rtandler Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Tandler's Redskins Blog I don't normally plop an entire blog post into this board, but I think that this one has some needed perspective on this Fassel situation. Again, I apologize for the length. According to multiple reports, former Giants coach Jim Fassel has emerged as “a leading candidate” for the Redskins’ head coaching job. In fact, as I type this, Adam Schefter of the NFL Network is saying that the Redskins are “zeroing in” on Fassel as “the leading candidate” for the job. This development has the message board community and talk show callers and other vocal Redskins fans in an uproar. Actually, that’s an understatement; they’re in a state of meltdown comparable to that after any Dallas loss. The objections to Fassel are many, but here is a summary of the main ones: • The hiring of Fassel would mean that any modicum of continuity would be out the window. Since Fassel is an offensive guy, Al Saunders would be out and Jason Campbell would be learning his seventh offensive system in eight years. And since it’s doubtful that Gregg Williams would want to stick around after being passed over for the job, there would be a new defensive guru as well (Schefter reported that the Skins are interested in Rex Ryan, ex of the Ravens, for that job). • Fassel was fired as the Ravens’ offensive coordinator by his best friend, Brian Billick, during the 2006 season. Billick didn’t just take the play calling away from his buddy, he canned him in the middle of October. • It’s been four years since anyone has expressed any serious interest in hiring Fassel as a head coach. That interest four years ago came from Dan Snyder, who reportedly was on the verge of having Fassel replace Steve Spurrier before he gave Joe Gibbs one more call just for the heck of it. Since then there have been over two dozen NFL head coach openings and the words “Jim Fassel is a leading candidate” has been used in conjunction with none of them. • In his final year in New York, the inmates were running the asylum. Fassel lost the locker room at some point and he was unable to find it. These certainly are valid concerns and, in sum, the negatives may prove to be fatal to a potential Jim Fassel coaching stint. However, it’s not all bad news when it comes to Fassel. Here are some pro’s to go with the con’s: • In 1997, his first year as head coach of the Giants, he took a team that the year before had gone 6-10 under Dan Reeves to the playoffs. As NFC East champs with a 10-5-1. With Danny Kannell and Dave Brown at quarterback. Let that sink in for a minute and tell me that the guy isn’t capable of a pretty good coaching job. • In November of 2000 with his team’s season hanging in the balance, he “guaranteed” that his team would make the playoffs. None of this “well, if we compete real hard and fight out there we might be able to get in” stuff. Nope he said they would make it. His players reacted very well to what was both a challenge and a statement of confidence. Not only did they make the playoffs the won the division, earning a first-round bye and home field throughout the playoffs. That is something that the Redskins have not accomplished in 16 years. And they got to the Super Bowl, something that the Redskins also haven’t done since 1991. • He had a very good record, 54-41-1, until a 4-12 collapse in 2003, his final season in New York. Injuries played a pretty big role in that last ugly season—he had to start Jesse Palmer at QB for three games. Still, the season is on his record so it’s a respectable 58-53-1. • This is a bit more abstract, but both of the coaches who took their teams to the Super Bowl this year were run out of previous NFL jobs in the same manner as was Fassel. Browns fans were offering to pack the moving van to get Bill Belichick gone and there were parties all over Jacksonville when Tom Coughlin left. That doesn’t mean that Fassel will get the Skins to the Super Bowl, but it does mean that other coaches in similar circumstances have done so. If anyone has any more pros or cons, please feel free to chime in with them. What’s my opinion? I’m not bothering to form one until things begin to firm up here (which means that I could be forming an opinion tomorrow morning, at the rate things are going). I will say that I’m not 100% aboard the continuity bandwagon. I have all the respect in the world for Joe Gibbs, but he’s not leaving a juggernaut behind. It’s a team that in four years had to put on odds-defying winning streaks to pull out two six seeds. Maybe they need a shake up to push them over to top so that words like “home field throughout” don’t seem to have been spoken in a foreign language. I also think that what the players want is of little relevance. Whenever the boss leaves, the workers in the office want his top aide to take over. It’s only natural to want to know what you’re getting into, to want to minimize the change. But if someone from the outside gets brought in, people don’t quit their jobs or anything like that. They go along, adjust to the new way of doing things and get on with their lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Good info and commentary all in one post RT. Your usual great work. Thanks for posting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Nice post. Very good points. I don't feel so bad now about Fossel, although still wish if the Skins are willing to shake things up this much, that they should just get a young up and comer instead of another re-tread. We'll see folks... :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herb mul-key Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 No...I repeat NO Fossil...whatever his background is...No Fossil!!!!! Please hire GW ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Well, how about the idea Bram floated in his blog that Fassel would be QB coach/OC?...that's a guy who loves O-line and running and has done great work with QBs who showed way less potential than JC. If Al is going to get the boot, Fas is geared towards what many of us here like about our O personnel. And GW as HC, R Ryan as DC? I could live with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandies Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I am a loyalty guy so I prefer Williams. That being said I will be happy if Fassell is hired. He took a poor New York team and made it a contender. His disaster year was filled with injuries. I am not sure who are better options. An interesting thread start would be, better options and why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veretax Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Isn't Greg williams under contract for 1 more year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeysc23 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 " Jason Campbell would be learning his seventh offensive system in eight years" Correct me if I am wrong but I am pretty sure Jason hasn't even been in the league for that long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awesome Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 When your best buddy is Brian Billick, you might as well have no friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eeyeats Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 " Jason Campbell would be learning his seventh offensive system in eight years"Correct me if I am wrong but I am pretty sure Jason hasn't even been in the league for that long. that includes college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtandler Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Isn't Greg williams under contract for 1 more year? Yes, he is. I suppose Snyder could make Williams stay against his will and force him to either work or sit out. But given that a potential Fassel hiring will be a very tough PR sell--perhaps an impossible sell if the comments from here and CPND are any indication--I don't think that Snyder would compound it by forcing Williams, the peoples' and players' choice, into staying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyKilmer Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Jason has had 7 different systems in 8 years. He should be used to picking up a new system and whose to say the new one might not be better? Did he set the NFL on fire with Saunders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hail2skins Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 The one con I perhaps see is age. Fassel will be 59 this year while Williams will be 50. I would like to see the Skins trend toward a younger guy as HC to perhaps the chances the guy will stick around longer than, say, 3-4 years. Then again, perhaps someone Fassel can be compared to is Tom Coughlin. Coughlin was 68-60 in eight seasons with the Jags but his last several years were very mediocre and he got canned. He was 58 when he took over the Giants and I think you can say his four seasons have been for the most part successful, particularly when you factor in that he basically sacrificed a season in which the Giants had a great shot of making the playoffs by replacing Kurt Warner with Eli Manning when the team was 5-4. And you wouldn't think Coughlin will be leaving any time soon after this year's Super Bowl appearance. And Wilbon wrote in his column that will appear in Wednesday's Post that five out of the eight coaches who made the divisional round had been fired at some point (three out of four in the championship round)......so anything's possible. For the Skins, though, it would be nice to see some originality come out of this front office. Heck, if they don't like GW, give that Schwartz guy a shot......I dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisxcore Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I don't know... you could certainly find many positive things to say about Fassel's career, and you could do the same in a negative manner for GW. There's undoubtedly some impressive things worth noting in that summary of Fassel's past. As for Gregg, well there's the Buffalo days. Surely weren't all that impressive at all. I can understand why some might say Fassel is the better choice. I've been thinking a lot about this lately - with new rumors surfacing seemingly every 15 minutes. You know what? At this point, I'm not even 100% sure why I want GW as Head Coach and have since Joe stepped down. There's nothing out there to say that he's, in any way, a better coach than Jim Fassel, whatsoever. I do though. Maybe it just boils down to this past season, everything we, as fans, and as an organization as a whole - had to go through, watch, hear and be a part of. GW was a part of it too. He was here for all of it. Fought back tears when he talked about Sean - just like we did. GW is a Redskin. Fassel, just isn't. He just doesn't feel like a part of the family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsmith2003 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I (my 2 cents don't matter to Danny Boy) think we should go as is, with GW as head coach this year, bring in Fassel for OC if he wants it, let's face it, a non-timing based system may be what Jason can relish in. give it 1 year to see if that "continuity" worked, if not, we all know Bill Cowher is ready to come back in 2009, and THEN we can throw it all out the door to get a coach who can LEAD a team as capably as Gibbs Is that too much to ask? I personally think Danny Boy owes it to GW as (may not be in contract) was insinuated to get passed onto GW, and it WOULD show a measure of class by Mr Schneider What do you all think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsfan1523 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 The best thing that Fassel does is teach QB's. A good thing for our young Campbell who already has the skills to be very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnix Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 fassel and his years with the giants, were good, but, not excellent. his offense was as dull, and boring as any i have ever seen. times have changed. his offense fits his personality, none. he was terrible with baltimore as offensive coord, and billick was his buddy. if danny is not taking williams, lets go with a younger coach with aspirations to do great things on offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingRex Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Jason Campbell may become a proficient passer soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REEGSKINS Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 all i can say with fossil is that he got the most out of a Qb with a very big wind-up in collins so hopefully he can get good results with campbell, if he takes over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goonsta8 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 i hope that the fossil talks are just talks and GW gets the job, he has done a great job on defense and i believe he deserves a shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertWrestler Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Great post rtandler. I was looking for something like that. I listened to the nfl channel on satellite all day. Not too much was offered up there. Pat Kirwin keeps standing by his opinion that GW is not only the right man for the job, but GW will take this team to the next level. Personally I hope GW gets the job however I'm just tired of the whole thing and feel like our team is missing valuable time with players at the Senior Bowl as well as time with others. I want someone in place now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel2 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Joe Gibbs put depth back into our roster, something that was missing prior to his return. Did Snyder and Vinny do this prior to Joe's return? Fassel was runned out of New York because his offense was predictable. The team that went to the SB his first year with the Giants was a team that had decent players from the privious coaching staff. After his first year, the Giants began to fall from grace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NY1 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 What Joe Gibbs put depth back into our roster, something that was missing prior to his return. Did Snyder and Vinny do this prior to Joe's return?Fassel was runned out of New York because his offense was predictable. The team that went to the SB his first year with the Giants was a team that was a carry-over from the privious coaching staff. After his first year, the Giants began to fall from grace. Umm... The Giants won the NFC East in Fassel's first season (with Danny Kanell at QB) after not making the playoffs for the prior 3 seasons under Dan Reeves. They went to the Super Bowl in his 4th season. They went back to the playoffs as a Wild Card in his 6th year. Fassel won NFL Coach of the Year in 1997 and 2000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbodiesel#44 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 If anyone has any more pros or cons, please feel free to chime in with them. Nice post. I remember him losing that team in NY, and that scares me. Good leaders fail often, but having the troops mutiny is a bad reflection on his leadership abilities. Bad kharma. I remember hating Spurriers guts for letting our team quit mid season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I've seen a couple comments that say Jim Fassel is a good developer of QBs. Which QBs has he developed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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