"We've got a bitter taste in our mouths"

You oughta

Defensive coordinator (sorry, I've given up on the assistant head coach-defense crap, he's a coordinator) Gregg Williams is the latest subject of the apparently-obligatory 'don't worry we'll do better' piece. Of all of them, none is more important than this one to read over. It was Gregg's unit that cost the team the 2006 season, that made them so significantly below average. And I quote Howard Bryant:

After suffering his worst year in Washington, a year in which the Redskins finished 31st in the NFL in total defense, 23rd against the pass and 27th against the run, it would have been easy for assistant head coach Gregg Williams to overhaul the defense. The questions were too apparent to ignore.

But Williams resisted whatever temptation may have existed to rebuild from scratch. His reasoning has been consistent since the end of last season: He and Coach Joe Gibbs believe that last year's inability to make plays was an aberration, one of those years when players were in the right spots, had chances to become playmakers, and simply did not.

We don't even have to get in the Wayback Machine to see that rebuilding was never in the question about the Redskins defense. Just get in the Google and go to last season. Gregg is imperious and let his positions coaches Jerry Gray and Steven Jackson get out of control to the detriment of the team. Gregg doesn't give a shit about your contract, he treats everyone the same and expects every player to make every play.

Boy do I miss the days of Richie Petitbon.

Gregg is of a mindset that all players are fungible, that he wants to say that the defensive player acquisitions in 2006 (Adam Archuleta, Andre Carter) were his call to sign, and he also wants to say players don't really matter, it's the system. Not sure how to square these two notions.

That whole WaPo piece (op. cit.) is not about how he managed himself into a corner with players he couldn't coach and leadership problems he couldn't solve, it was about guys growing into roles and guys not making plays, problems he thinks he can tweak.

I'm not a coach, I just play Madden and even I know that you can't call the Cover-2 on every play and expect to do well.

Gregg Williams: John McDonnell / Washington Post from here.