Will Cerrato Undermine Fassel?

[bulldog]

At first glance, hiring Jim Fassel to resurrect an offense that didn't look like it could get things together over the past 4 years doesn't appear to be an uninspired move. Jim Zorn no doubt can help Campbell develop better footwork and a quicker release.

But the key move of the week that may undermine all is the elevation of Cerrato, all but closing the war room door with Dan Snyder and Vinny making all the key calls on personnel, both in the draft and free agency.

I keep going back to what Vinny Cerrato told us in 2002 when Spurrier was hired and the team let Stephen Davis go..........namely, that the team had a 'plan' and that fans shouldn't be worried about the direction of the franchise.

Well, opening the season with Shane Matthews, Trung Canidate and Jacquez Green as starters WAS in fact something that worried a great many of us, and as it turned out in successive 7-9 and 5-11 seasons, a justifiable worry.

I can't help but see the parallels in Dallas where Bill Parcells departed and took Jeff Ireland and the pick of the assistant coaches.

With Bill out of the war room, Jerry Jones is once again in position to make his 'inspired' selections in the draft, such as the drafting of Quincy Carter and the trade of two #1 picks to the Seahawks for receiver Joey Galloway.

[2006Skins]

bulldog, you bring some eery comparisons.

This has been beaten to death, but this team will not go anywhere without a true football person at GM (Gibbs was this man just with a different title).

I am now sort of hoping that Fassel is the "fill-in" until Cowher feels like coaching in 09.

This team has needs that have to be fixed. But with the right coaches in place, can STILL compete next year. But Fassel's record has shown he is NOT the right person. Much like Spurrier was not the right person.

[Aghar]

The blind(Dan), leads the blind(Vinny), leading the blind(Jim)....That's how I feel right this moment and I don't think I am alone in that at all.

I think we all will find out just why GW did not get this job. Because he wanted more control and so did Vinny( for whatever reason I do not know) and Vinny won. As usual. :doh:

[bulldog]

the first thing Bill Walsh did when he returned to San Francisco in the late 1990's was get rid of Vinny Cerrato.

that should have made SOME impression on Milstein and later Snyder.

but it didn't, which shows that these are money guys and not knowledgeable sports owners like a Cooke or Jerry Buss.

these guys hired the best to make them look good.

here we hire the discards and expect to move forward?

[iheartskins]

well, bulldog, does Vinny's promotion conclusively indicate that Snyder is more interested in a regime of sycophants than a meritocracy?

[herb mul-key]

Vinny was a college QB he might like to call/suggest plays and strategy

[JimmyConway]

I can't help but see the parallels in Dallas where Bill Parcells departed and took Jeff Ireland and the pick of the assistant coaches.

With Bill out of the war room, Jerry Jones is once again in position to make his 'inspired' selections in the draft, such as the drafting of Quincy Carter and the trade of two #1 picks to the Seahawks for receiver Joey Galloway.

Slow down bulldog. Don't give them that much credit just yet. Sadly, in order to draw that parallel we first have to win something other than the wildcard.

[Seabee1973]

the first thing Bill Walsh did when he returned to San Francisco in the late 1990's was get rid of Vinny Cerrato.

that should have made SOME impression on Milstein and later Snyder.

but it didn't, which shows that these are money guys and not knowledgeable sports owners like a Cooke or Jerry Buss.

these guys hired the best to make them look good.

here we hire the discards and expect to move forward?

Viny took the public fall for the stupidity of Dwight clark and carmen Policy

[Fred Jones]

The involvement of Dan in player personnel maneuvers has always been speculative. The fans and media assume a lot of things when they make such a comment. Jones comes out and clearly indicates his choices, but Dan does not. I think it is difficult to tell outside of contract negotiations what Dan's involvement is.

Reference Vinny and the HC. I think that is difficult to tell as well. Vinny does not strike me as someone like Smith of SD that dictates his terms and if you don't like it you are gone. Well, Marty is gone and a yes man named Norv is in place. I think Vinny will try and work with the new HC and perhaps simply over-rule him on some draft and FA decisions, but not shut out or undermine.

I disagree with his choice of HC, but I want to at least give Vinny a chance to prove himself as GM.

[ECU-ALUM]

Will Cerrato undermine Fassel...every damn chance he gets...he is (for intensive purposes) the GM and he has all the power he wants.

[Gilgamesh]

My only hope now is that the team falls so flat under the new structure that Cerrato will be unable to redirect the blame on the coaching staff and he too will be fired. Better that than continuous 5-11 or 6-10 seasons followed by blown high draft picks, huge contract free-agency busts to compensate, and the subsequent cap consequences. After all of this time, Dan really still doesn't get it.

[Sarge]

Only if the danny tells him to

[jr4417]

Can someone please define stability for me?

[CustomApparelDirect]

The Long And Winding Search

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, right, has given Vinny Cerrato a longer title -- a specialty of the organization -- but will it amount to a substantive change?

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, right, has given Vinny Cerrato a longer title -- a specialty of the organization -- but will it amount to a substantive change? (2006 Photo By Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)

By Michael Wilbon

Wednesday, January 23, 2008; Page E01

Nobody does the offseason like the Washington Redskins. No team in the NFL produces as much drama without actually playing a game. When Tom Brady was spotted by paparazzi wearing that mysterious boot on his right foot yesterday, who was his rival for news? Well, the Redskins, of course, and their mystery coaching candidate. If it's not big-name, high-priced free agents being introduced, then it's Marty Schottenheimer, or it's Steve Spurrier, or it's Joe Gibbs . . . or it's Schottenheimer leaving, or Spurrier leaving, or Gibbs leaving, followed by a coaching search.

This Story

*

Fassel and Redskins Have Met Two Times

*

Michael Wilbon: The Long and Winding Search

*

Fassel a Familiar Face

That doesn't mean very much has changed on the field. No matter what happens in the offseason, you can pretty much pencil the Redskins in for 8-8 and have a very good chance of being right. Once again, the Redskins are looking for a head coach. Various players at various times since Gibbs announced that he was done have said they hope that Gregg Williams, the assistant head coach-defense, is named the next head coach.

But Daniel Snyder hasn't fallen in line with that thinking just yet, not that he should. We've been told over and over that Snyder has had four sessions with Williams. Four. Question: What would you think if your boss of four years needed to interview you four times for a promotion?

You'd probably think he wasn't overly enthusiastic about promoting you.

That doesn't mean Snyder won't hire Williams; he might. And Williams, whether he was the first choice or the fourth, could prove to be worth the time and investment.

But to the outside world it looks like Snyder, with all these meetings, is trying to find a reason to promote Williams . . . or a reason not to. And that's fine, because Snyder is the one who's going to be on the hook for, what, $12 million at the very least? He ought to make sure he's comfortable with the next coach. But even if he hires Williams, whose work has certainly earned him the opportunity, we all would have the same question: "What took you so long when the guy is right there under your nose and you've known him for four years?"

All along, I've been expecting Snyder to be in the hunt for somebody with star power. Not Bill Cowher, who has said repeatedly he doesn't want to coach this season, but somebody who's been to the Super Bowl, somebody who's coached on the big stage. That's why it made sense immediately when the name of Jim Fassel, the former New York Giants coach, first came up.

Fassel took over a 6-10 team and immediately finished 10-5-1. Three years later his Giants made it to the Super Bowl. There were two disappointing playoff losses, including the one in which his Giants blew a 24-point lead to the 49ers in January 2003. And Fassel's 58-53-1 record as an NFL head coach is rather middling.

But . . . of the eight coaches in the second round of the playoffs, five had been fired and rehired, including Tony Dungy and Bill Belichick.

What might weigh greater in Fassel's favor is that he earned his stripes by working with quarterbacks. As an assistant at Stanford (1979-83), Fassel worked with a young phenom named John Elway. And while Elway had a number of great seasons, his best might have been in 1993 when working again with Fassel.

Most franchises now must count their starting quarterback as the team's No. 1 asset, especially if the club has traded up in the draft to get that quarterback, as the Redskins did to select Jason Campbell. There are more than a few people in the NFL who believe Campbell, with the right mentor, can become a championship-caliber quarterback, and perhaps Fassel is that coach.

You'll have to excuse me, please, if I hope the next Redskins coach, whoever that may be, is welcomed but not serenaded. The hype that's accompanied each of the last three coaches, particularly Spurrier, who had never coached in the NFL, was way over the top. There's plenty of time for that in that portion of the year that comes after the offseason.

(I'm going to go off-road here for a second, using a device once employed by Tony Kornheiser -- you remember him, don't you? Grizzled columnist on permanent hiatus from actually writing. . . . Tony would have a lengthy aside about something that interested him more than the news of the day. . . . For me at this moment that would be the Washington Wizards. I can't bring myself to care more about who the Redskins are interviewing than I do about Maryland beating North Carolina, Georgetown being in the top 10, or the Wizards beating the Celtics twice and the mighty Dallas Mavericks by 18.

The Wizards aren't interviewing; they're ballin', son. Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison ought to both be on the Eastern Conference all-star team for what they've done. The Wizards are so hot several of their games are being moved to national TV. They're so hot Gilbert Arenas is talking about coming off the bench when he returns to the lineup in March. The Redskins aren't playing on Super Bowl Sunday, but the Wizards are . . . against Kobe and the Lakers, no less, in a noon game that can get you out of the Phone Booth and back home in plenty of time for those Super Bowl parties.)

In keeping with this theme of being the champion of the offseason, the Redskins yesterday named Vinny Cerrato to the new position of executive vice president for football operations. The Redskins say he'll assume responsibility for all aspects of the team's football organization, including personnel, the roster, scouting and salary cap management.

The Redskins are great at giving people jobs with long titles. Al Saunders is the associate head coach-offense. Joe Bugel is the assistant head coach-offense. And Don Breaux is the offensive coordinator.

What I really want to know is how this fancy new title changes Cerrato's life. If he's got the exact same duties and has input but no power to make football decisions, so what? If he's the Boss of All Things Football, a position I keep pushing Snyder to create, then this could be a significant step in the right direction. Cerrato has taken more criticism than anybody in the organization. But I know this much: His advice as to what to do was wiser in several instances than the course of action the Redskins took.

When the dust finally settles, it might be a good thing if the Redskins have fewer men with big titles and a better chance of avoiding the same worn melodrama this time next year.

F.Y.I. :applause::2cents:

[kschles]

Will Cerrato undermine Fassel...every damn chance he gets...he is (for intensive purposes) the GM and he has all the power he wants.

I'm more worried about Snyder undermining Cerrato. Might as well give Vinny a chance to be, in effect, GM. Since it's already done, we can see if Cerrato has what it takes. If Snyder keeps meddling, I fear he learned nothing from Gibbs. Wish Snyder would just sign the checks and enjoy the owner's box.