Swengali: Saunders Has Been A Disaster

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WHEN JOE GIBBS ANNOUNCED that the Redskins' offense was starting over - the second time he has done so in two seasons - he might as well have admitted that bringing Al Saunders in to run the offense was a mistake.

The experiment so heralded 21 months ago is a failure.

Blaming Saunders alone for the stagnant offense is too easy and unfair.

While learning from the same coaching tree, Saunders and Gibbs seem to have different offensive philosophies that they haven't reconciled. Based on the conservative play-calling, Gibbs must still be running the show.

Never mind that Saunders is paid $2 million - that's Dan Snyder's problem. The concern is that the two coaches' differing ideals are doing more harm than good.

In Saunders' 23 games in D.C., the Redskins have averaged less than 19 points per game. While an improvement over Gibbs' first year back (15 points per game) that sum pales in comparison to the first Gibbs regime.

Washington averaged almost 34 points per game in 1983, 27.5 per contest in 1991 and a little more than 25 per game in 1987, three years that the Redskins made the Super Bowl. Even 1982's (Gibbs' first championship) relatively low 21-point average overshadows this year's 18.4-point output. The only glimmer of the old Redskins was in 2005 - a playoff year in which the team scored more than 30 points in five games and averaged 22.4 points throughout the season.

Gibbs figured out the new NFL, but then hired Saunders only to realize doing so was a mistake.

The charade should end. If Gibbs wants to run the offense, so be it. Either way, put the two-headed beast out of its misery.

Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post