JIMMY JOHNSON Is Right-On On The Redscunts!
Jesus'sPedoBoy
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"Snyder Must Lead Redskins By Getting Out of the Way"
By Michael Wilbon
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
OF COURSE Carlos Rogers is right when he says "it starts with
ownership." It always does. The Steelers' success in Pittsburgh starts
with Dan Rooney. The Red Sox' success in Boston starts with John
Henry. The Clippers' incompetence in Los Angeles starts with Donald
Sterling.
Rogers's statement to reporters this week carries some shock value
because players very rarely, if ever, include the owner in the list of
reasons teams can't win. Usually, players limit any mention of
ownership to thanking the man who signs the check. But I'd better not
hear anybody suggest Rogers's reasoning is flawed because the issues
confronting the Redskins absolutely start with ownership.
The Washington Redskins, according to Forbes magazine's tracking of
the value of NFL franchises, is the second-richest club among the 32
in the league. The Redskins were first last year, and if it wasn't for
the Cowboys moving into that brand new stadium, the Redskins would be
first again. You know which team leads the league in operating income
by an impossibly wide margin? The Washington Redskins. That, boys and
girls, starts with ownership, with Daniel Snyder specifically. Snyder,
when it comes to generating income, is the best in the game.
Snyder, when it comes to getting his team to win football games, is
closer to the bottom of the league. That, too, starts with ownership.
Just in case you didn't get to hear Jimmy Johnson on the Fox pregame
show Sunday, I come armed with a transcript. The bet here is Johnson
has had this exact conversation with Snyder.
"Realize that a great 53-man roster is what wins championships, not
five or six high-priced stars. Dan Snyder builds his team like its
fantasy football and that's a big negative. The Redskins need a GM who
can prevent Snyder from making decisions while letting Snyder think
he's involved. Who can work that magic? I don't know."
Game over! That's it. That's the only analysis you need to consume
about what's wrong with the Redskins over most of the past 10 years
and why it starts with Snyder.
See, Snyder is great at the business side of the Redskins but the
exact opposite when it comes to the football operations side. Football
isn't instinctive to Snyder and it's never going to be, no matter how
many fat checks he signs, no matter how many times he sits and stares
out at practice. Yes, Snyder knows a lot more about football than he
did 10 years ago, but nowhere near enough to call the shots like Bill
Polian, who has been NFL executive of the year five times and has had
almost illogical success building successful teams in Buffalo (the
Super Bowl teams in the early 1990s), Carolina (when the Panthers went
to the NFC title game in the club's second year of existence) and the
Indianapolis Colts, who have won one Super Bowl and could be working
on another one now.
Me? I'd go to Polian and offer him $30 million to come and run my
team, which is a $70 million savings on Albert Haynesworth, who is
playing just more than half the plays. Jimmy Johnson knows exactly
what he's talking about and Polian knows exactly what he's doing. (And
another head coach with a Super Bowl ring recently told Snyder much
the same thing.)
And if you can't get Polian, who would have no reason to leave what
he's doing, then spend the time finding the next best thing to Polian.
Actually, it could be his son, Chris Polian, who also works in the
Colts' front office. A dear friend who knows the men who know
personnel and are ready to build a football team tells me Chris Polian
is atop a list of five guys he'd hire right now to run a football
operation that wants to win and not just show: Eric DeCosta of the
Baltimore Ravens, Mark Ross of the Giants, Rick Spielman of the
Vikings and Tom Ciskowski of the Cowboys. That's his list, and I know
if I had asked he could have gone 10 deep.
Going back to Jimmy Johnson, his analysis of the Redskins didn't just
center on Snyder. Here's what else he said:
"[Jim] Zorn . . . he's not good enough to do the work that lies ahead.
That's a negative. The scouting department . . . they are trucking
around the country doing their job but no one in the D.C. office is
trusting their work. That's a negative. The salary cap situation . . .
well, that's a negative. The team is bloated with high-priced
veterans. On the other side, how about young, up-and-coming players.
Hmm, can't think of any . . . Jason Campbell is not championship
material . . . Since the roster isn't where it should be, the Redskins
need extra draft picks to rebuild, however they don't have any right
now; that's a negative. To get any marks in the positive column there
has to be a drastic philosophy change . . . "
And where would such a change of philosophy start? It starts with
ownership, of course. And while Carlos Rogers might find himself in a
pickle for saying so, that doesn't change the fact that his assessment
is right on the money. Rogers, Johnson, they're both spot on. The
Redskins' powers-that-be are good at directing anger at the messenger
without ever taking note of the message, even if everybody outside
looking in knows exactly what needs to change.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/13/AR2009101303177.html
