| Battle at FedEX Field - John Riggins vs. Dan Snyder! |
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| Written by Tim Furious | |||||||
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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If the stench emanating from the Washington Redskins wasn’t foul enough to begin with, you can go ahead and toss in some “Diesel” to the mix as well. John “The Diesel” Riggins, a former Super Bowl MVP, and voted one of the greatest Washington Redskins of all time, has come out firing against Dan Snyder.  On Showtime’s “Inside the NFL”, Riggo blasted Snyder for migrating his business practices to the NFL, which the former running-back claims is what’s tearing down the franchise. “It’s driven all by his ego and everything has to come from him,” Riggo said during the interview. “And I just don’t think you can be successful in those situations and when you are dealing with someone with the mindset of a child — and yet owns a franchise in the NFL — I think you have some problems there.”Riggo even went as far as saying, “this person’s heart is dark.” The great thing about the NFL is that you can’t buy a championship. The way the league is structured, you simply can’t outbid people for star players. There are nine teams in the league right now that have two losses or less. The team with the most expensive payroll in the league isn’t amongst them. Instead, the Washington Redskins are somewhere near the bottom clinging to their three wins as if they’re the only ones they’ll see all year. At the core of his argument, Riggins is right. Business requires a lot of hands-on work from management. There are those that manage from a distance, and there are those that have to have their name on everything, just so they can feel like they’re involved in the process. Ever had a boss that is constantly leaning over your shoulder or telling you what to do, regardless of how well you’re doing your job? Well guess what – that’s Dan Snyder. I mean, when Jim Zorn was stripped of his play calling duties, but not fired, everyone had the same conversation with their buddy: “So what exactly is he going to be doing if he’s not calling plays?” “I dunno. Collecting a pay cheque?” “How come that doesn’t happen to me at my job?” “Because you don’t work for Dan Snyder.” The NFL betting line this weekend sides heavily against the Redskins because they’re playing the Cowboys on the road. Dallas is favored by an NFL betting line of -12.5 and considering that Washington is pathetic against the NFL point spread this year, things don’t look exactly peachy for them this weekend. A recent Monday night football betting disaster two weeks ago against the Philadelphia Eagles only reiterated the languish the Redskins betting faithful are enduring this year. With a nine-point pro football betting line to cover, the Redskins lost by ten. Tack that on to a divisional loss to Philly and a nationally televised embarrassment and the Redskins fans have zero to be excited about heading in to their tilt with Atlanta. It’s not like the Redskins are short on talent either. Between Santana Moss, Chris Cooley and Antwan Randle-El, they have a strong receiving corps. On defense they have stalwarts like Albert Haynesworth, Andre Carter, London Fletcher, DeAngelo Hall, LaRon Landry and Carlos Rodgers. Surely this roster can achieve better than a measly 2-5 SU record, right? Wrong. With Snyder at the helm, and his inability to just let the boys play, Snyder is proving that the key element to a winning football franchise is not an expensive, star studded roster or a fancy stadium. The key ingredient, from an owners standpoint, is to trust the management and coaching staff. Snyder has proven to show a short fuse with his caoching staff, and that threshold is only getting shorter. In the past ten years, Snyder has had six different head coaches. In stark contrast, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had three coaches in nearly forty years of history. Getting slammed by “The Diesel” is just one hit in a luandry list of bad press for Snyder, but that’s a good thing for the Redskins. Jason Campbell, Jim Zorn and Clinton Portis aren’t the problems in Washington. The problems start with Snyder, and as the years of futility continue in Washington, that trend is becoming more and more apparent. The next move is Snyder’s. Will he become an amicable owner like Jerry Jones…or an evil despot like Al Davis?                        |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 November 2009 ) | |||||||