The ONLY concern I would have had in Snyder’s place would have been to get William’s assurance that he’s not going to get rid of Saunders; however, Snyder isn’t as big on Saunders as I am. If Williams/Saunders is the combo for next season, I think we’ll improve (and if Gregg goes over to Al and says “You’re going to be fired next year if the Offense doesn’t improve, but I’m leaving the play calling totally up to you” it WILL improve; simply witness the Redskin’s effort the last month of the season to know that the Offense can work with these players).

Instead, we’ve lost two weeks of time that we could have been renegotiating some of the contracts that need to be restructured, deciding who we need to target for replacement, who we need to target in the draft, and working on further building our scouting department for next year.

I’d guess by this time next week, Gregg Williams will be the new coach of the team.

If Snyder wanted to prove to his players, to his coaches, and to his fans that he is committed to winning, SOON, and with a prolonged shot at staying one of the premier teams, Williams would have been shown his new office within 24 hours; he’s the logical choice, and if the Redskins were to promote him to Head Coach, the Roony Rule would not apply. There would be no uncertainty, the Redskins would be able to start working on the contract restructurings they need to do NOW, and they would keep the players from getting the jitters; while most of the key players are under contract for next season, we’re going to need to restructure a lot of money, and that means the players need to have confidence. The players have spoken; they want Gregg.

The only hold up in this is that if the Redskins truly want to continue to build, they would need to have a clause saying that Williams could not replace Saunders, at least not without the owners permission; my understanding is that Saunders and Williams, though amiable enough, are not as close as you would hope for the Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator; Williams would, if left to his own, probably prefer someone other than Al as his OC. That would mean a regression of the Offense, slowing down your franchise QBs development, and hurting the Redskins for the next year or two as the personnel adjustments are made to support the new scheme.

It’s telling that Snyder DID NOT hire Williams as Head Coach in the immediate aftermath, but that’s ALMOST understandable; when you’re working on a billion dollar operation, you need to do some due dilligence. However, the simple fact that he didn’t express a vote of confidence in Williams (“We think we have a fine candidate here on staff, NOW, but we have to at least take a look around to see what else may be out there”) is the key in this; Snyder hasn’t forgiven Williams for 2006, and thus is not leaning toward supporting the only coach who CAN finish what Gibbs has started; if Williams isn’t the choice, we tear up the team and instantly start a new 2-3 year rebuilding effort; so long playoffs, much less Superbowl dreams.