Game 16: Redskins (4-11) at Chargers (12-3)

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Out of the box: The fat lady is soundchecking as the Redskins head out to California for the last hip hip hooray, 4:15pm ET on FOX, 2009 is history after this game, a meaningless affair except to a dedicated few.

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Quick jump to
The Story So Far :: Curly R Aside :: Oppo Research :: Trainer's Table Gameplan :: My Take in 60 Words or Less :: Preview Generalia
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The Story So Far: This is it. Game over for 2009, the Redskins are battered team dragging lame duck coaches across the country for a meaningless game to end a forgettable season, Michael Richman, author of Redskins Encyclopedia and one of the guys I respect the most in the pantheon of Redskinsland, thinks this is the worst Redskins season in fifty years.

I generally agree, though the awfulness of this season had little to do with the win loss record. Redskins fans have struggled through awful seasons in recent memory, in 2006 as Joe Gibbs was struggling to a 5-11 record, no one was calling for him to be fired, and even in the 3-13 1994 season fans were disappointed but still looking forward to the emergence of sure to be superstar quarterback Heath Shuler.

Where Michael is correct, where this season really went off the rails is in how poorly adversity was handled. The team promised great results, then faltered, then began to eat itself. The losses were simply a by product of all that led to this season.

But that is a story for the 2009 Season in Review to be written in the offseason.

The week started with London Fletcher doing his best Susan Lucci as he awaited word on whether he would make the 2009 Pro Bowl (ibid.), alas he did not though teammate rookie hybrid defensive endbacker Brian Orakpo did, the only rookie to do so for the NFC. I am very happy for Brian, I still think a tackle like Michael Oher or Phil Loadholt would have been better for the team, we cannot unmake the Brian Orakpo pick so let us go with it and see him become another DeMarcus Ware or Michael Strahan. As for London, this is getting ridiculous with him not making the Pro Bowl and I feel bad for him getting stuck on such a bad team while still performing personally so well, for the record I think London's public concern that his lack of post tackle celebratin means he does not draw enough attention to himself is nuts. London is an alternate and can still make the Pro Bowl if Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma is playing in the Super Bowl (op. cit.), London maybe the first player ever to make the Hall of Fame without going to a single Pro Bowl. Actually I have no idea if there is a player that already did that.

There was a strange series of events that began in the immediate aftermath of the Dallas game fifteen shutout, with quarterback Jason Campbell admitting to Comcast SportsNet's Kelli Johnson that Jason felt he had been hit so many time this season that it was quote not even fair unquote. In the latest sign that this team is rudderless and it is every man for himself as the ship sinks, Jason's head coach, Jim Zorn, who still says he wants to return as head coach next season, offered no comfort (op. cit.), then as if to pile on, refrained from calling Jason a franchise type quarterback (op. cit.).

Rick Maese at Redskins Insider speculated that this was possibly a result of Jim Zorn remembering how many times he was hit, toss in a bit of the old when I was a player we had it rough attitude there you have it. I think it is really because Jim Zorn has become bitter on the inside if not the outside, very much like Vinny Cerrato blamed Jim Zorn for making him look bad, Jim Zorn blames Jason Campbell for the same.

No on can disagree Jason Campbell has not been tough as hell this season, he has stood in there and taken the hits and still managed to improve this season despite no receivers and a terrible and revolving door offensive line. When asked directly on a radio show on Tuesday whether he wanted to come back with the Redskins in 2010, Jason was evasive and did not answer (op. cit.).

I would like to remind Redskins fans that Jason Campbell, playing with little in the way of a receiving corps and a bullshit offensive line, set career highs in passing yards, touchdown passes and passer rating. Jason may not be Peyton Manning, new actual general manager Bruce Allen should take a hard look at the numbers before he tosses Jason in the offseason. Coach Zorn change in attitude toward his quarterback is another thing not to like about him here at the end.

Hands down though the craziest story of the week was how the Redskins have managed to pre comply with the Rooney Rule on minority candidate interviews, the head coach position is not actually open yet but at some point since late October both defensive coordinator Greg Blache and secondary coach Jerry Gray interviewed for the Redskins head coach position. The story is somewhat complex with subplots about plausible deniability and also involves a pre emptive interview by director of professional personnel Morocco Brown for the not yet vacant general manager position that ultimately went to white guy Bruce Allen, here is everything you need to know: Jerry Gray has almost certainly killed his career and Dan Snyder has managed to mock and kill the Rooney Rule.

Is it the end of the line for Redskins offensive line coach Joe Bugel? He has been coaching in the NFL for 32 years, including fifteen over two stints with the Redskins, rumors around Redskins Park have coach Bugel retiring after today's game. I will be sad to see Joe Bugel go, sadly the game has passed him by and he has lost his ability to coach objectively, he had scraps to work with this season and he could not tell the difference from New York strip.

At this point I am ready for the end and most definitely ready for Jim Zorn to go.

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Curly R Aside: I quite sympathize with lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, by virtue of his fanny being in Fredericksburg Virginia he will not be able to see his beloved Eagles play the Dallas Cowboys in what amounts to a one game playoff, although both teams are in, the winner of this game wins the NFC Beast division title and will host a playoff game. The loser must play all games on the road. Yes that is going to be a real football game and yes I wish I could watch it and I will tomorrow on NFL Game Rewind, the football gods have condemned us to Redskins football, the fans and everyone in the geographical area, we are all going down with the ship.

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Oppo Research: The most significant thing about the Chargers as a team is that they have secured second seed in the 2009 NFL playoffs and have nothing to play for. Chargers and former Redskins head coach Norval Turner, who looks a little better in hindsight every year, has said that the team would prepare just as if the season was on the line. That said, expect San Diego will only play starters for a quarter, or even just a drive or two.

The most significant thing not about the Chargers as a team is that Norval Turner has been there with Dan Snyder and survived getting fired. Today's game and its expected aftermath with Jim Zorn getting fired represents a certain historical symmetry. Norval was fired in the middle of his second season under Dan Snyder, it was somewhat unexpected if not unwarranted, the team was 7-5 and still in playoff contention, after an ugly loss to the Giants Norval was fired after sitting in his Redskins Stadium office for two hours while Dan and Pepper Rodgers debated his fate.

Jim Zorn's fate will be the opposite, a long slog to the bottom of the FAIL bucket with the owner reserving judgment until the formal end of the season when the decision was actually made months ago.

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Trainer's Table: The parade of injuries resumed this week, former 400 pound man and right guard Mike Williams tore a foot muscle in his toes, he was not going to play anyway so the team went ahead and placed him on injured reserve so they could bring in a couple of players to look at (ibid.). There was something they called a competition between Will Montgomery, Edwin Williams and former Eagles practice squadder Paul Fanaika for the starting right guard spot (ibid.), ultimately the team shrugged and said, Edwin what the hell you are in there (ibid.).

The same went for safety Reed Doughty, he suffered what looked like a gruesome ankle break, was actually a high ankle sprain (op. it.), Reed was going to try and fight through but it was hopeless, he was also placed on injured reserve Wednesday along with Mike Williams (ibid.).

LaRon Landry suffered a quote mild unquote concussion on Wednesday in practice (ibid.), at first it looked like nothing but it would up keeping him out of this game, frankly I think he benched, this is a meaningless game, the team knows what LaRon brings and what he does not, and wants to see what else they can do, with safeties Reed and Chris Horton both on injured reserve Kareem Moore and cornerback Fred Smoot will start at safety with undrafted rookie Lendy Holmes the third man in (op. cit.).

Receiver slash kick returner Devin Thomas, who missed his first game of the season last week, struggled to get back from an ankle sprain (ibid.), he did not practice Wednesday (ibid.) and did not make the trip to San Diego (ibid.). Last week with Devin out quarterback Jason Campbell tried to find fellow second year man Malcolm Kelly, there was nothing doing and Santana Moss was essentially the Redskins passing attack. I am not sure Malcolm Kelly can get open.

Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, still bothered by a hip injury, did not practice when the team hit the field Wednesday (ibid.).

Right tackle Stephon Heyer strained the patellar tendon in his right knee (ibid.), which is not the knee that has been bothering him all season, he was trying to play through it,

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Gameplan: The Chargers have nothing to play for, win or lose their playoff seeding cannot change. For at least thirteen of the past fifteen games the Redskins could really have used the opponent to sit their starter and play the second and third teams. Finally, the Redskins get a break.

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My Take in 60 Words or Less: Many of you will not be here next season. We will. Go to your football deaths with honor.

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Washington Post interactive gameday, keys to the game, key matchups, Redskins roster. Broadcast coverage, jesus look at how small that is.

Other previews:


This is it for the 2009 Washington Redskins, sit yourself down and watch it, for better or worse, come high drama or disappointment in the 2010 offseason there will be no more Redskins football until August.


This is a gameday open thread.



NFL helmet logos from here.

Just About All She Wrote

I had the same experience at the Eagles game

Danny Rouhier checks in with his week sixteen Redskins video in which he discusses his unfortunate trip to Landover to see the Redskins in person to play the Cowboys. He is not a happy man.

Redskins fans, please flood Danny's YouTube channel with views and comments, it is imperative we continue to get this kind of high quality content and humor throughout the offseason, Danny has quickly become an important voice in the pantheon of Redskinsland.

Oh and he's a shitload funnier than that doofus Frank Caliendo on the FOX pregame show, dump Frank and give Danny the sketch segment of that show and it improves immediately.



YouTube 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

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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.

Happy New Year from The Curly R

That's quite a ball you got there

From the entire Curly R family, happy New Year, goodbye to the ohs, hello to the tens, here is to a great year and a great decade. I hope you find unexpected success in 2010.


Other Curly R New Year's wishes: 2007 :: 2008 :: 2009



New York Times Square New Year's Ball, 1978 from here via here.

Ringing In the New Year

The more things change...

I hope everyone is in place to have a great New Year's Eve, we are down in Fredericksburg Virginia, home of lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, we have celebrated New Year's Eve family style with the Wilbert Montgomerys every year but one since 2003, and as the wife reminded me, we were also together for New Year's Eve exactly ten years ago in 1999, when we all thought it might be the last night of our lives.

Happy New Year's yall.



Photo of Wilbert Montgomery and me by Mrs. Curly R

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

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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.

Department of Bad News: Mike Williams

Done

The Redskins placed their twelfth and hopefully final player on injured reserve yesterday, right tackle former 400 pound man Mike Williams tore foot muscles near his toe in the first half of the game fifteen loss versus the Cowboys, Mike was placed on the season ending list at the same time as teammate safety Reed Doughty, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the same game. To take Mike's and Reed's roster spots the team signed a tailback and a cornerback.

In a wide ranging and at times downright baffling April pre draft radio interview on ESPravda 980 with owner Dan Snyder, then shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato and head coach Jim Zorn, the Redskins announced they had signed a player but were unable to announce who the player actually was. We were told it was a right tackle, which would become more germane a month later when the Redskins released ten year Redskin right tackle Jon Jansen.

The right tackle teased in the radio interview turned out to be then still 400 pound Mike Williams, a former 2002 fourth overall pick selected by the Bills out of the University of Texas. Mike made thirteen or more starts his first three seasons in Buffalo, was a part time player his fourth year in Buffalo and was released after the 2005 season. He signed with Jacksonville before the 2006 season but was placed on injured reserve with a back injury in August, before the season had even started.

Mike spent the next two years away from football, he stayed close with his former college teammate and boomerang Redskin left guard Derrick Dockery, a series of personal commitments to healthy living and life events like having children conspired to put Mike on former shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato's radar, the team brought him in for a tryout and signed him to a contract on a hunch.

Mike worked his ass off in camp, literally, losing 68 pounds through the end of July and 111 total through the end of August. Mike suffered a few lingering injuries in camp, which is not surprising what he put his body through to lose the weight while playing football in the Virginia summer, and had problems in pass protection, he made final cuts, if only barely.

He got what he wanted, and that was a chance to play football. When right guard Randy Thomas went down for the season with a torn triceps in game two versus the Rams and left tackle Chris Samuels suffered what would become a season and likely career ending neck stinger in game five at the Panthers, it set off a chain reaction of offensive line shuffling, when it was all said and done Mike Williams had made five starts at right guard and three at right tackle.

Not bad considering Mike missed three games in the middle of the season with a ligament tear in his ankle and will be ineligible for the season finale at San Diego, not bad for a guy that was not penciled in at starter at either position and barely made the team.

Mike's toe injury is not expected to be serious and Mike should make a full recovery, go heal up Mike, you will be back to compete for your job in 2010, with a full season to knock the rust off perhaps you can elevate your game, we need starters and depth players.



Mike Williams: Getty Images from here.