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

Al Saunders introduction ON NOW!

http://www.redskins.com/

Joe Gibbs has highlighted balance and similar styles between Saunders and Gibbs-type offense.

Similar background. Three-digit system from "Air" Coryell.

No ego from Joe Gibbs. Al can really help us. Joe proposed the hiring to Snyder. Snyder accepted.

Al Saunders will run the offense (period). Joe will do other things management-wise. He feels this is the best way to help the Skins right now.

Al Saunders:

Admirer of Joe Gibbs since the California days.

Grateful for the opportunity to work with a HOF coach. Overhelming responsibility.

Joe has been one of his heroes. Redskins have a commitment to win.

I am proud to be surrounded by people with great values, such as Joe Gibbs. Gave great praise to Joe Bugel. Bugel is the "stir" that makes things work.

I want to bring here a few things that will score more poinrts.

Great praise to Gregg Williams too. I had to play against him! We need to score more points.

I look forward to work with all of you.

Honey, he said to his wife, this is our last move! Apreciates the support from his wife.

Thnaks for letting us know, I will have to check it out later.

Most important thing as an offensive football team is to score points... going to tweak system and playcalling to score more points. (Obvious but true, looks like we won't be so conservative.)

Told wife this is going to be LAST move!

I just tuned in a little late....did Saunders or Gibbs say anything about how many of his old assistants he is going to bring with him?

They need to do something with all of these crazy titles. Associate Head Coach-Offense....hahahahaha

Joe said Al's Title:

Associate Head Coach Offense.

It is not about titles but production said Al.

I want to coach offense. (in response to a question vis-avis other head coaching opportunities).

Details about coaching such as play-calling: organization and details are important. Al Saunders will call plays. But Joe will bring important input as well. He will consider all position coaches as head coaches for those positions. Their input is a coach-team effort.

Overall Al Saunders is a GREAT guy!

I want them to ask about Patrick Ramsey. Will he be a part of the discussions with him.

An idiot asked about Joe retiring and whether he is committed!

Joe: I am commited to my contract! I want to add someone real-talented to win a championship. This was a unique opportunity to add somebody from the same coaching-family tree to help. This is an opportunity to slide and allow somebody else to help.

Confirmed all other coaches.

Confirmed his commitment to the fans!

Question to Al if he likes the players we have: He said he played against the stellar RB called Clinton Portis. Emphasis on OL. Snatana and ey important pieces. Mentioned Brunell and Campbell (but not Ramsey )

Thanks for the report, RiC.

Somebody asked Joe about the long hours:

He said he will be just as long as always. There are many things too. I want to help Special Teams a bit more. Some places in the organization need input.


Personnel issues are very time consuming (recruiting, keeping, managing players, etc)


Some other idiot asked whether anybody else would have been hired or just because he became available. Joe said it was Al Saunders. They were not looking for an offensive coach in general.

frankcal20 wrote:I want them to ask about Patrick Ramsey. Will he be a part of the discussions with him.

Saunders was asked about the personnel. He said that one of the main reasons that he chose the job was because he liked the personnel on the team so much. He talked about Brunell a lot saying that this season may have been his best and he said he was very impressed with Campbell. He didn't even mention Ramsey!

I know. That kind of means that they arn't planning on it. Bringing back Hasselbeck wouldn't be a bad idea for us.

frankcal20 wrote:I know. That kind of means that they arn't planning on it. Bringing back Hasselbeck wouldn't be a bad idea for us.

What about one of the backups in KC? They are both vets who seem pretty competent and they're both FAs! I have a feeling we might sign one of them.

I am not sure I can jump to a conclusion here. But this was not re-assuring to Patrick that is for sure.

I have been in enough press conferences to know that people tend to read sometimes too much on what is not being said.

Let's wait and see. Overall, A GREAT press conference. It showed GREAT chemistry between Joe and Al, and in between Al and the rest of the coaching staff.

I sincerely was left with the impression that Al does not want to be a headcoach for a while. He is happy with the commitment to offense only.

I am sure they will post the interview soon. I recommend you to watch it.

REDEEMEDSKIN wrote:Thanks for the recap, RiC. Looks like Saunders could will be here for the long run. How exciting!!

yes, thank you RiC!

I have a question...

This may be a silly one, but does Saunders talk in an English accent?

I mean, he was born there, and naturalized in 1960...

Any trace?

No, not at all, he sounds completely american.

Skinsfan55 wrote:I have a question...

This may be a silly one, but does Saunders talk in an English accent?

I mean, he was born there, and naturalized in 1960...

Any trace?

I was expecting him to sound like James Bond, but he sounded very american. I actually wondered if his parents were Americans in the military and he just happened to be born in London because his Dad was stationed there or something.

Brandon777 wrote:

Skinsfan55 wrote:I have a question...

This may be a silly one, but does Saunders talk in an English accent?

I mean, he was born there, and naturalized in 1960...

Any trace?

I was expecting him to sound like James Bond, but he sounded very american. I actually wondered if his parents were Americans in the military and he just happened to be born in London because his Dad was stationed there or something.

No, he was British.

He would of been a US citizen if his parents wished it if he was born overseas. Even if he was born over there and his parents decided to make him British, his accent would still be there because you get an accent by talking like others around you.

Saunders if anything is sometimes hard to understand.

Didn't sound promising at all for Ramsey. The second time Saunders mentioned the topic he said Brunell had his best year in a while and the young #1 pick from Auburn has a lot of potential. Didn't even mention Ram in that portion of the interview.

Hopefully we get something good for him. There should be an eager franchise out there willing to put up something intriguing for him.

Redskin in Canada wrote:I am not sure I can jump to a conclusion here. But this was not re-assuring to Patrick that is for sure.

Quite honestly the thing I have drwn from all of the post season talk is that, they Skins like many of the players they have, but no one is beyond replacement. That being said if the opportunity arises to find a better talent at a given position, they are going to make an effort to grab the better player. This is just simple business.
Lost in all the concern for Patrick is the fact he really wants to be a starter in the NFL, and that is different from saying he wants to be the starter for the Skins. I don't blame Ramsey, he was drafted in the dark ages of the Snyder era. The team did not have direction or a plan for the future, the mentality was all win now at any cost (and boy did it cost). Now Joe is in charge, he has set the plan in motion for the future, at the same time bulding on the lessons learned over the last couple of years. They don't mention Ramsey because they don't know if he is going to be a part of the team in 2006 be it his choice or not.

Quite honestly the thing I have drwn from all of the post season talk is that, they Skins like many of the players they have, but no one is beyond replacement. That being said if the opportunity arises to find a better talent at a given position, they are going to make an effort to grab the better player. This is just simple business.[/quote]

Very true! In fact this is basically what Gibbs said about Saunders. He said they weren't looking to get a new offensive coordinator but when head coaching vacancies started being filled and he realized that they had a realistic shot at getting Saunders he got interested. Gibbs didn't mind replacing himself as long as it would improve the team. Also, another thing that I thought was interesting is that Gibbs said that all year he used the Chiefs game film to scheme for their common opponents because he liked their offense so much and he said their teams were similar offensively.

Saunders to Focus In On His New Personnel

Saunders said he had not made an evaluation of the team's quarterback situation yet.

Veteran Mark Brunell ended the 2005 campaign as the starter. Fourth-year player Patrick Ramsey's future with the team is uncertain. And last year's first-round draft pick Jason Campbell is waiting in the wings.

"Mark probably had probably the best year he's had for some time," Saunders said. "Patrick Ramsey is a first-round choice who's been around for four years. And you have a young draft pick in Jason Campebll out of Auburn who has a lot of potential.

"We'll sort that out. I'm sure Joe has some real strong feeling about what's going to happen at that particular position and I'll be a part of that decision-making process. I'm sure it'll take a little while to sort everything out, but I like the talent there."

http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=4887

Very strange!

I swear I did not hear Saunders say aything about Patrick during the interview (I have gone again over the recording). Obviously somebody in the Skins media department is spinning it.

But I take the man at his word:

I'm sure it'll take a little while to sort everything out, but I like the talent there

It's hard to say that you like the guy whn you haven't seen much of him. I think maybe Patches was a topic when Joe and Saunders sat down...it's likely that Al Saunders is the one guy in the world that knows exactly what Joe doesn't see in Ramsey now.