Originally Posted by Trample the Elderly
Just for you hommie.
Cerrato: Roster was capable of reaching playoffs
Vinny Cerrato, Washington's executive vice president of football operations, addressed a variety of topics concerning the team's disappointing 2-5 start while briefly speaking with reporters this afternoon at Redskins Park.
When asked if he felt he provided Coach Jim Zorn with a roster capable of reaching the postseason, Cerrato said, "Yes." When asked to repeat that, Cerrato replied, "yes," again.
Cerrato described the first seven weeks of the season as "frustrating" and "disappointing," saying this "is not where we expected to be." Cerrato is in charge of planning and implementing every aspect of the team's football strategy the last two seasons and that includes assembling an offensive line that one longtime NFL executive on another team recently described as one of the worst in the league.
In an internal offseason evaluation of the roster, the Redskins determined the offensive line was the team's weakest unit because of age and injury concerns and was responsible, in large part, for the 2-6 second-half collapse of 2008. Washington brought back guard Derrick Dockery to replace left guard Pete Kendall and made a push to sign Seattle Seahawks tackle Ray Willis.
More, however, needed to be done for a team with playoff aspirations, especially considering that left tackle Chris Samuels and right guard Randy Thomas were coming off multiple surgeries. Many in the organization expected Samuels and Thomas to miss some, if not all, of the season.
Thomas's season ended in Week 2 because of triceps injury and Samuels suffered a severe neck injury in Week 5. "We got to address and get some depth," running back Clinton Portis said of the offensive line. "We went into the season, and we didn't address that issue and it came back to haunt us."
The Redskins tried, Cerrato said.
"We added Dockery, we added Mike Williams and we attempted to," Cerrato said. "In the draft there was nobody at 13 worthy of it. Are you having the results you want to be? No, we don't want to have sacks. If it was Chris Samuels and Randy Thomas in there, would it be better? Absolutely. If you lose a Pro Bowler, it's definitely going to drop off. I guess where we're standing right now, to have more depth would be great."
As for no one being worthy to be selected with the Redskins' No. 13 overall pick in the 2009 draft, that's a matter of opinion. The Baltimore Ravens have had a much better track record than the Redskins at drafting and developing offensive linemen, and they selected tackle Michael Oher with the 23rd overall pick. Oher has started six games, moving from right tackle to the left side to replace the injured Jared Gaither.
In fairness to Cerrato, there probably aren't many Pro Bowl-caliber tackles in backup roles around the league, which Cerrato quickly pointed out. "Look around the league. Nobody has a Pro Bowler to back up a Pro Bowl," he said. "When you lose some quality people, there is a drop-off. I'm not making excuses. We have to do better."
But the Redskins, as a practice, do not draft offensive linemen. It's a philosophy thing, and that's their choice, but the best teams in the league constantly replenish their offensive lines, the league executive said.
"With Randy, we anticipated not going 16 games," Cerrato said. "We anticipated that part."
Cerrato expressed satisfaction with the team's new play-caller, offensive consultant Sherman Lewis. The Redskins lost their third straight game and produced only 17 points (the Eagles had a 27-7 lead in the first half), "but I thought Sherm provided a spark and I think the offense did some good things. And I think Fred [Davis] and Devin [Thomas] got a chance to do some things offensively. So I think coming and having to face the third-ranked defense that blitzes all the time, I thought he did a good job with the amount of time that he had. I thought he did an excellent job."
Everything, and everyone, in the organization must be evaluated after the season -- Cerrato included, he said. "I got to look at myself, we got to look at everybody and we got to just go out now and you know what you got to do -- you got to get to better day to day, week to week," he said. "And that's what it's about, it's about improving each game. It's one game at a time, one day at a time."
Perhaps you're wondering if Cerrato expects to return in his current position next season. "I feel like my job's on the line all the time," he said. "It's not something that I really worry about. My job is to get us going, to fill these holes when guys get hurt. Things take care of themselves after the season. I don't worry about those things."
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