Fun 'n' Gun missing "Fun"

If Redskins owner Daniel Snyder lived on your block, he'd be the annoying, ultra-competitive neighbor.

You know the guy -- the one that forgoes any sort of saving or future planning to get the biggest pool, the brightest holiday decorations, and the newest car before anybody beats him to it.

When Snyder roped Steve Spurrier into spurning the college ranks, Snyder couldn't be happier -- after all, Spurrier had been turning down other NFL jobs for years. For Snyder, Spurrier represented the car everybody else wanted to have.

Unfortunately, Snyder forgot that the first year of an automobile model usually doesn't turn out to be the most dependable.

Spurrier came to the NFL with plenty of fanfare, and why not? His Fun'n'Gun offense at the University of Florida induced nightmares for opposing defenses, and professional teams had never seen anything like it. With former Ravens' defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis planning the attack on the other side of the ball, many experts picked the Redskins to win the NFC East, if not more.

Spurrier skeptics figured that he'd have difficulty with the transition to the NFL -- the Fun'n'Gun wouldn't work as well against bigger, faster defenses, and Spurrier would have to adapt not only to NFL defenses, but NFL egos.

As what usually happens, both sides were right to an extent. Unfortunately, Snyder planned for the former, and now Spurrier is in the hot seat.

The Redskins offense has sputtered under Spurrier -- brilliant at times, stagnant at others, and the less can be said about the defense, which has been mediocre at best since Lewis departed to coach the Cincinnati Bengals.

All in all, the Redskins are 3-5, losers of four straight coming into this weekend's game against Seattle, and the road doesn't get any easier from here on out. The rest of the Redskins' schedule has a combined record of 39-26, and the only two teams with losing records (Chicago and New Orleans) are improving.

That being said, Spurrier's squad is all but eliminated from the playoff picture. But does this mean he's a failure?

To the impatient Snyder, the answer is quickly becoming "yes." Granted, the owner said that he was "immensely confident" that Spurrier would be the man to lead the Redskins back to the Super Bowl upon hiring him. However, Snyder, who approaches the free agent market like a fantasy football draft, probably figured that it wouldn't take this long to get the 'Skins back in the playoffs.

There is a lot of talent on both sides of the ball in D.C., to support Snyder's expectations. This should be a team fighting for the NFC East, but instead it will be lucky to win six games this season.

The Redskins have enough defensive talent on paper to overcome a lot of offensive growing pains, and the offseason additions Snyder made, such as Laveranues Coles and John Hall, have turned out in his favor so far. So given this perspective, Spurrier has underachieved, and perhaps it's time for a change.

Still, to defend Spurrier, Snyder sprinted for the shiny thing without realizing the possible problems that could occur. Spurrier, the unofficial mayor of Gainesville, controlled not only who was on the roster at Florida, but what they did as well.

To incoming players in the Florida system, Steve Spurrier was Steve Spurrier, and everybody played by his rules. The "Ol' Ball Coach" not only hand-picked players to fit his schemes, but also molded their talents to make the most out of them at Florida.

In almost all professional sports, coaches do not coach as much as they manage. They manage established talent and growing egos in order to create an individual unit as best they can. This is what Joe Torre does with the New York Yankees, and what Phil Jackson did with the Chicago Bulls, and now with the Lakers.

Very few people can get away with explicitly "coaching" nowadays. Bill Parcells of the Cowboys is one -- when he talks, players listen. However, it helps that he oversees all aspects of the game plan AND front office, and he's working with bottom-scraping franchises composed of mostly young pieces.

Jack McKeon coached the Florida Marlins to a World Series title this year, but he also joined a foundering young team that had not had the success to breed individual mindsets. Had Dontrelle Willis been a 10-and-5 guy with 100 victories instead of a rookie with only 14 wins under his belt, it almost surely would've been harder for McKeon to move him to the bullpen, as well as for Willis to pitch effectively there.

Spurrier inherited a team with a mix of seasoned veterans and inexperienced players with a strong defensive presence, but no leaders on offense with the exception of Stephen Davis. Spurrier struggled to match his style of offense with the talent running it, as the quarterback carousel produced only seven wins.

As soon as Spurrier found his QB of the future in Patrick Ramsey, the Redskins organization let go of Davis (currently in Carolina and leading the NFC in rushing), replacing him with the inconsistent tandem of the underachieving Trung Canidate and the unproven Lydell Betts. So instead of having a running game to help along a young QB, like Carolina with Davis helping out Jake Delhomme, or Baltimore with Jamal Lewis helping out Kyle Boller, Ramsey has to do it all by himself behind a weakening offensive line.

The departure of Lewis has had a greatly negative effect on the 'Skins defense, as it is struggling to put together four quality quarters in a row under new coordinator George Edwards. Unlike last year, when the defense anchored the team, Washington now has all sorts of uncertainties on both sides of the ball.

Furthermore, Spurrier is finding it hard to make the tweaks to get a spark without offending his players. Bruce Smith, who is trying to top Reggie White for the NFL career sack record, openly criticized Spurrier for having the notion to bench Smith to get more production out of his defensive line, even though Smith has been past his prime for years.

These are the kinds of experiences Spurrier will have to get under his belt in order to become a successful NFL coach. Perhaps with another year, Spurrier can be for Ramsey what Parcells was for Drew Bledsoe. Under Parcells' tutelage, Bledsoe became an All-Pro playoff quarterback in only his second year of starting full-time. After all, Ramsey has only started 13 games in his entire career.

Unless Snyder deviates from his history, though, Spurrier will most likely not see another year in Washington. If Spurrier gets the axe, the divorce will benefit both parties. Snyder can find somebody more fit to handle his roster du jour, and Spurrier can find an organization more fitted to building a winner through his scheme.

Dave McGinnis could be ousted from the quicksand that is the Arizona Cardinals franchise after not having anything close to a winning season in three-plus years running the team, and that's a place Spurrier could thrive.

Everybody knows Cardinals owner Bill Bidwell isn't in a hurry to win, and the roster has some interesting young players in Anquan Boldin and Marcell Shipp around which he can build a solid team. Spurrier's outgoing demeanor and flair for the dramatic would help restore a moribund fan base, and the Tempe climate would be perfect for his affinity for golf.

For the time being, Snyder will most likely trade in Spurrier for the new Next Best Thing, and a new Spurrier model will be available for other franchises. A team like Arizona or San Diego should jump on the chance to take him for a spin. He's more of a Mustang than an Edsel.