One More Cog in the Wheel

The day that many Redskins fans have been waiting for came earlier this week when Vinny Cerrato, the man many charge with being responsible for some of the more 'insane' decisions made by the team over the last decade announced his resignation from the team. Now many people (myself included to a certain degree) have pinned a great deal of blame on Vinny Cerrato and Daniel Snyder for the current situation with the Redskins franchise. They took a team that was a perennial contender for the playoffs and made them the benchmark by which self-imploding or paper teams measure themselves. What do I mean by paper teams? Well these are teams that look like a fantasy football player's dream but is actually just that; a dream.

As this season went from bad to worse to a little better, people have been scrutinizing the "why's" and the "how comes" all the time. It seemed like after nearly every Sunday, analysis would be pouring out from all corners of the region with questions as to why the team was doing so poorly. And again a lot of the blame fell onto Cerrato as the man behind many of the decisions. As I've stated many times, the major problem is that the team often behaves (and still does on occasion) like it is being run by a fantasy football team. Just because a player has had big stats or was a standout player in college doesn't necessarily translate into success on the NFL field. For every Brian Orakpo we've had a slew of defensive players who were either past their prime or had never attained it in the first place. For every Jason Campbell (who I think has the potential to be good if he is given an offensive scheme built to his arm strength and not one that's built to a scheme he is not suited for) we have a Heath Schuler.

Now the blame doesn't fall only on Cerrato, it also falls on those around him but also on some of the people he brought into the organization. For all the blame being tossed around obviously there was something in Jim Zorn that made him appealing to the team when they made him head coach nearly three years ago. Perhaps he didn't end up being exactly what he was expecting to be but that's not necessarily all his fault. If he is stifled then how can he be expected to produce? For that I often blame Dan Snyder. Sure he may be one of the most kind-hearted and caring people off the field (his charity work speaks volumes) but it's a shame that he hasn't been as successful with the Redskins.

Players have often talked about how they are congratulated during their times of success but often stigmatized during their failures (which is more often the case). I can understand since Snyder is shelling out a boatload of money for some of these players and they don't live up to expectations. But sometimes the difference is in the way you treat your players. When members of the Cowboys get hurt on the field, Jerry Jones can often be seen cringing or coming down to the sidelines to see what's happened. Nowadays you can't even get camera shots of Snyder during the game lest his grimmace be used to prove the point that he seems to view his players as nothing more than commodities and not people. Perhaps that's not his attitude but I could be wrong.

So what does this all mean? Well to me in the short run, the resignation of Cerrato signals yet another round of change for the Redskins. What it also means is that barring some miraculous event, I don't think we fans can expect to see a successful run from the team for some time yet. If Zorn is removed and the rest of the 'creative consultants' are removed and the roster is started from relative scratch then I would say that it will be at least another three or four years before we can expect anything. But to me, regardless of whatever decision is made by upper management at the Redskins, one thing needs to be shown by management, in particular by Dan Snyder and that is patience and having a coach who can make decisions on what he needs based on his experience and not on stat sheets. The removal/resignation of Cerrato is one of the first steps, now we have to see if it really makes any difference. After all, Snyder is still at the helm of the ship.