On his godawful radio show on ESPN 980, Vinny Cerrato defended Dan Snyder this morning and attacked John Riggins. Via Dan Steinberg:

“I think this, you know, I think John Riggins has always been an outlandish entertainer, and this time he crossed the line, I believe. And maybe it’s because Dan bought the radio station, this one that we’re on, 980, that fires John Riggins, so maybe he holds a grudge that way. But the thing about it is, you can’t say Dan Snyder has a black heart. You know, separate football from the person, ok? You can say what you want about football, because we ARE 2-5, so go ahead and criticize, because we have done that. But you can’t say Dan Snyder is a bad person.

He went on to assert that because Snyder flies relatives of the team players around when they need a lift, it proves he’s not a bad person. If you’re the sort of person impressed by that argument, go read the whole thing.

Tom Boswell writes that the Redskins remind him of the Yankees — before George Steinbrenner grew a brain.

Once, Steinbrenner fired the same manager — Martin — five times. I covered them all. The dysfunction inside the Yankees then reminds me, across the board, of the current Redskins.

Trust dies. The worst people, the natural-born sycophants, attach themselves to the owner. The best and most independent people, naturally, keep their opinions to themselves. Everyone looks out for himself. Even those whom the owner thinks are loyal are rolling their eyes about him behind his back. In both organizations, I have had public relations directors tell me, “You won’t believe the stories I’ll tell you once I’m out of this place.”

Impatience, combined with lots of money, breeds roster instability. The desire to buy your way out of your mistakes with a new free agent, rather than draft a player and wait as he develops, has been a defining mistake of the ’80s Yankees and the ’00s Redskins.

For years, Steinbrenner couldn’t grasp that clubhouse chemistry and roster continuity went hand in hand. Yet now, after their 27th world title, what is the Yankee headline you see everywhere? One for the Thumb for the Core Four.

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte were all drafted by the Yankees, came up through the minors together and now define the club’s personality, even though store-bought stars in their prime, such as CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, produce bigger statistics.

Where is the Redskins’ core? Not in Clinton Portis and Santana Moss, who still identify with the University of Miami (where they won) more than with the Redskins (where they haven’t). The subtraction of Jon Jansen and Chris Samuels removed the “truest” Redskins left in the locker room. Who else, in 20 years, will turn on a Redskin game and watch because, deep down, they think, “That’s my team.” I can’t name a single current Redskin who will. After the way he has been treated, with his exit ticket all but stamped, will Jason Campbell someday watch to see if they lose?

Why did the Falcons go to the playoffs last year with a rookie quarterback and the Redskins continue to wallow in mediocrity or worse year after year? Because the Falcons were built the right way. Read it. The Skins were not, as you know very well by now.

Examining Riggo’s motives for attacking Dan Snyder so personally. Read it.

Jim Zorn responds to John Riggins’ criticism of Snyder by saying this:

“I would concur that Dan Snyder is a guy that absolutely cares about other people,” said Zorn. “He does not have that kind of attitude. I haven’t been here all that long. I haven’t been here as long as Greg’s been here. But I have seen time and time again Dan reach out to anybody in this program and even the secondary parts of this program and help in any way he can when there’s need. I’ve seen it. I would concur with what Greg had to say about Dan really caring about winning.”

Pretty weak stuff, actually. Zorn didn’t do as much to defend Snyder as Blache did and the focus on Snyder’s desire to win is interesting. Of course Snyder wants to win. Even his harshest critics, such as myself, acknowledge that Snyder wants to win. Every owner wants to win. It seems to me that Zorn did the absolute bare minimum there.

DeAngelo Hall gets a shot at this old team, the Falcons, who drafted him in the first round. Read it. Meanwhile, Hall is busy trying to rehab his image, which took quite a beating after two teams, the Falcons and the Oakland Raiders, were willing to do almost anything to get rid of him. Read it. And just for the record, the Falcons haven’t done so well replacing Hall. Read it.

H.B. Blades and Chris Horton might practice today and play Sunday. If they don’t practice today, don’t expect them to play. Read it.

In order to make room for their new punter, the Redskins cut someone you didn’t even know was on the roster. Read it.

Phillip Daniels wins the 2009 Ed Block Courage Award. Read it.

Moving on to another NFL city, Chiefs fans don’t like Larry Johnson because he’s an unlikable jackass. And they don’t want him to be the franchise’s all time leading rusher. So they’re doing something about it. Read it.