The Real Problem of the Redskins ...

Wasn't it Snyder that started negotiating with Lance Briggs with out notifying Gibbs? Hasn't Snyder personally handled contract negotiations with some players? Wouldn't by definition make him at least co-GM?That's all correct.

I don't have a problem with an owner who wants to spend money. That's not the issue here. The difference is that there are owners who spend money on players that are recommended by hired hands who know football, and who can be trusted to make the right decisions with regard to player-personnel. Dan Snyder is an owner who has hired someone who has failed at player-personnel, and continues to take his advice. That's the problem.
This is precisely correct.

Look at the Steelers. The Rooney's don't spend money the way Snyder does, but who wins more games. Money spent well goes a lot farther than money spent extravagantly.

If he has this massive ego as people say, it seems to me he would want everyone to know who's in charge a la Jones in Dallas.Because the team is lousy. If the Redskins ever win a Super Bowl with Snyder as GM [ha!], believe me, we'll hear about nothing else for years. But we don't have to worry about that ever happening.

You don't see any of that from Danny, despite being such a supposed "ego-maniac." I think that was the point Matty was driving at.
Someone who believes he is qualified to do things he clearly isn't qualified to do fits my definition of an egomaniac. Or someone suffering from delusions.

Look, one of the points of my article is that Jones and Snyder do many things the same way. Jones is more of a media hound than Snyder, but that doesn't make Snyder less egotistical. He's probably just more sensitive to criticism. One thing you can say for Jones is that he's out in front of the franchise so that when things go poorly, he can't dodge the critics or fob it off on a hireling like Vinny Cerrato. Jones takes the slings and arrows. Snyder doesn't like to do that so he hides.

Jones hasn't done much as the GM of the Cowboys. Jones won 3 Super Bowls with Jimmy Johnson's players. As free agency broke that gang up, the team declined and Jones hasn't been able to do much about it. He's a lousy GM. So is Snyder.

Hired Spurrier because he wanted a great passing game

Ok, but let's not forget that Spurrier was a highly sought after coach, it's not like only the Redskins were after him

Drafted Ramsey because he wanted a QB to run the passing game

Mistake for sure

At the very least, influenced Vinny to the point where the team grabbed three pass catchers in the second round

Are you just guessing here?

Brought in Zorn to run the West Coast Offense while keeping the running game

Don't understand what you're trying to say here

Hired Saunders in part because of his connection with the greatest show on turf. Of course his background with Gibbs helped to.

Of course, when he was hired. Everyone said "Finally, some modern help for old man Gibbs"

Was involved in the circle that brought in JC with a first round pick though this ones more on Gibbs in my mind

You got have a QB, jury still out though on whether the investment was worth it

Since he has owned the Redskins the team has acquired Taylor Jacobs, Cliff Russell, ARE, Brandon Lloyd, D. Thomas, M. Kelly, L. Coles, and S. Moss. I would add Rod Gardner to the list but that was Marty's call. To those of you counting at home thats 6 draft picks used on Recievers since 2002. In the meantime we have gone after Braylon Edwards (before the draft), Charles Rogers (before the draft), Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson (before the draft), Chad Johnson, A. Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald, and Roy Williams. This team, this front office, is way to commited to finding recievers and as a result we've seen our front lines crumble. And with the recent success of the Arizona Cardinals I see Snyder grabing hold of an out to continue to try and build a passing game at the expense of the front lines.

I don't understand the point of mentioning only WRs we've allegedly gone after, while not mentioning linemen we've allegedly gone after

We know Snyder hires assistant coaches for his head coach. It strains credulity to imagine that he isn't also making personnel decisions.

Cerrato made the hires, and really it was only one or two new hires. Most were just retaining the current staff.

Ok, but let's not forget that Spurrier was a highly sought after coach, it's not like only the Redskins were after him

My main point in all of this was that the object of Snyders affection is a high flying passing attack. In citing the moves I'm trying to demonstrate that Snyder led teams will bend over backwards while ignoring needs elsewhere, namely the front lines, to bring in WR's, QB's, RB's, and TE's. Yes Spurrier was a highly sought after coach but he still fits the profile of Snyders Passing Fancy.

Are you just guessing here?

Yes, but in my defense I find it hard to believe that the three highest rated players available when the Redskins picked were Two Recievers and a Tight End. Especially after pimping our first round pick for a top tier reciever before the draft. It all goes back to my point that Snyder would rather loose with 300 yard passing games then win with a Marty Ball type offense.

You got have a QB, jury still out though on whether the investment was worth it

Agreed. But again more passing while getting less help up front.

I don't understand the point of mentioning only WRs we've allegedly gone after, while not mentioning linemen we've allegedly gone after

I'll get back to that after class but still a fair point.

However one of my biggest problems as of late with Snyder trying to build through the air is that in our division and location it's not exactly practical. Is it possible? Of course, history proves that. However history also proves that our best bet at being a winner is playing smash mouth football. I mean look at the facts. We play in a location where it gets cold near the end of the year. On top of that our division opponents play in cold weather locations, save Dallas. It's common sense that passing games function better in warm weather. I mean hell our passing game was fine this year when the temperature was in the low 90's high 80's.

Another problem is our division is full of teams equipped to rush the passer. The Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants all have the ability to get after the Quarterback. Why on Earth would we be trying to build this super awesome passing game? I mean theres a reason that every team in the NFC East is good at running the ball, because where we play, running the ball is not a luxury, it's an element of survival (in the football sense of course).

So until Snyder stops daydreaming about the Rams during the early part of the decade we will continue to go downhill.

The legend of 'smashmouth football' is a past it's time. The team that has dominiated the NFC East for a decade has been the Eagles, a team that passes no less than 60% of the time. We've got to get away from our past and the 'pound the rock' mentality. The Hogs, Riggo, Joey T, Coach Gibbs are all the past, the present and future is winning through the air. By the way, New England plays in a cold weather area, how did their passing game fare the past few years? They've never been a running team and I think for the most part they did OK the past decade.

While Spurrier was a joke of a head coach, I'd bet as an offensive coordinator he'd be damn successful. Points are scored in the passing game in today's NFL. We've tried to get with the times but we've failed miserably at establishing franchise cornerstones at two positions, QB and #1 WR. Yes the lines are very important, but two teams with terrible OL this season were the Steelers and Cardinals. How did that work out for them? They have however elite QB and a legitimate #1 WR. You can get away with less than elite OL if you are elite at other positions. We're not elite anywhere, merely 'good' at a few spots.

I think the article is well written. I appreciate what others have said about DS stepping back on decisions and letting Vinny take over. Yet I can't be totally convinced that Vinny's not making decisions w/Snyder in his ear. Two wr's & a TE in last year's draft smells of danny influence. Was Jason Taylor all Vinny's decision (for the record I like the deal at the time, but a 2nd was awful high).


Also, Vinny seems to be our GM because of his close relation to Snyder and not because of his GM prowess. Since he seems like a minion of Snyder, the owner's personel tiebreaker rule sounds absurd:

"If Vinny and the head coach can't decide between a player then Danny decides."

Danny can set himself up to make any decision he wants to by making Vinny contest a personel decision with the head coach. Vinny doesn't seem to be strong enough in his own football convictions that he would stand up to Danny. Vinny and Danny don't seem to butt heads enough in lite of the football personel moves we've been making. Since Vinny is still with the team I think that it is evident that Danny still plays a large part in the personel moves.