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WP: Marty Schottenheimer on Cerrato, Snyder and Shanahan


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Firing Marty S. set this franchise back at least 5 years!

I'm not convinced Marty was going to be the solution, considering that he has failed many times to go the last mile. Marty made a lot of mistakes in the GM part of his job, and don't think it was a smart decision in general to give the head coach so much power. Unfortunately, it is a mistake Snyder continues to do. I guess things are a bit better with Allen up there as well, but I do not think that head coaches take the long view as much as they should. Coaches are concened about having a winning team for the upcomming season.

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Marty's a great team rebuilder, then flounders at the next step. I think it would've happened here too, which you know what? I would've been fine with it. We were a spoiled team of free agents in 2000, Marty cleaned house, and in 2001 we finished with a young, hungry team with young hungry talent on both sides of the ball. Jansen and Samuels entering their primes. LaVar, Champ, Smoot as a rookie. Stephen Davis was still very good. With a decent QB in 2002, eventually..

He would've gotten us to the playoffs, where we promptly would've lost in the first round, most likely, but then whoever replaced him after that year or the next year, would've inherited a good team. That's my take.

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In hindsight, I think it's fair to say that firing Marty after one year might be the most glaring mistake Snyder has made. It ultimately might not have turned into a dominant team and I actually do understand the Spurrier appeal at the time. However, seeing how years 2 and 3 would have gone would have been the more prudent decision. That's one alternate reality I wish I could see...I think we'd have won a division in 2002 or 2003. Again, given his track record, I'm not sure too much more would have come of it, but that would have been a Snyder high-water mark.

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The man won with Tony Banks as his starter, and at one point they were 5-5 and breathing down Philly's neck. He was right in that they had a lot of young hungry guys who wanted to win!

We can go back and forth for years about what might've happened down the road(I generally agree with alot of 1st round exits or close but no cigars) but what I saw during the season was TEAM starting to gel very nicely. This wasn't a group of hired mercenaries. He got us under the cap and held the players accountable!

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I'm not convinced Marty was going to be the solution, considering that he has failed many times to go the last mile. Marty made a lot of mistakes in the GM part of his job, and don't think it was a smart decision in general to give the head coach so much power. Unfortunately, it is a mistake Snyder continues to do. I guess things are a bit better with Allen up there as well, but I do not think that head coaches take the long view as much as they should. Coaches are concened about having a winning team for the upcomming season.
Marty's a great team rebuilder, then flounders at the next step. I think it would've happened here too, which you know what? I would've been fine with it. We were a spoiled team of free agents in 2000, Marty cleaned house, and in 2001 we finished with a young, hungry team with young hungry talent on both sides of the ball. Jansen and Samuels entering their primes. LaVar, Champ, Smoot as a rookie. Stephen Davis was still very good. With a decent QB in 2002, eventually..

He would've gotten us to the playoffs, where we promptly would've lost in the first round, most likely, but then whoever replaced him after that year or the next year, would've inherited a good team. That's my take.

I didn't want Marty here in the first place. His coaching record reflects the outcome you can expect from building half a football team. You can build a strong defense and special teams, play conservatively on offense and consistently win in the regular season. But, when you give up the prospect of building an entire team, the odds are very good that you will get dumped from the playoffs early by a team that has more balance.

The team he leaves behind isn't much better in personnel. It's mostly his conservative strategy that beats weaker teams consistently.

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In hindsight, I think it's fair to say that firing Marty after one year might be the most glaring mistake Snyder has made. It ultimately might not have turned into a dominant team and I actually do understand the Spurrier appeal at the time. However, seeing how years 2 and 3 would have gone would have been the more prudent decision. That's one alternate reality I wish I could see...I think we'd have won a division in 2002 or 2003. Again, given his track record, I'm not sure too much more would have come of it, but that would have been a Snyder high-water mark.

The mistake was Snyder handing complete control to Marty before really being comfortable with the idea. Fact is, Snyder wanted to at least be in the room, and Marty didn't allow that. Given some of the decisions made, I'd certainly question some of them. I don't blame Marty for not relenting. Given his position, I probably wouldn't either. But, Snyder painted himself in a corner by giving him the power and not being able to retract it when he really didn't like the lack of feedback.

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I believe the feelings have returned since he was let go. First of all, I think they mutually agreed to disagree when he was fired. Secondly, I think Marty has had a decade to get over it and move on.

Also Snyder was there with doctor info and his plane when someone in Marty's family had cancer. Not sure, think it might have been his wife. That is really what brought them together again I think.

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The mistake was Snyder handing complete control to Marty before really being comfortable with the idea. Fact is, Snyder wanted to at least be in the room, and Marty didn't allow that. Given some of the decisions made, I'd certainly question some of them. I don't blame Marty for not relenting. Given his position, I probably wouldn't either. But, Snyder painted himself in a corner by giving him the power and not being able to retract it when he really didn't like the lack of feedback.

I suppose...but was there an option of hiring Marty without giving him full control? If not, the "mistake" becomes much more complicated as I don't remember who else was on our radar in 2001. As straightforward as we can get (including things that did happen), I think firing Marty was Snyder's biggest mistake so far. A close second is hiring Zorn as the OC before finding a head coach to replace Gibbs. Even hiring Spurrier only looks horrible in retrospect...many teams were after him and some thought he'd succeed at the NFL level.

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Marty's a great team rebuilder, then flounders at the next step. I think it would've happened here too, which you know what? I would've been fine with it. We were a spoiled team of free agents in 2000, Marty cleaned house, and in 2001 we finished with a young, hungry team with young hungry talent on both sides of the ball. Jansen and Samuels entering their primes. LaVar, Champ, Smoot as a rookie. Stephen Davis was still very good. With a decent QB in 2002, eventually..

He would've gotten us to the playoffs, where we promptly would've lost in the first round, most likely, but then whoever replaced him after that year or the next year, would've inherited a good team. That's my take.

Agreed. He would have been a good stepping stone. Hell, maybe with a solid team built by Marty, and if Gibbs returned like he did in 2004, things would have been a little different in the middle of the decade.

I think we should have given him more than a year, at least.

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If Marty were still our coach, or were our coach for any significant length of time, we'd be complaining about how we keep getting to the playoffs and losing every year.

Sure as hell beats the current mess we're in. I wish we could be a perennial playoff loser instead of a perennial regular season loser.

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Disagree. Schottenheimer may not have been able to win the big one, but was able to get his teams to the playoffs. Schottenheimer is very similar to another HOF coach who is revered in this town. . . George Allen. He wasn't able to win the big one and he is marblized in this town as being a great coach. I would take making it to the playoffs and being relevant than being the joke of the league for years running (see Spurrier "5-11 not too good." and Jim Zorn "Maroon, Yellow and Black.")

I'm not convinced Marty was going to be the solution, considering that he has failed many times to go the last mile. Marty made a lot of mistakes in the GM part of his job, and don't think it was a smart decision in general to give the head coach so much power. Unfortunately, it is a mistake Snyder continues to do. I guess things are a bit better with Allen up there as well, but I do not think that head coaches take the long view as much as they should. Coaches are concened about having a winning team for the upcomming season.
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Marty was exactly what this team needed at the time he was here, especially after the mess Norv, Casserley and Vinny had made. He deserved a couple more years.

I believe we'd be on more solid footing now if we'd left him there instead of enduring three seasons of OBC.

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Personally, I think Marty would have done much better over a long period here than Spurrier and then Gibbs. Not winning a title, but if he kept complete control, the team would have built through the draft and not flashy moves for a bunch of years. Gibbs problem was that he allowed too many people to be involved, including Vinny and Dan. If he had a strong GM that wasn't Dan's pal running stuff, I think he would have had better teams also.

Marty I thought for sure would end up a GM in the NFL. Guess not.

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