[calia]

It is noteworthy, however, that Spurried never coached another NFL team or, to my knowledge, was ever considered for such a spot. It's the pinnacle of coaching, but I think even he realized that staying a college coach -- good money, no salary cap, all kinds of creative recruiting opportunities -- would allow for him to be successful and stay put. And he has.

But he was not a good coach of the Redskins. Marty was. Starting 0-5 and finishing 8-8 with the talent on that team was an achievement, and we'll never know what he could have done in year 2. I thought part of the issue was Marty's desire to have say over the roster and that Snyder wouldn't allow for that. But it has admittedly been quite a while.

I hope Gruden is given a chance. The only other coach I would want right now that isn't already tied up with another gig is Cowher. That'd be awesome. But Gruden should be given a fair shot to succeed, and that's on the order of 3 seasons, I think. He did inherit a 3-13 team, after all, and while many thought last year's team underachieved, this year's record and quality of play suggests that it did not.

What's frustrating is that I, for one, thought we would be appreciably better this year. If you look at the various parts of the team, we mostly got better or stayed the same (not taking injuries into account):

QB: same (or worse, if one considers RGIII not developing)
WR: better -- thanks DJax
O-line: same (and still not good)
RB: same
TE: same

Dline: better -- Hatcher (although the Cofield injury hurt)
LBs: better -- Robinson is an upgrade, everyone else the same (debatable about the impact of Orakpo's injury)
S: same/worse -- R. Clark has not been an improvement from what I can tell
CBs: same (again, not taking DHall's injury into account)

P: better
K: same
KR: better
PR: better

One would hope that this translates into more Ws.