The Revolution - Hogs Haven Interview with Joe Theismann, Legendary Redskins Quarterback (Video)
by Sugar on Nov 19, 2009 8:40 PM EST
in Interviews
26 comments
As I said earlier this week, we can't simply reserve our complaints about the current debacle surrounding our team for weeks when we lose. However, during Dallas Week, we can tone it down slightly so that the focus of the week remains firmly where it should be--on the reviled Cowgirls.
I had a great opportunity to interview Joe Theismann at a recent event at Fed Ex Field. The event was a Health Awareness program for veterans, sponsored in part by GlaxoSmithKline. In the beginning of the interview, I gave Joe a chance to speak about both the event itself as well as how he came to be a part of it. I had the opportunity to mingle around with some of the veterans' groups that had set up booths, and I have to tell you it was great to talk to so many folks who are doing so much to help both our current troops as well as former members of the military. I'd like to say a special thank you to the folks at Cohn & Wolfe for coordinating this interview with Hogs Haven and Joe Theismann. Video after the jump...
Now, before you watch the video, keep in mind, I barely call myself a writer, much less a TV personality. I threw myself on the proverbial grenade of public scrutiny to get some answers out of Joe. So for all of you aspiring TV folks, feel free to use this video and its many flaws as a lesson on what not to do when conducting an interview. That said, it was a ton of fun, and I think I ultimately did get a few good thoughts out of the very polished, and very careful quarterback.
Since I was standing in the Redskins locker room, the last thing I wanted to do was pointedly ask Joe a question that would rile him or be considered tactless. I mean, I didn't expect the guy to stand there and bash the team. But I still had to address the biggest issue on all of our minds--was Vinny at fault and should he be fired. Joe let me off the hook big-time by sifting through what he called my "political correctness". I must say I am a little shocked that he doesn't think Vinny is completely to blame.
I was also a bit discouraged to hear that he had no name to give me as a guy on this roster who is a potential candidate to step up and be the leader on this team that Chris Samuels has always been. His answer was very honest though, and extremely telling of the uncertainty surrounding the future of this team. When I asked him about offensive philosophy, I was actually trying to get Joe to break down a scheme or a system that he thought would work. What I got though was pretty clear: Theismann does not appear to think Cerrato and Snyder hired a guy who brought a system that fit the players already on the roster. Isn't it interesting that we are saying things like, "Zorn didn't pan out?" I mean, they brought a guy in who is a West Coast offense guy and hand him a team that is built on the power running game. And it is Zorn's fault? (I know...I already took a beating last week for suggesting Zorn should be given more time, but at least on this point we could possibly have some agreement.)
I'll let it go at that today. I am getting very fired up for the upcoming game against the loathsome Cowgirls. A win over that team goes a very long way in this town. It would ease a lot of the pain associated with the treatment of the greatest fans in the world. We intend to continue to hold these guys responsible and will do our best to continue to put questions to the folks who can help us get answers. As Joe said at the end, patience is the key. Not just in terms of waiting for the players to click and play well, but also in terms of our efforts to get through to the team to try and get this thing turned around.
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the interveiw as it keeps giving out this message ……..This is a privite video. if you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender`s freind request. ………. hopefully you`ll get it fixed Asap, so i can watch it.
by mo19678 on Nov 19, 2009 10:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Wow....is he auditioning for a staff position?
The things people will say or won’t say in this case, just for the remote possibility of a chance to be on this coaching staff. VInny Ceratto hiring Jim zorn and this WCO for this personell is a complete failure. Every week we run this offense is another step backwards. Unless they plan on doing an overhaul of the personell then I feel it’s just another step in the wrong direction. It’s like learning a major in college knowing your going to change your major at the end of NEXT semester. WHY stick with it? Just insert proper play calling to fit the personell, specifically Jason Campbell. It’s not like he’s terrible. Vinnies ego is an epic failure to this team. It’s one thing if he stays but quite another that their sticking with this plan still.
It was a good interview and I thought you did quite well.
by skinsymets on Nov 19, 2009 11:37 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Theismann has dropped a rung or two in my respect this season
Obviously I still think he is awesome. How could I not respect the guy who got a Super Bowl win with the Skins? However, he is on Danny’s payroll. I don’t expect everyone to go wild like Riggins does (and honestly Riggins almost certainly has his own cynical reasons for raising the stink he has, though at least he seems to admit that) but the fact is none of the former Skins greats who are on ESPN 980 are willing to really take on the decade long mismanagement of this team. There is a glaring conflict of interest. Who knows what Theismann really thinks about Gilligan (Vinny) and the Skipper (Snyder)? Danny boy would rather get his fingers into the media outlets to make it difficult for them to be critical of his operation than build a team worthy of the media’s respect. I mean, if the Redskins were contending no one would care what the Post or the Fan had to say about management anyway.
by SkinsOsTerps on Nov 20, 2009 9:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
That was a lighting trick
We also had to do like 5 takes to make sure we had one without the ol’ joystick in the way.
by Sugar on Nov 20, 2009 9:10 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Good Interview
Do you think if he was the GM, that he would keep cerrato? Or do you he was being nice?
by monk81 on Nov 20, 2009 8:42 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
That attempt at political correctness was funny
Good interview though.
I think what we need to do is stop letting people defend Vinny by pointing out the Fred Davis, Devin Thomas, Orakpo and Haynesworth. Yes those were all quality personnel decisions and he deserves credit for that.
But it was absolutely foolish to start this season without a clear backup plan if Randy Thomas and Chris Samuels went down. And sorry, Mike Williams, D’Anthony Batiste, and Will Montgomery didn’t have anyone fooled into thinking there was a backup plan. And you can say that maybe the young receivers are starting to get it (though one game doesn’t mean squat), but putting all our eggs in one basket and ignoring the line last year was stupid. We could have moved back only once and taken a lineman in the first round and still got a shot a two receivers in the 2nd. And the Mike Williams story was great and all, and we loved tracking how he went from dangerously fat to just plain fat, but the bottom line is, he’s still fat and he should never have been a primary back-up option.
I can point out 3 losses this season (Detroit, Carolina, and KC) that are solely because of a weak and/or patchwork offensive line. We win 2/3 of those and we are in the heart of the playoff race right now. Fire Vinny.
by Boo. on Nov 20, 2009 9:56 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Thanks for not believing the hype Boo
SpotieOtieDopalicious
by Rekka on Nov 20, 2009 10:39 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
You are so right
My biggest fear is that we will continue to play well and win games – which I totally want us to do – but that it will in the end justify Vinny’s job. There has to be recognition of his poor performance that is distinct from the play on the field. Any successes we have the remainder of the season will be touted as excuses to keep him and that the FO is responsible for those successes. When in fact, the FO has had no clear strategy for managing the team successfully in the short or long term and any successes we have or will have will actually be despite the FO.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
by Scott E on Nov 20, 2009 11:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Exactly
If the O-line can somehow perform as well as they did against the Broncos for the rest of the year, there’d be absolutely no reason (at least no reason for Snyder) to fire Cerrato. Of course we all want to see our team do well, but if seeing our team do well the remainder of this season means seeing our team play badly for another decade, it most certainly isn’t worth it.
by bigrm18 on Nov 20, 2009 11:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I disagree with you this time, Boo.
Offensive line depth is obviously not one of the strengths of our team. And like any team, it’s very hard to compete when a weakness is magnified and exploited (in this case, season ending injuries to our best two linemen, matched with exotic blitz packages being run by our opponents).
Mike Williams, D’Anthony Batiste, Will Montgomery, and Stephon Heyer are a deep list of capable backups. Obviously we’d all be happier with better backups, and so would Vinny, but they are backups for a reason. They are still developing and learning the cohension on the line, and were not intended to be defending Probowl rushers.
One big plus I see for the near future is that Devin Thomas, Malcom Kelly, Fred Davis, and Jason Campbell are all showing very strong potential. Thier positions typically have a steeper learning curve when coming into the NFL when compared to offensive linemen. A lot of linemen from this year and last years draft are already making strong impacts on their teams. Drafting a tackle in the first round of the upcoming draft, and a second round tackle, should (hopefully) have an immediate impact in our offense where our young players are beginning to shine.
Like Joe said in the video, a lot of success in this league comes through patience. Firing Zorn/Vinny/etc. and trading away Campbell/Portis/Cooley to start over again will just be repeating what’s been happening for the past 10 years. Continuity and synergy are what is going to make Zorn’s offensive scheme stronger.
by SSBlitz on Nov 20, 2009 11:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
You lost me
when you said
Mike Williams, D’Anthony Batiste,…are a deep list of capable backups.
SpotieOtieDopalicious
by Rekka on Nov 20, 2009 11:28 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
And Chad Rinehart.
They’re still backups though, not starters. And when you plug 2/5 of your line with backups, you’re going to lose the most important aspect of the unit – cohesion.
by SSBlitz on Nov 20, 2009 11:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
when I think of backups
I think of CAPABLE backups, not just people taking up space. Besides this past week, I didn’t feel that ANY of these guys (MAYBE Rhineheart and Heyer) were capable backups.
SpotieOtieDopalicious
by Rekka on Nov 20, 2009 11:41 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Yes
capable backups may not have the total cohesion required to play consistently well, but these backups more often than not behaved like turnstiles. The question is not over time that these guys will be capable of starting, but whether they possess enough innate talent to even justify being in the league. That’s probably harsh, but my liver feels it necessary to raise the objection in self-defense.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
by Scott E on Nov 20, 2009 12:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Not only are none of them decent back ups
(they’re all on the level of guys you could sign off the street, which in some case is where they came from)
but none of them are young drafted players with good pedigree being groomed for the future.
that, really, is the biggest flaw of Vinny’s offensive line. It was old 2 years ago, so where are the (good) offensive linemen draft picks?
2 WRs and TE? Really?
"By far the worst performers on the team are in the front office." – Sally Jenkins
by smutsboy1 on Nov 20, 2009 12:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
My point is
That when the problem is so obvious (and when injuries to the Oline last year left us 2-6 to close the season, its pretty damn obvious) and you don’t plan adequately enough for a similar occurrence, you are clearly at fault. Yes, Vinny made moves to provide some depth, but COME ON! undrafted linemen out of Maryland and dudes off the street does not a successful O-Line make. Anyone could have seen it (and everyone, in fact, did point it out).
I have never liked Stephon Heyer. He looks like a pear. Anyone whose name starts with "D apostrophe’ automatically deserves some skepticism. Neither Will Montgomery or Chad Rinehart has been able to convince coaches during the week that they won’t suck to secure a starting job. Mike Williams is fatter than god. Let’s see what Levi Jones does against DeMarcus Ware before we say he was a good move (and if he was, why the hell didn’t we sign him in week 2?)
No doubt that there is plenty of talent on this team. Its not Vinny’s fault (directly) if the coaches failed to get them to play up to their talent. But the bottom line is, his mismanagement has cost us games, and you simply cannot give away victories in this league.
by Boo. on Nov 20, 2009 12:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
It's true, but outside of Cleveland and Buffalo, there's talent on every team in the league
No doubt that there is plenty of talent on this team.
"By far the worst performers on the team are in the front office." – Sally Jenkins
by smutsboy1 on Nov 20, 2009 12:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
don't know why this just came to me
but anyone remember, earlier in the offseason, a player from one of those midwest teams said they wanted to come here. They compared it to Brady Quinn wanting to play for the Browns all his life or something like that.
SpotieOtieDopalicious
by Rekka on Nov 20, 2009 12:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Vinny has been pretty much the only constant of the last 10 years
so I think including him with the others is sort of ridiculous. I don’t necessarily know that you totally blow this team apart but if Vinny was competent Zorn would’ve never been brought in and this whole west coast offense experiment for which we are absolutely unsuited for never would’ve been attempted in the first place.
Gibbs 2.0 left us with a traditional smash mouth, run first NFC East type football team. It wasn’t always pretty but we went to the playoffs twice with it and with smart personnel moves we might legitimately have been only a couple seasons away. However, instead of sticking to that and trying to keep improving it we made an arbitrary change of systems and brought in a coach who can easily be bossed around by Cerrato and Snyder.
Our backups are not capable. Ignoring the o-line in the 2008 draft was stupid. Ignoring it again in 2009 was a crime.
by SkinsOsTerps on Nov 20, 2009 11:39 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Punishable by death?
Ignoring it again in 2009 was a crime.
SpotieOtieDopalicious
by Rekka on Nov 20, 2009 12:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I don't know about death
but definitely a rubber chicken beating followed by exile to Wasilla, Alaska.
by SkinsOsTerps on Nov 20, 2009 2:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
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