MAKE THE REDSKINS GREAT AGAIN?

By DINO COSTA

January 2, 2019

Hail to the Redskins! Hail Victory!

Braves on the Warpath! Fight for old D.C.!

Here we are on January 2, 2019, and to date, a total of 8 NFL franchises have fired their head coach and are looking for new leadership on the sidelines.

None of those teams looking for a new coach includes the Washington/Landover Redskins. Not that I’m suggesting the Redskins fire Jay Gruden, I’m only noting how the Redskins apparently are content with their most recent head coach while some other teams are taking a different

view of their own situations.

What is it with this organization? Then again, is this still an actual organization?

Things are always askew…things have been this way for a long time.

A. Long. Time.

I’m of the feeling that there are certain teams across all sports that if they’re good – if they’re interesting and competitive – it’s better for the sport that they play in. The Redskins are one of

those teams – when they’re good it’s better for the NFL.

But it’s been such a long time since the Redskins have been good that it feels like it was another lifetime ago when the Redskins truly mattered. As a matter of fact, it was a lifetime ago.

The Redskins were not only good, but the Redskins were also a special and unique team in the used to be great National Football League. However, it’s now been years, and years, and yes,

years, where the Washington Redskins have become anything but special. Instead, irrelevancy has become their specialty.

How is it that a flagship NFL organization has become nothing more than an afterthought for so many years now?

The Washington Redskins.

An afterthought?

How did this happen?

Look it, when I first became a fan of the used to be great NFL it was the Washington Redskins that were considered one of the great franchises in the sport. Back then it was Dallas, Los

Angeles, Miami, Pittsburgh, Oakland, Minnesota, and the Redskins, these were the marquee teams of those times.

Do you want to take a guess when the Redskins were last considered NFL royalty? That would have been the years that Joe Gibbs coached the Redskins. The first time Joe Gibbs was the

Redskins head coach. Know when that was? Those were the years 1981 through 1992, a 12-year stretch that saw the Redskins going to the Super Bowl 4-times while winning the big game

3 of those times.

Since those long-ago fantastic times, with the exception of a bright spot here and there, to me, it feels like the Redskins have been on a perpetual path to nowhere. A perpetual path to

nowhere is more than a feeling and more like a definitive reality for this sputtering and sinking franchise.

Consider that in the 12-years Joe Gibbs was at the helm (the first time around) Washington won 124 regular season games, won 4 NFC championships and captured 3 Super Bowl victories.

Gibbs final season in his first go-round was 1992, and since that time, with this past season included, the Redskins have played 26 seasons and have accumulated 175 wins over that time.

Got that?

For review:

Joe Gibbs 1981-92: 12 seasons. 124 regular season wins. 4 NFC championships. 3 Super Bowl victories.

The Redskins since 1992: 26 seasons. 175 regular season wins. 7 playoff games. A 2-5 post-season record.

During the last 26 years, the Redskins have employed a total of 8 different head coaches, including Joe Gibbs second stint, along with other names like Richie Petitbon (1 year), Norv

Turner (7 years), Marty Schottenheimer (1 year), Steve Spurrier (2 years) Joe Gibbs again for 4-

years, followed by Jim Zorn (2 years), Mike Shanahan (4 years), and current head coach Jay Gruden who just completed his 5th season.

Of all these coaches over all of these last 26-years not a single one of them, including the great Joe Gibbs, finished up their Washington administration with a winning record – not one. In fact, the closest a Redskins coach has come to finishing with a winning record over the last 26-years was the one season Marty Schottenheimer coached them back in 2001 when they finished up

at 8-8 that year.

As I consider the slide this franchise has been in for almost 3-decades I find it almost unfathomable that this organization has been stuck in sub-mediocrity for as long as they have

been. These are the Washington Redskins for crying out loud, not the Jacksonville Jaguars…and I mean no disrespect to the fine folks in Florida’s biggest city.

I grew up with the Redskins of George Allen and his over the hill gang, with Billy Kilmer and Charley Taylor, Larry Brown and Jerry Smith.

I remember legendary NFC East battles almost every season with the Cowboys, I remember the Skins first trip to the Super Bowl in 73′ where they tried to ruin the Dolphins perfect season to no avail. I can still see little Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian attempting to throw a pass that

was picked off by Redskins (actually it was ruled a fumble) defensive back Mike Bass and taken back 50-yards for the only points Washington would score that day.

In the 7 years that George Allen coached the Redskins they went to the post-season 5 times, and during those years, Allen’s Skins turned The District and the surrounding region on its ear

making Washington’s NFL franchise wildly popular and starting a consecutive game sellout streak at RFK Stadium that would last for the next almost 30-years.

After Allen was fired and replaced by Jack Pardee, the Redskins slipped for a few years, before the arrival of Joe Gibbs turned everything around. Once Gibbs left his post as San Diego’s

offensive coordinator to head up the Redskins, what followed was the most prosperous run in Washington franchise history.

Who can ever forget those great Redskins years?

RFK was a cauldron of constant noise providing the Redskins with one of the great home field advantages in all of sports.

There were “The Hogs” led by Mark May and Russ Grimm, Jeff Bostic and Joe Jacoby. There was Joe Theissman slinging the football all over the field, Art Monk catching balls, Dexter Manley

destroying quarterbacks, and the great John Riggens in the backfield.

There was Mark Mosely becoming the only kicker in NFL history to win an MVP award (1982).

We remember the Redskins first ever Super Bowl championship in 1983.

We remember the game where the Skins beat the Vikings at home in the playoffs that year and RFK literally shook to its foundations with the Redskins faithful screaming over and over; “We

Want Dallas!”

They got Dallas at RFK the next week. Cowboys quarterback Danny White never made it through the game when he was knocked silly by Deter Manley and forced to the sidelines and

then to the Dallas locker room. John Riggens ran wild that day and Washington blew out Dallas 31-7 to head back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1973.

The Redskins were again confronted with the Miami Dolphins led by the late quarterback David Woodley. Payback was a bitch, as Washington rolled to a 27-17 win with Riggens winning the

MVP and Washington found itself as the football capital of the world.

I could go on chapter and verse with more Redskins memories, more great players that wore the burgundy and gold, more championships in 87′ and in 91′, more noteworthy moments, but I

think you get the picture?

The used to be great Washington Redskins organization in the used to be great NFL was a time of sanity and common sense. These seemed to be simpler times, better times, with a much

better Washington NFL franchise. I mention them being times of more common sense, and this is true. This was a time when people and the media seemed to have their priorities in order and

weren’t caught up in protesting, of all things, an NFL team name.

If there is one thing about the Redskins that has changed the entire tenor and tone of the organization more than anything else in my opinion it is this: Since 1997 the Redskins have played outside the District Of Columbia, playing their home games in the generic suburb of

Landover, Maryland, in a charmless and benign stadium that offers them the antithesis to the tremendous home field advantage the team had when they played all those years at RFK

Stadium.

In short, the Washington Redskins have lost their heart and soul with the move to Landover, and the ordinary feel to the organization is matched by the vanilla environment the team has

played in for the last 22 seasons in Landover.

The specialness this franchise once possessed, the dash of charm and charisma, the panache that the Redskins used to have, all of this has gone by the wayside ever since the team

abandoned downtown DC and relocated to the countryside of Landover.

I find it interesting, if you have any knowledge of Washington or DC sports over the years, whereas the Redskins once dominated the downtown DC sports scene being the only game in

town – it was the NBA Bullets and NHL Capitals who played at the old Capital Centre in Landover – and now, of course, things have flip-flopped.

Now the NBA and the NHL are downtown while the Redskins are playing in the suburbs where the Bullets and Capitals used to be. Bizzare.

Whenever I think of the Washington Redskins I don’t ever think of a team that needs to or should change its name. Instead, I think of a team that for far too many years has been playing

in a foreign environment and because of that – they’ve lost much of their identity.

Sure RFK was one of the smaller venues in the NFL during its time as the Redskins home, but it was such a perfect fit for a team and community to bond together (and they did) that imagining

the Redskins playing anywhere else was impossible during those great days.

The Redskins were so ingrained in the city’s psyche back then that the team was actually given a mention and written into the script in the 1976 movie; ‘All The President’s Men’, with a great

cast that included Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden, Hal Holbrook, and Jason Robards.

RFK’s configuration had the fans almost right on top of the action, it was intimate, it was intimidating, but more than anything else, it was pure Washington DC and it provided the

Redskins with an identity that has been missing for a long time now.

Back when the Redskins played at RFK, if you didn’t have a ticket then there was no way you were getting into the stadium, it was that simple. Redskins tickets back then were more

valuable than one of the rare golden tickets that got you into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

The Redskins back then were an urgent priority and the connectivity they had with their fan base was as strong and as unique as any in the NFL.

RFK Stadium had an aura that was all its own. It was the place to be and the place to be seen around Washington. RFK had a community feel to it, it was where the party was in DC, and it

had fans representing just about every color and stripe imaginable. White, black, brown, Republican, Democrat, all of them putting aside their personal political and societal views for 3

hours while they teamed together rooting on their beloved Redskins and providing the team with a ferocious 12th-man advantage that has been totally eradicated ever since the move to

Maryland took place

I sweated like a pig inside of RFK Stadium sitting in the press box covering a Jets-Redskins pre-season game back in 1993. The sweat was pouring off everyone around me. The stadium was cramped, it felt kind of dark, it had all kinds of little nooks and crannies. But what I remember

most about that night was that RFK came to life, it oozed Redskins football, the stadium pulsated with energy for all 4 quarters, and this was only a pre-season game.

All of these words and paragraphs and I have yet to get to the name of; Dan Snyder, the Redskins controversial and polarizing owner for the last 19-years.

Look it, I’m no Snyder apologist in any way, but if there is one thing I admire about the man it is in the way he has consistently beaten back the PC die-hards, all insisting he change the name of

his team.

Other than that, Snyder leaves a lot to be desired as the top chief of all things Redskins football. In fact, the only reason many Redskins fans find favor with their owner is over that one issue

(refusing a name change) and nothing else.

In the 19-years Snyder has owned the team, the Redskins, employing 8 coaches, have finished with winning records only 5 times. Snyder has alienated the Redskins fan base over the years,

charging them at one time to watch the team practice, and gouging the team’s fan base as often as possible with all kinds of ways to increase Redskins related revenue.

I’ve mentioned how the Redskins move to Maryland has hurt the club, and then there is this; with Snyder beating down the Skins fan base over the years with constant coaching changes, seemingly no concrete plan in place, losing season after losing season, thousands of empty

seats at a cavernous stadium (82,000 capacity), one of the most expensive gameday experiences for fans in the league, all of this, unfortunately, has culminated in the Redskins taking on an almost apathetic-like feel that permeates the entire organization from top to

bottom.

Other than defending a name that should never change, Snyder has engendered practically nothing in the way of good will with those fans still interested in his team and for those who

still come out to the games at FedEx Field, a number of fans that continues to shrink year after year.

Just last week after the Redskins completed yet another losing campaign, Snyder went scorched earth again by announcing that a few people he brought into the organization just a short time

ago who he said would help the franchise were being relieved of their duties.

Last year Snyder hired Brian Lafemina to run the teams business operations and named him the club’s CEO. Lefemina’s priority was to increase the teams season ticket base and drive more gameday revenue. Apparently, Snyder felt as though Lafemina came up short in these areas.

Then again, with the apathetic feel to his organization and with fans being dissatisfied with the way the team has been run for many years now, and with a losing record more years than not

(including this past season), was Snyder expecting capacity crowds and miracles in Lafemina’s first few months on the job?

Snyder had recruited Lafemina out of the NFL’s office in New York and at the time of his hiring last May, Snyder said he was excited to have Lafemina join the organization by noting that

Lafemina’s fresh thinking and “big ideas” would be a boon to the Redskins operation. So much for that.

Snyder also fired two other executives he recently brought in – and his sales and marketing chief resigned only a few days before the final game of the season.

You’ll recall that the Redskins looked to be on their way back to the playoffs this season. They were 6-3 at one point, but then their quarterback Alex Smith got injured and Washington

limped home the rest of the way by going 1-6 to finish the season.

Redskins attendance fell by almost 25% this season which is probably the reason why Snyder axed Brian ‘Big Ideas’ Lafemina.

Not only has attendance fallen off considerably at the morgue the team plays at in Landover, but additionally, the Redskins local television numbers have seen a steep decline over the years

– including this past season.

Upon purchasing the Redskins from the estate of former owner Jack Kent Cooke back in May of 1999, Snyder said that owning the organization he grew up rooting for was; “the most

wonderful thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m a fan, a huge fan. It’s that simple. I’m not focused on the money, I’m focused on the opportunity and the dream. You want to win, we

want to win, and we’re going to deliver that.”

Obviously, Snyder has delivered but in all the wrong ways.

The Redskins aren’t good and obviously haven’t been good in a very long time. This is a deteriorating franchise with a disgusted fan base and you wonder how the rest of the NFL community and their clueless commissioner feels as they watch one of their crown jewel

franchises losing value and being run into the ground for so long?

Will Snyder sell the team? Why would he do that?

Dan Snyder was 34-years old when he bought the Redskins for $800 million back in 1999, and if he wanted to sell he’d make a substantial windfall on his original investment as the Redskins

are currently valued at $3.1 billion, the 4th most valuable franchise in the NFL despite the mountain of problems and issues the organization faces.

But why would Snyder sell? Is there anything more prestigious than owning a team in the National Football League?

And what of Bruce Allen, Snyder’s GM and confidant? If there is a pecking order of figureheads who Redskins fans despise most, it would be Snyder in the number one spot with Bruce Allen a

very close second right behind him.

Allen takes many slings and arrows for Snyder, does whatever Snyder tells him to do, and thus, Allen has become almost like a second skin to the Redskins incompetent owner.

What Snyder oughta do is hold a press conference sometime in the next 2 weeks ahead to announce he’s burning the whole thing down to the ground.

Not only should he say he’s burning it all to the ground, but he should also announce that he’s bringing back Joe Gibbs, this time as the President and CEO of the organization, using Gibbs in much the same way that Jacksonville is utilizing Tom Coughlin to run their football operations.

Snyder should tell his fan base he’s very sorry for almost 20-years of on-field ineptitude and that he’s been a big reason as to why the Redskins have slid into an abyss they can’t seem to

get out of. That his intentions were good but the execution and the results have obviously left much to be desired.

Snyder should tell his fans that he’s committed to something new and bold. That he is stepping out of the way and ceding total control of football operations to Joe Gibbs. That Gibbs will have

complete and total autonomy to run the franchise, select the coach, run the show, from the kicking tees to the jockstraps.

Then Snyder should tell everyone that his main focus will be getting the Redskins out of Landover and back to playing in the district with a new stadium that he’s willing to pay for

himself with no taxpayer money included, with the idea of moving the Redskins back to downtown Washington by the year 2028, or, one year after the Redskins lease at FedEx Field

has concluded.

Under Snyder’s ownership, the Redskins have gone from being something truly special to being something truly gruesome and depressing.

It’s been so long since the Redskins have been the Redskins that many people, myself included, have forgotten what that feels like.

The rock bottom feeling for Washington Redskins football is sad, it’s sobering, it’s startling, and its time that something is done to turn this team around while returning the organization to

being one of the better run franchises in the National Football League.

The Redskins have been a ghost of a franchise for twenty-years and counting.

Can they really afford to go another twenty years like this?