Bad news for the Redskins

(note: Facebookies, these Notes copy over from my blog, http://wellformedthoughts.blogspot.com/)

Back on September 8 I wrote the following:


Maryland Terrapins - 5-7 (yes, I know they already got killed by Cal)
Washington Redskins - 6-10

Opinion: If Maryland goes 5-7, as I think, Ralph Freidgen should resign. You need to recruit better OL/DL/LB types, Ralph. Peer E Uhd. Speculation: Last year for Jason Campbell in a Redskins uniform. Last year for Jim Zorn as head coach. Albert Haynesworth will remind people more of Dana Stubblefield than of Reggie White, and he'll miss at least 3 games. And hopefully, if they hire a Bill Cowher / Mike Shannahan / Jon Gruden type to come in, it means bye-bye for Vinny Cerrato. I'll help you pack your office, Vinny.


Ok, so I was actually optimistic on both, even though at the time I was in the very low end of most opinions. And the opinions and speculations, I stand by those.

Maryland Football, it's a mess, and frankly, they are now being cost-conscious which means they won't be good for a while. Like 10 years.

But the Redskins. Oi. People, it's NOT going to get better. Why? I read in an article where Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato recently both took a trip to scout Colt McCoy, QB at Texas and Heisman hopeful.

And that's it in a nutshell.

Problem A. NFL owners are NOT qualified to scout college players. I don't care how smart you are, or how much money you make, or how successful you are in business. Dan Snyder has no business evaluating college talent. If he's got that much free time, come wash my car. Remember last year when Snyder was in love with Mark Sanchez (of USC, who went to the Jets), Jake Cutler, and who knows how many else QBs? Clearly, Snyder has a thing for "big name" QBs.

Problem B. If Snyder is jet-setting around the country with Vinny, he's not getting rid of Vinny any time soon. So, if you accept A and B as true, as I do, you come to the conclusion it will be business as usual next year for the Redskins. More losing, more mediocrity.

At this point, I can't imagine there are ANY big name coaches (established difference makers) who will work in this scenario.

There has been exactly ONE coach who has finished his tenure with the Snyder-owned Redskins at .500 (no coach in the Snyder era has compiled a winning record) - Marty Schottenheimer. Read this article (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/12/schottenheimer_on_cerrato.html?wprss=dcsportsbog) and you'll see things more clearly.

Prediction? Way too early, but right now, Zorn gets fired, Vinny stays, no established coach wants to come here and the Redskins reach on some young college guy or NFL assistant. Just like they did with Jim Zorn. Then they draft a big name college QB (McCoy, or Sam Bradford, or Jimmy Clausen), a WR, and a RB. They won't address the OL, DE, or LB issues significantly. And they'll go 4-12 or 6-10 next year.

Jason Reid of the Washington Post put it perfectly - "Dan Snyder could go out and hire a big name coach/GM to handle all the football operations, win 4 of the next 5 Super Bowls, and he would be miserable because he didn't do it himself."

Darker days lay ahead, Redskins fans. Darker than we've seen and darker than you can imagine.