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Told you so George-Schottenheimer split no big surprise
Updated: Thursday September 27, 2001 2:00 AM
Here's what the breakup of the ever-so-brief Jeff George-Marty Schottenheimer relationship in Washington should teach us: Sometimes, the quick glance tells the whole story. Sometimes, the labels fit. Sometimes, all the offseason and preseason blather about starting fresh is just that. Blather. Lord knows, the media gets it wrong more than we care to admit. We speculate after a moment's contemplation, swing and miss badly, and move onto the next educated (or uneducated) guess. Never stopping to keep score. But some times things aren't all that complicated. Sometimes, things are as they appear on the surface. The pairing of George and Schottenheimer in D.C. looked miscast from the moment we focused on it. And it was. Case closed. When Schottenheimer lowered the boom on his starting quarterback early Wednesday morning, sacrificing him as the scapegoat for the Redskins' truly horrendous start, he admitted as much. After both men expended unknown amounts of energy this year telling us not to believe the hype, the hype turned out to be right. According to Redskins sources, Schottenheimer's thinking boiled down to this: "If I'm going to get beat" -- and get beat badly, he might have added -- "I'm going to do it with my guy. A quarterback of my choosing. Somebody who I know will go down fighting with me." The ever-enigmatic George was none of that. Schottenheimer likes to look and talk tough. George has a habit of looking and playing soft. Schottenheimer likes to dink and dunk his way down the field, playing it safe in the passing game. George likes to gun and bomb his way down the field, going for the big play at all costs. Schottenheimer values leadership above all else. Just last week, George called that leadership stuff overrated.
The final straw for Schottenheimer came Monday night in Green Bay, in that debacle of a 37-0 Redskins loss. It's one thing to lose gallingly, and it's another to do so with a look of nonchalance in your eyes. When the Packers were running roughshod over the Redskins in the second half, George wore his now familiar glazed, deer-in-the-headlights look. Green Bay was blitzing the daylights out of him, but his body language showed absolutely no fight. As he has done in the past, George seemed not to be looking to deliver the ball as much as he was for a place to fall. We're not the type to say we told you so, Marty ... but, we told you so. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Schottenheimer spent all offseason denying that he needed another option at starting quarterback, dismissing the notion of signing a Trent Dilfer, or a Doug Flutie, or even a Mark Rypien . It wasn't until George's shoulder tendinitis flared up in training camp that Schottenheimer was forced into the quarterback market, and snapped up Tony Banks just days after Dallas had converted him from a starter to an ex-Cowboy.
Don't think for a minute that the decision to cut George didn't pain Schottenheimer to the core. Or at least in the wallet. Not only did he have to eat a lot of his words, his Redskins have to eat a ton of salary cap, thanks to the move. George signed a four-year, $18.25 million deal with Washington in 2000, including a $2 million signing bonus. He collected $2.5 million from the team last year for mostly backing up Brad Johnson, and this March, Washington restructured his contract for cap purposes, guaranteeing him all $3.75 million of the 2001 money that he had coming. That's $6.25 million that George will pocket for his year-plus as a Redskin, and he'll still count a little more than $3 million against the team's cap in 2002. Ouch. Serious, deep breath-inducing ouch. Schottenheimer, for now, will go with Banks as his starter, giving veteran Kent Graham, who is expected to sign a one-year, minimum deal Wednesday, time to learn the offense. With Banks he has a quarterback who could be the virtual instant replay of George: unquestionable talent, with questionable intangibles. Not that it really matters. This Redskins team couldn't win with Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana splitting time, with John Elway as its inactive third quarterback on game day. Washington is in for misery no matter who's taking the snaps. As for George, the future is as hazy as the look in his eyes Monday night at Green Bay. Five strikes and you're usually out in this league. Yes, teams always need quarterbacking. But does anybody need this quarterback? Indianapolis, Atlanta, Oakland, Minnesota and now Washington have all decided they don't. Lost in all of this, of course, is the real problem in Washington. Owner Daniel Snyder wrought all this chaos with his impatience and hubris in 2000, and now he gets to sit back and watch the disaster unfold, knowing no one in power can point the finger his way. Let's not forget it was Snyder who decided to re-invent the NFL model last year. He didn't need a traditional training camp setting. He didn't need to worry about that silly old salary cap. He didn't need to concern himself with offending Johnson's pride or disrupting team chemistry by signing George. Heck, the Redskins were a division champion in 1999, and won a playoff game, but that wasn't quick enough for Snyder. He wanted it all, and he wanted it now. So he went out and got George, Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith and whoever else his minions told him to crave. And after a 6-2 start last year, everything crumbled. Snyder brought Schottenheimer in this year to pick up the pieces of the Super Bowl run that never was. By cutting George, Schottenheimer has erected for Snyder yet another monument to the owner's knack for excess and poor judgement. Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
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