Should Al Saunders return in '08?

Saunders system works. Gibbs should give him full authority to call all the plays. Getting rid of Williams is crazy. The defense is the best unit on the team. I foresee Williams being the Redskins next head coach when Gibbs decides to retire.

yes!! big yes!! if you look at Als offenses he has taken over, St Louis and kansas city, it took 3 years for them to actually start putting up points and being the dominant forces they became. I would hate for Al to leave, and have to start all over with another scheme and Jason having to learn another system. It takes a couple of years to get schemes and systems down and run them smoothly. I hope he stays.

id honestly like us to keep saunders, and i favor him becoming head coach over williams

I doubt that would happen and in fact I don't see Saunders getting a head coaching job in this league any time soon. He's been passed over quite a few times despite putting up some high powered offenses. Probably because he's got the personality of a librarian.

Playing for the win is different than playing not to lose..Explain how.

by allmeans i say yes!

Explain how.

Very simple..

Playing to win is continuing to be aggressive for 60 minutes (see New England), continuing to run your ENTIRE offense for 60 minutes, taking chances when they are there, making things happen on both sides of the ball by dictating to your opponent..

Continuing to try to score EVERY TIME you have the ball, regardless of the score, is playing to win..

Playing not to lose is getting a lead and changing what you've been doing to try to get the clock to run out before your opponent can catch up, avoiding throwing the ball downfield or running all of the plays in your playbook once you have a lead because you are afraid of turning the ball over, allowing your opponent to move the ball by playing vanilla defense because the clock will keep running and trying to stiffen up in the red zone..

Basically running out to a lead and sitting on it is playing not to lose..

as long as we don't go into super-ultra-conservative mode whenever we get a 3 point lead, it doesn't really matter.

though i do think at this point that saunders is a better offensive gameplanner/play caller than gibbs.

Right now the offensive line has so many injuries, and you've got new people that Bugel is trying to work with. When we can move people off the line of scrimmage consistently, Al's value to the Redskins will be appreciated. I liked Saunders' call of the draw play against the Giants where Betts bulled his way into the end zone. The blocking looked good on that one.

With a healthy line and a new number one receiver (Moss is a solid number two as discussed in too many threads to name) Saunders can restore magic and should come back. I still think he calls the plays with rare exception, though maybe he should be in charge of timeouts too ;)

Keep Saunders, let him coach.
KEEP WILLIAMS & let him become the next head coach.

I can't believe that people can be that hard on GW. Forget the stats, I think it was Schneed that said it; scoring d is what matters & we don't give up much.

Does anyone remember the end of 2006? Our O was running all over people & Betts had a 1,100 yd. season. JC was in his first starts blut was managing the game & making some nice plays, & not turning it over. At this point w/a healthy o line & a 2nd yr. qb, Saunders' O was working.

At the time our D sucked & there were some problems that GW has to be accountable for. Yet this year, he's been accountable & the D has stepped up, even w/major personnel losses.

My point is that when both coaches have healthy & mature personel they will succeed. JC's game will make great strides next year & the O line will be revamped. Draft well & keep the same staff, the Skins need continuity.

Totally agree w/ you sir. One thing GW has consistently said is that it's the players who allow him to make a great defensive stategy. Last year it kind of seemed like an excuse but w/ the development of new talent at LB and in the secondary I better understand what he means.

I think the only pt i differ is how to keep the same staff - I'd like to see Gibbs take a different role in the organization and one of the two head coordinators take over as HC.