Comparing Spurrier with Jimmy Johnson and Bobby Ross

[goldenster95]

From FF Mastermind . . .

Spurr-ing on the ‘Skins

A Comparative Analysis of Coaches

May 3, 2002

Author: Sam Seiler

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The Washington Redskins, as we have come to know them, are dead. Gone forever. Hasta la vista, Sonny.

John Riggins and famously horrible hairstyles are gone, replaced by LaVar Arrington and his. It’s faded memory time, too, for the Hogs and their exuberant beneficiaries, the Fun Bunch. So long as well to Joe Theisman, Art Monk, Joe Gibbs, and the ever-classy Cooke family. Even Darrell Green, that boyish fountain of youth, will shadow one final go route into the setting sun later this year.

Or will it be early next year? Will the insurgence of new blood in D.C. lead the Redskins back to the upper echelon of the NFC for the first time since the current President’s dad’s old boss was at the helm, one eye on those insufferable Ruskies? That’s debatable. But this much is certain: there will be no shortage of leadership, no lack of opinion or confidence, no shrugging of shoulders inside the beltway for the foreseeable future. Not if the plan works, anyway.

The co-authors of this plan, of course, are that irreverent gunslinger, Steve Spurrier, and his new employer, Crazy Danny Snyder. Ultimately, only time can bear judgment on just where this highly flammable marriage will land on the genius/madness continuum but, as always, we can invoke history to aid in constructing a forecast. Many high-profile coaches have recently stridden, like Spurrier, from a strong collegiate program directly to the hottest seat in the biz, one atop an NFL franchise. Because varying degrees of professional success have accompanied these men on their respective journeys, our first necessary step is the elimination of those whose situations differed significantly from the one at hand.

The first candidates for comparative exclusion are Tom Coughlin and Butch Davis, who were hired for the express purpose of building respectability for fledgling franchises. Where these two each enjoyed a relatively low boil and some latitude (even now) with regard to immediately tangible success in the win/loss column, the steam inside Spurrier’s pressurized new office will be intense. Denny Green is out, too, based upon the vast NFL experience he brought both to and then from his tenure at Stanford. Try to make the argument that Spurrier’s time leading the USFL’s Tampa Bay franchise is comparable and I’ve got a couple Memphis Showboats game socks I’d like to sell you. I’ll even throw in a Vince McMahon XFL bobble head doll, to boot. Moving along…although Dennis Erickson’s collegiate pedigree also warrants mention, he was greeted in Seattle by studless framework—despite a billionaire owner with a fully inked pen and an open checkbook. The same was pretty much true of the personnel in place when Dick MacPherson made his jump from Syracuse to the New England Patriots at the start of the nineties. Conversely, the Redskins squad Steve Spurrier inherits is loaded, especially on defense, with young stars of explosive talent and nearly limitless potential. Whether that new Amtrak daily direct from Gainesville to Washington proves an enhancement or a dilution of the pool remains to be seen, but the group already in place is surely a predicate to success more than failure.

Who, then, shares the least common denominators requisite for predicting the near-term production of the new-look Washington Redskins? Two men, actually: Jimmy Johnson and Bobby Ross.

Like Spurrier, Jimmy Johnson left perhaps the most fertile football recruiting ground in the country when he bolted the state of Florida in search of untold riches and admiration in the pros. Grand—albeit somewhat tarnished—tradition and a personally rich legacy at the University of Miami apparently weren’t enough to satisfy Johnson’s desire to prove himself at the game’s highest level. In his final four years under south Florida’s Saturday sun, Johnson compiled an impossible record (44-4) and led the Hurricanes to a national championship. Among those who quickly noticed was the notoriously high-rolling new owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, who was so enamored with Johnson that he made luring him to Valley Ranch the highest priority in a house cleaning that would make even Howard Hughes proud. Johnson, of course, would ultimately go to Texas, and struggle at first—to the tune of a combined 8-24 over his first two years. But that (or the fact that he presided over the Miami Dolphins’ worst loss ever, for that matter) is hardly how history will remember Jimmy Johnson’s professional coaching career. That’s why God—or was it Pete Rozelle, sometimes I confuse the two—invented footnotes and asterisks. No, the annals of NFL lore will recall the Johnson/Jones union as a fiery but very successful one.

Now, it bears mentioning that included for Johnson in the Cowboys’ brideprice was a huge bevy of draft picks for which Steve Spurrier would have gladly traded a gross of Gator co-eds. This windfall was largely courtesy of the Vikings’ short, unrequited love affair with, and subsequent trade for, Herschel Walker. However, one could rightly argue that the Redskins have as much young talent in their stables as the Cowboys did in theirs when Jimmy took over, and that Spurrier’s ‘Skins are actually ahead from the standpoint that the likes of Arrington, Gardner, Bailey, and Smoot have already had at least a little time to become acclimated with the pace and power of the pro game. Besides, Marty Schottenheimer has left things in much better order than Tom Landry did in Dallas, whose teams had finished out of the playoffs six consecutive seasons and last in the NFC East at 3-13 in his final year. In other words, the current Washington Redskins appear more readily primed for contention than the Dallas Cowboys were in the late eighties. And it didn’t take long for the ‘Boys to start strutting their way to the Super Bowl.

It didn’t take too long for Bobby Ross to lead the Chargers to the big game, either. In fact, the comparison of Ross to Spurrier becomes even more intriguing and, perhaps, more relevant when you consider that the teams they inherited had quite similar compositions. The main cog Ross encountered in San Diego after his stellar stint at Georgia Tech (which also included a co-national championship, remember) was a tenacious defense led—both vocally and emotionally—by a guy with one of the game’s all-time great motors, Junior Seau. It’s obviously a bit early to determine whether or not LaVar Arrington is of Seau’s ilk, but even if he’s isn’t quite that caliber he still brings formidable presence to a defense that, with the addition of coordinator Marvin Lewis, won’t likely struggle to find its identity. If Arrington pans out and the young players in the secondary live up to their billing, watch out.

The most immediate deficiency Spurrier faces with his current club—and this also parallels the Ross regime—is that his incumbent offense lacks proven punch. Stephen Davis notwithstanding, the Redskins’ are without a truly battle-tested player at any of the offensive skill positions: Rod Gardner is athletically gifted and has shown great promise with his ability to create separation but he’s still very, very green. Jacquez Green and Reidel Anthony have finally left cozy Florida and might help offset the absence of the team’s most tenured receiver, Michael Westbrook, but each is best suited to be a number three. The wild card in this group is Kevin Lockett, and he could be fantastic.

At least Spurrier has finally called off his bluff and brought in the workable quarterback he wanted all along, Shane Matthews. Matthews might not be the next incarnation of Steve Young but he showed class and composure when he had the chance last year in Chicago. By the way, were we really expected to believe that a guy with Spurrier’s ego and aggressive nature would actually allow the winner of a Danny Wuerffel/Sage Rosenfels battle lead his team onto the field at Veterans’, Giants’, or Texas Stadium this fall? Good one, Steve.

That said, the comparisons to Bobby Ross and Jimmy Johnson are valid in that Spurrier, like those two, is exchanging comfort for curiosity and adoration for opportunity. Look, it only took three or four years for Ross and Johnson to reach the pinnacle, and neither of them landed on nearly as sturdy an overall foundation as Steve Spurrier just has. If he’s half as good as he thinks he is, Spurrier and his Redskins will warrant serious consideration as the 2002 NFL season heads into the playoffs. But if he and Crazy Danny are merely off their respective rockers, well, that’s a different story entirely. The good news for me, then, would be that maybe I could talk one of them into taking those old Showboats’ socks off my hands. Think Spurrier knows how to work eBay?

[bulldog]

assuming the team gets a DT to pair with Wilkinson, the Redskins are a superior quarterback and a first-rate wide receiver away from truly challenging for the NFC title.

as it is the team with Matthews may be capable of making the playoffs anyway in 2002, which would be icing on the cake as the emergence of Gardner and Ramsey in 2003 and beyond is really what the team is waiting on.

[Skeletor The Invincible]

"Crazy Danny Snyder"

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[CounterTre]

Good read.

We are definitely the team with the most "buzz" around it this year. It's just nice that it's mostly positive buzz as opposed to the raft of negativity two years ago when we we paper champions before the season started.

[redman]

Pretty interesting comparison. One notable oversight, at least as mentioned in his article, is the fact that Ross and Johnson built their teams prior to the salary cap - mostly before in the case of Ross, and entirely before in the case of Johnson. On the one hand, that makes it more difficult to fill all holes. On the other hand, the competition bar is a bit lower in the league as each team faces the same problem with the cap.

[bulldog]

the other thing Ross and Johnson had in common was they found quarterbacks who could play relatively early on.

Beathard traded for Stan Humphries and Johnson drafted Troy Aikman his first year.

It is not coincidental that these new coaches were successful early because of being able to get consistency at the qb position.

[CounterTre]

Yea but Aikman was HORRIBLE his first year Bulldog. It panned out for them for sure, but the talent wasn't reflected initially. Dallas was getting a lot of heat for possibly making the wrong choice that year...boy oh boy did the critics end up wrong about Aikman. That guy was first rate true class and a cool customer under fire. I hated seeing him beat my team, but he never acted the punk Like I've seen even Emmit do. Aikman was one Cowboy I would have LOVED to have had on my team.

[Rat_Boy]

This article also raises the biggest and most important question:

Johnson, of course, would ultimately go to Texas, and struggle at first—to the tune of a combined 8-24 over his first two years. But that (or the fact that he presided over the Miami Dolphins’ worst loss ever, for that matter) is hardly how history will remember Jimmy Johnson’s professional coaching career.

So Dan, ya gonna give Spurrier longer than one season, unlike the Schott?

If the Skins stink it up bad, we will find out real quick if Snyder has learned ANYTHING over the past three years.

[Erwin S.]

To compare the Redskins to the Cowboys is absurd. Where is the fanchise QB? Where is the big time WR? How about at least a Pro Bowl TE? Dominant O-Line? Maybe but maybe not. The Skins D should be as good as Dallas' during the early and mid-nineties but I'm not so sure about the Offense.

[redman]

Erwin, I can only suspect that you're a Cowboys fan based upon your stilted view of our analysis. Do you actually think that we're comparing this year's team, with a new coach, a new offensive system, a new QB, young WR's etc., etc., etc., to the mid-90's Cowboys juggernaut? And do you think that that's what the writer of the article was doing? If you do, read closer, because we weren't, and the writer wasn't.

What we were comparing was the number of similarities between the 1989 Cowboys and the 1992 Chargers and the 2002 Redskins. Big difference. We all acknowledge that we're starting out our building process with Spurrier, certainly on offense. We're also pointing out that we have an awful lot of quality assets on the team to use to build toward being a very good team. In that regard, we're farther along in the process than were the 1989 Cowboys, who had nothing, and we're therefore encouraged by the fact that they still only took about 3 more years before they were a championship ball club.

So don't get so defensive and pay closer attention to detail, Homer. :shootinth

[indyskinsfan]

One thing is certain, he immediately recognized what I saw. Matthews was always waiting in the wings, no matter what prior deals were made, he already knew the whole routine UP FRONT.

Good at keeping secrets and you can't pin it on him either, because... according to SS, it was Snyder and Mendes' decision to bring in Matthews (yeah right :laugh: ) .

The other point he made, well I had maintained his USFL expertise counts for something, but NO WAY would I equate exactly on the same level as the NFL (then and now). I understand his point, but still working with management, personnel changes, draft, scouting, and the like for a pro team made it that much easier to handle the UF program. Sure the UF program was better than the USFL team Steve presided over, but then again, WHO made the the UF program so much better.

[NavyDave]

The big difference is that I see us with a winning record this year and in the post season if the injuries are minimal the only questions we have are DT and will we get a pass protection LG.

We have the running game in place special teams is there the defense should be on par with last year at least so it all about S Double's specialty throwing the ball with his own QB running things.

[shawn]

its nice to see some redskins fans at least giving the cowboy's of the 90's some credit. there were a lot of skins fans dissing Aikman as over rated and not I read some good posts about him.

one point about the cowboys's of the 90's even SF or some of the other great teams. They all had great lines on both side of the ball. Until the skins get their OL and DL in order they will not find the same success. The tackle positions are set on the oL but the middle of the line is weak. On the DL the only player of note is Wilkinson and there are no other real prospects in the pipe line.

true they signed Wynn but he has been average so far and until he shows anything, we can not assume greatness. The depth on both lines is also weak.

the cowboys had great teams and players like AIkman, Irvin and Smith got the headlines but the OL and DL was the reason for success. AIkman got his *** handed to him the couple of years he had no center or decent guard play.

I don't blame any fan being excited about their team. The redskins do have some talent but they are far off from being a contender, even with a great QB. and one of you made a great point, don't expect too much this is the third year with brand new coaching staff and brand new system and third year of player turnover in large numbers. Continuity is one of the most important factors in success, the skins ahven't had that.