Update: Saunders Signs Deal with Rams to be OC

It could very well be that Saunders was hamstrung by Gibbs. If that's the case (hindsight is always 20/20), perhaps Saunders should have stuck up more for Campbell (who supposedly wasn't the problem) before opening the offense up when Collins took over.

Snyder and Cerrato obviously see something we all don't see...take that as you will...I would have liked to see Saunders stick around for the long haul and watch Campbell run his offense to perfection. However, we won't and I wish Saunders luck in landing the Rams job and trying to turn that carnival sideshow of an offense back around.

One thing that has always baffled me about the Collins period, I think a lot of people are assuming that Saunders "opened up the playbook" for him. Any proof or evidence of this?

The reason I pose the question is that it actually seems that they took more steps to protect Collins than they did JC. JC got hit in preseason when Heyer was playing & throughout the regular season when Heyer was in there, they still ran plays where Heyer was 1 on 1 & there was an empty backfield. As soon as Collins comes in, they keep a rb (sometimes 2) in to help Heyer & they even ran what looked like max protect w/a TE in a lot.

I know Collins isn't mobile, but why would you leave your young qb so vulnerable? It almost seemed that the O was more cautious on pass downs w/Collins, which on the surface seems to contradict the whole "open up the playbook" theory. Just a thought.

WHAT IF?

Al Saunders goes to St. Louis Rams and the Rams return to being the greatest show on turf? What does that say about the Washington Redskins and their offensive personnel? Does that mean that the Redskin players are not talented or smart enough to run Saunders offense?

One thing that has always baffled me about the Collins period, I think a lot of people are assuming that Saunders "opened up the playbook" for him. Any proof or evidence of this?

The reason I pose the question is that it actually seems that they took more steps to protect Collins than they did JC. JC got hit in preseason when Heyer was playing & throughout the regular season when Heyer was in there, they still ran plays where Heyer was 1 on 1 & there was an empty backfield. As soon as Collins comes in, they keep a rb (sometimes 2) in to help Heyer & they even ran what looked like max protect w/a TE in a lot.

I know Collins isn't mobile, but why would you leave your young qb so vulnerable? It almost seemed that the O was more cautious on pass downs w/Collins, which on the surface seems to contradict the whole "open up the playbook" theory. Just a thought.
Could very well be, which is why I'm sitting here at my keyboard, instead of having my name on a door at Redskins Park ;)

But it would be hard to believe that Saunders didn't use his comfort level with Collins to do something different than what he did with Campbell. Saunders brought Collins in to help the transition to his offense go a lot smoother. Why wouldn't he have let Collins loose, knowing that he knows the system better than any QB in the league today?

WHAT IF?

Al Saunders goes to St. Louis Rams and the Rams return to being the greatest show on turf? What does that say about the Washington Redskins and their offensive personnel? Does that mean that the Redskin players are not talented or smart enough to run Saunders offense?
Nope. Just means that Gibbs had a big influence on how Saunders called his game...

Saunders is a way overrated anyhow.

Care to back up your opinion?

AS is one of the top O coordinators in the league. His history proves it. He never really was allowed to "do what he does" here b/c of Gibbs. However w/ that being said our offense was coming along especially w/ Collins in there.

Anyhow, I'd just wanted to hear some reasons why a longtime, top 5 offensive coach year in and year out is overrated.

It's just funny how as soon as a redskin coach or player is out the door they get bashed immediately (AS was bashed while he was here too i guess).

Saunders wasn't given the benefit of the doubt here in Washington. Surely two years wasn't enough to judge him fairly. He was given an older QB last year who didn't have the wheels or the arm to make the big throws. Then he got a more physically talented QB, but far less experienced this year. At the end he got someone who knew how to run the offense and was able to execute it and got us to the playoffs. So he gets the boot after those two years? If Daniel Snyder didn't know that Joe Gibbs was handcuffing Al Saunders play calling then he truly doesn't know anything about football or worse, anything about his own team.

Could very well be, which is why I'm sitting here at my keyboard, instead of having my name on a door at Redskins Park ;)

But it would be hard to believe that Saunders didn't use his comfort level with Collins to do something different than what he did with Campbell. Saunders brought Collins in to help the transition to his offense go a lot smoother. Why wouldn't he have let Collins loose, knowing that he knows the system better than any QB in the league today?

True, and JC getting hurt might've scared Joe to the point that he told Al to max protect or keep Sellers &/or Portis in to block more.

It just seemed to me that JC could've made the same plays if given the extra protection. Until we got to seattle, collins had all day to throw in most of those games.

So we can kick his butt when he comes back or we go there. I heard it takes two years to learn his system.


Yeah! Rams & Redskins both learning a new offense in the same year, should be interesting to see how much farther along the Rams will be with that 700 page playbook than we were in his first year here.

The Rams will be able to fast-track some of that learnin', since guys like Bruce and Holt were around the first time Saunders was in town.

Now the Rams can wait over two years before their offense can gell and understand what plays to run and how to score tds.

Think about it, who in the NFL has three f'ing years to wait? Gibbs worst move in my veiw was giving the offense to AL. He stopped calling plays and there went a piece of the Hall of Fame with it.....

Well STL didn't seem to have a problem picking up the offense when Kurt Warner came out of nowhere and won the SB. KC didn't seem to have a problem picking it up either. KC was a top 5 offense evey year Al was there.