Tuesday, December 30, 2003

For Players, Resignation Is 'Kind of a Shocker' (washingtonpost.com)



Wow. I feel bad for Spurrier. As Kornheiser mentions in his column, he's looked defeated and unhappy these last few weeks. On other other hand, I'm glad because I know that the right coach will undoubtedly be more successful than Spurrier was. But finally, I think the Achilles heel that will keep the Skins from being as good as they possibly can be is Snyder as the owner/GM. Once he learns to hire good football people, let them run the team, and not interfere at all (Cerrato is a kiss-up know-nothing), then the Skins have a chance to do something. Until that happens, the best the Skins can hope for is a disciplined, no-nonsense coach that gets the Skins to maximize their talent and get them to the playoffs. In this day and age, Parcells has shown the power of a good head coach. With the right GM, you can upgrade that talent and go even further, possibly reaching the Super Bowl. For the Skins, they need one step at a time. First, start with a coach that can get them to the playoffs. Then hopefully it's on a consistent basis. Then worry about fine-tuning later.

Some of the names being thrown around early on are encouraging. Mostly, I like the fact that the Skins would pursue Denny Green and Ray Rhodes. On the downside, while I think Denny Green would be great, I think it's his desire to also be GM that would ultimately lead to a falling out and split with Snyder in a handful of years (at most). I'd be most excited about Ray Rhodes, especially as a "fire and brimstone" guy. It's cool to hear that he stayed close to Snyder, even after leaving. He definitely deserves a chance to be the head guy. He had some good years in Philly and one mediocre year in GB. He's got the right tools to succeed and I hope he gets a chance. He knows that the Skins need discipline (he saw some of the same problems as DC under Norv) and can instill it. He had the defense ranked in the top 10.

Tom Coughlin sounds like he'd be another good candidate. I'd be pretty discouraged with any other college coaches being interviewed.

At least this adds intrigue for the Skins as the playoffs unfold and the team out of the dance.

Zombie Ball Coach - The Washington Times: Sports


This pretty accurately sums it up for Spurrier. He doesn't seem like he's having a good time these last two years. I can see him coming back to try to stick it out one more year and I don't blame him for trying that. He deserves to give himself that one more shot. Honestly, do I see him succeeding? No. He's stuck in his ways. It's not to say that he hasn't tried adjusting. But the changes he makes are minor in light of his overall approach to the game. He can't adjust his game plans fast enough and isn't open to positive changes like running the ball more and rollouts to protect the quarterback. Mostly though, he can't go from his leisurely attitude this year to a military approach next year. The players that have been around the last couple years won't buy it. The lack of discipline will be his undoing again in his third and final year.

Arrington is supposedly a lifelong Skin. I feel conflicted about that. On one level, "lifelong" Skin still may not mean much. Stephen Davis was supposed to be a lifelong Skin with his last contract. On Arrington's own level, he has so much talent and I'd hate to see it go to another team. On that same note, though, he often does boneheaded things and doesn't fully utilize his talent when he doesn't play smart. Play smarter, not harder LaVar! If you can play both smart AND hard then that's the best. But if you have to choose one, smart is more important than hard. So exasperating...

McGinnis, Gregg Williams, and Jauron are all available. They would all make fantastic defensive coordinators. Edwards simply was not ready to take the reigns. On the downside, yet another defensive coordinator is tough for a team to take. On the plus side, despite the turnover with coordinators, the defense consistently finished in the top 10 with the exception of this year. Maybe Snyder should let Spurrier do whatever he wants this year and keep Edwards if he chooses to. If he succeeds, great, if he fails then bring in a top Def Coord candidate to re-shape the team like Marvin Lewis did with the Bengals.

Losing Marvin Lewis was huge. He was the heavy dose of discipline that Arrington needed. He was the medicine that Arrington hated but was good for him. And the results between the two seasons speak for themselves. You can see that Lewis is a strong and commanding presence on the sideline. Spurrier isn't.

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Well out of playoff contention and possibly facing a losing season, at least the Skins beat the sorrier New York Football Giants. Their last three losses weren't too bad either. They had the lead in all of them but undisciplined defensive and hesitant offensive play yielded fourth-quarter leads to their opponents (Carolina, Miami, and New Orleans). It would be wonderful if the Skins had won all three and were 8-5 instead of 5-8. Sadly, that's not the case.

So Spurrier is staying another year. Unless Spurrier runs as much as he did against the Giants, that's probably worse for the Redskins than better. He likes to pass way too much and too often in the fourth quarter the offense sputters with a 3-and-out and the defense tiring. The opposing offense gets on the field with momentum and pushes it down the field.

If the Skins had kept Schottenheimer around, the Skins would have been in the playoffs the next year. That was a guarantee. You could sense it. And that was despite a pathetic uninventive Jimmy Raye-led offense. The Skins have twice as much talent now as they did then but they seem so much farther away.

Why? Discipline. Coaching. A lot of teams are playing at much higher levels this year than in year's past making the league more competitive. There are no more patsies. Arizona played some tough games at home. Atlanta had a bad stretch in the middle there but started off strong and now has Vick back. There are many more 'good' and 'competitive' teams than there are pushovers. Parcells has the Cowboys overachieving. John Fox is coaching the same way - smart football with good defense and a strong run game. These are guys having an immediate impact on their teams. That's why I don't see Spurrier succeeding.

In this era of parity, the aerial-based attacks are not going to succeed. They require too many different variables coming together - a good quarterback, good receivers, the threat of a run game... Up until the early 90s, the dynasties were the teams that did everything well. They had great players across the board and were solid everywhere. In this day and age with salary caps and free agency, there are no great chasms between great teams and horrible teams. A team just needs a simple proven formula to win. Defense and running. It used to take a complete to win the Super Bowl. Not anymore. The simple formula and staying free of the injury bug will get you there.