The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Dan issue is that of arrogance. There are tons of knowledge old'skool true football minds out there that could guide this franchise back into reality. Sadly, he's not going to check his ego at the door and let someone else do what he CAN'T. His arrogance is the root of our suffering.

Dan Snyder is a failure when it comes to football.

I share your frustrations, but the fact is that if a few balls bounced a little differently, we would not be having this conversation and we would be thrilled that Zorn made the playoffs in his first year.

VetSkinsFan: Yes, of course it is speculation. I just wanted to point out that the consensus of the fans agreed with most of the major decisions since Snyder took over. With 20/20 hindsight the fans now decry all of those decisions as sheer stupidity.

Skinsjock and Luva Luva: Okay, Snyder should keep his distance and let real football people make the decisions. Let's rewind to Marty Schottenheimer. Everyone was saying that Snyder needs to hire a real coach and turn over control to a football person. So he does exactly that. Old school Marty shakes things up and brings in Tony Banks as QB. He turns training camp into military style boot camp. He tries to teach Darrell Green new CB techniques. By the end of the season, just about everyone (except me) was displeased with the situation and was thrilled to see Spurrier replace Marty. At that time Snyder tried to hire a "real GM" but could not get the guys he wanted.

Redskin in Canada: No accountability? I am not sure I understand your point. What exactly are you looking for? Can you give an example with a reference to another team?

DEHog: I would have fired Turner too. Everyone agreed that Marty went too far. We don't know why he could not find a taker, but the point is that Cerrato was not his first choice. Cowher said he had no interest. It was the fans that objected to Fassel. Examples all over the league for how to build an organization? Actually the number of perrenial powerhouses is rather small, and because of parity there are few truly dominant teams. I guess on a lot of points we will have to agree to disagree.

Snout wrote:By the end of the season, just about everyone (except me) was displeased with the situation and was thrilled to see Spurrier replace Marty....Everyone agreed that Marty went too far.

No way! Just the opposite is true. Marty had won the team over and had us going in the right direction. Personally, I was pissed by The Danny's inability to remain detached from the day-to-day operations of the team. This is not hindsight. At the time I knew it was a huge mistake to tear up all the positive changes Marty had made in favor of yet more rebuilding. Tony Banks was merely a stop-gap QB until Marty could bring his own guy.

Yeah, how did Marty "go too far?"

He got rid of some high priced veterans and was just laying the groundwork for upcoming seasons where he'd make the Redskins a playoff team. He had a three year plan.

Just think about what Marty could have done with Stephen Davis, Fred Smoot, LaVar Arrington, Champ Bailey, Antonio Pierce, Steven Alexander and Rod Gardner.

Those were all really good players 26 or younger.

Still, Danny fired him just to go after Steve Spurrier in 2002. What a mistake that turned out to be, and the careers of those stars were changed again.

I don't know if I would have included Rod Gardner in your list.

Skinsfan55 wrote:Yeah, how did Marty "go too far?"

He got rid of some high priced veterans and was just laying the groundwork for upcoming seasons where he'd make the Redskins a playoff team. He had a three year plan.

Just think about what Marty could have done with Stephen Davis, Fred Smoot, LaVar Arrington, Champ Bailey, Antonio Pierce, Steven Alexander and Rod Gardner.

Those were all really good players 26 or younger.

Still, Danny fired him just to go after Steve Spurrier in 2002. What a mistake that turned out to be, and the careers of those stars were changed again.

I liked Marty as well, and wished we would have kept him, because the guy is old-school and believes in fundamental football; run the ball, play defense. Oh and throw no pass further than 6 yards (that passing offense was just horrible to watch, if you remember right). But keep in mind, almost every owner had tried to get Spurrier to leave Florida and take over their NFL team. He was seen as the next "big thing" in the NFL. That Spurrier turned out to be a total disaster...well, that's another story. I don't blame Snyder for taking the chance on Spurrier (many other things, he deserves mountains of blame for, however).

DEHog: I would have fired Turner too. Everyone agreed that Marty went too far. We don't know why he could not find a taker, but the point is that Cerrato was not his first choice. Cowher said he had no interest. It was the fans that objected to Fassel. Examples all over the league for how to build an organization? Actually the number of perrenial powerhouses is rather small, and because of parity there are few truly dominant teams. I guess on a lot of points we will have to agree to disagree.

I will agree this is a league that is structured or suited for parity. It makes it even more important to have good football people in your organization. It can be done…

S.D.- They lose Turner, L.T. and still have good RB
Indy- They let Edge go and didn’t miss a beat, have already replaced an Aging Harrison.
Pitt- They let player walk all the time…why because they have confidence in the F.O and coaching staff
N.E.- How is it that a undefeated SB team was able to nab the defensive ROY??
Bal.- Look at the D they built through the draft.
Tenn- amazing how fast they turn things around down there.
Philly- another team that will let players walk, look at their track record the last 10 years
N.Y- A SB team that loses both starting DE’s and all they do is have home field, we lose one and give uo two draft pick.
G.B- theyhad a down year but they are set to make another run, without Brett.

You can call it a “hand full” but I’ve just name 9 team (30%) of team in the NFL that gets it right

A famous dead guy once said…Fools learn by experience. I prefer to profit from others experience.

The only thing Marty did that I didn't like was getting rid of Brian Mitchell for Eric Metcalf, and that was at the beginning. By the end, I was ecstatic about the prospects for the following season after the way the first ended. After he was fired, I drank the Kool-aid and got excited about the Spurrier hiring, but only after I got over the disappointment of Marty being fired.

What to do now is DRAFT. We can complain or speculate how much input we really have but the decision lays with DS and VC.
I think that if we can start drafting and not throw away our picks well be better off. Perhaps VC said those stupid things because he wants to save face. Maybe he really is that stupid? At least we actually drafted.
Next year we'll be able to get rid of a lot of aging vets without dead cap hits.

Marty's QB:

Tony Banks was merely a stop-gap QB until Marty could bring his own guy.

Remember how Banks got to be QB? First, Snyder hires Jeff George to "share" QB with Johnson. Marty arrives, looks George in the eye, and says, "Even Tony Banks is better".

Of course, remember that Snyder and Marty (which?) decided to "clean house". They dropped Russ Grimm as OL coach. They dropped Charley Taylor as receivers coach. Grimm is Assistant HC for the Cardinals, and receiovers could learn a lot if somebody just made them watch tapes of Charley, and said "imitate him".

Because of Grimm and Taylor, I was not "pro-Marty".

By the end of the season, I sure was.

(And I never met anyone, outside the Washington Post sports opinionators, who wanted Spurrier in the NFL.)

welch wrote:(And I never met anyone, outside the Washington Post sports opinionators, who wanted Spurrier in the NFL.)

Seriously? Throughout the 90's, he was mentioned as the hot coaching candidate for almost every opening. Though of course I can't find articles from the 90's on the web. I did find this reference, though, from the New York Times in 2002.

Since the mid-1990's, Spurrier's name has been mentioned on the short list of candidates for coaching jobs at several professional teams, including the Giants.

However, when he retired from Florida, he was the top heading coaching candidate for every opening. Just one article I pulled up.

Spurrier, whose surprising resignation rocked the college football world on Friday, is not scheduled to speak publicly until Monday. He made it clear he wanted to pursue an NFL head coaching job in his "retirement" statement, but his career's next destination spawned hours of speculation Friday as NFL observers tried to link him to half a dozen potential head coaching jobs all over the league's map.

Including the Panthers...too bad he didn't go there...

Another one from right after when the Skins hired him, comparing Spurrier to Jimmy Johnson.

Count me in as someone who actually enjoyed Marty's only season. I watched every game and felt good about the team at the end of the season.

Yeah, the games were boring, but you could see the players believe in the system Marty brought here.

PE asked

Seriously? Throughout the 90's, he was mentioned as the hot coaching candidate for almost every opening. Though of course I can't find articles from the 90's on the web. I did find this reference, though, from the New York Times in 2002.

Seriously. Maybe I don't get around enough sports/entertainment writing, but I don't remember much clamor for a long-time college coach with a college offense. A bit like asking Darryl Royal to bring the Wishbone to the NFL.

After Spurrier season 1, I remember somebody like Wilbon the Wise explaining that NFL defenders were a lot bigger and faster than the players Spurrier had faced with Florida. (surprise).

Spurrier is much better, in the college level than, in the pros!