Sheep Go to Heaven

Goats go to Cleveland

Someone had to go in Baltimore, after the Ravens defense gave up a long drive and score to seal the Steelers win over the Ravens in the AFC Division playoff round, after receivers Derrick Mason and TJ Housmandzadeh both dropped passes in the final moments, Ravens team leadership huddled up and... decided to fire the quarterbacks coach.

That would of course mean former Redskins head coach Jim Zorn is once again out of a job.

As the firing became news over the past two days there have been two distinctly different threads on why it had to happen, both originating from the Baltimore Sun's Ravens Insider blog. One thread says they were unhappy with coach Zorn's self-admittedly unorthodox teaching methods.

And it is true, coach Zorn approaches the job of coaching quarterbacks truly from the inside, as a former NFL QB that achieved a measure of success under difficult circumstances in Seattle, coach Zorn is projecting himself and his experience onto his students, there is very little out of the Standard Coaching Manual in coach Zorn's approach. Think about it:

The slip and slide (with video), the pad drill (photo), flying yoga balls, get smaller in the pocket not larger, slow down time, if you do not buy into coach Zorn's methods he probably seems pretty corny.

Now look at his success in Washington. In 2007, Jason Campbell's third pro season, his first full season as Redskins starting quarterback and his second year with Bill Lazor as quarterbacks coach, Jason threw eleven interceptions and fumbled thirteen times in thirteen starts, twelve full games. Jason was pretty widely considered at that point a questionable decision maker in the pocket, toss in ball security problems and you have a recipe for a short term NFL starter.

Jim Zorn arrives in 2008 after a long and drawn out selection process, and amidst the optimism of a 6-2 start is another bit of good news: Jason Campbell has shown remarkable improvement as a quarterback in just one year. Take a look at a couple of things from Jason's final 2008 numbers:

• No interceptions in the first six games, a 2008 total of six in sixteen games, Jason cut his per game rate of interceptions from 0.9 in 2007 to 0.4 in 2008, a year over year drop of 55%.

• Seven fumbles in sixteen games, down from thirteen in thirteen starts, a per game rate drop from 1.0 per game to 0.4 per game, nearly a 60% drop.
  

I did at the time and still do attribute this improvement directly to the tutelage of Jim Zorn, professional development from which Oakland is now benefiting, with their perennial commitment to a downfield passing game, Jason Campbell will be a good fit there.

Now let us look at coach Zorn's time with Baltimore. In 2009 Joe Flacco was in his second year and already a two time playoff quarterback, and while I will argue Joe benefited from Jim Zorn's coaching, we can agree Joe maybe had less headroom for improvement. In 2010 Joe continued his progression as a professional, his passer rating went up along with his touchdown passes, his interceptions went down and he only fumbled once more than in all of 2009.

Was this all due to Jim Zorn? Not necessarily, maybe not even likely, just looking at it though, at minimum coach Zorn held serve and did not allow his pupil to regress, and at best he contributed materially to Joe Flacco's maturity.

You have to ask yourself, does it matter what are the methods if the Sunday finished product sells?


The other thread in the firings story is that the Raven organization, presumably specifically head coach John Harbaugh, was worried about coach Zorn being or becoming quote insubordinate unquote. Insubordination of course is a serious accusation, it means the person in question cannot or will not follow orders or has his own agenda at the expense of the team's or team leadership. Not a team player is the kind of thing you say about someone when you to damage their standing in their profession as they head out the door.

Here in Washington, Jim Zorn was anything but insubordinate. In fact he went much too far in order to keep his job and please his bosses: Acquiesce to consultants, relinquish playcalling authority, basically submit to all ownership demands because they brought a lawyer into the room and said you have to.

As Tony Almeida pointed out last night, the philosophy and insubordination issues may well be one and the same, one story creating team cover for the other. John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron may have cornered coach Zorn and said basically, come on dude, get with the program, we do not want to be known as the team that throws yoga balls around and calls it practice.


The coalescing conventional wisdom in all this appears to be that offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, himself a former Redskins quarterbacks coach under Norval Turner, and quarterback coach Jim Zorn were not compatible, perhaps it is a personality matter, perhaps it is a legitimate
difference of philosophy, Cam comes from the Don Coryell slash Joe Gibbs slash Norval Turner coaching tree while Jim Zorn is straight Bill Walsh slash George Seifert slash Mike Holmgren west coast offense.

Whatever it was, the end result is Cam Cameron has more authority over the Ravens offense and Jim Zorn is out of a job.

And Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not happy about it. According to the Baltimore Sun, Joe met with owner Steve Bisciotti and coach Harbaugh and advocated for Jim Zorn, lauding his teacher for what coach Zorn had done to help Joe with his game, and left the meeting thinking the team would retain Jim Zorn next season.

They did not and have now opened a legitimate rift in the team, Joe wondering aloud if the starting quarterback's opinion matters for anything. I guess it is a good thing for the Ravens that this happened in January and not July, still plenty of time for it to blow over, and Joe Flacco is a professional.


As for Jim Zorn, stories are already emerging that he will wind up as Pat Shurmur's offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach in Cleveland, reuniting Jim Zorn with Mike Holmgren, the man that passed him over as Seahawks coach of the future in favor of Jim Mora, who by the way was fired after one season.

Good luck on your next endeavor coach Zorn, I wish things had turned out differently for you in Washington.



Jim Zorn: AP Photo from here.

Talk About Rapid Response

Ouch

Go Skins dot Org, the great abstract cartoonist of the Redskins, already has artistic reaction up, Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb just chilling together on the bench. Go check the rest out here.

The Benching is now a national news story, not sure what Mike Shanahan was going for here, he sure looks like an asshole right about now.



Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb on the bench together: A GoSkins.org cartoon from here via here.

I Hope this Guy Is Still Around

Bringing down the wrath of Redskins fans

If you are the guy running the Fire Mike Shanahan blog and you have not posted since September and you are still there and want some traffic, I would suggest you check the headlines.

http://fireshanahan.blogspot.com/



Mike Shanahan: AP Photo from here.

Let Me Be Clear

I'll speak slowly for the trolls and nitwits and the head coach

There are three reasons putting Rex Grossman in the game, even for a play, is a bad idea:

1. There is a better quarterback on the roster. His name is Donovan McNabb.

2. The better quarterback is healthy.

3. The better quarterback is under contract for 2011.

These reasons notably do not include any discussion of Rex Grossman's ability or standing, nor of the price paid in trade for Donovan McNabb, because both are moot. Mike Shanahan has officially turned a segment of Redskins fans to rooting against their team just to be sure he gets the point. Nice work genius.



Donovan McNabb: Reuters Pictures from here.

BULL FUCKING SHIT

Are you fucking kidding me

What the fuck is this fucking shit, I sit here minding my own business eating my lunch when I see a headline pop into Redskins Insider:

Rex Grossman to start over Donovan McNabb Sunday

That would be this Sunday, at Dallas, bitter NFC Beast Division rival Dallas, a team the Redskins can still sweep in the season series.

And Mike Shanahan is going to bench Donovan in favor of Rex Grossman.

This is really over the line, I have watched how coach Shanahan has handled himself this season and I am very disappointed, cutting Ladell Betts then Willie Parker and Larry Johnson left the team with no experienced tailback backing up the injury prone Clinton Portis and Ryan Torain, the Albert Haynesworth standoff in training camp went too long into the season and hurt the defense. Benching Donovan in the Lions game then spinning bullshit about it. Cutting the holder after the kicker missed two in a winnable game then making up a bullshit excuse.

Maybe that year out of football did nothing to shrink his ego, maybe he is mad with the power Dan Snyder has given him, maybe he is showing off for his son, maybe he just wants to piss Redskins fans off, maybe he really needs to see the place burnt down before he can rebuild it in his own image.

Whatever the deal, this is wrong.

And it is not just wrong because I support Donovan and want to see him play and get some return on that investment. It is wrong because the team will net nothing by playing Rex Grossman.

Washington may win Sunday with Rex, sure, even Danny Wuerffel won games as a starter, that is not the point. The point is that we already know everything we need to know about Rex. He has had his shot, he was in Chicago for six years and could not hold the starting job the year after he took his team to the Super Bowl. His success came largely from the scheme the Bears employed at the time and he is a turnover machine. Years of future success in Washington will not be achieved with Rex Grossman under center.

You only sit a healthy established starter at the end of a season when you have no postseason to play for, and when that starter may not be there next season. But Dono is under contract so it is the team's option, not the player's to have him back.

If Mike Shanahan was serious about seeing what is in the kitty for 2011 he would be starting John Beck, the darling of Kyle Shanahan, my guess is that head coach Shanahan would not start John Beck on a dare meaning this is not about Rex or the future, it is about putting Donovan in his place.

And all the bullshit about lowest rated passer and worst season of his career, that is all bullshit. This is just wrong and win or lose Sunday Redskins fans just lost some more faith in their team.

=====

Some quick reaction I have received in person, by phone, email and text since 11:30 am when the story broke:

Lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, via email: Talk about a place in total chaos at this point. I thought Shanny would prevent this sort of shit from happening. Didn't DMac have an over 100 passer rating last week?

The wife, Mrs. Curly R, via phone: They have no idea what they are doing, didn't they cut the holder after the kicker messed up?

Former co-worker Rob, via phone: Dude our team is sooooooooo dysfunctional.

Eagles fan and former roommate James, via text message: Sexy Rexy to start? McNabb out of gas or out of favor?


Post your quick reaction in comments.



Donovan McNabb: Getty Images from here.

History Will Not Be Kind to the Jim Zorn Years

We'll always have Z-Shades

The way things went down at the ragged end of 2009 you just knew the whole idea in owner Dan Snyder's mind was to wipe it away as fast as possible and move on and he did, in a big way. The problem for Dan Snyder though is that, like a bad breakup ex girlfriend in the same social circle, Jim Zorn popped right back up down the road in Baltimore, as a result Redskins fans, love or hate Jim Zorn, are not going to get the chance to move on any time soon.

First get into the Wayback machine for a one graf review of 2009:

A crappy team and managerial infighting bred fan unrest and the Burgundy Revolution, the team was actually removing fans and threatening cancellation of season tickets for articles of clothing and paper signs. Then with three games to go, all three turned out to be losses, shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato quote resigned unquote and in less than two hours was replaced by Bruce Allen, son of Redskins legend George Allen, as real actual general manager. Head coach Jim Zorn was marched all night from San Diego then dispatched at dawn, we had butterfiles for 24 hours as Mike Shanahan was spotted in town then BAM it was over, time to close the door on the Jim Zorn Era.

And that era is going to be remembered as the true bottom of the barrel, amateur hour in Ashburn, a two year slow burn of incompetence that left the team, its players, its fanbase and its history in blasted wreckage.

It all started in the muddled coaching search after Joe Gibbs left in January 2008, the team spent 32 days into February looking for a coach and making the team a league laughingstock, into this moment shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato was promoted to Executive Vice President of Football Operations.

Jim Zorn was hired as offensive coordinator largely on perennial candidate Jim Fassel's recommendation, though at the time I thought it looked more like the rubber stamp of a guy that would have done anything to get a head coaching job. After chasing off all the other respectable candidates and taking Steve Spagnuolo's advice not to consider lack of coordinator experience as a black mark on Jim Zorn's resume, Redskins management interviewed Zorn for the job and by all accounts Vinny Cerrato, who would be system-connected to Jim Zorn from Bill Walsh through Mike Holmgren, became a big Jim Zorn fan and the deal was done.

Well we all know how that worked out, 6-2 then 2-6 in 2008, by the start of the 2009 season Jim Zorn and Vinny Cerrato were not speaking, that whole second Jim Zorn year was a series of Inception-like bad dreams within bad dreams, while the season collapsed in extreme slow motion on the next level down the fans and the team were at war, and on the next level below that Dan Snyder was interviewing for every position on the team, including that of Vinny Cerrato, Dan's confidant and bulletproof guy for a decade.

Now it is all in the rear view and Redskins fans have reason to hope, even if just for hope's sake. So what are the big takeways of the Jim Zorn era? Many of them are obvious and do not require advanced degrees to discern: A players hire A players, B players hire C players; Management, coaching and players need to air differences indoors; As a rule do not interview an assistant for his boss's job; Leave the fans alone, they are the conscience of the team; Building and maintaining a roster really is hard; If you do not believe in a guy, let him go that moment, do not string anyone along.

I think I could go on and if you have a good one liner takeaway from the Jim Zorn debacle, drop it in comments.

In the aftermath, a year and a half after he was hired and seven months after he was fired I have a view on the whole thing: It could have worked.

It was not really Jim Zorn that was the problem, yes he was inexperienced and yes he was unable to motivate a veteran team with a lot of big contracts and not enough hungry youth.

The problem lay in the management atmosphere. A guy like Jim Zorn can succeed if he has defined boundaries and a strong support infrastructure, make a play yard for the guy and let him be him, make good roster and contract decisions, back up the guy in public and give him time to get it together.

Andy Reid and Jon Gruden, they had some success moving from analogous positions to head coach and they had the infrastructure to make it work. In the new generation of wunderkinds, every Josh McDaniels and Raheem Morris is not going to light it up out of the gate, I will bet the ones that do have the support of a real football organization around them. For two years the Redskins did not when they really needed it and it sank everyone.


Nota bene, Jim Zorn and Dan Snyder have not talked since coach Zorn was fired and he is not certain if they will talk Saturday. Remember kids, every year the Redskins do not play the Ravens in the regular season, they play in the preseason so we will be treated to this awkward fest annually for as long and Jim Zorn is in Baltimore which I hope is a long time.



Jason Campbell and Jim Zorn: Gregg Trott / Getty Images from here.

We Need to Be More Careful with the Joe Gibbs Parallels

Everyone's going to be the next Joe Gibbs. Stop it.

Last week Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, twice the head coach of the Washington Redskins, three time winner of the Super Bowl, was back in town for an appearance at Redskins Park, nominally it was about some Joe Gibbs charity, the real significance was as plain as the picture you see above; to link the Redskins' past glory with its hopeful future.

Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan, standing side by side, smiling and joking, assuring that even before Shanahan has coached a single game that he is in the pantheon.

That Mike Shanahan had his own Maroon and Black moment at this event, when he incorrectly tallied the number of points the Redskins scored in the second quarter of Super Bowl 22, it was 35 not 28 coach, that is a number burned into the brains of every Redskins fan old enough to remember it and Washington set seven Super Bowl records in that game, coach Shanahan's moment will not be remembered significantly.

What will be remembered is that image, of the two superstar coaches together, one hoping to bring the Redskins and himself back to the upper echelons, one humble and fading but still relevant.

And so that image and the media circle jerk around it leads, intentionally, to the notion of Mike Shanahan inheriting the mantle of Joe Gibbs, that Redskins fans can have their cake and eat it too, the football world can move on from Joe Gibbs and still Redskins fans can have a wizened old man of football, an acknowledged guru at the helm.

And maybe it is a good analogy, perhaps Mike Shanahan will return the Redskins to glory. Perhaps coach Shanahan can produce something akin to eight playoff appearances, four Super Bowls with three championships and a .674 regular season winning percentage with a 16-5 playoff record in twelve seasons.

But we do not know obviously, and therein lies the risk of making the inevitable comparison to Joe Gibbs. This experiment with established football royalty may succeed, it may tantalize while disappointing, it may crash and burn. We will have to wait and see.

But do you know who else was compared to Joe Gibbs on his way in the door at Redskins Park?

Jim Zorn.

Back in February of 2008, the day after the promotion of Jim Zorn from offensive coordinator to head coach, the Washington Post's Mike Wise wrote a column titled Redskins Looked Below the Radar, and in this piece Mike writes that shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato's ultimate selection of Jim Zorn as Redskins head coach had strong echoes of former general manager Bobby Beathard's selection of Joe Gibbs in 1981.

Both were from the offensive side of the ball, both continuing to serve under their mentors, Jim Zorn under Mike Holmgren and Joe Gibbs under Don Coryell. Both were selected out of relative obscurity and did not have many or any other suitors at the time of their hiring, and both succeeded team icons, Jim Zorn following Joe Gibbs himself the second time around, and Joe Gibbs following Jack Pardee, former Bear Bryant Junction Boy and George Allen protege, as a player Jack had helped get the Redskins into Super Bowl 7.

And both are evangelical Christians.

So that 2008 bottle spin of conventional wisdom was that someone [Bobby Beathard : Vinny Cerrato] sensed something about a head coaching candidate [Joe Gibbs : Jim Zorn] that caused him to go out on a limb with the owner [Jack Kent Cooke : Dan Snyder]. From Mike's piece:

...Zorn might be the most out-of-the-box Redskins head coaching hire since an anonymous offensive wizard in San Diego was plucked from obscurity by Bobby Beathard in 1981 -- when coordinators didn't have cult followings and $2 million-a-year deals.

Before he's portrayed as Everybody's Eighth Choice, Jim Zorn could turn out to be Cerrato's Joe Gibbs. In his first genuine decision as the team's executive vice president of football operations, there is real potential for symmetry here.

Like Gibbs, Zorn is principled, passionate and extremely candid. Zorn is said to have no fraud in him and plenty of authenticity. He says what's on his mind, which might endear him to the fan base but (now that Gibbs's spell has worn off of Snyder) might drive his perception-driven employers up the wall. (op. cit.)

We know how it worked out for Jim Zorn and Vinny Cerrato, cigarettes and blindfolds.

So yeah, Mike Shanahan might be the next Joe Gibbs. Redskins football history is littered with the next Joe Gibbses. Even Joe Gibbs was not the next Joe Gibbs.

=====

As a final note to this piece on the dangerous Joe Gibbs parallel, the day after that February 2008 piece, Mike Wise wrote another (op. cit.), wherein Mike discusses how, after two days Jim Zorn was displaying deference and independence in the right mix, how he was saying all the right things and how

...[T]he Redskins got the man they wanted, no question. Snyder and Cerrato wanted someone who wouldn't rock the boat or reinvent the wheel on offense, someone who could cut his teeth -- someone new, who has yet to believe the myth about his own coaching prowess.

Could that be a distant early foreshadow to Mike Shanahan, now in total control of every aspect of the Redskins football program? It would seem that being the next Joe Gibbs means different things at different times.



Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan: Ricky Carloti / Washington Post photo from here.

This Is So Crazy There Is No Way It Can Be True

Right?

This morning I got an anonymous comment on a thread from last week:

Redskin QB rumor in Philly. Schanahan [sic] wants his old QB Jay Cutler. Philly trades McNabb back to his old hometown in Chicago, Chicago sends Cutler to Redskins. Philly gets draft picks in 3 way deal.

I went on to the intertubes and was unable to find any substantiation, not even a recitation of the rumor. So I have no idea where that comes from.

Still, conceptually there are four reasons this is not a crazy idea:

1. We know the Redskins were interested in Jay Cutler in the 2009 offseason. Ultimately they could not pull it off. In the aftermath of that story there was at least one rumor that the Redskins had made it known to Jay Cutler, way back in April of 2009, that the team was looking at Mike Shanahan as its next coach. Were Mike Shanahan and Jay Cutler just taking a year off from each other?


2. Mike Shanahan would be happy to reunite with Jay Cutler. As the 2009 season wound down and coach Shanahan's name entered the coaching sweepstakes around the league, the Chicago Bears surfaced as potentially a good fit, principally because of coach Shanahan's quote comfort level unquote with Jay.


3. Chicago did not warm up to Jay Cutler. In his first season with the Bears, after turning the league on its ear with demands to be traded away from Denver and new coach Josh McDaniels, Jay set a career high for interceptions. The team and the fans are clearly frustrated and it would not surprise me if Jerry Angelo and the Bears front office was spitballing ways to get one of those first round picks back, or get another proven quarterback with some tread left.


4. Donovan McNabb is the subject of many trade rumors around the league. Despite Eagles coach Andy Reid's assertion that Donovan is his starter for 2010, there is a head of steam among the Eagles faithful that it is time to part ways with Donovan while he still has some trade value. Personally I think that is crazy, the guy has done everything in the world for that franchise and they should be announcing publicly that Dono will be there until he decides to leave football. Nonetheless, coach Reid waffled on his options for 2010 and the fanbase wants him gone. Donovan McNabb is originally from Chicago.


So in this trade scenario the Bears get Donovan McNabb, the Redskins get Jay Cutler and the Eagles get what they always want, more draft picks.

Notwithstanding my serious manlove for Jason Campbell, Jay Cutler would be a good fit with Mike Shanahan in Washington for all the reverse reasons Jim Zorn would not be a good fit with Jay in Chicago.

Stay tuned.



Jay Cutler: Uncredited image from here.

Jim Zorn Would Not Be a Good Fit in Chicago

Don't do it Jim

Now that the smoke of getting fired has blown over, Jim Zorn's name is surfacing as a candidate for other NFL jobs, we always knew, no matter how bad it got, that Jim Zorn had made a lot of friends in thirty years in the league and there would be PLENTY of suitors that would not hold his Washington experience against him, at least for positions below head coach.

First it was Cleveland, that speculation swirled mainly before new president Mike Holmgren decided to keep head coach Eric Mangini, the only way I see Jim Zorn on coach Mangini's staff is if Mike Holmgren forces coach Mangini to take Jim, which would mean coach Mangini is as neutered as Jim Zorn was in Washington, and I think Mike Holmgren is more of an adult that that, he would rather see Eric Mangini fail on his own than be known as a meddler.

Now it is Chicago, after the Bears' disappointing 7-9 season team leadership stripped head coach Lovie Smith of defensive playcalling duties and fired most of coach Smith's offensive staff. Now Jim Zorn's name has surfaced as a potential candidate for quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator or both.

I think this is not a good match for Jim Zorn and he should be wary of taking a postion in Chicago, and this is not because I do not want to see Jim coach again or because I think he cannot handle the job because I do want to and think he can.

Jim should not take a position with the Bears for three reasons:

1. Jay Cutler is barely coachable and not teachable. A huge amount of Jim Zorn's 2008 success in Washington was tied to quarterback Jason Campbell's improvement that year. Jason opened 2008 with eight straight games without an interception and only threw six for the year, down from eleven in 2007 on just thirteen starts. Jason also improved his ball protection, fumbling only seven times, down from thirteen in 2007.

Personally, I attribute Jason's improvement in 2008 not only to Jim Zorn's teaching, but also Jason's openness to being taught. It takes a receptive mind to hear the constructive criticism Jim laid on Jason and then take the teacher's input and really internalize it. And Jason did. He listened, he believed in the program and he improved.

The easy way out as an adult that has been in a single profession for a period of years, is simply to smile, say uh-huh a lot, appear engaged and then go back and do what you do. That right there is Jay Cutler. An arrogant and self centered quarterback archetype, he would laugh in Jim Zorn's face.

After watching Jay revel in twisting the league in knots as Jay tried to discredit his new coach in Denver then put interested teams on tenterhooks with speculation on where he would land and how many first round picks he would cost, do you really believe he is open to input about his mechanics and his field vision, even after career highs in interceptions and sacks in 2009? And if he was, do you think he would consider Jim Zorn to have any authority after watching Jim be humiliated in Washington, leaving in disgrace?

Hypothetical interchange:

QB Coach Zorn: Jay, we need to work on your pocket presence, your progressions and check downs.

QB Jay Cutler: Yeah just like when you checked down to
the unemployment line.

2. If it does not work Jim Zorn will get the blame and it will hurt his reputation further. The Bears and general manager Jerry Angelo all but fired Lovie Smith, in fact they Zorned him: took away his specialty playcalling duties and fired his offensive staff out from under him. Lovie Smith in 2010 will be very much like Jim Zorn in 2009. Everyone will be looking for scapegoats.

If Jim comes in and takes a lead role in the offense and it does not work it all has a good chance of landing at Jim's feet, there is already a narrative out there that says Jim's playcalling is suspect and one that says he is not a good leader and one that says he wears off after a few games. Whether you think of these memes as true or real is irrelevant, he will be in a new media market full of lazy sportswriters just like every market, the easy headline to write will be

ZORN'S OFFENSE GOING NOWHERE.

Lovie Smith can expect to be fired after 2010 if not during, Jim should not open himself to going down with that ship, that is a losing proposition.


3. Jim Zorn should be in no hurry and should wait for the right opportunity. There are many young quarterbacks out there that could benefit from Jim Zorn's tutelage and while the easy story to write may be that Jim's reputation is in tatters, the reality is he is still highly respected for what he has done in Seattle, he still has friends in the NFL.

With another year at 2.4 million dollars coming to him, he should step back and attempt to sublimate his desire to get back in the game right away, to put on a happy face and show that he is not broken by his experience in Washington, in favor of figuring out what he really wants to do in the NFL, how high he really wants to go and then selecting the right opportunity.


Jim Zorn was and is a good guy, I am not going to trash him on the pages of The Curly R, we will be discussing his tenure frankly in the coming weeks.



Jim Zorn: Uncredited image from here via here.

Being and Becoming the Team Fans Want

Bet his first film study was this press conference

Mike Shanahan has begun his tenure as head coach of the Washington Redskins. It is true, that is a true fact. And that guy seated next to him at Wendesday's introductory press conference was not team owner Dan Snyder, it was new actual general manager Bruce Allen. The Redskins have a real actual general manager, also a true fact, that actually happened.

You are not dreaming. Rub your eyes, it is all still there.

Will it work out? Impossible to tell and for Curly R this is not the time to deconstruct the reasons why not.

The owner is mad with power, that much we know, the last time he did this step aside gig head coach and president of football operations Marty Schottenheimer fired Dan's toadie shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato within days of taking the job and as the 2001 season waned and with the team on an 8-3 tear after an 0-5 start when Dan asked Marty if he was ready to cede some of his contractual authority back to the owner and Marty said GTFO it was worth nearly eight million dollars to Dan to shitcan Marty and take it back.

So no, it may not work out, we will get hints all along the way, how coach Shanahan's staff is formed, how current players and coaches are dealt with, if coach Shanahan's operations muck with tradition or history, how the team handles free agency and the draft, offseason workouts, by training camp in July observers will have a legitimate body of evidence to start making informed judgments on early returns.

On the surface though you have to look at this as clear progress: a real actual general manager and a real actual coach with real actual Super Bowl experience, neither of which have real actual reasons to kiss Dan Snyder's ass and both of which have real actual reasons for wanting to succeed and show the world they can succeed.

I have been a Redskins fan long enough to know that Dan Snyder does not care much about anyone outside his bubble or what they have to say so the notion that any of what has happened over the past two years has been fan driven or the result of pressure by the media or football tastemakers still seems far fetched to me, there is a paper trail forming:

Jim Fassel gets one hair from being named head coach of the Redskins during the search without end in January and February 2008. When word leaks out that Jim Fassel was the quote mystery candidate unquote there is a fan uprising that is so severe the Washington Post reports on it in the Sports section. After Jim did not get the job he blamed bloggers, message board posters and sports talk radio callers for influencing Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato. Dan Dan the Sports Bog Man singles out four bloggers for behavior detrimental to Jim Fassel's candidacy.

Then all through the fall and collapse of 2009, the fights with fans over signs, the stripping down of the head coach, the failure, the lack of talent, spark and execution, a common thread formed outside the Ashburn bubble: Dan Snyder needed to get out of the way and turn the business over to professionals, like a small businessman with too much success too fast and not enough skill or confidence to delegate, Dan was stuck trying to shove too much through a small pipe and was making bad decisions. Enter professional management and a gentle invitation for the owner to go spend some time on his private island.

Dan's kneejerk reaction to go from trying to hold the status quo in the face of a customer revolt to becoming a humble man of deference in itself is suspect. After firing Norval Turner at 7-6 and still in the playoff hunt pissed off Redskins fans, his kneejerk reaction then was to throw it all at Marty Schottenheimer, then when the team was 0-2 then 0-3 then 0-4 then 0-5 Dan, who was then still engaging the media and the public, made his message basically, don't look at me guys, you wanted me to find a football guy and put him in charge, none of this is my fault.

And because he did not give Marty even two years of his three year plan in his mind Dan gets to rescue the team from a problem he does not realize he has created.

The same thing could happen this time, it would cost him a lot more money and this time he is not playing with Monopoly money, Redskins fans are seriously ready to drop their tickets, something they were not ready to do in 2001.

We can quibble and oh believe you me I intend to address the disastrous end of the Jim Zorn era next week, we can quibble over how we go to this moment, the journey to becoming a good NFL owner starts with hiring a general manager to oversee operations and a head coach who has the vision and capacity to shape the team on his own. There will be other hires designed to bolster this new power structure and we will analyze them all. Maybe Dan Snyder will let them work.


Today, I am happy with my team's owner.



Mike Shanahan: AP Photo from here.

The Redskins Got Their Football Guy

Student of the game

It is official, the Redskins have hired Mike Shanahan to be the 28th coach in team history, completing a leap from a failed experiment with an inexperienced head coach and an ineffective football management team to a franchise with an actual general manager and coach with deep experience in football operations.

Dan Snyder armed coach Shanahan with a five year deal worth approximately seven million dollars a year and handed over near total control of the day to day football operation. Expect everything from the signage to equipment checkout processes to practice habits to dress code to walkthroughs to gameday routine to reflect coach Shanahan's vision of a football team.

The management plan as I understand it will feature coach Shanahan working closely with actual general manager Bruce Allen on high level strategic football matters, player selection, draft prep and selections, roster moves and trades, while Bruce handles contract negotiations and manages the salary cap.

Coach Shanahan is expected to have the final word.

This is not peepee caca news for the Redskins. The implications of this football management structure are huge for the Redskins and their fans. If this is all true then it means Dan Snyder, after more than a decade, has realized he should not be in those meetings, should not be viewing that scouting tape or driving those draft picks. He has realized he needs to step back, put it all in the hands of professional football people, sign the checks and let them work.

Will it work? Who knows, we all thought Dan had had this same revelation before the Marty Schottenheimer hire, from the beginning it went off the rails with veteran players such as Bruce Smith complaining in the media about coach Schottenheimer's tactics, Dan let the coach be undermined, never sold out to Marty, never let it be known that it was Bruce Smith's tough shit, if he did not like it he should retire.

Marty, for his part never batted an eye, armed with a solid contract he went about the business of transforming the team, jettisoning the bloated contracts and unneeded player, steady in the belief that he was right and in charge.

And then Dan fired him because he panicked, he got mad that someone else was playing with his toy. And for what? Fucking Steve Spurrier.

This could all happen again, Dan could get cold feet when the 2010 Redskins are 6-10 or 8-8, fire everyone and bring back Vinny Cerrato, give himself a parade and give the finger to Redskins history.

It may take longer than that and still fail. Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan may not be able to work together, they may conspire to sign a bunch of ineffective old Bronco players and pick the next Heat Shuler in the draft. The job of coaching the team and running the show may be more than a 24 hour a day job, hell Jim Zorn could not even coach the roster given him and call plays at the same time!

Redskins fans though will tolerate a lot of failure from this regime before they give up, Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan are name brand guys putting their reputations on the line, tthey are not lining up to be anyone's pet the way I think poor Joe Gibbs did in his second go round.

No matter how you look at it, no matter what prospects you think this management team has for failure or success, the moves to hire an actual general manager and bring two time Super Bowl champion Mike Shanahan to the Redskins represent bona fide change to the status quo in Ashburn.


Now the fun begins.



Mike Shanahan: Rob Schwane / AP photo from here via here.

Mike Shanahan Is In Charge of the Redskins

Oh yes there will be yelling

It is official, or rather not official official, it is leaked official, the Washington Post is reporting that the Redskins have signed former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan as head coach and head of football operations, coach Shanahan may have near complete control over football operations. Details will start to pour out in the morning and we will learn more, my expectation is that Bruce Allen is in charge of putting together the lists and negotiating the deals, coach Shanahan will have final say on all football decisions.

Needles to say Redskins fans, THIS IS A VERY GOOD THING. Mike Shanahan is experienced, with sixteen years as an NFL head coach, including his own private Zorning in Los Angeles with the Raiders and Al Davis.

Mike Shanahan will likely assert himself down to the most minute details of the franchise as he crafts this team in his image, coach Shanahan and Dan Snyder have a double dare going here, the owner daring the luminary to take on the reclamation project that is the Redskins and the coach daring the meddler to keep hands off. If it works the Redskins can once again be a team Redskins fans can be proud of.

As Dan Snyder is wont to do he has thrown us from the fire back into the frying pan, from a flyer on a guy that was never a head coach to a likely future Hall of Famer. Be sure you save a dessert pocket for the obligatory naysayers and doubting thomases that question Bruce Allen's personnel skills or whether Mike Shanahan can really run it all and coach on Sundays and whether he was really successful in Denver because if so why was he fired? It didn't work with Holmgren, Dan Snyder will never step back, the culture is rotten from the inside, these players will never get up for him, etc etc yada yada and so on and so forth.

Of course all of that may turn out to be true and Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen may not be able to turn this team around. I have already been challenged by the guys at Hogs Haven to predict the number of NFC Beast division titles and playoff appearances in these coming five seasons, it may all flame out just as it did with Marty Schottenheimer.

Redskins fans know losses can still equal progress. Show me you have a plan to move forward and we will tolerate the building process, the growing pains and the oopses. Just make sure you beat the fucking Cowboys.


It worked kids, the fans freaked out in 2009 and demanded change, and Dan Snyder has delivered. Tip your glass back and let us drink to coach Shanahan.



Mike Shanahan: AP Photo from here.

Report: Redskins and Mike Shanahan Have an Agreement In Principle

Coming to town

Queue it up kids, the Denver Post is reporting that Mike Shanahan and the Redskins have an agreement in principle making Mike the seventh Redskins head coach in the Dan Snyder era, hat tip to Jason Reid for the news.

The rumored contract particulars are five years in the neighborhood of seven million dollars a year and I would have to assume a high degree of control over player personnel.

Dan Snyder is about to do it to us again.



Mike Shanahan, Super Bowl winning coach: Uncredited image from here via here.

Can't Wait Around to Start Talking Offseason

Time is a wasting

The Washington Post's Jason Reid reports that Mike Shanahan's agent has been summoned from whatever wretched hive of scum and villainy agents dwell in to get down to brass tacks on a contract for Mike, it is still perplexing that it is taking this long, I mean seriously, the team negotiated a one hundred million dollar contract with defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth in five hours so what is the hold up?

Methinks Mike has Redskins owner Dan Snyder over a big old barrel and is larding up the deal with every possible privilege and perk he can come up with, and the coach shall have final say on all personnel moves and the general manager shall defer to the coach on all matters of assistant coaches and the owner shall shower the coach with rose petals on Mondays...

In the meantime I can no longer wait to start discussing what happens to this team in the offseason, I am still a bit confused about exactly what no salary cap will mean, who will become disposable and how hard it will be to acquire free agent talent and at what cost, I am sure the focus will turn to this topic in short order once the team's coaching vacancy is filled.

So the quick takes on some of today's news should be taken with the big old grain of salt that these are my opinions in a vacuum and without regard to salaries, draft picks or complications in free agency. Ok, ahem.

Reacting to John Keim's piece at Redskins Confidential:

On drafting versus free agency: OF COARSE YOU CAN'T BUILD A TEM THROUTH FREE AGENCT ALONBE!!!1! Bruce Allen better know that, draft picks are more valuable than ever in a world where decent free agents cost real draft picks, so the Redskins are now in a position to try and hoard picks which could be difficult since the Redskins have only five picks out of a possible seven, plus any supplemental picks awarded, hey thanks again Vinny for that Jason Taylor deal last year.

So in a world where free agency costs draft picks, the Redskins need to be sellers, not buyers. No one is going to give up first and third round picks for Jason Campbell and as much as I like Jason if Mike Shanahan has his eyes on a young guy then get a second or third for Jason and move on. If you can get a ham sandwich for Carlos Rogers, do it. Anyone else that is tradeworthy, listen when other teams call.


On Chris Cooley versus Fred Davis: If it is true that Mike Shanahan likes one tight end that can catch and one that can block that would make him... exactly like every other coach. I never figured out why the team drafted a guy projected to have an upside no bigger than Chris Cooley's with a second round pick, nothing about Jim Zorn's style screamed two tight end sets, and they had one and a half seasons to implement the Unicorn set with both Fred and Chris in there and never did it.

See free agency versus draft directly above, Chris Cooley is probably the most tradeworthy player on the roster right now, young, mid contract and productive. Fred Davis is inferior at this point to Chris, I counted at least four major mistakes on his part in the season finale against the Chargers, and yet he managed to achieve almost exactly Chris' output.

The verdict is simple: Trade Chris Cooley, especially if you can get a team to part with a first round pick. Fred Davis is good enough that having him and not playing him next season is counterproductive.


On Bruce Allen is a good listener: I bet he never forgets your birthday either does he?


On Mike Shanahan is a control freak: I wish I could be there the first time he politely tells the owner to get the fuck off his practice field.


On the players addressing grievances above Jim Zorn's head: Yes it is true that Jim Zorn was a player's coach and more of a friend than a father figure, you cannot fault him for that. I lay that dog at the feet of Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato for creating a culture where the parade of spoiled brat players like Clinton Portis and LaVar Arrington before him can ingratiate themselves with the owner at the expense of the coach.

Given the egos on star football player I cannot really fault these players for flowing like water through the path of least resistance to the most powerful person in the building that will blow sunshine up their skirts and as such this is really Dan Snyder's problem. He needs to learn the discipline to keep a professional distance from the players and not show favoritism, like a teacher banging his students, temptation and opportunity are there, it seems harmless at the time, and nothing good can come from it.


On coach Zorn losing the players as far back as September: Blame that on Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato for creating a locker room culture that ensured Jim Zorn was neutered from the moment the 2008 season ended. Really though that is almost beside the point, look at how fast the fans sussed out the 2009 Redskins, there were four thousand no shows on a sunny late summer football day for the Redskins first home game against the Rams, the Redskins were only 0-1 after losing to a team they had not beaten since 2007 and the fans booed the team off the field after a win.

Like dogs the Redskins fans could smell that cancer in that team the moment we met them.


On Clinton Portis and Albert Haynesworth not having a lot of friends in the locker room: Clinton did it to himself and Albert has at least a season to get back in good graces. Another season of dogging it in the first quarter and worrying publicly about his legacy while on the inactive list in a late season game and Redskins fans will be done with him as well. Fifty percent chance that if Clinton Portis is gone this offseason that Albert Haynesworth inherits the mantle of player Redskins fans hate because we think He Doesn't Get It.


On Danny Smith being endangered: Danny Smith this, Danny Smith that, the Redskins special teams were not spectacular this season, punt returns were awful, the star punter came in and got hurt, there was never a solid plan at kick returner and cutting your kicker in midseason does not accrue well to the special teams coach no matter how you slice it. Toss them all out and start over with new coaches in burgundy and gold.


On Carlos Rogers coming back next season: Only if it is that or a stick in the eye. Carlos has not had a consistently good season since his rookie year and a cartoonish superhero weakness like being a cover corner that cannot catch the ball makes him expendable at best, tender offer at worst.


On Joe Bugel retiring: Buges will always have a special place in my heart, unfortunately though he has lost his objectivity. Vinny Cerrato and Dan Snyder did not give him quality talent, to be sure, but he was so far set in his ways he was unable all season to separate a guy that can get coached up from a guy that is just not starter quality. As the team cycled through all the backups coach Bugel had unfailing praise for all of them and they all sucked. That tells me Buges cannot tell the difference anymore.


On players criticizing Jim Zorn with no repercussions: See Jim Zorn losing players above, coach Zorn may have had the failing of being a player's coach reluctant to attack grown men with jobs to do, the blame really falls on ownership for not selling out to the coach. If they hated Jim Zorn so much then why the hell didn't they fire him and have done with it? The long trudge with the awkward silences and belated and half assed votes of confidence was not good for the players, the coaches, the fans or the organization itself. Man how awful would it be to have Dan Snyder as a boss?


On players being on time for meetings and being all together: Albert Haynesworth was a big dumbass to show up late to practice on Christmas Day, I wish I could have seen the look on Albert's face when he realized after laughing at coach's first dismissal, dressing in for practice, taking the field, getting harrassed by coach again, then realizing, wait, he IS ACTUALLY GOING TO SEND ME HOME. Twelve games his first year with the Redskins, Albert missed one quarter of the team's games.


Reacting to Rick Maese's piece on Clinton Portis and the star treatment on Redskins Insider:

STFU Clinton. You believe you are above the team, that you deserve special treatment. You have cultivated a relationship with the owner not because you really want to be friends with him but because it maximizes your income while minimizing your workday. You can build yourself up at the expense of the team, you are the player version of Vinny Cerrato.

When you were tearing it up, no one cared, that is a rule in football. When you dislocated your shoulder in the 2006 preseason, you complained about Joe Gibbs playing you, said you were making a perfect form tackle at one hundred percent effort and if coach did not want you to get injured then he should not play you in preseason.

And what the fuck with attacking Jason Campbell? Clinton thinks that because Jason Campbell keeps it medium, never flies into a petulant Jay Cutler rage over route running or blocking that he is not a leader, that his unchanging demeanor is evidence he is incapable of leadership, that he has trouble getting the plays in and controlling the huddle, called Jason a poor captain.

I got news for Redskins fans, Jason Campbell was the best thing the Redskins had in 2009.

Clinton Portis is an example of why this Redskins team did not work out, no discipline, no class, no sense of commitment to anything but a paycheck.

He needs to be gone from this team.

Update 8:35pm: Jason Campbell has returned fire, shorter Jason: Clinton UR an idiot.

Bruce Allen: Getty Images from here.

GET ON WITH IT ALREADY

What is the hold up? We need to get moving!

Come on guys, Mike Shanahan has been in town since last night, he was courted at Redskins owner Dan Snyder's riverside manse with the conveniently unobstructed view of the Potomac River, there was even a report that Dan and Mike were heading out to a Reston restaurant, I have a feeling they were not headed to Champp's for a beer and a bowl game.

Move it people, the offseason is here and we need to get things done, lists have to be made, all the god is great stuff needs to come out of the head coach's office and those disloyal assistant coaches are not going to fire themselves!

The tailor is already scheduled to take Mike's measurements for his next awesome leather coach's jacket, I think I may have to get me one of them, and think of all that money the team will save on heating costs keeping the temperature in the 30s year round so Mike's icy heart does not melt, you don't think living in Colorado was an accident do you? Mike does not wake up on the couch in his office as much as he reanimates.

Seriously guys, if there is anything I can do help close this deal today, let me know.



Mike Shanahan: Uncredited image from here.

No Late Word on Shanahan But We Can Confirm He Is In Town

Maybe he's just here to visit Udvar-Hazy

The first time I read Dan Hellie's tweet today that Mike Shanahan was in town and spotted getting into Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Maybach I thought it was a joke, hyperbole at worst, as I troll teh internets looking for late night leaks that the deal is done, I came across this video, it appears to depict actual Mike Shanahan at an airport getting into an actual Maybach.

Let me tell Redskins fans that this is a done deal, Dan Snyder does not bring Mike Shanahan into town and be seen and risk the FAIL if the signature is not already on the paper.

Everyone get your welcome coach Shanahan posts, comments and tweets ready, we will need them tomorrow.



Embedded NBC video sourced from DC Sports Bog here.

Reports: Mike Shanahan Is In Washington

If this is the way it is going to be then let's get on with it

Throughout the day reports placed owner Dan Snyder's Redskins One jet in Colorado then back in Washington, multiple sources have reported that Mike Shanahan was on that plane and is now in town.

Tim Brant at ABC 7 reported that as we speak Dan and Mike are at Dan's palatial estate, the one with the unobstructed view of the Potomac River and that later they may make an appearance at a quote Reston restaurant unquote. Tim Brant reported that there may be an announcement in the morning if they can get the contract done. I fully believe the deal is already done and everyone is just in making sure this what everyone still wants mode.

Jason Reid at the Washington Post reports that Mike could be introduced as coach Shanahan tomorrow, offensive line coach Joe Bugel is expected to retire as soon as tomorrow and this announcement may delay the official announcement of Mike Shanahan as the 28th head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Looks like this is going to happen people.



Mike Shanahan: Getty Images from here.

Goodbye Jim Zorn

No longer your Redskins head coach

As we welcomed Jim Zorn on the day he was hired two years ago, so do we bid farewell to Jim Zorn on the day he was dismissed.

Coach Zorn's tenure as head coach of the Redskins was 694 days and a wake up, or rather a stay up as he was dismissed in the wee hours after a sleepless flight from California and a late night in Ashburn.

In those nearly seventeen thousand hours as head coach, the Redskins amassed twelve wins in 32 tries, here is a quick break down:

	2008	2009	Overall
Final	8-8	4-12	12-20
Division	3-3	0-6	3-9
Vs. NFC	7-5	2-10	9-15
At Home	4-4	3-5	7-9
Away	4-4	1-7	5-11
Vs. AFC	1-3	2-2	3-5

The team just showed no real progress in coach Zorn's two seasons, though this is not entirely attributable to Jim Zorn. Team owner Dan Snyder and former shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato hobbled Jim Zorn with a roster inadequate to the team's needs and a contract preventing coach Zorn from coaching the way he saw fit when the team needed it the most.

Sadly even with an inept and maniacal management team torturing him relentlessly, it became more and more apparent every day as things fell apart that Jim Zorn was not up for the job of head coach for this team, this year.

Thank you coach Zorn, there were some good times, some bad times and some really bad times, please know that the experience was not wasted, your misery helped remove the blinders covering Dan Snyder's eyes, you were not the problem, you were the byproduct of the problem.

Curly R will pay proper tribute to the Jim Zorn years with the appropriate multi part series. I'm just glad I did not have pay out on that bet.



Jim Zorn in his final game as head coach: AP Photo from here.

How To Kill the Rooney Rule - Part Three

Down the primrose path

In his zeal to reset the Washington Redskins for a productive 2010, team owner Dan Snyder found creative ways to satisfy the Rooney Rule on minority opportunity, ways that effectively render the Rule moot. And it may cost a football coach his career. Curly R's three part series on the death of the Rooney Rule at the hands of Dan Snyder concludes.

Part One: The General Manager
Part Two: The Head Coach
Part Three: The Collateral Damage

=====

Redskins secondary coach Jerry Gray is certainly qualified to be a head coach, he has been in the NFL business for more than twenty years as player and coach and was the Buffalo Bills' defensive coordinator for five seasons from 2001 to 2005. The Lions requested and received permission to interview Jerry for their open head coach position in the 2008 offseason, Detroit ultimately went with former Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who happens to be white.

We know Jerry wants to be a head coach, as far back as October of this year there was talk that Jerry could replace Jim Zorn if coach Zorn was fired summarily, Jerry did little to cover for his boss, essentially saying at the time yeah it would be a bummer for Jim Zorn if I got the job that way but getting a head job is what is all about so there you go. In November Jerry interviewed for the head coach position at the University of Memphis, he did not get the job.

Jerry's name first appears as a serious candidate to replace Jim Zorn on 18 December, and by 23 December we learned that Jerry had interviewed for the position, it may have happened as far back as October.

When questions arose as to whether Jerry had interviewed, he first denied, then awkwardly changed his denial to no comment. He has at various times denied to those around him that he has interviewed, but the FPA has said that he did. Jerry himself scheduled a press availability following the game fifteen loss to the Cowboys to address questions about his interview and his shifting story, then canceled it.

From the beginning I did not like the cavalier attitude Jerry had toward the possiblility that he was undermining his coach, and to be fair, defensive coordinator Greg Blache and his staff are holdovers from Joe Gibbs and it is very likely that side of the house sees Dan Snyder as the boss, not Jim Zorn.

Jerry has done little to take any kind of high road and may well pay a career price for his desire to be a head coach at any cost. He will not get the Redskins job, if I am, wrong and he does get the job I will issue a formal apology to Jerry and to the team. Jerry is small potatoes to Dan Snyder and the last time he went small was with Jim Zorn and he will not be making that mistake in this transition. If it is not Mike Shanahan it will be another name brand coach.

Besides, Redskins fans will not line up behind a coach that so shamelessly threw his old boss under the bus. Dan Snyder may have coerced Jerry to go along with some secret plan, may have even issued a threat, veiled or otherwise that if Jerry went to coach Zorn that he was out, whatever the situation I cannot believe the whole thing could have been conducted in a way that did not portray Jerry as such a climber that he would step on Jim Zorn even before the corpse was cold.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk wrote a scathing piece on Jerry Gray's future coaching prospects after the coaching community digests what happened in Washington, Mike is a bit animated, I generally agree though that Greg Blache and Jerry Gray devalued themselves in agreeing to the interviews when it is so clear across the football world that there will be a clean house next season (op. cit.).

Now that Jerry's time is nearing an end in Washington other coaches will have to consider whether they want a guy who will go behind their back and try and take their job. Mike indicates that Jerry was a solid head coaching candidate quote about five years ago... Then, he had to claw back to get into the discussion as a coordinator unquote.

So what happened? Five years ago Jerry was defensive coordinator in Buffalo under Dick Jauron, Jerry was a holdover from Gregg Williams' staff, Gregg having been fired as Bills head coach following the 2003 season. Jerry joined his old mentor in Washington before the 2006 season, which happened to see the Redskins top five defense from 2005 collapse to number 31 in most statistical areas.

Although I do not blame that fall on Jerry Gray per se, there was a Thanksgiving 2006 story by ESPN writer and former Washington Post sports writer Tom Friend about the Redskins 2006 dysfunction. A good part of this story was devoted to the disarray and hard feelings introduced when Gregg brought Jerry to Washington, Jerry was immediately in conflict with safeties coach Steven Jackson. The story goes on to describe petty bickering between coaches and indifference to the entire matter on the part of Gregg Williams.

The common thread here? Jerry may not have initiated the problems in 2006 and may not have approached Dan Snyder for an interview in 2009. In both cases though he appears to have demonstrated poor judgment in handling matters of football professionalism, and has shown a an inability to stand the heat in the kitchen, he has a tendency to put himself ahead of the team.

Maybe he thinks that is how you get ahead in this business. Maybe it is.



Dan Snyder: Uncredited image from here via here.

How To Kill the Rooney Rule - Part Two

If I interviewed this Cheeto could I count it?

No one was expecting the transition from Vinny Cerrato to Bruce Allen, it caught everyone by surprise. In the excited aftermath of the team hiring its first ever general manager under owner Dan Snyder details of how the team fulfilled the Rooney Rule were vague. Then we found out. The process is now repeating itself for the head coach, and the Rooney Rule is reduced to irrelevance. Curly R's two part series on the Rooney Rule's death at the hands of Dan Snyder continues.

Part One: The General Manager
Part Two: The Head Coach
Part Three: The Collateral Damage

=====

How is this for a headline, New York Times style:

DAN SNYDER DESTROYS ROONEY RULE
Rendered Moot
Pre-emptive interviews violate original intent

It seems a little over the top, but that is really what has happened here in a practical sense. Thanks to Dan Snyder we have an established precedent that pre emptive interviews for qualifying positions can be conducted prior to the position in question being open.

That these interviews can happen in secret or behind the scenes reduces the public pressure element of intent in the Rooney Rule; it was designed to force each and every team to include minorities in the staffing process so let me ask you this question:

If those minority candidates can be interviewed in secret before positions are open to ensure what some would call smooth transitions and others would call box checking and still others would call due diligence, if there is no public concurrent accounting of the candidates and interviews, does this push those candidates to the back of the bus?

I think it does. It has always been Curly R's position that the Rooney Rule has the potential to encourage a shameful brand of tokenism when teams in an otherwise free market know exactly what candidate they want to hire. I sympathize with Matt Millen, the original Rooney Rule violator in 2003 when he said he could not find a minority candidate to interview after asking five separate people. Reasonable people can disagree as to whether the Lions really tried to find someone, the fact is that they wanted Steve Mariucci whether Steve was white, black or purple.

That same offseason Cowboys owner Jerral W. Jones tried to reel in former Vikings coach Dennis Green for an interview that Dennis' friend and former Redskins offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye described as quote an act like [Jerral W. Jones] was in compliance [with the Rule] unquote.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. If there are no mechanisms for waivers of the Rule or justification for variation, if there is just one rule and it will be applied no matter how ludicrous the interview, AND top shelf candidates like Dennis Green see right through the veil of tokenism and refuse to interview, then what is an owner to do?

Answer, lobby like hell and manage down to the barest legal compliance. Which is what Dan Snyder has done, and in so doing has destroyed the intent of the the Rule, rendering it moot. Which is a good thing, even if that destruction was executed in a terrible manner with the all the wrong motivations.

As far as the public record tells us, the team, the league and the Fritz Pollard Alliance, the body that regulates the implementation of the Rooney Rule, worked to approve the pre emptive interviews of current Redskins director of professional personnel Morocco Brown for the general manager position, and of defensive coordinator Greg Blache and secondary coach Jerry Gray for the head coach position.

The FPA approved of these interviews, believing the team's sincerity in offering these interviews. There appears to be plausible deniability all along the way. The team, whether Dan Snyder personally is irrelevant, spoke with the league, the league, in the form of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, asked FPA chairman John Wooten to look into Jerry Gray as a candidate, determine whether Jerry qualified in the eyes of the Rule, and whether the Redskins' process could be considered compliant.

Wooten validated it all.

Then the NFL, after ostensibly initiating the discussion with the FPA, beyond some hilarious double speak refused to comment further (op. cit.), the NFL's own story on Jerry Gray's interview confirmation is primarily made up of an Associated Press report, they refused to go on record with the internals of the story, even though the league itself was crucial to the process of validating a pre emptive interview.

For the team's part, Dan Snyder and his people have plausible deniability as well (ibid.), they never had direct contact and therefore influence over the FPA decision to validate the process, so Dan's hands are clean in all this.

And so that's it. Find a guy that meets the minimum requirement, give him a pre emptive interview in secret before the job is open, get it rubber stamped and you are done, fire your old guy and hire your new guy, stay on schedule with good PR and never be accountable in public for promoting minority hiring or for violating the Rule. The Fritz Pollard Alliance itself, whether intentionally or by accident, has just rendered the rule completely irrelevant.

Except that is not it, there is human toll in this: Redskins secondary coach Jerry Gray. Curly R's How To Kill the Rooney Rule concludes tomorrow with Part Three, The Collateral Damage.



Dan Snyder: Uncredited image from here via here.