how bad have the redskins been under snyder?

[Fiz]

Copying this from another board, don't know the original source:

The Snyder/Cerrato Specific Embarrassments

1. Firing Norv Turner…at the Stadium…while the team was over .500 and in playoff contention

2. Firing 30 Redskins employees in his first month on the job

3. Charging Fans to Attend Training Camp

4. Obstructed View Seats!

5. Bingo!

6. “The Maroon and Black”

7. Snyder didn’t like what was being said on the Redskins Fan Message board, so he bought it

8. Snyder didn’t like what was being said on the local sportstalk radio station, so he bought it

9. Snyder heard Redskins fans occasionally had fun at Six Flags Parks, so he bought (and bankrupted) it

10. “Inside the Red Zone with Vinny Cerrato”

11. The Club Seats at FedEx – Its very inspiring to see a large section in the middle of the stands sparsely populated for every single game

12. The most expensive parking, concessions and tickets in the league

13. Al Saunders 700 page playbook

14. Snyder Suing Season Ticket Holders

15. Treating draft picks like most people treat pennies

16. The Redskins Trade Coles for Moss and take a $5 million dead money cap hit in the process

17. The Skins give up 3 draft picks (a first, third and fifth) to draft Jason Campbell

18. Hiring Jim Zorn as offensive coordinator…”Oh did we say coordinator, because we meant head coach.”

The Really Embarrassing Losses

1. 2009: Lost to Lions, who were 0-19 in the previous 19.

2. 2009: Lost (at home) to the Chiefs, who were 1-16 in their last 17 games

3. 2007: Lost a squeaker to the Patriots 52-7.

4. 2005: Loss to the Giants 36-0

5. Mercifully, we’ll group the really bad Spurrier losses by year: 2003: Lost to the Eagles 31-7 on national television, lost to the Cowboys 27-0 in a “must win” game, lost to the juggernaut that was the Buffalo Bills 24-7 at home.

6. 2002 Spurrier: Lost 37-7 to the Eagles on Monday Night Football, Spurrier does gum flapping thing in slow motion. Lost to the Packers 30-9, and lost at home to the New Orleans Saints 43-27 (Who was the Saints QB, you ask? Oh no, it was not Drew Brees, or Archie Manning or Jesus Christ…it was Aaron Brooks. Aaron Brooks lit the Skins up for 43.).

7. The First Four Games of the Schottenheimer Era: L to San Diego 30-3, Lose to Green Bay 37-0, Lose to Kansas City 45-13, Lose to the Giants 23-7. Those were fun.

8. 2001: Week 15 and week 16 losses to the Cowboys and Steelers by scores of 32-13 and 24-3 respectively, also known as “The Robiskie Era.” Yes, after a 9-7 loss to the Giants that put the Skins to 7-6, this is when Snyder fired Norv Turner and insisted that Jeff George replace Brad Johnson for the rest of the season. That went well.

File These Under Other Various Embarrassments

1. The Champ Bailey for Clinton Portis Trade

2. The Gus Ferrotte Head Butt Game**

3. The Joe Gibbs Double Time Out Loss

4. Schottenheimer clears cap space, finishes the season 8-3….and is fired.

5. Zorn and Hip Hip Hooray

6. Snyder making a profit off of 9-11 themed Redskins merchandise

7. The Tailgating Fiasco of 2009

8. Trading two draft picks for T.J. fuging Duckett

9. Osaka!

10. The 67 times Steve Spurrier didn’t know the name of one of his players during a public appearance…”Yes, well, uh, Darternian McCunts made a nice catch on that one there…”

11. Hey! It’s Pepper Rodgers!

**This actually happened in 1997, when Snyder had nothing to do with the Redskins, but oddly enough this is still somehow his fault.

The 28 Day Two (rounds 3 thru 7) draft picks that were complete busts (2000-2008):

1. Eddie Williams

2. Cody Glenn

3. Chad Rinehart

4. Durant Brooks

5. Rob Jackson

6. Dallas Sartz

7. Tyler Ecker

8. Kili Lefotu

9. Kevin Simon

10. Manuel White

11. Robert McCune

12. Jared Newbury

13. Nehemiah Broughton

14. Mark Wilson

15. Jim Molinaro

16. Gibran Hamden

17. Rashad Bauman

18. Cliff Russell

19. Andre Lott

20. Reggie Coleman

21. Jeff Grau

22. Greg Scott

23. Mario Monds

24. Lloyd Harrison

25. Michael Moore

26. Quincy Sanders

27. Todd Husak

28. Ethan Howell

The Eight Day One (Rounds 1 and 2) Draft Picks That Didn’t Work Out (in only eight drafts):

1. Devin Thomas

2. Fred Davis

3. Malcolm Kelly

4. Jason Campbell

5. Taylor Jacobs

6. Patrick Ramsey

7. Rob Gardner

8. Lavar Arrington

The 10 Big Money Free Agent Signings that Tanked:

1. Adam Archuleta

2. Brandon Lloyd

3. Mark Carrier

4. Jeff George

5. Deion Sanders

6. Bruce Smith

7. Dana Stubblefield

8. Dan Wilkinson

9. Jeremiah Trotter

10. Jessie Armstead

The Washed Up Guys That Cost Little Money But Still Sucked

1. Adrian Murrell

2. Shaun Alexander

3. Ki-Jana Carter

4. Trung Canidate

5. Chad Morton

6. Warwick Holdman

7. Danny Wuerffel

8. Shane Matthews

9. Tony Banks

10. Kent Graham

11. Jaquez Green

12. Chris Doering

13. Reidel Anthony

14. David Patten

15. Mike Rumph

The Good Players We Let Go Via Free Agency

1. Antonio Pierce

2. Ryan Clark

[Saint J]

[Kurb]

amazing

[Fiz]

i asked some skins fans over at somethingawful to write up some summaries because i was curious. it's frankly stunning

I source heavily from Wiki where necessary, sue me.

The Daniel M. Snyder Era

Prolouge

I guess the story of Dan Snyder and the Redskins starts back in 1993, when Jack Kent Cooke, legendary owner of the 'Skins as well as LA Lakers, etc, took a section out of his will that would have assured the passage of the Redskins to his first son, John Kent Cooke.

1996 would be the last season that saw the Redskins at RFK, and the last season that saw Jack Kent Cooke in the owners box. Cooke would die before he saw the Redskins play a game in the new suburban stadium for which he payed the vast majority of costs for and that would be named in his honor.

In his will, Cooke left the Redskins to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, with instructions that the foundation sell the team. It is believed that estate taxes are one of the primary reasons he could not leave the team directly to John Kent Cooke. His son, was unable to raise sufficient funds to purchase the business. Recently, Cooke has stated that he bid what he thought was sufficient - $750m. He even approached Daniel Snyder about letting Snyder be a minority partner. But he was rebuffed by the brash young businessman, who told Cooke to his face that it would be his offspring that would inherit the legendary franchise.

Snyder at that time had limitless ambition and ample luck. At age 20, he had dropped out of college at The University of Maryland College park and was running his own business, leasing jets to fly college students to spring break in Fort Lauderdale and the Caribbean. Snyder claims to have cleared US$1 million running the business out of his parents' bedroom with a friend and several telephone lines.

In 1988, Snyder and his sister Michelle founded a marketing company, Snyder Communications Inc. Their activities were mainly outsourced marketing services, such as direct marketing, database marketing, proprietary product sampling, sponsored information display in prime locations, call centers, and field sales.

In an initial public offering for SNC in September 1996, he became the youngest ever CEO of a New York Stock Exchange listed company at the age of 32.

He expanded the company aggressively through a string of acquisitions, and in April 2000, Snyder Communications was sold to the French advertising and marketing services group Havas in an all-stock transaction valued at in excess of US$2 billion, one of the largest such transactions in the history of the advertising/market industry. Snyder’s personal share of the proceeds was estimated to be $300 million.

As Snyder was preparing to sell his business, Jack Kent Cooke was passing away and leaving the Redskins day to day operations to his son until the foundation could auction off the franchise.

Snyder had been a lifelong Redskins fan. His father had been a season ticket holder and he fondly remembered autumn days at RFK watching the Gibbs era and the great Redskins teams of the late 70s and early 80s.

Snyder's first attempted bid for the Redskins was in conjunction with a real estate mogul and was rejected by the NFL owners, who felt that the mogul's finances were not liquid enough.

Finally, Snyder was able to secure the franchise and Jack Kent Cooke stadium for $800m, at the time, it was the most expensive transaction in sporting history. The deal was financed largely through borrowed money, including $340 million borrowed from Société Générale and $155 million debt assumed on the stadium. While Snyder has been owner, the Redskins' annual profit has increased nearly $100 million and according to Forbes maagazine they are the second highest grossing team behind only the hated Dallas Cowboys.

1999

Snyder's first year on the job saw arguably his greatest success. Under incumbent coach Norv Turner, the Redskins won the NFC East with a 10-6 record and were a fumbled snap away from the NFC Championship game. Snyder eventually fired GM Charlie Casserly, longtime assistant to legendary Redskins GM Bobby Beathard. He hired Vinny Cerrato, a scout with credentials from the Lou Holtz era at Notre Dame and the last Superbowl era of the San Franscisco 49ers.

2000

This year would see drastic changes in Snyder's managerial style. During the offseason, Snyder and Cerrato pursued several high priced free agents on defense, including Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith. Both FA acquisitions, towards the end of their NFL careers, failed to impress and the Redskins stumbled to a 7-6 season before Snyder lost his patience with Norv Turner and fired him, replacing him on an interim basis with assistant coach Terry Robieskie. The Redskins finished 8-8. Snyder is said to have yelled at Norv Turner in the locker room at halftime of a game against the rival Cowboys, emasculating his coach in front of the entire team.

2001

As a replacement for Norv Turner, Snyder hired veteran coach Marty Schottenheimer, giving him coaching and team president responsibilities. One of Schottenheimer's first acts was to fire Vinny Cerrato, Snyder's personal hire at the GM spot. After starting off 0-5, the Redskins managed to storm back to an 8-8 finish on the back of a dominant defense. However, Snyder's..."hands on" approach and Schottenheimer's well known need for control apparently clashed and Snyder relieved Marty of his job after just one season on the job.

2002 and 2003

After axing Marty, Snyder controversially rehired Vinny Cerrato to the GM position. After his free agent dabbling backfired, Snyder needed someone to get the fan base back on his side. He hired flamboyant college coach Steve Spurrier, renowned as an offensive genius, an "ol' ball coach" who promised to bring the "run 'n gun" style to Washington Football.

Two seasons later, Spurrier resigned with a year left on his contract, leaving with a record of 12-20. Once again, free agent aquistions had failed to live up to expectations, and the 2003 season especially saw growing fan discontent as the REdskins stumbled to a 5-11 season. Towards the end of the season QB Patrick Ramsey was literally running for his life in the pocket, and many of the NFC East games saw Ramsey take sack after sack as Spurrier's offense sputtered and failed to protect the QB.

The Gibbs II era

After the disaster of the Spurrier era and having gone through 3 coaches in 4 years as owner of the Redskins, Snyder was fast running out of public goodwill. He made a decisive move, having secretly lured legendary Redskins coach Joe Gibbs out of retirement and handing him coaching and team president responsibilities. Gibbbs was hailed as a returning king, optimism ran high throughout the fanbase and Snyder had regained much trust from the fanbase.

Gibbs' return to the NFL was markedly different from his first stint. While his first year saw the Redskins fail to reach the playoffs with a 6-10 record, he would go on to lead the Redskins to two playoff appearances in the last 3 years of his contract. Snyder once again created controversy by firing legendary play by play broadcaster Frank Herzog, who along with Redskins QB Sonny Jurgenson and linebacker Sam Huff had broadcasted Redskins games on the radio since 1979. He replaced Herzog with personal friend and sycophant Larry Michael, who at the time had no broadcasting experience whatsoever.

This period saw a slight reduction of Dan Snyder's meddling in team affairs, however, Snyder became well known in this period for befriending certain players, such as Portis, and exerting pressure on coaching staff to play his favorites. He also began his tradition of staring down players after losses or shaking hands all around the locker room after wins.

2008-2009

After Gibbs second retirement, prompted by the tragedy and emotional toil of the loss of Sean Taylor during the 2007-2008 campaign, Snyder, who had publicly said he learned lessons from Gibbs about running the franchise, reverted to his old ways. Though he had a gentlemans agreement in place with Gregg Williams, Joe Gibbs defensive coordinator, he passed Williams over, favoring a leaguewide coaching search. However, Snyder and Cerrato conducted this search in a rather..unorthodox manner, hiring all assistant coaching staff before hiring a head coach. Greg Blache was installed as defensive coordinator, while Jim Zorn, a QB coach and Holmgren protege was hired as the offensive coordinator to install Cerrato's desired West Coast offense.

As the search for a head coach dragged on with seemingly no "big name" coaches willing to risk accepting the job, Snyder and Cerrato panicked and decided to promote their recently hired offensive coordinator to the head coach position. Cerrato used the Redskins highest draft picks to draft two wide receivers and a tight end, despite the fact that the Redskins already had a pro-bowl tight end and an aging offensive line.

Zorn started off his rookie coaching season in brilliant fashion, with a 6-2 record including road wins against Philidelphia and Dallas. This prompted exuberant reactions from Snyder which were posted to youtube among other media outlets.

However, Zorn's rookie season ended 8-8 after the Redskins struggled in the second half of the season with a 2-6 record. According to Cerrato, the Redskins reviewed the season internally and pinpointed the offensive line and injuries as the cause of the collapse. So, in his infinite genius, Snyder decided to buy the biggest free agent on the market, on defense instead of offense. And for his part, Vinny drafted a stud linesman...on defense. The offensive line issues went unaddressed, save for the reacquisition of Derick Dockery on free agency from the Buffalo Bills.

Thus, the Redskins went into the 2009 season with the same problems as last season and subsequently started 2-5.

[Fiz]

and the epilogue

Epilogue

To this day, Snyder rarely conducts interviews with the media, and never during the NFL season. Snyder has been a polarizing figure among the fan base, with some fans initially defending him because he was at least willing to spend money on the team. Other fans saw him from the start as a micromanaging egomaniac, who would rather fail with his hand than let someone else sucessfully run "his" team.

His public persona has been further damaged beyond the Redskins play on the field. Snyder was fined by the National Capital Park Planning Commision for cutting down more than 130 mature trees near his Potomac, MD mansion in order to improve views of the Potomac River. Recently, news surfaced that Snyder's Redskins were suing season ticket holders including 72 year old grandmother who had been a fan since the 1960s.

As the teams fortunes have turned for the worse over the last decade, the fan experience has worsened. Snyder renamed Jack Kent Cooke stadium FedEx Field, and added many seats to the stadium, often with obstructed views. He raised ticket prices every year as well as parking costs. He even tried to stop people from walking up to the stadium from the nearest Metro stop.

Most recently, the signage policy at FedEx field was changed, banning signs of any kind. Fans wearing t-shirts with anti-Snyder or Cerrato messages were confronted by security and given the choice of turning the shirts inside out or being thrown out of the stadium.

Snyder's record as owner stands at 78-89. His other business ventures include recently bankrupt Six Flags amusement parks, Red Zebra Broadcasting which owns several local sports stations and broadcasts Redskins games, and the Johnny Rockets chain of restaurants, which is reportedly hemorrhaging money yearly.

So, in summation, Daniel M. Snyder is a ***** of the highest order and if the Redskins are ever to succeed again he probably needs to die in a fire. The end.

[dimbee]

1. The Champ Bailey for Clinton Portis Trade

I have no problem with this trade, but it's probably the only quality move that's been made.

[Kevin Greene]

Firing Norv was a good move, meh the rest. Ol' Norv was HC almost 7 seasons in DC with 1 playoff appearance and a 49-59-1 overall record. The Skins had just lost 4 of 5 when Snyder canned him.

I am only interested in this because how the hell Norv is on his 3rd Head Coaching job and the Chargers still employ him is beyond me. An excellent OC but not cut out to be a HC.

The Chargers are wasting a loaded roster on this guys leadership.

Laughing at Skins fan lamenting his firing.

All this being said I think Snyder is a little weasel.

[Kurb]

lol @ Johnny Rockets restaurants.