Cerrato takes the low road

Woke up to the news that Vinny Cerrato resigned as the Redskins' executive vice president of football operations today. For most fans in Washington, that's good news. The team has floundered under Cerrato's leadership. But a few questions remain.

First, how much was owner Dan Snyder involved in the poor decisions that the team has made in recent years? Is Cerrato truly responsible for the gridiron mess in D.C.?

What is the next move? The radio talk shows are buzzing that there will be more news later today. Possibly a new coach? Maybe a new general manager? Is Joe Gibbs coming back again?

Regardless of where the team goes from here, Cerrato made a parting statement that was less than classy: "I've had the pleasure of working with some great coaches such as Joe Gibbs, Greg Blache and Sherman Lewis, great people on the Redskins staff ..." Uh, what about the current coach who you hired, Vinny? You mentioned Blache, a coordinator, and Lewis, an adviser to the team for just a few weeks, but you don't mention the head coach, Jim Zorn?

When people at Cerrato's level fall, they generally don't fall far. They have enough money in the bank to last a lifetime. Failure in one place almost guarantees he will get a good job elsewhere in the upside down world of professional sports. He spent a lot of time doing a radio show, when some thought he should be spending that time improving the team, so maybe he will become a broadcaster.

I am sensitive to anyone losing their job these days, but Cerrato, like most top executives, will be just fine. The system is setup to protect these types of high-ranking insiders regardless of whether they have talent or not. More than anything, these guys know how to play the game (I cleaned that up because this blog is g-rated). In Cerrato's case, however, the game didn't respond to his maneuvers. And in a public arena like pro sports, it is hard to hide incompetency and failure. Fans wanted a change. The Redskins were becoming a public-relations nightmare. Snyder had to put aside his personal feelings for Cerrato and make a move. I am sure he took good care of his friend Vinny.

Update: Bruce Allen, the son of legendary Redskins' coach, George Allen, has been named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Washington Redskins, according to ESPN980. Allen was GM for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Senior Executive with the Oakland Raiders.