As the search to find the successor to Joe Gibbs reaches its 26th day, the news coming out of the process has slowed to a crawl, approaching a dead stop. It's been a week since the team announced that Gregg Williams and Al Saunders had been fired, that Jim Zorn and Greg Blache would be the offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively, and that a new head man would not be named until after tomorrow's Super Bowl.
Since then, Jason LaCanfora created a stir when he followed a trail that led to Steve Mariucci being a potential candidate. Snyder and Cerrato were going to talk to him on Wednesday, then on Thursday. Now word from Dave Elfin is that they will talk before the game on Sunday. I'm not exactly sure when they're going to fit this in since Mooch's current employer, the NFL Network, is touting a six and a half hour pregame show and they undoubtedly have plans for the ex-Niners and Lions coach to be a part of it. Unless, of course, they've talked before.
And this leads us ask if it's just too quiet out there. It's been pretty well established that Snyder and Cerrato arrived in Arizona on Wednesday. What have they been doing? Riding the big Ferris wheel at the NFL Experience? Or are they perhaps coming up with one more twist on the roller coaster ride, adding another horse to the coaching carousel?
This week in the Phoenix area there is a potential coaching candidate under every rock. Mariucci is there. So is Cardinals offensive line coach Russ Grimm, someone with whom the team has not spoken, according to reports. So are dozens of other potential "surprise" candidates.
Is Snyder setting up a stunning announcement like the one we got a little over four years ago? A bolt out of the blue?
Throwing considerable water on this theory is that Jim Fassel also resides in the Phoenix area. It's quite possible that Dan and Vinny have been huddling with Jimmy to hash out some final details preceding the announcement of the former Giants coach as the new head man.
If indeed the delay in the announcement of a new head coach was strictly a ploy to let the fervent anti-Fassel outburst among Redskins fans online and on talk radio subside, it appears to have worked. A week and a half ago, Fassel was guilty of not being the peoples' and players' choice, Williams. Now the fact that Williams is moving on has sunk in and while there is precious little enthusiasm for a possible, perhaps probable, Fassel regime many who were angry a week ago are now accepting
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