The Redskins Fan

As John McCain said, "My friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go." And while you may point out the sarcasm there, I can assure you I'm ready to rock! In fact, let me give you an example from one of the best rock bands of all time:

I have to say it's been long time since Nick and I started BSing about football. In fact, both of us love the NFC East and constantly talk about it. You would be right to point out that we have nothing better to do with out time, but you know what? The Redskins are beyond an obsession for a lot people and football season, in my mind,, is just getting started again.

Let's get down to the issues: the Redskins fired Williams, hired Zorn, and still have a messy cap situation to deal with. The Wizards are slumping, the NBA has made some decent trades, and Clemons is on Capitol Hill. Add to that the Nationals in a new stadium and I think we have a lot to talk about aside from the regular analysis of weekly games and scores. In fact, I would argue that this the best time of the year to talk about sports because it allows you to pause, draw your thoughts together, and get excited about upcoming events and seasons (opening day, NBA playoffs, draft day, digestion of the NFL season, you catch my drift).

For starters, the Redskins screwed up again which is really unbelievable. They fired the one guy who would add any sort of continuity to Gibb's three years there, they hired a total unknown quantity, and they still have the worst personnel for an offense playing in the perennially tough NFC east.

Greg Williams, his macho/controlling personality aside, was the perfect fit for the Redskins coaching job. I don't care if he pulled that 10 man salute to Taylor without Gibbs knowing it – the guy would keep Gibb's offense and continue running an excellent defense. As Mike Wise from the Post said, in firing Williams, you might as well have flushed Gibb's tenure here down the toilet; it really defies common sense! (Rumor has it that Williams had the job but lost it since he can't get along with superiors (Cerato and Snyder, really). Great.

If you ask me, continuity, not change, is what's important for the Skins right now. They've had to deal with so many changes in the past few years and finally, because of Taylor's death, they now have some cohesion and chemistry. Now the Skins are ruining it. You can think of it from the player's point of view: it took them 3/4ths of the season to learn a 500 page playbook, and when they did, it clicked. Why start this learning process over yet again?

Zorn seems like a great guy and I hope he proves me wrong by being an awesome coach (link to his hire). I hope he kicks a lot of butt with the Redskins and mentors Campbell to become the next Hasselback.

That said, who the heck is this guy? He's been a career assistant his entire life. He wasn't even trying to get a head coaching job, but was happy as the Skins QB coach. What happened was this: Snyder went through an unorganized and unexpected coaching search and when he realized that every decent coordinator or unsigned head coach wasn't interested, he found the one guy who would take his orders and accept the job immediately. Gibbs did somewhat screw the Skins by leaving too soon, but Synder didn't do this properly...

The whole thing is just bizarre – 20 hour interviews? Private jet interviews. How weird is that? Another point to make: do you think for a minute this guy will last more than a season, especially if he loses and Coach Cowher becomes available? Yet again, we're destined to another mediocre season…great. Sally Jenkins at the post said it best.

One final point on the Redskins – they have zero size at the WR position and this will continue to haunt them in the NFC east. Moss, Thrash, Lloyd, and Randle El probably have the average height of my receivers in high school. To have a dynamic, West Coast passing game (ala Zorn) you need tall receivers who can catch the ball. The sad part is that despite their size, they stll can't catch! (Santana, if you are reading this, I'm sorry.)

Since this post is already to long and way too focused on the redskins, I will post some links of interest:

Here is a great article about the rat – excuse me the – the government witness who gave Mitchell all the "juice" on Clemons. Great read if you have the time.

Wilbon on the all-star game.

I hate Dr. Z but I'm glad he does this every year

Adios for now. More on the Wizards, Congress and sports, and the Nats later.

-Ballgame