Snyder's scapegoat
12/05/2000
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I understand sports, and I understand how it all works: If you're a coach at any level of any sport, your number one objective is to win. You expect to win, your players expect to win, your fans expect you to win and, most important, the guy who signs your check certainly expects you to win. And if you enter a season with high expectations, you'd better win, win soon, win often, and then don't stop winning until you're hoisting the championship trophy above your head at the end of the season. So when the Washington Redskins lost 9-7 to the New York Giants last Sunday after Eddie Murray came up well short on a game-winning 49-yard field goal, everyone expected head coach Norv Turner to be fired. After all, the 'Skins have now lost four of their last five games, including an ugly 16-15 loss to the 3-10 Arizona Cardinals on November 5. And with a payroll exceeding $100 million this season, owner Daniel Snyder certainly didn't expect to be 7-6 heading into week 15, fighting for a chance to see the postseason despite an over-abundance of talent on the Washington roster. So, with a disappointing team on his hands, Snyder did what most owners or general managers do in his situation: he executed the head coach. An expected move? Definitely. The right move? Personally, I don't think so.
Apparently it's Turner's fault that his 44-year-old kicker couldn't hit a game-winning 49-yard field goal if he were kicking downhill... on the moon. After all, we're talking about a guy who hasn't hit more than 20 field goals in a season since 1995-96, and since 1994 had only attempted three field goals of 50 yards or longer. At 44, Murray is probably the only kicker in football who can't kick his age. Yet somehow, in Daniel Snyder's world, that's Norv Turner's fault. Was it also Turner's fault that Murray missed a game-tying 44-yarder against the Eagles a week earlier with 1:21 on the clock? Rookie kicker Kris Heppner, who Murray would later replace, missed two fourth-quarter field goals in that November 5 loss to Arizona, one of which was a 33-yarder with 5:10 remaining that would have given Washington the lead. Did Turner miss wide right? Or was it the head coach's fault that his starting RB, Stephen Davis, broke his forearm in a November 20 win over the Rams and subsequently missed the Philly game while being held to only 29 rushing yards on 12 carries against the Giants?
I understand injuries are part of the game (remember, I'm a Browns fan), but certainly Washington's struggles cannot and should not have been pinned entirely on Turner's sleeve. Aside from the dismal loss to Arizona, the Redskins' recent skid has come against some of football's elite teams: October 30 against Tennessee, and then the losses to the Eagles and Giants. These three teams are a combined 28-12 on the year, and the 'Skins lost those three games by a total of 12 points. And let's not forget about Washington's monster 33-20 win over the Rams on November 20, or the five-straight they won before the loss to Tennessee. And those five wins came against the Giants, Buccaneers, Eagles, Ravens and Jaguars, who sport a combined 41-25 record.
In other words, the Redskins are better than their own 7-6 record would indicate. They're possibly two Eddie Murray field goals and another Heppner chip shot away from a 10-3 record, but this is football, a business where winning is winning and losing, no matter how or by how much, is losing. Turner lost and so he was axed. But perhaps Snyder should have thought this over a while longer. Maybe last offseason he shouldn't have signed free agents Jeff George, Adrian Murrell, Mark Carrier, Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith for all that money. Would you throw tens-of-millions of dollars at five guys with an average age of 33? I wouldn't either. But then again, I wouldn't fire my head coach in week 15 with my team, sitting at 7-6, still in the playoff hunt. If anything, I'd look for a new kicker, someone who couldn't begin a sentence with: "In my rookie year in 1980... ."
Rocky Mountain woes
I'm still trying to figure out why Denny Neagle is now a starting pitcher with the Colorado Rockies. I mean, I understand Colorado's offer of five years, $51 million was probably the best the lefty received this
offseason, and I've also heard he lives in Colorado in the offseason and wanted the chance to play close to home. Fine. In the same situation, I'd maybe be inclined to accept the Rockies' offer.
But then I'd look at Darryl Kile's career numbers. And I'd politely decline.
Kile pitched for Colorado in 1998 and 1999. The year before he signed a huge free agent contract with the Rockies, the right-handed pitcher produced a brilliant season with Houston, going 19-7 with a 2.57 ERA in 255 innings. He struck out 205 batters, gave up 19 home runs and pitched six complete games, four of which were shutouts. His next two years in Colorado were, as Kile himself described, a nightmare. As if his 21-30 record wasn't bad enough, the All-Star recorded a 5.84 ERA in those years, allowing an average of 30 homers a season while striking out only 274 batters from 1998-99.
Kile bolted for St. Louis last season and returned to his All-Star form, winning 20 games for the first time in his career while posting a 3.91 ERA and throwing five complete games. The disparity is remarkable:
1997/2000 (Houston & St. Louis): 39-16, 3.21 ERA, 11 CG, 5 shutouts
1998/1999 (both in Colorado): 21-30, 5.84 ERA, 5 CG, 1 shutout
So why Neagle, a career 105-69 pitcher with a 3.92 ERA, would even consider a move to Colorado utterly confuses me. With the dearth of quality pitching in baseball, I've got to think someone somewhere offered him a comparable contract in a much more friendly home park, but perhaps the money was the deciding factor for the lefty. You just couldn't pay me enough money to take a realistic shot at ruining my career.
In the Bullz-Eye
Every AFC East team not named the Dolphins. As they currently stand, the Jets (9-4), Bills (7-6) and Colts (7-6) are on the playoff bubble. While the Jets certainly are in a much better situation than Buffalo or Indy, nothing is guaranteed this year with nine AFC teams currently standing at .500 or better. The Colts (vs. Buffalo, at Miami, vs. Minnesota) and Jets (at Oakland, vs. Detroit, at Baltimore) face a tough remaining schedule while the Bills (at Indianapolis, vs. New England, at Seattle) have a much easier road ahead.