Washington Redskins offensive guru Al Saunders isn’t worried about the starting offense’s scoreless preseason. His offenses in Kansas City teams were some of the NFL’s elite. Saunders says he knows what he’s doing.
“There is a process that we know works, a system that we know works and a procedure of developing an offensive football team that we have had success with over a lot of years,” he said.
Didn’t Norv Turner used to say, “What we do works” after coming from Dallas where his offense won two Super Bowls.
Uh-oh.
Saunders has stumbled into town essentially saying “trust me.” That’s pretty much a red flag the size of China.
Clinton used to say trust him — he didn’t have sex with that woman. Nixon said trust him — he wasn’t a crook. Rafael Palmeiro said trust him — he didn’t do steroids.
Al, you’ve lived in the Midwest too long, become too nice of a guy. Think you can be honest with people, work hard and people will respect you.
That’s not how it works in this town.
A righteous man gets tarred and feathered in the capital of dirty tricks. Washington’s main sport is tearing people apart. President Bush said he wasn’t going to play the blame game when arriving. Good thing because he’d get blanked like your offense.
Now Redskins fans are looking skeptically at Saunders, wondering when Joe Gibbs is going to start talking into that headset and calling some touchdowns. Have Saunders go back to the chalkboard while Gibbs calls the plays. That’s what Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen is doing after two losing seasons.
The Redskins loaded up on receivers during the offseason. They have a star, an heir and a spare. Then there’s a Pro Bowl running back and tight end plus an offensive line that on paper is pretty good.
But the preseason has been a giant goose egg for the starting offense entering tonight’s finale against Baltimore at FedEx Field. With the regulars playing only a quarter or so against the Ravens, there’s a chance they’ll finish blanked entering the regular season.
Granted, Portis has been hurt and starters haven’t played much. The limited offense isn’t just vanilla, it’s watery.
But you gotta give fans in this town a few points to chew on or they’ll start chewing on something else like Saunders’ reputation. The Redskins aren’t just playing possum, they’re road kill.
“We will get there,” Saunders said. “I know what the end product will look like. I feel very comfortable that there are players developing their skills to be what we need them to be. For those who see practice, I think you see a totally different football team in terms of the strategy and tactics that we utilize than we do in a game. There is a reason for that.”
Oh, so Saunders is now Dick Cheney. Running a black ops offense. Gotcha. Maybe Tom Cruise will play him in Dan Snyder’s next movie — “Mission Impossible: Madden’s Revenge.” The premier will be on FedEx Field’s Jumbotron. Free admission, but $50 parking.
Listen Al, the courts ruled there are no inherent kings in this town. Well, maybe Gibbs, but the rest of us have to prove ourselves every single day. We can’t just point to the past and say things will be fine. Washingtonians don’t play that game.
Pull one of those 700 plays from your book and reach the end zone. Go four wide for once. It’s not like you’re really hiding anything from defensive coordinators. Minnesota has been watching tapes of your Kansas City offense for six months. Every NFC East coach learned your game.
So get it done. Then Washingtonians will trust you.
Until the next game.
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
