A Step in the Right Direction by Lake Lewis

As a sports journalist I have had to take on the -not said oath- of not showing bias towards or leading on whom my favorite teams are.  Well if you have followed my radio show you will know that I am a Nittany Lion and Hoya (My Alma Mater’s) and a huge Washington Redskin fan (my hometown is DC).  Today I awoke to the sobering news of the untimely and unfortunate passing of Cincinnati Bengal Chris Henry.  The story surrounding his death is yet again another bad situation turned public.  The young man should be remembered as a testament that you can not judge a book by its cover.  I have one question regarding his death?  WHY IS THE MEDIA becoming the Supreme Court in our country?  For all intensive purposes Chris Henry had turned his life around and was becoming a sound man.  The media never focused on that aspect of his life until he was gone.  This seems so eerily similar to the passing of the late Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins.  He was another victim of bad media scrutiny that would not uncover his better side until he was murdered.  Can we start to tell the stories of good faith and great deeds by athletes instead of tearing them down for any mistakes that are made?  Wake up my media brethren, its time to look at ourselves in the mirror.

The other news story that broke today in the DC area was that Vinnie Cerrato had resigned as the Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Washington Redskins.  In other words, the de facto General Manager without General Manager credentials would not hold my beloved Redskins hostage any longer.  Sure Cerrato had drafted such players as TE Chris Cooley, S Sean Taylor, QB Jason Campbell and last years seemingly talented TE Fred Davis, and WR Devon Thomas and this year’s rookie sensation and future all-pro LB/DE Brian Orakpo.  But, he also helped orchestrait the acquisitions of high priced free agent busts such as WR Brandon Lloyd, S Adam Archuleta, DE Jason Taylor (trade with the Dolphins), and here is a name from the past RB Trung Canidate (trade with Rams).  He also had a pension for losing valuable draft picks and Redskins players such as S Ryan Clark (Pittsburgh), and LB Antonio Pierce (Giants).  There is another player that tells the story of how dysfunctional Cerrato’s regime was for me.  Jeremy Bridges who right now is playing really good football for the Arizona Cardinals at left tackle was a player who the Redskins decided to cut as one of their final pre-season moves.  If you have watched the Redskins over the past few years it is well documented that their offensive line albeit individually talented, has been on the decline with season ending injuries happening yearly.  Pro Bowlers Chris Samuels and Randy Thomas have had their seasons cut short the past two seasons so releasing an adequate replacement made no sense to me when Cerrato kept former first round bust Mike Williams who had been out of football for 4 years.

Placing all of the blame on Cerratto would be irresponsible of me so the Redskins Owner Daniel Snyder needs to eat some crow as well.  He has resisted for whatever reasons the idea of running this once proud franchise the way it was built by having an owner who is lavish and will spend money (Jack Kent Cook), a competent GM (Bobby Betherd and Charlie Casserly), and a coach whom patience would be needed to implement their own system (Joe Gibbs).  The hiring of Bruce Allen today is a great move for the Redskins in that it signals change that is more the blue print for all of the NFL’s successful franchises. They all have a “real” GM who can take the pressure off of the head coach and can draft with a vision of the future.  Not a quick fix that was always the approach of Cerrato.

Already the questions being asked are;

Is Bruce Allen going to bring in current ESPN Monday Night Football Analyst and former Super Bowl winning coach John Gruden?

Is he going to possibly look at former Bronco mastermind Mike Shanahan?

Or, maybe bring in a young gem in the making?

What is he going to do with current lame duck coach Jim Zorn?

Will he keep fan-boy punching bag quarterback Jason Campbell?

Will he get rid of high priced running back Clinton Portis?

Can Sherman Lewis keep his job and continue to draft up the offensive playbook?

Can Allen himself prove that he can run an organization because he has some critics who are quick to admonish that he won with Tony Dungy’s players in Tampa?

To me he could bring in Santa Clause –  Uh Oh, I have not even started Christmas shopping – to coach and play and to me it would not matter at this point because for once WE are  having a reasonable conversation about the future moves of the Redskins with a view of the future in sight.

Speaking of the future, I know what will be must see TV! That would be Monday night when John Gruden and Monday Night Football come to town for the Redskins/Giants game. Actually they come in on Friday for pre-game production so can you believe what the air will feel like when Gruden has to interview Jim Zorn?  Wow can you say chilly.  Maybe my former ESPN Radio colleague Mike Tirico or Jaws Jaworski will at some point in the game ask Gruden “so what do you think of your team?”  I know what I think!

HALE TO MY THE REDSKINS.

Lake Lewis is the President and CEO of the Sports Journey Broadcast Network.  He was a host on ESPN Radio 1060 Orlando, ESPN Radio 1080 Melbourne and the Drive Time host ESPN Radio 1240 Maryland and WMET 1160 in Washington DC

The Redskins have hit Rock Bottom by Lloyd Vance

Redskins offensive “consultant” Sherman Lewis will soon be a very busy man as he tries to clean-up Jim Zorn’s sputtering offense

On a day where the Philadelphia Eagles surprisingly left their heads in Philadelphia before an embarrassing loss to the Oakland Raiders and the Tennessee Titans “quit” in a 59-0 bludgeoning at the hands of the New Patriots, the NFL got a real view of what “Rock Bottom” is in Washington DC.  The Washington Redskins (2-4) continued to be the laughingstock of the NFL, despite the presence of winless teams like the Rams, Titans, and Buccaneers, in a putrid 14-6 home loss to the formerly winless Kansas City Chiefs (1-5).

The Chiefs improbable win marked the third time that Redskins had allowed a formerly winless team to beat them.  Entering Sunday, the Chiefs — had lost 28 of its previous 30 games  — were ranked pretty much last in the NFL in almost every defensive category while allowing 27.6 points and 402.8 yards per game.  So how did the Redskins and their West Coast offensive guru head coach Jim Zorn treat the Chiefs.  Well the Redskins — or as my colleague Lake Lewis of Sport Journey radio calls them “The Deadskins” — managed just 265 yards of total offense and gained only 7 first downs.  While turning the ball over 2 times, committing 7 penalties resulting in 63 yards, and going only 2 for 14 on third-down conversions.

What a mess, to say the least.  FedEx field that easily holds over 90,000 fans was half-full or half-empty, depending on your outlook for the ‘Skins.  In all the madness, Zorn in his infinite wisdom decided to pin the Redskins woes on his starting quarterback, Jason Campbell, who he replaced at halftime.  Granted Campbell was not at his greatest Sunday – finished with numbers 9/16, 89 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT – but his replacement veteran backup Todd Collins was probably worse.  Collins (6/14, 75 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs and 2 Fumbles both recovered by the Skins) did connected with WR Santana Moss on a 42-yard strike on his first pass (led to a field goal), but from there it was “Check-down City”.  Overall, Collins was tentative in the pocket and took too many sacks including a safety (sacked in the endzone by Chiefs DE Tamba Ali) in the game’s desperate closing minutes.

Zorn in explaining why he benched Campbell said, “He was a little late in hitting some things and inaccurate.”   Hey Zorn…I wonder if you have a mirror?  To me it was ridiculous that the Redskins headman would look at anyone other than himself for his team’s ineptness.  The Redskins defense didn’t allow a touchdown (four Ryan Succop field goals and a safety), sacked Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassell 5 times and allowed only 268 net yards, despite playing with bad field position over and over (Chiefs started their final four drives in Redskins territory).

The Redskins’ offense now is averaging only 13.2 points per game this season and hasn’t scored more than 17 in any game despite playing facing six consecutive winless opponents (first team in NFL history).  Zorn began his postgame news conference with a huge sigh then rightfully stepped forward to face the awful music – with the loss to the Chiefs, the Redskins are now 4-10 in their last 14 games.  Of his team’s offensive effort Zorn said, “This offense is better than six points, 100 percent. And that’s on me”.  You are right Zorn!!

However the Redskins organization did send a loud and clear message to their beleaguered head coach immediately after the game .   According to Redskins spokesman Zack Bolno, VP of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato told Zorn that he had too many responsibilities and someone else (insert name: “Sherman Lewis”) should run the offense during games. In case you didn’t know, Lewis (West Coast coach from the ‘90s Green Bay Packers) had been added to Zorn’s staff in early October without the coach’s knowledge.

As if the addition of Lewis as an “offensive consultant” wasn’t a big enough slap in the face of Zorn, now a guy that has been out of the NFL for over five years and someone he didn’t even want will be calling his team’s offensive plays from here on out.  Quite frankly, I have to admit that I find it hilarious how Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and his staff have continued sawing off Zorn piece-by-piece without actually firing him.  With the angry Philadelphia Eagles, fresh off an embarrassing loss to the Raiders, coming to town in Week 7, the Redskins should expect another humiliating home loss.

So rest assured, the inevitable firing of Zorn will soon be upon us, probably during the Redskins’ bye week in Week 8.  “It’s going to be a very hard week,” Zorn said. “Last week, I thought that was as hard as it can get. It just got harder.”

Stay tuned as something stinky needs to be cleaned up in the Nation’s Capital and it has nothing to do with politics.

 

Lloyd Vance is a Sr. NFL Writer for Taking It to the House and an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)