Would you take Charley Casserly back as GM?

The Richard Justice article was interesting to me. I didn't realize that some people had that view of Casserly as covering his ass with the media. It's so easy for a GM to take credit for a player that succeeds and to blame the coaches for a bust (and vice versa I suppose). Who the hell knows the difference? I think that's why Gibbs was always at pains to say "It's all of us together, etc. etc.". And Gibbs was a guy who could have gotten any reporter in town, or nationally for that matter, to say whatever he wanted with a 5 minute phone call. He could have had Cerrato out on his ass in no time if he were so inclined.

Agreed in principle. One caveat...our team under Snyder, and this is my only major philosophical qualm with him in general, is that we overpay. We overpay financially far too often and we overpay with draft picks. Both with Cerrato calling the shots and not. It seems to be more of a fault of Snyder's than anything else. He sets the tone. Who is Cerrato, or Gibbs, or whoever to tell their owner/boss "Nah we won't pay that even though you are willing?"

Why do you think that is? I get the feeling that Snyder feels as though "the art of the big feal" or however you want to think of it is his big contribution to the team. So, he'll pay whatever it takes to maintain this image he has as the top salesman of the year. No measly steak knives for him. He wins the Cadillac.

This ocurred to me when Zorn was talking about how exciting it was to see the whole process play out after Midnight on the first day of FA and the phone calls and jets flying around the country. He was clearly dazzled by Snyder's process. It just seems like the extra money is spent to make Dan Snyder feel like he's really helping. They can't offer fair money because then they might not land the FAs and if they don't close the deal, if he doesn't close the deal, he's nothing. That's the feeling that I get.

Why do you think that is? I get the feeling that Snyder feels as though "the art of the big feal" or however you want to think of it is his big contribution to the team. So, he'll pay whatever it takes to maintain this image he has as the top salesman of the year. No measly steak knives for him. He wins the Cadillac.

This ocurred to me when Zorn was talking about how exciting it was to see the whole process play out after Midnight on the first day of FA and the phone calls and jets flying around the country. He was clearly dazzled by Snyder's process. It just seems like the extra money is spent to make Dan Snyder feel like he's really helping. They can't offer fair money because then they might not land the FAs and if they don't close the deal, if he doesn't close the deal, he's nothing. That's the feeling that I get.

I think it is partly that. I also think it is the nature of nouvea riche in our society. They really take to heart the notion that you have to spend money to make money. Since money making has been so easy in the 15 years they had to really manage and lead a lot less than before. I don't think Snyder really gets, at his core, how to be efficient with money.

Trent Green left because we would not give him the type of money he was looking for. Since he was a FA he decided to follow Martz to St. Louis. The decision basically blew up in all of our faces. Green gets injured and eventually replaced by Warner, and we let a tier 2 QB go because we would not pony up the dough. Of course if any of us had realized then what we had in Green, we would have never let him walk.

I'm pretty sure if we had an owner at the time, Trent would have been signed no problem. That had to be the worst time ever to be going through ownership changes when your best FA's are deciding their future.

Had he been able to sign Trent our future would have panned out a lot differently.

We won a superbowl with Casserly, but I am not sure if it was his team or Bethards Team. He did not have real great results in Texas, but I love him as an analyst. He sure sounds like he knows what he is doing. I still want to see what Cerrato will do.