Didn't work with Wuerffel

Al Saunders' guy

Yesterday's Jason La Canfora piece reads like the profile of a confident starter, a bigname free agent signed to deliver the Redskins back to the days of big quarterbacks with big arms. La Canfora:

Every Washington Redskins receiver has felt the sting of a football slapping his face at some point over the past few months. Inevitably, the receiver was just a step slow, a moment late coming out of his cut in a drill, and Todd Collins's spot-on spiral was there to greet him with no time for his hands to be of any use.

Each occurrence was a reminder of the precision necessary to execute associate head coach Al Saunders's offense, and the gap between Collins's mastery of this complex offensive system and the receivers' collective inexperience.

So great news, right? The guy throws a tight spiral, right on the money, the receivers trust his timing and the other two QBs are learning from him.

Wait, the guy hasn't started a game in nine seasons?

Every coach has 'his guys,' and Collins is Saunders'. It just seems like I've seen this movie before. I don't think Saunders has any intention of undermining or replacing Brunell, Gibbs' guy. It's just that the paint wasn't even dry on Gibbs' parking spot when he traded for Brunell, then signed him to a seven year, $43 million dollar contract that made Patrick Ramsey go, uh coach, anything I need to know? If Gibbs and Snyder had bothered to wait another day or two, they would have had Brunell off the street, and not had to give up a third round draft pick from the 2004 draft.

(That pick btw wound up going to Green Bay from Jax and became Donnell Washington, a big fat bust with a string of DNPs in 2005. If you can't score some playing time with a 4-12 team, you really deserve Al Davis, so it looks like the Skins got the better of that trade, but a pick wasted by another team is still a wasted pick.)

Now Collins comes in and gets the player-coach treatment like he was Jim Kelly (who he replaced in Buffalo). Jason Campbell is a big question mark and by the Tampa playoff game this year, Brunell's passes didn't have enough zip to pull a greased string through a rat's ass.

For future reference:

The Wuerffel Effect: whereupon the 'his guy' somehow manages to make it to the starting spot despite inferior abilities

The Shuler Treatment: wherein the designated starter gets all of about 5 seconds in the opener before getting pulled for 'his guy' (yes, watching Patrick get pulled in last season's opener was deja vu)


Photo of Todd Collins sack-fumble by Julian H. Gonzalez for Buffalo Free Press