|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Seattle Seahawks right guard Chris Gray will miss Sunday's playoff game at Green Bay due to a torn ligament in his right knee.
An 11-year veteran who started all 16 games this season, Gray was injured in last weekend's regular-season finale against San Francisco. He will be replaced by versatile backup Floyd Womack, who has started 15 games at various offensive line positions over the past two seasons.
Gray, who had made 74 straight starts, was injured in the second quarter against the 49ers when another player apparently fell on his leg during a missed field goal attempt.
This time, the Washington Redskins want an established NFL coach.
After the failure of Steve Spurrier, who had no previous NFL coaching experience, the Redskins have put the names of Jim Fassel, Ray Rhodes and Dennis Green at the top of their initial list of candidates.
Vice president
for football operations Vinny Cerrato on Wednesday estimated a two-week timetable
to find the fifth head coach for Dan Snyder's sixth season as owner.
It might be a longer wait if it's Rhodes, who is preparing for the playoffs
as Seattle's defensive coordinator. The Seahawks have granted permission for
Rhodes to interview with the Redskins, but the team said he has declined the
request until Seattle's season is over.
Spurrier resigned Tuesday after going 12-20 over two seasons.
Green has the best record of the top three candidates, having gone 101-70 with eight playoff appearances in 10 seasons with Minnesota from 1992-01. He has since been working as an ESPN analyst.
But Green appears the least likely prospect because of his demand that he have control over player selection. Snyder gave similar authority to Marty Schottenheimer in 2001 and later regretted it, eventually firing Schottenheimer when the coach refused to give it back.
Rhodes was coach of the year with the Eagles in 1995 and was 30-36-1 over four seasons in Philadelphia, but in his last few games there it became evident he would be fired. He was fired again a year later after an 8-8 season with Green Bay.
Rhodes was the Redskins' defensive coordinator in 2000 and actually turned down the head coaching job that season when Norv Turner was fired with three games to play. Rhodes was acting out of loyalty to Turner, but he had come to prefer the lower-profile life of the assistant coach after his stormy tenures in Philadelphia and Green Bay.
Rhodes has continued to lay low with the Seahawks, granting only two interview sessions with reporters all year, one at preseason and one at midseason.
The Redskins are also familiar with Fassel, having faced his Giants twice a year over the last seven seasons. Fassel was 60-56-1 in New York, was coach of the year in 1997 and led the team to the Super Bowl three years ago.
Fassel was fired by the Giants, who finished 4-12 this season and lost their last eight, but that failed to diminish his value as a top prospect for any coaching vacancy. His no-nonsense approach could be the cure for a Redskins team possibly in need of a jolt of discipline.
The Redskins are entering a crowded market, especially given the possible demand for Green and Fassel. Arizona, Chicago, Buffalo, Atlanta, Oakland and the Giants are all looking for coaches. Green and Rhodes, who are both black, could be popular candidates because they would satisfy the NFL's requirement that at least one minority be granted an interview.
Fassel, Rhodes and Green fit Snyder's track record of pursuing high-profile names over promising up-and-comers, although Cerrato suggested other names could be added to the list in days to come.
The new coach will follow Turner, Terry Robiskie, Schottenheimer and Spurrier in the line of coaches employed by Snyder since he bought the team in 1999. But Spurrier was the coach Snyder claimed he always really wanted, and the owner publicly supported Spurrier returning for a third season.
Back To Index Page