible. I also would bring back Cravens if he is agreeable.

 

[skinsdad62]

very few people even understand what the hell leadership is but yack about it all the time

leadership is very simple , getting a group of people to accomplish a common goal

"rallying the troops or motivating them " is a small amount of what a leader does

a leader prepares his people for the task , takes care of his or her people , directs , guides and plans on how things will be successful . he teaches and cajoles , his is an ear , a sounding board , but most of all he keeps everyone focused on the goal .

two things are key in leadership , communication and training

now how does this apply to the washington redskins ?

first off daniel snyder should be setting the vision of what he wants out of his team ( a consistent winning team and super bowl winner )

next mr Bruce Allen must take that vision and develop solutions to the problem

next , he mr doug williams , and the rest of the front office should analyze solutions , get the pro's and cons out there and settle on the solution

once that is settled the its up to the scouts and coaching staff to implement the plan

one way to sell the plan is to get the peer leaders to buy into the plan RK , DJ , KC and others are the peer leaders . they need to take the vision and make sure its executed on the field

debating about which style of leadership is pointless. did the peer leaders get the tools to implement the vision ? did the staff ? did doug williams ? did bruce ? did gruden and the staff?

the issue with leadership stems straight from the very top of the organization . i think their is too much distraction from above on BS then on the plan . the bungling of the KC affair and the SM debacle(essentially who gets credit ) were distractions that should have been prevented by good sound leadership and integrity

do your peer leaders RK DJ and KC have integrity ? if they dont then you have bad leaders

now back to KC , a good leader anticipates the future . Allen had to know the price for KC would go UP . why did he kill 2 cheap signings ? my guess winning wasnt his top priority but ego was . why let SM go ? the drinking thing appears to be a bold face lie . again the distraction of EGO is to blame and its poor leadership

winning organizations work together and deflect the credit , that is what a good leader does , praise the troops and minimize yourself .

leaders lead from the front not the rear . they lead by example . their integrity is beyond reproach . they dont ask their subordinates to do things they wont do themselves

if you have a bunch of guys who need to be "motivated " then you have the wrong type of guys . also dont confuse guidance with motivation . If a MM doesnt want to put the proper food in his belly to enable him to perform then maybe you need to cut ties with him . SEWER cravens is an example of a cancer that needs to be purged . he will fail because selfishness rules him .

now that is my take on leadership

 

[Breed]

He's captain for a reason and I'm thankful he's not scared to talk when need be. Basically called out Gruden for soft and lacadasical practices.

Called out Reed for not preventing his hamstrng issue. Called out Moses for being fat and out of shape. "Not putting the right things in your body." Sounds like we have a "culture" issue at hand again.

I missed the "called out Gruden" comment yesterday. I hope you're on point about that, not that it will change anything, but I've said it before and I'll say it again. Everyone says we need to get faster and sure, that'd be cool. I've never heard of being too fast so by all means if we can get faster...word. We are physically weak though on defense or soft. We need to get stronger and toughen up on defense.

 

[kbso83432]

Swearinger said they had a bad week of practice leading up to the Chargers game.

You can put that on the players and rightly so, but his tone kinda led you to believe he was pointing some blame at Gruden and how practice was being run. Gruden ended up having to address DJ's comment to the media, stating he thought they had a good week of practice, but said maybe coaches and players can do better in that regard. Paraphrasing of course.