Paintrain
04-18-2009, 09:36 AM
The past month has been a tumultuous time for the Redskins faithful with the will he/won't he on the Cutler trade, the rumored infatuation with Mark Sanchez and the potential cost of that move and really just a general sense of uneasiness among us all. It was touched on in another thread that the Sanchez trade/draft could be one of the 5 worst moves in Snyder's ownership reign so it seemed like it could spawn 2 threads of their own- so in this one what are your worst 5 moves of the Dan Snyder era?
Worst 5 (in no particular order)
1. Firing Marty Schottenheimer. I will admit, I hated the Marty-ball era for most of his lone season with the team. It was bland, boring to watch, seemingly way out-dated and I thought he was just in it for the paycheck. What I missed was what his plan was. He wasn't trying to win a season, he was trying to build a team. He had to get buy in, had to get his players, had to get the organization on track and with his plan and Snyder's pockets it could have been amazing. His military style clashed with the defensive leaders, won him no favor in the locker room but given time likely would have produced results for most of this decade. Another coach that was initially hated but eventually saw the results of his program-Tom Coughlin.
2. Hiring Steve Spurrier. Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Jacquez Green, Reidel Anthony, just the whole damn Gator-Skins era was terrible. If there ever was a time that we needed Charley Casserly (or another GM) to pick the right pieces that was the time. Spurrier was overmatched on the NFL level and it was pretty evident early on. By the end of his 2nd year it was almost merciful for Spurrier to leave. He was tired of the NFL and God knows we were tired of him! The shame is he could have been a successful offensive coordinator with the right GM and right head coach.
3. The offseason championships. Since 2000 the Redskins have earned the reputation-sometimes legitimately, sometimes not-of being champs of the offseason. The worst was 2000 coming off the division title season and bringing in Smith, George, Carrier and Deion but not far behind was the Brandon Lloyd/Adam Archuleta offseason of '05. We can't really fault Snyder for big game hunting but we can clearly blame him for his aim!
4. Hiring Joe Gibbs. I know I am going to get killed for this because of who Gibbs is and what he represents. I also know that I included him in my best 5 list so it's contradictory for him to be in the worst 5 also but hear me out. When Gibbs arrived, we were a mess. We had no clear answer at QB, an OK offensive line, no legitimate depth in the WR corp and only two playmakers (Arrington & Pierce) on defense (not counting Champ because he was leaving). After 4 years of Gibbs, when he left we had no clear answer at QB, an older but still OK offensive line, no legitimate depth in the WR corp and only two playmakers (Landry & Fletcher) on defense. Gibbs had a 4 year plan and sacraficed much of our future to try to reach it. Once he left, we were left with an old, bloated, mediocre roster and not much to restock the cupboard with.
5. Vinny Cerrato. I don't think there is a team executive as reviled by his fan base (now that Millen was fired) as Vinny is with the Redskins. I don't think there is anything tangible that we can specifically point to him and say, 'you did this!' but the problem is his relationship to the owner and the perceived lap dog status it represents. With an owner like Snyder, we need a strong, accomplished GM that he will respect and defer to. Vinny just gives us the sense that even if it's the most moronic football decision, he will reply with-'Well if you think so, Dan.' Cerrato isn't helped by his portrayal in the media, but it's telling that after Marty fired him he didn't get a sniff in any other organization.
Worst 5 (in no particular order)
1. Firing Marty Schottenheimer. I will admit, I hated the Marty-ball era for most of his lone season with the team. It was bland, boring to watch, seemingly way out-dated and I thought he was just in it for the paycheck. What I missed was what his plan was. He wasn't trying to win a season, he was trying to build a team. He had to get buy in, had to get his players, had to get the organization on track and with his plan and Snyder's pockets it could have been amazing. His military style clashed with the defensive leaders, won him no favor in the locker room but given time likely would have produced results for most of this decade. Another coach that was initially hated but eventually saw the results of his program-Tom Coughlin.
2. Hiring Steve Spurrier. Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Jacquez Green, Reidel Anthony, just the whole damn Gator-Skins era was terrible. If there ever was a time that we needed Charley Casserly (or another GM) to pick the right pieces that was the time. Spurrier was overmatched on the NFL level and it was pretty evident early on. By the end of his 2nd year it was almost merciful for Spurrier to leave. He was tired of the NFL and God knows we were tired of him! The shame is he could have been a successful offensive coordinator with the right GM and right head coach.
3. The offseason championships. Since 2000 the Redskins have earned the reputation-sometimes legitimately, sometimes not-of being champs of the offseason. The worst was 2000 coming off the division title season and bringing in Smith, George, Carrier and Deion but not far behind was the Brandon Lloyd/Adam Archuleta offseason of '05. We can't really fault Snyder for big game hunting but we can clearly blame him for his aim!
4. Hiring Joe Gibbs. I know I am going to get killed for this because of who Gibbs is and what he represents. I also know that I included him in my best 5 list so it's contradictory for him to be in the worst 5 also but hear me out. When Gibbs arrived, we were a mess. We had no clear answer at QB, an OK offensive line, no legitimate depth in the WR corp and only two playmakers (Arrington & Pierce) on defense (not counting Champ because he was leaving). After 4 years of Gibbs, when he left we had no clear answer at QB, an older but still OK offensive line, no legitimate depth in the WR corp and only two playmakers (Landry & Fletcher) on defense. Gibbs had a 4 year plan and sacraficed much of our future to try to reach it. Once he left, we were left with an old, bloated, mediocre roster and not much to restock the cupboard with.
5. Vinny Cerrato. I don't think there is a team executive as reviled by his fan base (now that Millen was fired) as Vinny is with the Redskins. I don't think there is anything tangible that we can specifically point to him and say, 'you did this!' but the problem is his relationship to the owner and the perceived lap dog status it represents. With an owner like Snyder, we need a strong, accomplished GM that he will respect and defer to. Vinny just gives us the sense that even if it's the most moronic football decision, he will reply with-'Well if you think so, Dan.' Cerrato isn't helped by his portrayal in the media, but it's telling that after Marty fired him he didn't get a sniff in any other organization.