The Model of Mediocrity

After a performance that including everything from a goal-line stance to a bizarre situation where Westbrook was pushed into Randle-El and had the ball hit off of his foot to create the turnover that gave Carolina their go-ahead touchdown, we are back to the same conclusion that we have been for over a decade, this is a mediocre team and we have to realize that, without any major changes to the upper management structure, it will continue to be one for a long time. Synder has a style of doing business that is clearly the reason that this team is going nowhere. There is no general manager for this team. I can't think of a single team that has any kind of success without a good general manager to be able to look at a roster, pick a player that fits the system and plug him in. How can you be a talent scout, look at an entire draft and not get at least 2 or 3 good players per draft? How can you draft 2 WR's and 1 TE and have them produce nothing in over a year and a half? There are plenty of rookies and 2nd year players that are producing on a weekly basis, why not get at least some of that production with all 3 of them? 

With Cerrato at the helm, the Redskins have forgotten the basics of what established them as a perennial playoff winner and Super Bowl contender, the offensive line. When the Redskins have draft picks, they trade them for nothing (T.J. Duckett for a 3rd and 5th round pick, Jason Taylor for a 3,6, and this year's 2nd, etc...) and never seem to worry about not having any draft picks, even though every other team in the league uses the draft to build depth which seems to be a concept that is foreign to the Redskins and the results on the field are self-evident of that. As soon as a player goes down, depending on his importance (i.e. C. Samuels) the season could be over. This is a lack of vision and structure that has taken this team from one of the best run franchises to a joke of an organization led by a Napoleonic figure in Daniel Snyder. He thinks that his way is better and that all of the other teams in the league are run by inferior minds which allows him to be owner, GM, coach, fan, and any other title that he can fit into his mind but he's dead wrong. His reluctance to turn the team over to a real GM, one that has the authority to oversee everything about the franchise, is the reason that things won't change. His idol, Jerry Jones, does the same thing that Snyder does with the great exception that they keep their draft picks and do well with most of them. Like Snyder, Jones also meddles in everything and runs one of the few teams that have done less than Redskins in the last decade, a total of 0 playoff wins in that span, simply pitiful!

The Redskins do everything the wrong way, they interview coaches for one position and then go back to him when they have no other options as they did with Jim Zorn and then are surprised when he doesn't cut it, really?They consistently trade mid-round draft picks as if they were useless to acquire players that are over-hyped, that don't fit their system, and are always over-paid. This is a cruel version of Groundhog Day that most Redskins fans have to endure season after season as they watch the Free Agency period with more interest and enthusiasm than the playoffs, that sums up the issue that we are dealing with here.

Zorn is not the one with the biggest blame in this situation, Snyder and Cerrato are the only standards that this team has had over the last 10 years (save 1 year under Marty where Vinnie was gone) and it shows how their lack of structure and how they are devoid of a plan on Sundays as the team looks pedestrian and without any direction. You can't run an organization, which requires talent evaluators and football people, with a man who never played football at any level and a player evaluator who is only famous for his misses, not his hits. If the Redskins had a real GM they would have never hired Jim Zorn, never traded for Archuleta, Duckett, Taylor or signed Stubblefield, D. Sanders, or Wilkinson. These decisions that Cerrato and Snyder have made, have constantly pushed the development of players back and made this the laughing stock of the league.

This team is horrible to watch, not only because of the horrendous state of play that they have, but they can't seem to do anything well anymore. There is no strength on this team, maybe the defense, they made some big plays on Sunday but we needed to force a field goal from Carolina they let Jonathan Stewart walk into the endzone and put them up for good. The lack of an identity on this team is reflected in the decisions that are made, the coaches come and go, the players come and go and nothing changes. They need to blow this team up and start over, period.

BIGGEST ISSUES ON THE TEAM NOW

QB - Jason Campbell is not to blame for all of the Redskins woes but he is a big part of what is not working. Campbell does not show any confidence out there EVER! He always looks hurried and can't seem to make a simple pass when needed. On Sunday, Campbell threw 2 quick slants; one to Devin Thomas who had to make a great catch just to haul in the pass that was a few feet over his head and the other one was batted down because he threw the ball flat and low, both of those throws are unacceptable for an NFL-type quarterback to make. Campbell is, to sum it up, good when it's not important and a disaster at critical moments. He can make all of the throws and can, in the 2nd or 3rd quarters, make a nice throw in a tight spot but when the game is on the line he usually fizzles and puts a pitiful performance on. When he throws on first down he looks OK but on 3rd and 10 he seems to doubt himself, usually takes a sack or throws the ball away and never seems to make the big play when you need it. There are some QB's that are money players, they show up when needed, maybe they don't have the best stats in the world but when the game is on the line, they come through, Campbell is the exact opposite, he is money in non-pressure situations but a no-show when the game is on the line.

RB - There is no breakout runner on this team, Portis is over-the-hill, Betts is the most useless back-up in the league and Mason is a feel good story but not a great runner. The position has NO speed, no agility, no impact player that can take a short pass and take it all the way. There is no Santana Moss back there and, in today's game, it's a necessary thing to keep the defense on the edge. Now, a "big" run is a 10-yard run where Portis seems to slip when trying to make a cut, making him take himself out of the play. 

OFFENSIVE LINE - There is NO depth, NO big talent (other than Samuels), and NO hope that they can get the job done. Other teams blitz the Redskins knowing that they can't pick up multiple defenders and that Campbell will hesitate until he has to throw it away or take the sack. There is no consistently good drives because they can't blow anyone off of the ball. They have little to no push which is the problem in goal-line situations and a big reason that they can't score in the redzone. This was the weakest part of the team going into the season and little was done about it in the offseason.

COACHING - There are many times in a game that I agree with Zorn's decisions like his penchant of going for it on 4th down, but am downright puzzled by others. How do you justify running a stretch play out of your own endzone? Or running the same 2 running plays left or right in succession and expecting big plays out of it? How about not getting Cooley a single ball when he has been the best player on offense, hands down. These are all of the reasons that Zorn looks like he's in over his head and why he can't get his offense going. There is a lack of execution, that is obvious and painfully so at that, but most of the calls are predictable and ineffective. On defense we seem to run blitzes that don't work and put our corners 10 yards deep, never once using a man-to-man, bump-and-run coverage that can knock players off of their routes and disrupts timing. The only part of this team, save the kickoff return on Sunday, that plays well and is well coached is the kick-off and punt coverages. The Redskins are amongst the top in the league in returns against, at least there is a bright spot here, right?

THE TEAM

I can't remember a Redskins game in the last 3 or 4 years in which a fan could sit back, watch the game and enjoy it. There is always a stressful period, a moment that they make a big mistake to let a team back in the game or put the game out of reach when the Redskins were about to tie, this movie is been replayed over and over again and seems to be the only true identity of this team. The revolving door that is the Redskins locker-room has been home to washed-up players and busts that never seem to play as well here as we thought, or as they did on their previous teams. The fact that Snyder wins every offseason has a lot to do with it, the players come here and know that they are going to get paid and the players that are here know that they are going to be let go so that others can come in and take their job and get paid much more as they are without much success (see Ryan Clark vs. Adam Archuleta).