Week 10 vs. Dallas Cowboys

Dallas - After pulling off an upset win against the Denver Broncos, the Redskins almost pulled out another one of their patented ugly wins. Almost. For Redskins fans already planning for the 2010 season, it was a relief when the Cowboys scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to take the lead and ultimately the game.

The Redskins' disappointing season is figuratively over. There will be no playoffs or big second half of the season run for this squad. The team will simply play out their remaining schedule for pride and some players and coaches will use the remaining games an audition for next season's team. Instead, the Redskins are now in a heated battle with some of the NFL's elite basement dwellers for prime draft pick position. Right now, the Redskins are slotted to pick at #9. An upset victory over the Cowboys this past week, while it always feels good to stick it to the Cowboys, would have put the team in a much weaker position for drafting a top QB next April.

There are already several teams currently ahead of them including the Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams, who both need QB's. The Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks are the second wave of teams that could also draft QB's in the first round. The competition is stifling. While this is a deep draft for QB's, the Redskins naturally want to be able to pick the QB they want as opposed to whoever falls to them in the draft.

Sam Bradford's name has been linked to the Redskins for some time and his name has quietly faded. Lately, the hot name is Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen who is a junior and will most likely enter the draft early. The Redskins would also consider Washington QB Jake Locker and Texas QB Colt McCoy.

Despite the Redskins solid defensive play, the team probably has too many injuries on offense to muster many upsets late this season. After losing the likes of Chris Cooley, Chris Samuels, Clinton Portis, Ladell Betts, Chad Rinehart and Randy Thomas for all or most of the remaining season looks bleak. With the loss of star TE Chris Cooley, fans have at least begun to see some contribution frolm second year TE Fred Davis. It would be nice to see the team end teh season on an up note by getting WR Devin Thomas and WR Malcolm Kelly involved as well. Kelly, who began the season as the team's #2 starting WR has been an overwhelming disappointment and has a mere 10 catches on the year. As a comparision, FB Mike Sellers has 11 catches on the year. Perhpas he could start at WR next year.

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JacksGhost
Washington Redskins Hog Blog

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