I've been flip flopping internally for a few days now as the Manning to Skins rumors have been kicking into hyperdrive as I truly want to believe that Manning can be who he was in the Indy days but I have my doubts about his ability to get that ol' thing back. However, its the latest stories about the Manning-Shanahan pairing that really have me concerned. So some sites (sorry I'm not that thorough but I think it was CSN and WashingtonPost) have been saying that either 1: Peyton will have to conform to our offense or 2: Shanahan will have to go to an Indy style offense and give Peyton the reins.

In the case of #1, I am terrified of this because Peyton is old and immobile and I don't think that is his game. He is best at 3-5 step drops, reading defenses, and getting the ball out of his hand quick. I can't see him rolling out much and learning a whole new offense will surely take some time of which he doesn't have (did I mention that he's old?).

Its scenario #2 that really bothers me though because this requires us to change our ENTIRE offense for which we have been assembling and instructing guys to run Shanahan's offense for the last 2 years. Young guys like Hankerson, Helu, T Williams, and now were pulling the rug up from under them for 2-3 years so Manning can do his thing. I thought we were trying to establish some continuity and offensive identity here. On top of that, I assume we will be grooming a young QB at the same time but which system will he be learning, or will we simply flip a switch and go back to the Shanny offense once Manning is done?

This is what I don't like about the Manning thing. Yes, there is still much to be sorted out and I hope the Skins braintrust is smarter than this but these are things that can seriously retard our development and the pursuit of a new Redskins "brand" of offense.