The Devil's Advocate view of Mr. Snyder

I view Snyder’s situation much in the same light I view Bush’s presidency. He has all of the greatest intentions but he has surrounded himself with all the wrong people which has been the biggest cause for his perceived failure as an owner.

He’s a passionate fan just like the rest of us. Sure he get’s a little grimey with the business side but I don’t doubt his desire to put a consistent winner on the field. He’ll get it right.

Thanks for posting this.

I agree. He made one huge mistake – hiring Jim Zorn – but otherwise has done his best. He has to make some decisions – it is his money and his team – and it is fatuous to think that he wouldn’t be involved at all.

IDan’s #1 objective as an owner is to make money. He is incredibly successful at that. #2 objective is to have a winning team. Clearly he falls a bit short in that category. He should write checks, listen to his GM, shut up, and enjoy making his money off a (hopefully) successful team. f I won a billion dollars in the lottery tomorrow and bought the Redskins, I would realize I am 0% qualified to make personnel decisions. Dan has not had such an epiphany, and doubt he ever will. If he continues to let his ego run the team, we will be a mediocre team for another decade. Until fans stop buying concessions and Redskins-licensed stuff, he’ll continue to run this team into the ground

I think he mostly wants a winning team, but tries to make money, too. Dan certainly knows that he is not an expert at the intracasies of football, and does not try to run the team. But he has to be somewhat involved. Think of the American President, or most bureaucracies. Some decisions – the tough ones, and ones that can get him in trouble – must float to the top, and the boss has to decide them, even though he may not know much about the particular subject. E.g., the President couldn’t let the military invade Iran without his concurrence. So he will supervise Bruce, and together they will supervise the coach, and Dan – like me and all the other contributors to Hogs Haven – would overrule his staff on some issues. E.g., Zorn immediately said Jason was his quarterback; Dan (and I and many others) thought that was a mistake, and Dan and Vinny tried to get a better one, overriding Jim. Very reasonable. But Dan probably did not dictate the draft choices, because he did not know enough about it; the group decided – probably not the best way to do it. I think Dan would have to approve trading Portis or Cooley. Basically, I think all this vitriole and hatred thrown at Dan is just garbage – unfair and stupid. Dan is a smart guy and runs the team as well as he can, and I hope he makes good decisions in the future (as he did in getting Joe Gibbs back)

First of all, you’ll need 1.6 billion to buy the team. Dan has done a good job maximizing his investment. And if you can get him to sell it, there are thousands of fans who will help you come up with the remaining cash you need.

Writing big checks does not make you a good owner. A lot of people spend a lot of money of stupid things. It just hurts them a lot less than it does you and me.

Hiring back a legend, as well as the son of a legend, does not make you a good owner. It means you are utilizing your PR skills to woo the fan base and hope things will turn out OK. So far, they haven’t. Oh well…

And just because analysts think something is a good idea doesn’t make it so. They are paid for their opinions, but they are just that: opinions. If they’re wrong, so what?

Dan may have BEEN a big fan, but what he has turned this team into bears no resemblence to the team he once rooted for, nor is the “fan experience” anything close to what it was when we were winning — and even when we weren’t. Dan has spent 10 years gaining control of the media, the licensing outlets, the restaurant chains, etc. so he can milk every possible dollar out of this enterprise. What he forgot to do was maintain and/or improve the product. It is our loyalty to this franchise that has kept us engaged as fans.

He continues to be financially rewarded while we are being spit on. I don’t think that makes him a good owner.

www.savetheskins.com

Scott – that stuff on vision is just baloney – Dan and the others and Bruce all want to build a good football team, meaning good players at all the positions. What does vision have to do with it? And the comments about personality and arrogance, and just wanting credit – how can you spout such baloney? Snyder rarely says anything, and when he does it is usually vague or supportive or hopeful, always humble, never negative in any way. For instance, on the draft, he talks about all the top staff having input, discussing, working out a priority list. What more can he do? Scott – think over what you wrote, and you’ll realize that you have no basis at all for your statements. Save – you don’t have a clue about what Dan is thinking, and you put a negative spin on anything he does. He has a business operation which is separate from the team. I suspect that he cares much more about the football team than the business side, which is probably run by an assistant. If Dan stayed totally out of the football side, he’d probably do even more on the business side. Anyway, you guys just vent over things you know nothing about. Give it a rest!

     Unless the detractors above actually know Mr. Snyder personally and are privy in REAL TIME to the decision making process’s involved with the team: I would guess they are exercising their ABSOLUTE right to offer their opinion. No more, no less, no controversy.

Right – we all have our opinions, based on how we think things work. I just think this vicious criticism of Snyder – by people who don’t know what happened and why – is crazy and unfair. One background thought is that the Redskins are a very competitive team. The NFL is extremely balanced – little difference in talent between the best and the worst (although that difference appears to have widened a little this year). Just remember how close many of our games were: one good play, one good tackle made (Landry or Hall), one mistake not made, one good break or made field goal, Sellers not missing key blocks, and we could have been 8-8 or even 10-6 and in the playoffs, even with devastating injuries. And Snyder didn’t cause any of the failures. None. He and Cerrato gave Zorn a competitive team. But the coach was lazy and incompetent, and we lost. So be it. Now what?

Hahahahaha. I laffed out loud several times during your long “Hey Everbody” post. Very well done!

Lazy is relative, he certainly works harder than I do, and less than Joe Gibbs. Jim says flatly that he does not work late (I don’t remember the exact quote, but it was in response to a question, and was generally that he always ate dinner with his family, did not do all nighters or work 20 hour days like Joe Gibbs did). Nothing wrong with that for normal people, but Jim is a new coach obviously in over his head, so extra work is probably a good idea. My guess (based on results) is that he does not spend as much time on the offensive game plan, or watching film, as he should. He doesn’t do enough on details, or supervising his top assistants. Of course, he can only do so much. But Joe Gibbs (and I think most top coaches, like Jimmy Johnson, who lost his marriage from working too hard) half kill themselves trying to win, and don’t just come to work in the morning. Young lawyers in top law firms work 70 hour weeks. In my life I have seen how “comers” usually work harder than anybody else. You have to “pay the price” to get ahead. My impression is that Jim simply is not competent enough to be an NFL coach (very few are), but also doesn’t work hard enough to succeed. NFL coach is a brutal, draining job, which may be why so many (Johnson, Cowher, Gruden, Billick, now Gibbs part time) quit and just love those analyst jobs; they make a lot of money and have great fun, with none of the heartaches.

Scott – glad to see you are on board, and thinking more positively (naturally, I take your post literally). Dan would be gratified. By the way, I don’t think Snyder is a bureaucrat or hard worker or detail man as I described – he’s more of an idea man, entrepreneur, gambler, impulsive and mercurial, controlling, doesn’t take orders from anybody, sort of like Donald Trump. He made his fortune partly in advertising, and seems to have really stumbled with Six Flags (another time he picked some good talker and then stuck with him too long). A guy like Snyder would not have the patience or discipline or desire to coach in the NFL – it’s too much work. He’s also more likely to mostly stay out of day to day operations except for setting general policy and a few major decisions. Incidentally, it seems to me that keeping Zorn as long as he has is uncharacteristic of Dan. Maybe Shanahan wouldn’t come during the season, and the Rooney rule inhibited a move, so he finally decided to just write off the season, and wait.

  I indicated in a previous post that MAYBE the Big Name coaches would not want to come here. Suppose I was right? Suppose the Medium Name coaches would also not want to come here (unlikely but possible)? Then we might get a relatively unknown, someone who was an assistant in a less then top notch organization.? We could coin a phrase and perhaps call it “The Zorn Rule”?

How absurd for one blogging fan to attack another with the contention that “you don’t knw what you’re talking about…”. C’mon, this is all sports babble. We all invest as much time, or as little, as we want to. HOWEVER, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Dan doesn’t know how to run a football team. All you have to do is look around the league at teams with good owners, strong GMs and competant coaches – we don’t need to know what Dan does in his office. As for what he runs and how he runs it, you need only read the accounts of those who have worked with him to know HOW he does it. Fear, micromanaging and an unwillingness to listen to those on his payroll. If the public humiliation of coaches and others hasn’t already given you something you still seem to be lacking…a clue.

We all want this to work. EXCUUUUUUSE me if I continue to be skeptical. Dan has proven nothing to me in regard to how he intends to fix this. Hiring a GM won’t mean squat if the Dan is still making all the decisions. And, yes, I know he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, he owns the team. But it’s not his plaything. It USED to be something quite special and we are now almost a generation away from those good times.

So let’s hope Dan makes a new year’s resolution and REALLY let’s Allen do his job. Let’s hope a REAL coach is brought in. And let’s stop bashing Zorn for doing a job he was never qualified for and didn’t ask for. He’s a decent guy who doesn’t deserve to be public flogged. I hope he takes the money and runs.

I’d like him to sell the team, but I have a better chance at winning the lottery – so I’m buying a ticket and a few scratch-offs.

Happy New Year, ladies and gentlemen!

www.savetheskins.com

alotta money is made by price gouging. gas- just last yr & yr before. businesses charging anything they want because theyre a business. your government isnt complaining – theyre on the receiving end & in on the problem. thats how people get rich by others hard work & legally stealing money.