Dan Snyder Running Off Coaches

Little Danny's 'yes-man', Vinny Cerato, continues to make a fool out of himself speaking to the media. While a few Redskins' players have come out and asked management to announce that Jim Zorn would not be fired during the season, Vinny decided to take it a step further and announce that Zorn will be coaching "the rest of this season and hopefully into the future". Of course, as Redskins fans know, this is Snyder code for "Mike Shanahan turned down the job".

One thing is for certain. If Jim Zorn is the head coach of the Washington Redskins for the 2010 season, it is strictly because no one else would agree to work with Daniel Snyder and Vinny Cerato.

The media has talked often about the Redskins hiring one of the 'big name' coaches that will be available for the 2010 season including the likes of Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan and John Gruden, but let's be realistic. None of these coaches need money. They have each already made a ton of cash in their career's and Gruden is still being paid by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If you don't need money, why else would you agree to work 'with' or 'for' (you choose) Daniel Snyder? These coaches have major accomplishments under their belts and it would be highly unlikely they would be willing to sit down and be told what to do by Snyder. These type of coaches are going to want control, and a lot of it, over their new team.

Aside from money and power, the Redskins are not close to being a contending team. At this point, they are a borderline rebuilding project, which will probably take at least 3 years to turn around and have a legitimate shot at contending, if things go well. Let's look at the ages of these big name coaches: Holmgren, 61; Shanahan, 57; Cowher, 52; Gruden, 46.

If Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan come back to coach, they will probably want to join a team they think is close to winning now and already has a proven QB. It is hard to see either of these two men coaching more than five years and with a rebuilding project like the Redskins that would be a tough sell. Albeit 5 years in Dan Snyder's world is like 27 years for the rest of us, but I digress.

Mike Holmgren will most likely stay with Seattle in some capacity. Mike Shanahan is most likely the top candidate for the Cowboys and the Cowboys are closer to winning. If you had to pick between working for Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones, who would you pick? Jerry Jones wins.

The best thing Dan Snyder could do right now is offer Bill Cowher an unheard of 10 year contract with full control of the team. Cowher would give the Redskins something they haven't had for the last decade, consistency. A 10 year deal with Cowher would put this franchise back on the NFL map in a huge way. His experience, football knowledge, player relationships and everything else he brings to the table would instantly make the Redskins a better team. And with 10 years at the helm, he could restore order to this once proud franchise and put them back on the right path for years to come. One big problem here is that no one is sure if Cowher is ready or willing to leave the broadcast booth and go back to coaching. If he is ready, the Redskins should go all in and give him anything and everything he asks for.

With all that said, Redskins' fans who were paying attention to the commentary during last Monday night's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, couldn't help but notice how politically correct and positive John Gruden sounded while calling the game. He made more positive comments about the team in the first half than anyone else has all season.

Gruden is the most likely of the 'big name' coaches who would be willing to work with Snyder because he is the youngest and still has the most to prove. While Gruden did win a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in his first season with the team, many say it was only because the team was already a powerhouse that was built before he got there. After his first season in Tampa, the team steadily declined each year. With that said, Gruden would be a step in the right direction for the Redskins after what the team and, more importantly, the team's fans have endured over the last decade. He has experience, he has a style and he has an attitude. All of those, the Redskins currently lack.

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JacksGhost
Washington Redskins Hog Blog

Week 7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

In week 7, the Redskins once again performed as expected. After facing one horrible winless team another, week after week, the Redskins finally played against a potential playoff team and it showed.

The defense performed reasonably well for most of the game. The defensive line was able to generate at least some pressure on Donovan McNabb and they did total 3 sacks. This isn't a staggering number, but compared to the last few seasons, 3 sacks is a single game is a major accomplishment for this squad. Albert Haynesworth is the big reason why the team has been able to at least generate some assemblance of a pass rush this season and has helped open opportunities for DE Andre Carter. Haynesworth has played very hard this year and should be given a lot of credit for his effort. Had Brian Orakpo been playing full-time at DE opposite Carter, where he is supposed to be playing, who knows what kind of pressure the team could be generating.

With Sean Springs gone, one of the team's holes continues to be at cornerback. Carlos Rogers just looked bad against Eagles' WR DeSean Jackson. Carlos is now 28 years old and has been a border line player since the team drafted him in the first round of the 2005 draft. At this point, Carlos isn't considered a bust, but he has been a major disappointment. When he is not hurt, he plays inconsistently. From a fans perspective, it looks like Carlos' problem is a lack of concentration and desire. He has shown flashes of being a great CB, but they are few and far between. When he is playing well, he does not have good hands at all and averages only 1 interception per year.

Aside from one 45 yard drive in the second quarter, the offense looked bad again. Jason Campbell was sacked 6 times, threw one interception and also had a fumble. Thanks to his patented late game touchdown against the prevent defense, Campbell was able to raise his QB rating to 91.5. The fumbled snap by Casey Rabach was just plain embarassing. As a whole, the offense looked like a legitimate college team.

The offensive line continues to provide gaping hole after gaping hole. Unfortunately, the gaping holes are for the defense to run through. Jason Campbell just looks completely overwhelmed by the pro game. He looks scared when he steps back in the pocket and he seems to panic while going through his reads. Unless he sees the perfect defense, it is almost as if he just glances at the wide receivers for show without even really considering them and just solely looks to dump the ball off to the TE as much as possible.

On that note, it was nice to see that TE Fred Davis has finally moved ahead of Todd Yoder on the depth chart. Losing Chris Cooley to injury is probably the worst injury this team could have, but at least we finally got to see one of the 3 big 2008 second round draft picks get on the field and be active in a game.

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JacksGhost
Washington Redskins Hog Blog

Great Day to be a Redskins Fan!

It's a great day to be a Redskins fan! That's right, it's a great day!

Do you know why it is a great day? Today is a great day because after years and years of slowing slipping further and further into the abyss, the Redskins have finally hit rock bottom.

This is it. This is what it feels like to look down and finally not be able to see any further. We are finally on the official bottom of the NFL.

Don't believe me? Look

• Our contract year QB has fallen flat on his face and cannot get the ball to anyone not named Cooley or Moss.
• Our 2008 second round triplets Malcolm Kelly, Devin Thomas and Fred Davis have been a complete bust.
  
• Our best offensive lineman, Chris Samuels, is done for the year and probably for his career.
• We have an undrafted college free agent playing LT and a former first round bust, who hasn't even played football in years, starting at RT. Not to mention, no one even knows the guy playing Center anymore.
  
• We have played 3 of the 4 worst teams in the NFL this year, and only managed to beat one of them (St. Louis Rams) 9-7. If only we played the Browns this year, we could have had the Superfecta(horse racing).
• And then there is our fearless leader, the Zorninator. Jim is clearly a very nice guy, but he is also clearly out of his league. He simply does not know what he is doing.
• Did I mention we just hired a 67 year old Bingo caller to pick offensive plays for us.
• Even the #1 rated college QB Sam Bradford, who the Redskins would clearly target with their top pick in the 2010 draft, got hurt and is done for the year.
  

It simply cannot get any worse from here on out. Even if we lose every remaining game, it cannot get worse. We have hit rock bottom and it is now time to start over completely from scratch. As of next season, we have no coach, no QB, no offensive line, and aging players all the field.

The rest of this season will still be tough to swallow especially as our team gets steamrolled by the rival Cowboys and Eagles this week. At least we know, we have only one way to go from here, UP ↑

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JacksGhost
Washington Redskins Hog Blog

Week 6 vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Ah, just another week in Redskins land. In week 3, the Redskins lost to the worst team in the NFL, the Detroit Lions. In week 6, the team put another notch in their belt by losing, in horrid fashion, to the third worst team in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs. The only good thing about this game was that the Redskins played at home so that the fans could tell the players, coaches, Vinny Cerrato and Little Danny Snyder loud and clear how they felt about their team.

The only bright spot on the Redskins' offense statistics was the fact that Clinton Portis broke the 100 yard mark for the first time this season finishing with 109 yards. Of course, that is only because he happened to break one long run of 79 yards. Aside from that one play, he mustered only 14 carries for 29 yards the rest of the game, and that is against the worst defense in football.

Chris Cooley somehow continues to be the team's best option as a receiver despite teams focussing coverage on him. Santana Moss only managed one catch matching the output of the team's young trio of Malcolm Kelly, Devin Thomas and Fred Davis.

Jason Campbell was finally benched at halftime in this game after being thoroughly ineffective again. The benching was a long time coming. Unfortunately, Todd Collins is just no longer the same player he used to be and he is no longer a viable option at QB. Barring injury, Campbell will most likely remain the starter for the remainder of the season.

This game andthis season in general would have been the perfect opportunity for second year QB Colt Brennan to play and show off his abilities had he not been hurt and placed on IR in the preseason. He probably would have been able to play a significant amount of time in the second half of this season. And even while losing game after game, fans would have at least been able to justify it by saying we are breaking in a young QB.

At least the defense kept the Chiefs out of the end zone and forced them to kick field goals. It was also nice to see the defensive line pad their stats a little with 5 sacks in the game. As Redskins fans can attest to, a 5 sack game only comes around about every 2 years or so.

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JacksGhost
Washington Redskins Hog Blog

Week 3 vs. Detroit Lions

Honestly, what Redskins fan didn't see this horror show coming?

The Detroit Lions are an average offensive team that, at least, does have some young potential with young QB Matthew Stafford, WR Calvin Johnson and RB Kevin Jones. Remember, like I mentioned at the end of last season, the 2008 0-16 Detroit Lions offense outscored the Redskins offense. The Lions' offense also outscored the Redskins' offense in the first two games of this season with a rookie QB at the helm so this game really should have been expected. It's Detroit's defense that has always been a mess and caused them to lose game after game, year after year.

On the Redskins side, the offense is far below average and the young potential they thought they had in WR Malcolm Kelly, WR Devin Thomas, and TE Fred Davis is fading fast. The team's defense has overachieved the last few seasons and has kept the team in the wild card chase, but time has finally caught up to them this season. They just have too many holes in the front seven to be a strong defense anymore.

Cornerstones of the defense like Cornelius Griffin, Philip Daniels have faded and should no longer be starting. Even Andre Carter at age 30 seems to be closer to retirement these days and arguably their most valuable player, London Fletcher, is 34 years old now so who knows how long he will hold up. The offensive line is in no better shape with aging and injury-prone veteran players like Randy Thomas, Casey Rabach and Chris Samuels.

So far, this season appears to have about a 4-12 record in store for us so sit back and relax, try to be patient for one more season, and enjoy the baseball playoffs as long as possible. At least, we can take solace in the fact that we know the major overhaul is coming at the end of this season.

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JacksGhost
Washington Redskins Hog Blog