WP: Boswell: Chaos Theory

[SkinsHokieFan]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content//article/2009/10/11/AR2009101102151.html

Some snips

Chaos Theory

By Thomas Boswell

Monday, October 12, 2009

CHARLOTTE

Six years ago, before Joe Gibbs returned to restore adult supervision, the Redskins were the joke of the NFL.

Now, just 21 months after his retirement, the team is once again headed down football's greased slope toward mockery. The Redskins aren't quite there yet. But, after blowing a 15-point lead to the sickly Panthers, you can see full-scale disaster from here.

As the Redskins lost, 20-17, to the previous winless Panthers, memories returned of the Redskins' 2002-03 horror flick, the one starring Steve Spurrier in "The Ol' Ball Coach Gets Massacred."

This time, Jim Zorn is reprising the central role of an inexperienced and out-of-his-depth NFL head coach. But it is the names at the top of the dis-credits that truly identify this B-movie product: Directed by Daniel Snyder, produced by Vinny Cerrato.

"That was chaos," said all-pro tackle Chris Samuels, recalling the meltdown in Spurrier's second year, when great things were predicted but the Redskins went 5-11. "These are just tough times."

With due respect to Samuels, chaos isn't far off -- not when you bring in a bingo caller from a senior citizens center to look over the coach's shoulder and help him with his offense. It doesn't look like B-10 or C-32 was the right call when the Redskins went for it on fourth and three late in the third quarter and failed to make it, setting up Carolina in good field position to drive for a field goal.

Under Snyder and Cerrato, the Redskins are a franchise that has repeated the same mistakes and then suffered the same punishments. Perhaps we must revisit their embarrassing past to understand the present. Four seasons of relative sanity under Gibbs, including two trips to the playoffs, can obscure the real line of continuity in recent Redskins history.

This is the same pair that pushed out coach Marty Schottenheimer, after he finished the 2001 season 8-3, because he wanted too much authority to suit them.

That is the same kind of ego clash -- between strong, established NFL personalities and the insecurities of the current Redskins front office -- that led to the departure of Gregg Williams and Al Saunders two years ago.

None of this was necessary. I said it then. I'll say I told you so now. When a coach like Joe Gibbs comes back to town for four years to fix your mess, you take his advice. You retain the people he put in place.

You don't put Williams through a ridiculous 10-hour job interview that is tantamount to "get lost." You don't hire a "West Coast offense" quarterback coach from Seattle and make him your offensive coordinator, then elevate him to head coach when nobody famous wants the position.

This is what Snyder and Cerrato deserve. They brought it on themselves. The Redskins and their fans, however, and Jim Zorn for that matter, don't deserve it. They don't deserve it at all.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Bos is very correct in this.

Really, Zorn never had a chance. And after all the effort Gibbs put into re-building this organization, Zorn and Cerrato went in a totally different direction.

The coaching search itself was a complete debacle. From that point forward, they have quickly destroyed what Gibbs re-built

[THUNDERDOME]

None of this was necessary. I said it then. I'll say I told you so now. When a coach like Joe Gibbs comes back to town for four years to fix your mess, you take his advice. You retain the people he put in place.

You don't put Williams through a ridiculous 10-hour job interview that is tantamount to "get lost." You don't hire a "West Coast offense" quarterback coach from Seattle and make him your offensive coordinator, then elevate him to head coach when nobody famous wants the position.

This is what Snyder and Cerrato deserve. They brought it on themselves. The Redskins and their fans, however, and Jim Zorn for that matter, don't deserve it. They don't deserve it at all.

Can't argue that. QFT x 3000

[Destino]

Personally I'm a little sick of the Joe Gibbs ass kissing. He's the guy that went out of his way to assure everyone that Snyder wasn't the problem and that he was a good owner. He's still in bed with Snyder as far as I'm concerned.

As for Snyder of course this is his mess. I haven't head anyone serious argue otherwise.

[Andre The Giant]

Great article by Boswell (as usual).

[p0rtis26]

Great article by Bos. I thought when Gibbs left that things would fall apart. I actually thought it would happen sooner.

[Andre The Giant]

Personally I'm a little sick of the Joe Gibbs ass kissing. He's the guy that went out of his way to assure everyone that Snyder wasn't the problem and that he was a good owner. He's still in bed with Snyder as far as I'm concerned.

As for Snyder of course this is his mess. I haven't head anyone serious argue otherwise.

Biggest mistake Gibbs made during Term II was not firing Vinny.

2nd biggest mistake was hiring Al Saunders and changing the offense (which Vinny changed again 2 years later).

He backed Snyder as a sign of leadership. Gibbs is a world-class leader.

Otherwise, the Skins were MUCH better under Gibbs than all other non-Marty teams (with the exception of 99, which Snyder inherited).

[BadKarma]

Personally I'm a little sick of the Joe Gibbs ass kissing. He's the guy that went out of his way to assure everyone that Snyder wasn't the problem and that he was a good owner. He's still in bed with Snyder as far as I'm concerned.

Cmon bro, really? Gibbs2 was the only positive thing to happen here since the little worm bought the team. Gibbs is a good guy and gave Napoleon the benefit of the doubt while he was here and tried to save careers. Cerrato and Snyder were given a second chance and they blew up Joe's staff cause they thought they knew more than him and wanted more offensive production.

These 2 have failed us and and failed Gibbs who put his neck out to come back, now its just a matter of how long as fans we have to sit back and watch this train wreck before Dan / Vinny realize that they just aren't cut out to manage an NFL team and need to hire a guy with more credibility to take full control and fix this. Personally I think we are in for a long wait.

[chipwhich]

Biggest mistake Gibbs made during Term II was not firing Vinny.

2nd biggest mistake was hiring Al Saunders and changing the offense (which Vinny changed again 2 years later).

He backed Snyder as a sign of leadership. Gibbs is a world-class leader.

Otherwise, the Skins were MUCH better under Gibbs than all other non-Marty teams (with the exception of 99, which Snyder inherited).

No biggest mistake was trading picks for Brunell, Portis, Lloyd, Archuletta, Duckett and so on and so on. Gibbs II was a clown. He was there for the money. It's sad the respect he gets for his second tour. He fixed nothing.

[TheGoodBits]

I was getting ready to post this. This is a fantastic piece by Boswell. He rarely disappoints.

[MumboSauce]

Well put, nothing further to add. Good write up.

[TheGoodBits]

No biggest mistake was trading picks for Brunell, Portis, Lloyd, Archuletta, Duckett and so on and so on. Gibbs II was a clown. He was there for the money. It's sad the respect he gets for his second tour. He fixed nothing.

There were mistakes made, yes. That much is obvious. But he was by no means a clown. Remember where we were before he came back, back with Spurrier. He made our team at least respectable. He was only here for 4 years, and we made the playoffs twice.

[BadKarma]

No biggest mistake was trading picks for Brunell, Portis, Lloyd, Archuletta, Duckett and so on and so on. Gibbs II was a clown. He was there for the money. It's sad the respect he gets for his second tour. He fixed nothing.

We went to the playoffs twice, Gibbs fixed everything, Snyder /Cerrato ruined all that within weeks of his departure.

Do you remember what that last coaching search was like? DISASTER....If Greg Williams gets the HC job we dont switch philosophy, Saunders sticks around and we remain a winning franchise.

Snyder ego is the problem here, strange a skins fan could have so much animosity to Joe when the ownership is CLEARLY the problem.

[skinsbosoxheels]

Personally I'm a little sick of the Joe Gibbs ass kissing. He's the guy that went out of his way to assure everyone that Snyder wasn't the problem and that he was a good owner. He's still in bed with Snyder as far as I'm concerned.

As for Snyder of course this is his mess. I haven't head anyone serious argue otherwise.

Gibbs is the guy that ran Ramsey out of town for draft picks used on Brunell and draft picks used on Campbell. The gift that keeps on giving:doh:

[SkinsFTW]

If Gibbs wasn't so conservative the second time the team could have been great. He did fix a lot, I didn't approve of some of the trades but IMO that was probably highly influenced by Snyder trying to stay involved. IMO his biggest mistake was Brunell, they overpaid and expected to start a guy who NEVER made it through a season healthy, he would have been a great best in the league backup though.

[TheGoodBits]

If Gibbs wasn't so conservative the second time the team could have been great. He did fix a lot, I didn't approve of some of the trades but IMO that was probably highly influenced by Snyder trying to stay involved. IMO his biggest mistake was Brunell, they overpaid and expected to start a guy who NEVER made it through a season healthy, he would have been a great best in the league backup though.

Yeah Brunell was the #1 mistake. If we had got Kurt Warner instead we would have won 2 Super Bowls in the past 3 years. Plus I doubt we would have drafted Campbell. We would have another QB being groomed from a later draft.

[Shilsu]

Gibbs was a great coach. He always put his players in a position to succeed.

The problem was that he and the rest of the Redskins braintrust (Snyder and Cerrato) always put the WRONG players in position.

Despite what some of the biggest dumbasses on this board say (and you know they are dumbasses because they are consistently wrong about almost every single issue, always taking the side of the Redskins front office), there were so many things wrong with several events.

1. In all likelihood, Mark Brunell was going to hit free agency. Even if he didn't, he wasn't worth a third rounder.

2. If you weren't happy with Patrick Ramsey, TRADE HIM. Dolphins were interested and would have parted with either a first rounder or Ogunleye.

3. Champ Bailey AND a second rounder for Clinton Portis? We all saw what the value of a star runningback was in the following year where Edgerrin James and Shaun Alexander were on the trading block for a second rounder, and no one was biting.

4. Third and fourth rounder for TJ Duckett? REALLY?

5. Nemo Broughton and Manuel White? REALLY?

6. Building a secondary from the outside in. What the ****? And to think there were actually Redskins fans claiming it was okay.

In hindsight, Brandon Lloyd and Jason Campbell were some bad decisions also, but at least that was just scouting issues, not fundamental teambuilding philosophy issues.

[flexxskins]

I don't know why Snyder does things like having dinner with Gibbs and making it look like he is seeking advice. Everyone knows that he is not listening to anyone and that his opinion is the only opinion that matters to him. Well, Vinny's also.

[BadKarma]

Gibbs was a great coach. He always put his players in a position to succeed.

The problem was that he and the rest of the Redskins braintrust (Snyder and Cerrato) always put the WRONG players in position.

Despite what some of the biggest dumbasses on this board say (and you know they are dumbasses because they are consistently wrong about almost every single issue, always taking the side of the Redskins front office), there were so many things wrong with several events.

1. In all likelihood, Mark Brunell was going to hit free agency. Even if he didn't, he wasn't worth a third rounder.

2. If you weren't happy with Patrick Ramsey, TRADE HIM. Dolphins were interested and would have parted with either a first rounder or Ogunleye.

3. Champ Bailey AND a second rounder for Clinton Portis? We all saw what the value of a star runningback was in the following year where Edgerrin James and Shaun Alexander were on the trading block for a second rounder, and no one was biting.

4. Third and fourth rounder for TJ Duckett? REALLY?

5. Nemo Broughton and Manuel White? REALLY?

6. Building a secondary from the outside in. What the ****? And to think there were actually Redskins fans claiming it was okay.

In hindsight, Brandon Lloyd and Jason Campbell were some bad decisions also, but at least that was just scouting issues, not fundamental teambuilding philosophy issues.

Thats a good list but its not like we just hired Cerrato yesterday, they guy was here the whole time and if just as much if not more responsible for those moves than Gibbs was.

Joe put together the coaching staff and led the team, Joe was not a GM in his first stint and I highly doubt he was the guy who pulled the trigger on all moves, if so what was Vinny still doing pulling a paycheck.

If this team needed a true GM then it needs one even more now that we blew up the continuity which Gibbs reinvented here in DC after the Spurrier hiring.

[stickyshooZ]

Yeah Brunell was the #1 mistake. If we had got Kurt Warner instead we would have won 2 Super Bowls in the past 3 years. Plus I doubt we would have drafted Campbell. We would have another QB being groomed from a later draft.

I love Warner, but 2004 wasn't exactly his shining moment. I can imagine he'd receive the same treatment from the fans here that he did in NY.

[TheGoodBits]

I love Warner, but 2004 wasn't exactly his shining moment. I can imagine he'd receive the same treatment from the fans here that he did in NY.

But we saw what he has done since then. Warner looked like a broken qb in 04, so I don't fault Gibbs for not going after him. I'm just looking back at what could have been.

[stickyshooZ]

But we saw what he has done since then. Warner looked like a broken qb in 04, so I don't fault Gibbs for not going after him. I'm just looking back at what could have been.

Hindsight certainly makes you wonder...

[scruffylookin]

Personally I'm a little sick of the Joe Gibbs ass kissing. He's the guy that went out of his way to assure everyone that Snyder wasn't the problem and that he was a good owner. He's still in bed with Snyder as far as I'm concerned.

As for Snyder of course this is his mess. I haven't head anyone serious argue otherwise.

Thank You.

Gibbs was very much part of the problem. People act as if he was successful here and that all Snyder had to do is follow his blueprint. Nonsense. Gibbs 2.0 was all about winning now as much as Danny. Gibbs is the one who failed to build this oline. Gibbs failed to find competent receivers. Gibbs is the one who missed on quarterbacks.

The sorry state of the Redskins right now, from Dannys meddling to Vinny still being employee to the sorry state of our roster are all traceable to Gibbs 2.0. He bears the most responsibility after Danny for this mess.

[FrFan]

Very good read, thanks.

"The Redskins and their fans, however, and Jim Zorn for that matter, don't deserve it. They don't deserve it at all", so true.

[Ghost of]

2nd biggest mistake was hiring Al Saunders and changing the offense (which Vinny changed again 2 years later).

If you think Portis looks worn out now, I can only imagine what it would have been like in 2007 had we stuck with those blocking schemes under Gibbs. They had adopted some zone but not nearly enough for Portis. The only reason our running game picked up its average (back down now) and we had a playoff run in 2007 was Saunders.

Saunders can coach an offense, the idea that the struggles were on him rather than on Gibbs failure to LISTEN to Saunders re: QB is absurd and indicates to me that people still don't get what THE problem with this team is...