The American Spectator

A Bears Fan| 10.19.09 @ 4:04PM

I'm amazed the Bears didn't sign Lewis - as a running back.

No prob, though. I hear they're THIS close to re-signing Gale Sayers.

Robert Griffin| 10.19.09 @ 4:26PM

The NFL is going to shit, Damn Racist Race-Baiting Liberals.

Tim| 10.19.09 @ 4:36PM

You sound upset.

Ken (old Texican)| 10.19.09 @ 4:47PM

I'm outside the beltway pundit bunch...way outside.
I'm a Texans fan. Fortunately, our management and ownership are all sober. (smile)

JohnD| 10.19.09 @ 5:16PM

I live just outside DC, but I am a Ravens fan.

The Redskins problem is that with Snyder running the team (Vinnie Cerrato is not the de facto GM, Snyder is), there is no one to evaluate football talent for the draft. The draft is where teams build depth and Special teams players. Snyder can play fantasy football with top free agents, but he cannot find serviceable guys in Rounds 3-7 to build depth in the draft like teams with football-savvy GMs can. One need only look at last years record (6-2 in first half, 2-6 when subs had to take over for injured starters) and this year's debacle on their offensive line.

The Baltimore Ravens are the perfect contrast. Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome finds guys in the 6th round (Adalius Thomas, for example) who become pro bowlers, while the Redskins can't find guys in the first two rounds who can even play. (Taylor Jacobs?)

Until Snyder hires a real GM to blow up the team, and take over scouting and drafting, they will be terrible. And they haven't even faced a team with a win yet (they do next week - Philadelphia). As long as Snyder runs the football end of the operation, the team will be awful, and that's not Jim Zorn's fault.

W. James Antle| 10.19.09 @ 5:53PM

I'm in 100 percent agreement with this.

JohnD| 10.19.09 @ 9:16PM

Thank you. I have high regard for your work here and your validation means a lot to me. I suggest Mr. Snyder hire Maryland native and Sevrna Park resident and ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. If not Kiper, he can hire Maryland native and suburban Washington resident JohnD.

Pete| 10.19.09 @ 6:19PM

Agreed...the Redskins are becoming like the Raiders: messed up ownership resulting in poor decisions on everything from coach selection to drafting to...play calling. At least they took the positive step of benching Campbell this past weekend...that is a start.

John - TMF| 10.19.09 @ 8:04PM

John D is exactly right. There is, unfortunately, no way to fire an owner.

I have been a Redskins follower since Lombardi saved the team from oblivion. (being a Lombardi fan more than the teams that he coached). Being a Virginian is a contributor as well.

Zorn is not at fault, the players seem to like and trust him, he was a breath of fresh air from the parade of recent coaches, including Joe Gibbs, who should have stayed with NASCAR.

What can be done? Not much until someone finds Snyder a real GM, and begins to maybe trade back some of the older fill in talent for some draft picks.

You can't win football games without an offensive line. You can win football games without a consistent running game, or a consistent West Coast (pass/run) attack - where short passes substitute as option pitches.

The Redskin defense has been manful, but defenses don't put enough points on the board to substitute for an effective offense.

Zorn shouldn't have been calling all of the plays. He needed to concentrate on the "HEAD COACH" thing. Of course it was the right move, with the wrong piece. Snyder just castled his queen with a knight... and hoped that no one would notice much.

I figure Shanahan will show up in Ashburn some time around New Years... and I bet that three years of losing football later, he will be out the same door as Zorn is doomed to leave.

It is sad when a great franchise mumbles off into obscurity.

r/The Mighty Fahvaag