No one would tell you a shake up of leadership for the Washington Redskins means the team is reinventing the wheel.
The Redskins of the past four years have been far from redeveloping the wheel, but they had a system in place and something to build on following Joe Gibbs’ resignation as head coach and team president. Team owner Dan Snyder said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fi x it,” when talking about his club’s methods of operating.
Gibbs is now back in North Carolina overseeing his NASCAR team, Joe Gibbs Racing, but he agreed to remain with the Redskins in a limited capacity as a consultant.
Snyder must not have consulted with Gibbs before deciding to fi re defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and offensive coordinator Al Saunders, both of whom were also associate head coaches.
Williams was hand picked by Gibbs just hours after Gibbs was named coach in 2004. Williams led a top-10 defense in three of his four seasons with Washington. It was rumored the two had an under-the-table agreement that Williams would take over as head coach after Gibbs decided to retire.
Saunders endured plenty of criticism for his poor handling of the offense over two seasons. He had to tailor his style to allow quarterback Jason Campbell to develop his game and sometimes tighten the reins on up fi eld passes.
Things opened up, though, as soon as Todd Collins was inserted into the lineup after Campbell was injured in the win versus Chicago. Saunders proved his offense could work with the Redskins’ personnel, with maybe a change or two.
Newly named offensive coordinator Jim Zorn is going to shake things up and try to turn Campbell into the league’s next Matt Hasselbeck. Can you say West Coast offense? We saw what the ‘Skins looked like when they dumped the ball off for fi ve to seven yards every play when Mark Brunell was the starting quarterback – and the end resulted in a lot of frustration.
Who knows if Zorn will hang on to Portis? Will he deal Moss or Randle El? What will become of the veteran offensive line?
The defense should be less of a question mark. Greg Blache, formerly the Redskins’ linebackers coach, was pro-
moted to offensive coordinator. Blache is cut from the same mold as Williams as a protégé and has been groomed to take over his position.
Current Redskins players developed a great deal of respect for Williams and Saunders, which now must be redevel-
oped with the new regime.
Did I mention that there is still no head coach in place? Interviews aren’t scheduled to resume until after the Super Bowl next Sunday, so the Redskins can have the opportunity to interview coordinators from the Patriots and Giants.
All I can say is that this hire better be the best one the team has ever made, or the Redskins will start to lose fans in droves. You can only tear a team apart and rebuild it with a new scheme so many times before people get sick of it.
Teams around the NFL should be thanking Snyder for setting his own team down an apocalyptic path of self-destruction that would have team founder George Preston Marshall rolling over in his grave.