Vision Quest: Washington should look to New England for their off season game plan

It’s been the same thing ever since the Salary Cap was initiated. Every Super Bowl winner’s success story is almost immediately made into a blue print to success. The cascading accolades and 5 minute Sportscenter montage pieces celebrate not only the athletes but the front office and owners “sense of direction”.

The only problem is that the paths to the Super Bowl are as myriad as the colors of Joe Theisman’s leg. There were San Francisco and Dallas, they mortgaged their futures to win now and suffered the consequences later on. We have had Denver and Green Bay who built themselves around a great quarterback. Baltimore & Tampa Bay built themselves around killer defenses and a punishing ground game. And of course there were the St. Louis Rams who drafted speed first, all else second.

But the New England Patriots are different. Really they are. They have a great quarterback in Tom Brady, a great defense led by Teddy Bruschi, a punishing runner in Corey Dillon, and a burner in Deion Branch. They played balanced football, running and passing equally well. They made all the good coaching moves and kept a team together winning 3 of 4 Super Bowls. No one can argue this is a team and organization worthy of the title “Dynasty”.

(On a side note to all you Cowboy fans out there. Don’t waste your time pointing to the average margin of victory in Super Bowls as a true measurement of Dynasty. Give it a rest. If that is a testament to anything it is a testament to the parity of the NFL. Your “dynasty” came just after the institution of the Salary Cap, which started just prior to the 1994 season. The full ramifications were not really known for almost 5 years after it started. In the late 90’s is when we heard about Cap Casualties and Cap hell. That makes what New England did this year way more impressive then your glory days. Live with it Cowboy fans, or perhaps you can just become Patriot fans, you band wagon wannabees. But I digress.)

So what does this have to do with the Redskins? Well it is my opinion that the Redskins are in the best position to actually follow the New England Blueprint and mirror their success. There needs to be some adjustment and some luck but it can be done.

1.) Stick with and grow the young QB. Right now no one argues that the Mark Brunell trade was a killer for our team. The contract was too long and the signing bonus too large. Ramsey had success the previous year and the 9 game detour retarded his chance to grow this season. When Tom Brady took over for Drew Bledsoe in the 2001 season he was hurt in the playoffs. Drew Bledsoe started and won the 2001 championship game. All of a sudden there were calls to Bench Brady for the Super Bowl and put in Bledsoe. Belichick resisted and all it resulted in was a Super Bowl. I am a little worried about Gibbs “for now” comment about Ramsey being the starter this next season. Like it or not our hopes for a Super Bowl birth before 2007 rest with Patrick Ramsey.

2.) Build through the Draft and sign Key Free Agents, not the other way around. Tom Brady (6th Round), Deion Branch (2nd Round), Teddy Bruschi (3rd Round), Rodney Harrison (UFA), Adam Vinateri (UFA), David Givens (7th Round), Troy Brown (8th Round) were all draftees or undrafted free agents of New England along with a ton of other starters. Notice how a lot of them are low rounders or UFA’s? This is the work of top notch talent evaluators and coaching staff along with front office personnel managing the cap and keeping a “core” group of players. Gibbs has also talked about a “core” group of players to build around. This is the right idea. But with Fred Smoot, Chris Samuels, and Antonio Pierce probably leaving I am not sure it is being practiced. These are not Gibb’s nor the Redskin’s fault in many ways. But they have to find a way to keep all three. This is not to say we don’t play in the market, we are just better about it. Corey Dillon was a good sign for New England, upgrading at a key area just when Antowain Smith hit the wall. We have done pretty well in the past, hitting more then we are missing. It is just some of our misses (Trotter, Brunell, George, Deion) were big ones. We need to limit big splurges and go after more people like Cornelius Griffin and Marcus Washington. The ironic thing is that our previous free spending ways may force us to do just what New England has been doing all along. Now we just have to stop trading away draft picks.

3.) Don’t be afraid to cut expensive problem players and put faith in hungry young players. In 2003 New England released Lawyer Malloy. He was a big part of their Super Bowl win in 2001, but had become a cancer on the team. Malloy signed with the Buffalo Bills and helped orchestrate a drubbing of New England on opening day to the tune of 31-0. However New England recovered, won 14 of 15 games, and then won the Super Bowl. The late move by Belichick was met with criticism at the time but most praise it now. He showed faith in his young players, in particular Rodney Harrison who had two interceptions in the Super Bowl this year, and immediately increased morale in the clubhouse. Gardner and McCants will be the first victims of this change in philosophy, but under-producing veterans could eventually see the axe as well. Renaldo Wynn, John Hall, Chad Morten, Mike Barrow, & Chris Samuels are all paid way more then they produce. Restructure, produce or get out and make way for hungry young position players.

4.) Hire good Assistant coaches. This is where we may actually be ahead of New England next season. After the debacle of Spurrier’s clown troupe he called a coaching staff, it was a welcome sight to see Redskin One going out and getting the best minds in the game along with some of the good ole boys. After a year of real live NFL games Gibbs and Bugel will adjust to the new speed of the NFL. Greg Williams was probably the smartest sign of a defensive coach in the history of our organization. Next year he may lose Smoot and possibly Pierce but perhaps a healthy Phillip Daniels, Lavar Arrington, and Matt Bowen coupled with a smarter, more experienced Sean Taylor can only make us a better defense. New England has lost their Defensive and Offensive coordinator to head coaching jobs. The only good thing about a 6-10 season is that your coaches aren’t immediately candidates for head coaching positions. Usually that is not a good thing at all. In our case though it is.

5.) Develop selfless players and expand team Chemistry. This is probably the simplest sounding idea; but the hardest to produce. If you do the above four steps this should fall in line. However there is no measurement at the Scouting Combine for heart. There is no stat book on courage and determination. There is no price tag on loyalty. New England had guys like Teddy Bruschi turn down guaranteed bigger pay days to stay and build something special. Troy Brown went from being the #1 receiver to a two-way player, playing cornerback and doing it well, without complaining. Tom Brady never gets rattled whether up 30 or down 5 with two minutes to go. Corey Dillon went from malcontent to gritty determined team player. We have a little bit of this, especially on defense. We need a lot more. Redskin One landing on their street to pick them up and sign them might put them on the team but only drafting a player and taking a chance on them builds loyalty. We need to do more of that.

So we are a good way along the road. However, the Redskins have some work to do. Like all good architects Joe Gibbs and staff are getting together and planning and preparing. This is usually our Super Bowl; we are the Kings of Football from February through April. It is time to translate that into a long term vision to bring us back to prominence. Let’s just hope New England doesn’t stand in our way.