"In The Trenches" With Trevor Matich: Week 8

Thursday, October 29, 2009

By Trevor Matich
CSNwashington.com contributor

As bad as it's gotten for the Redskins, it's actually good... and the worse, the better. Think Boston Tea Party -- the people have revolted, and the king may be forced to give in.

I believe that Dan Snyder bought the Redskins because he wants to be counted among the greats. The problem is that his methods have undermined some of the most important mechanisms that make an NFL team win.

The biggest problem is continuity. Under Snyder, there have been five head coaches, and even more offensive coordinators and play-callers. He doesn’t seem to realize that a team would be better off with an average coach running an average system that the players could learn thoroughly, than with a brilliant coach running a brilliant system that changes every two years. That way they could play with full speed and confidence, getting the most out of their athletic ability rather than always thinking before they can act.



Vinny Cerrato has claimed that he has built a playoff-caliber roster. But even if so, that's only part of the process. Far from an opportunity for longevity, coach Jim Zorn wasn’t allowed even a full season before he was terminally undermined.

Last year, Clinton Portis was allowed to get away with publicly saying that he was accountable to the owner, not the coach – and then proving it by practicing whenever he wanted to. At that point, the players new Zorn wouldn’t be here long. He officially became "dead coach walking" this year, when Sherm Lewis was hired as a consultant and took over his play-calling authority.

At this point, I can imagine only two reasons why another head coach would come here: He can’t get a head job elsewhere, or he wants the paycheck. Why in the world would a respected coach who wants to win subject himself to the same obstacles and humiliations that Zorn has had to endure?



Still, there is hope. The worse things get, the more leverage a Holmgren or a Cowher would have over the owner for control as a condition of his hiring. Snyder might finally realize that the both the problem and the solution are in the mirror. He might just take that step back, and allow the team to be run lock and stock by a true football man. He might finally realize that the parade of coaches and systems and aged free agents is actually the symptom of the disease, not the cause.

If Snyder truly came to believe that he could only have greatness by first relinquishing control, I think he would do it, no matter how distasteful it may be in the short term. That’s why Colts owner Jim Irsay and Patriots owner Bob Kraft have Super Bowl rings, and that’s the path Snyder will have to take to finally get his.

In Asia, small monkeys are caught with an apple and a vase. The vase has a flared opening, and a short, narrow neck leading to a wider body below. The apple is sized to barely fit down the narrow neck. To set the trap, the vase is tied loosely to a tree with the apple inside.

The monkey puts his arm in the vase and grabs the apple, but he can’t draw it out through the narrow neck with his hand around it. When a monkey wants that apple so badly that he won’t let go, he ends up trapped by his own hand. If he would just let go of the apple for a moment, he could have both the prize and his freedom by just tipping the vase and rolling the fruit out.


Think about it.