Interview With Riggo’s Rag

Dave, at Riggo’s Rag, was kind enough to come over to The Landry Hat to answer five questions. Dave is a professional. But his readers come over here to attack me. This is expected. Anyway, thanks to Dave at Riggo’s Rag for participating.

1. Is Joe Gibbs done? That double time out against Buffalo was real sad. Can a diehard Redskins fan really say fire Gibbs?

"You will never hear me say we should fire Joe Gibbs. Gibbs can go 0-16 for the next twenty years. He’s my coach. The three Lombardi trophies sitting in the display case at Redskins park means he’s earned the chance to turn things around as long as he thinks he can. I’m sure you feel the same way about Tom Landry or you wouldn’t have named your site after him.That said, this year has been a bit annoying for Skins fans. The old Gibbs was obsessed with details and perfection. This Gibbs has difficulties thinking on his feet in time dependent situations. Still, we’re 8-7 and a win from the playoffs in a year where we lost the entire right side of the line to injuries, lost both of our starting WRs to injuries for part of the year, had our best player shot and killed, were breaking in a new starting QB, and we only really got blown out once. I don’t think we’d be even 8-7 if Joe Gibbs wasn’t the coach. I think only his leadership, his character and his ability to pick talent (for example, we have an undrafted free agent o-lineman replacing an all-pro and it is coming together) are the only thing keeping us from being 3-12 right now."

2. Why has Washington had such a hard time defeating the Cowboys over the past 12 years? It’s great!

"There are a lot of great reasons for this. A) We sucked most of those years. B) You manipulate stats very well. C) You never come to our place on Thanksgiving and we’re tired of eating out. No, seriously, let’s start with this– We’ve won 3 out of the last 5 with Joe Gibbs as coach and I firmly believe we can make it 4 out of 6. Most of the string you are talking about came from a streak where you beat us 15 out of 16 from 1997 to 2004. These are the dark ages where we wandered through the woods known as the Turner, Schottenheimer, and Spurrier years. We sucked. Turner still sucks. Schottenheimer is the only coach I’ve ever heard of that got fired after going 14-2, and Spurrier won 7 games at South Carolina this year. On paper, each of these looked like good hiring decisions, and maybe they would have been had we also had the right personnel evaluators in place. But at the time Snyder had too much power over Charlie Casserly and Vinnie Ceratto and we made poor decisions. We’ve righted the ship and even if coach Gibbs retires, we have an organization in place that will continue to win."

Editor’s Note: GIVE ME A BREAK! You sidestep the question with this “we’re 3 out of 5” with Joe Gibbs. You are really 17 losses over the last 21 games.

3. What is the Redskins most pressing need in the upcoming draft? Do you expect any major trades or free agent picking?

"We have three needs. 1) A big wide receiver that can still stretch the field in the mold of TO or Calvin Johnson. 2) A pass rushing DE. 3) A new safety to replace Sean Taylor. Given the recent trend of good WRs dropping in the draft (Marques Colston anyone?) I hope we don’t try to pick up a wideout in the first round. The DE class is deep this year and we should be able to pick up a guy like Calais Campbell from Miami or Vernon Gholston from Ohio St. who could play LB in a 3-4 but makes a great Dwight Freeney/ Jevon Kearse type of athletic pass rusher. I’d love to see injured WR Limas Sweed fall to us in the 2nd round, but that looked more likely when we were 5-7 than it does at 8-7. I think we’ll go get a safety in free agency, and probably a little more o-line depth. But I don’t see any major splashes or trades. We’re pretty good if we can avoid the injury bug."

4. I live in Washington Redskins Country. What can I legally do to piss some of these fans off other than wearing Cowboys garb? Is there one game tape I can leave on their doorsteps?

"Not sure I want to help you there. But if you promise to answer me back on what I can do to Cowboys fans, I’ll give it a shot. The top ten DVDs I’d rather not see Netflix leave at my doorstep:"

"10) Prime Time Vol. 4- Deion Sander’s Redskins Highlights"

"9) Jason Campbell’s Red Zone Interceptions, vol. 1 & 28) Obscure Rules of the NFL (Where we learn what constitutes taunting, illegal formations, and the various timeout rules)7) Norv Turner: The Redskins Years6) Redskins First Round Draft Picks of the 1990’s5) Free Agency—the Redskins Way (with special commentary from Bruce Smith, Jeff George, and Mark Carrier)4) Restricted Free Agency—Compensating For Your Inability to Draft3) Missed by That Much—Highlights of the Redskins 2007 games against the Packers, Bills, and Bucs2) Crunch Time—Highlights of the Redskins 4th Quarter play in 20071) The Sean Taylor autopsy video"

5. I’m biased, but I think your receiving corps is weak. Or is it the offensive coordinator? Something wasn’t clicking for the offense and it hasn’t clicked for awhile. What needs to happen to bring the Redskins back to contenders?

"You have to look at the big picture. Al Saunders put together some high scoring offenses in KC with Eddie Kennison as his best receiver. Our offense spreads the ball. Just as Tony Gonzalez lead the Chiefs in receiving, Chris Cooley shoulders a lot of the load in DC. Moss and Randel El have had leg issues that have forced us to rely on Cooley, Portis and Betts in the backfield, and Mike Sellers even more. But Moss is playing better of late and we’ve gotten surprisingly good contributions from Reche Caldwell of late. I’ll admit that we don’t have a superstar on our team, but Tom Brady won two Super Bowls with David Patten as his best receiver, and we cut him this year. The Jags are 11-4 and I know their receivers are crap compared to ours. I’ll take these guys. But yeah, they aren’t the strength of the team. Just not necessarily a weakness."