Dolphins

Until this past offseason, Cerrato did not have a defined role with the team. The Redskins supposedly made offseason moves based on the decision of a committee comprised of Cerrato, Gibbs, Grilliams, and other coaches. Without knowing whether Cerrato pushed for or opposed signing free agents like Lloyd on the one hand and Fletcher on the other, it was pretty difficult if not impossible to give Cerrato a "grade." Yet, like a blindfolded kid taking a swing at a pinata, a lot of Redskins fans blamed Cerrato for all the bad personnel decisions (e.g., Lloyd, Duckett, etc.) and praised Gibbs for the good ones (e.g., Washington, Griffin, etc.).

The 2008 offseason was the first one since 2002 in which we knew Cerrato was running the show. Based on our 2008 season, it looks like Cerrato did a poor job with the lines and the trade for Jason Taylor. However, the book on guys like Thomas, Kelly, Davis, Tryon, and the rest of the draft class won't be fully written for a few years. So, I'll give Cerrato a C- for 2008, with the condition that the grade is subject to change based on how we look back on the 2008 draft in a few years.

Good post.

Good article today in the WP on the Dolphins and Parcells:

Dolphins' Worst-to-First Turnaround Is Like No Other - washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010202166.html?hpid=sec-sports)

Interesting points:
"Sweeping change began under Bill Parcells, who, two weeks after his hiring in December 2007, threw out nearly all of the old regime, except for a few folks in the media relations department....He also brought in 14 other new coaches and about 40 new players, 29 of whom landed on the regular season roster. Parcells, who players say never addresses the entire team and rarely shows his face, has been active behind the scenes. Besides getting rid of Taylor and Thomas, he and his staff brought in a trio of Cowboys, tight end Anthony Fasano, defensive tackle Jason Ferguson and Ayodele, who have proved critical to the turnaround. They also added a rookie place kicker from Montana (Dan Carpenter), an undrafted wide receiver out of Hawaii (Davone Bess) and several draft picks who have played primary roles.....newcomers Ferguson and Phillip Merling made major contributions on the defensive line."

I like that Parcells avoids the limelight in his new role.



But the final touch, and a dramatic one, came in August. After the Jets signed Favre and let veteran but oft-injured quarterback Chad Pennington go, Parcells grabbed him, too."

While our GM is doing radio and TV shows, Parcells just does his job.

Well they had good seasons but can they do this again next year. I aslo don't understand why they would enclude the Seahawks as they have been in the playoffs 3 of the past 4 years.

Exactly. Just three years ago everyone was talking about Mangini turning around the Jets and Payton turning around the Saints. Well, in the last two years neither has made the playoffs so let's just wait before we start crowning the Falcons and Dolphins.

It's funny though, when the Dolphins or Falcons make the playoffs one year suddenly people here are praising their turnaround. When the Redskins do, instead we hear things like "they got lucky" or "backed into the playoffs."