It's not just me
Les Carpenter has a piece in today's Washington Post on former Redskins and current Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce and it's not flattering to Redskins owner Dan Snyder and the team dynamic. Go read it. Choice quotes:
He blasts the owner, Daniel Snyder, yet still calls him "Mr. Snyder," the way so many people do at Redskins Park.
"I still have respect for the man," Pierce said. "I just don't like the way he does business."
There is no question after the 2004 season when Antonio was going into his fifth season and the Redskins were the number three defense that the team should have signed him to a longterm deal. Was it Dan Snyder, tiring of his toys, looking for the next big thing? Or was it Gregg Williams, so confident in himself and his system that he saw Antonio as disposable? Probably a little of both.
More:
...[H]e remains haunted and perplexed by the Redskins experience.
He said he has spoken with several Washington players, and all of them are confused by what is going on with the search for a head coach...
...[The players] also are disturbed by the indecision of management and the fact that opposing players are calling them, wondering who will take a job as a head coach on a team where the coordinators have been determined.
Leadership issues on line one for you Mr. Snyder. The Redskins have put themselves in a bad spot as far as team unity. EITHER the new head coach is some pliant boob that is happy to take Dan's coaches lock stock and barrel and no doubt suffer the constant oversight of Dan and that snake Vinny Cerrato.
OR it's Steve Mariucci and the players will continue to ponder why everything has to be done in such goddamn secrecy, why the previous coaches had to get the silent treatment and if Dan is so paranoid about the coach how does he feel about the players. That takes us back to the pre Joe Gibbs II theory of Redskins' free agency: players come here to get paid, not win football games.
And then the gutpunch:
"I just don't understand the mind-set of that organization," Pierce said. "What you need to have in this league is an identity. They don't have an identity. They haven't done anything to keep something going. Joe Gibbs was supposed to bring consistency, but now he's not there anymore, so you think they would hire Gregg Williams or Al Saunders to keep the continuity, but now both of those guys are gone. I look at the turnover, and I'm amazed.
"In New England you see a team with players who have all been together for those Super Bowls four different years. They have the same guys. The Giants have had the same continuity for three or four years. If you want to build a winning team you have to build consistency."
He added while many of the defensive players are happy Blache will bring some stability, "they are unhappy that Gregg isn't there."
A few years ago, before he left, he believed the Redskins were on the verge of starting something big. He thought there were the makings of a nucleus of a defense that could dominate for a few seasons. He thought he would be a vital piece of that defense. Then piece by piece, that broke apart, and there aren't many players, he is convinced, to fill the void.
"I'm not an owner, I can't speak for [Snyder], but in football on an everyday basis, you need normal," he said. "It was never normal. There is no consistency. It's still going on."
He laughed.
"For four years they had stability with Joe Gibbs. Now it's back to the hoopla," he said. "I loved the players over there. I had a lot of respect for Gregg Williams. A lot of people I know still have connections over there. I like them. But the front office, I have little to say anything good about."
Antonio played in Washington four seasons and has now played for a division rival for three. He knows what he is talking about.
Antonio Pierce as a Redskin from here.
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