Hatchet Job - Part One

Dan doesn't just kick you out, he mows you down

Regular readers and Google dropins know that Curly R endorsed neither Al Saunders nor Gregg Williams for the head coaching position, though I never would have wanted them treated this way, ignored and left to rot and wonder at their fate before being fired by press release. Today The Curly R begins a three part series challenging some of the emerging conventional wisdom surrounding the Redskins' coaching vacancy.

Part One: The Missing Man Formation
Part Two: Gregg Williams Disparages Joe Gibbs
Part Three: The Jim Fassel Non Hiring

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It does not matter that Al Saunders and Gregg Williams were well paid with generous severance, it is a matter of common decency, when we examine how Al and Gregg were shown the door it raises questions about owner Dan Snyder's sincerity since day one of Joe Gibbs' second go round. To have these guys occupy such high level and critical positions of player and fan trust, to build this team, a team that had a real future until this month, and then to see them shitcanned, the firing referred to as a quote release unquote, like these guys are players, if I were Al or Gregg or Joe Gibbs I would wonder if Dan Snyder ever respected me in the first place.

I'm going to set the record straight on a couple of things out there in Redskinsland, I believe the team is on a campaign to discredit Gregg Williams to soften the blow of unceremoniously firing the coaching heir apparent, the fan and player favorite. The rationale is fans and the media will care less about questioning this insane decision making and why Gregg was mysteriously disqualified after four years if they think he was an asshole that disrespected Joe Gibbs. To wit:

The missing man formation angered management. There is a story floating around out there that goes like this: Dan Snyder and Redskins management were pissed at Gregg over Gregg starting ten men in the Buffalo game, the first game after Sean Taylor died. On the Bills' first play from scrimmage Bills tailback Fred Jackson took a left sweep 22 yards. After the game Joe Gibbs evinced no foreknowledge of the ten men thing and somehow through some puerile game of Operator it got back to Dan Snyder that Gregg Williams disrespected Joe Gibbs by not telling Joe of the plan to start the game.

I think this is bullshit. In the first place I read of the rumor of ten men to start that game at least three days before the game, so did every Redskins fan on my street when we talked about this over the weekend. It was a rampant rumor. The rumor even went as far as to say that the Bills and Redskins were working out a gentleman's agreement that the Redskins would start ten men and the Bills would just run it up the middle.

The key here is league rules. Teams are prohibited from colluding on anything pertinent to the game. To allow that the Redskins and Bills had an agreement is to allow that they colluded to fix a play. When you go to a Las Vegas sports book and can bet on anything from the coin toss to the margin of victory then it becomes a more serious matter.

The Redskins could not make public plans for the missing man formation because they would be in violation of league rules. Then you have a media circus when all the team wanted to do was honor Sean Taylor.

I believe it was worked out with Joe Gibbs' knowledge, and probably the front office knew something was in the works but maybe not specifically or exactly how it would be done.

Joe Gibbs is then silent on the matter for plausible deniability, if it does not go up to Joe then fewer would question whether the Bills were in on it. Whether or not he worked it out with Dick Jauron or Marv Levy or whether Gregg did it himself is not really important.

What is important is that the Redskins planned this and everyone one knew it was going to happen. If Dan Snyder somehow thinks Joe did not know about it and got pissed at Gregg, then Gregg did the right thing, he took responsibility and took up for Joe Gibbs and maintained the plausible deniability.

Personally I believe it is a smokescreen by Dan, designed to represent Gregg as disrespectful toward Joe, as Gregg going off the reservation and doing things without looping the head coach in. This way if Dan can represent that Gregg was disrespectful and insubordinate as he shows Gregg the door then perhaps the fans will be a little less pissed that the known quantity and fan favorite did not get the job.


Curly R's Hatchet Job continues tomorrow with part two, Gregg Williams Disparages Joe Gibbs.



Hatchet in the head from here.