I’ve always said that players play, coaches coach, and owners should give out paychecks and stay the hell out of the way.
It is no coincidence that the most successful franchises in all of sports operate using that mantra. I could think of a few examples: my Pittsburgh Steelers, the Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and the New Orleans Saints (and lately the Cincinnati Bengals, no that is not a typo). With each of those franchises, there is a high level of stability that allows the coaching staff and players to perform to their highest abilities.
Now contrast that with the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. Both franchises are owned by the two most meddlesome owners in sports: Jerry Jones and Dan “Danny Boy” Snyder, respectively.
Jones doubles as the owner and general manager. He was the one who ran the war rooms since running off Jimmy Johnson (thank you again for ruining that dynasty Jerry!). He was the one who drafted Quincy Carter as HIS franchise QB after Troy Aikman retired. He was the one who hired puppets, errrrrr “coaches” Dave Campos, Wade Phillips, and Jason Garrett. He also the one who ran off defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and hired a Tampa-2 coach (Monte Kiffin) to coach a 3-4 defense – whose personnel does not fit such a system. And last – but not least – Jones gave QB Tony Romo $55 million guaranteed this past offseason – the same QB who has only ONE playoff win under his belt.
Now it’s Snyder’s turn.
Under Snyder’s leadership, Washington has a 104-133 record that includes just four winning seasons – and not one with more than 10 wins – plus one playoff victory. He has hired (and fired) seven coaches since he bought the team in 1999. That’s an average of giving a coach just TWO YEARS on the job.
Now we can get to Snyder’s relationship with QB Robert Griffin III. Word on the street was Snyder pressured coach Mike Shanahan to trade up to take RG-3 when Shanahan did not want to draft him. Snyder has over-coddled RG-3 to the point that Shanahan almost quit last season.
(It should be noted that Shanahan is now fighting back in benching RG-3 for the rest of the season, going with the QB he liked all along – Kirk Cousins. By the way, good for Shanahan.)
One would think that both Jones and Snyder would look at the years of failure – or at least failed expectations – and make some changes for the better (I will say that Snyder attempted to do so during the Shanahan regime, until the infatuation of RG-3 happened). Unfortunately for Cowboys and Redskins fans, both owners are stubborn men who are set in their ways and are not looking to change their methods any time soon.
Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results”. Both Jones and Snyder are beyond insane – they are fucking certifiable.
Categories: NFL
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