Redskins Name Stump Mitchell Assistant Head Coach-Running Backs

Good hire. Mitchell has been in this offense since 1999 when Holmgren came to Seattle. He will have Portis & Betts up to speed quickly IMO.

I will miss Byner. He was a great player and coach for us, sad to see him go and hope he does well.

This is not a great move. Where's the love for Earnest Byner? The guy did an excellent job coaching for us, he is loved by Portis and Betts (and Rock, even though he's basically a special teams guy now). I am surprised that folks will so quickly cast him aside (for crying out loud he played for the Redskins, unlike Mitchell). So much for consistency.
You say Earnest did an excellent job here so what did he do? Didn't portis have fumble issues this year? What happened to Betts? If he is that great of a running coach I'm sure he will get snatched up anytime now. OK, yes he was a Skin and I dod like having former players on the coaching staff but only if they are helping the team so please explain.

Nobody is casting Byner aside. Typical freakout reaction.

Fact is Zorn is close with Mitchell and he is familiar with the WCO. The more help the better.

Funny how Byner went for Tampa job well before Zorn was hired. Gruden didn't hire Byner now its looking like he's not needed. With our coaching staff why not keep another?

Well two down one to go, get Sherman Smith under contract and the coaching staff is complete. I would be surprised if Smith isn't a done deal tonight or tomorrow.

Sherman Smith's quote below doesn't look promising

"I work for Jeff Fisher, who I believe is the best coach in football," Smith said. "We have a team that is on the rise. So do we disrupt our lives here and go up there and be a part of what Jim's going to do?"

Titans Radio: Smith Offered Redskins Position (http://www.titansradio.com/cgi-bin/blurb_view.cgi?blurb=news620940)

but we can all hope money talks!

Assistant Head Coach of Redskins is like VP title at a Bank.

Don't mean much, but you'll take it!

You say Earnest did an excellent job here so what did he do? Didn't portis have fumble issues this year? What happened to Betts? If he is that great of a running coach I'm sure he will get snatched up anytime now. OK, yes he was a Skin and I dod like having former players on the coaching staff but only if they are helping the team so please explain.

Here's my explanation: Although CP fumbled more this year than most (although only 1 more time than 2004), the Redskins have been very effective running the ball under Byner's leadership. The stats* are as follows:

2007 -- 8th in the league rushing
2006 -- 4th in the league rushing
2005 -- 7th in the league rushing
2004 -- 21st in the league rushing (Byner's 1st year as the coach)

*Source: NFL.com - Official Site of the National Football League (http://www.nfl.com).

So even factoring in his 1st year (which was also his 1st year coaching that position ), we have averaged 10th in the league in rushing. And our passing game has not been stellar during that period, which means that we've averaged these numbers when every team knows we're going to run AND when we play two teams twice per season (Dallas and Philly) which have excelled in run defense during that entire time. In addition, CP had significant injury issues last year and yet our running game did not slip when he went out -- not many teams can boast that kind of consistency in the backfield. Betts did not need to step it up this year because CP was healthy and getting the job done. The key here is to make sure that we are consistenyly a top-10 rushing team and Byner did that.