It all starts with the owner. The Redskins play in an ugly stadium, built before the owner acquired the team, but the price gouging on every good and service, the lack of decent transportation, the terrible sound system, and exploitative ersatz ceremonies make everything seem even uglier. Little reason the team doesn't play better at home than when on the road.

And the owner's choice of the top executive, surely one of the real reasons for Gibbs' sudden and unsettling departure last year, has been proven a failure in a remarkably short time, as the new coach is not demonstrating cool command and the draft choices have been a remarkable bust. No one drafts a punter, but it is inexcusable to draft a punter who can't kick. The place kicker can't kick well either, and almost every team has found someone who can. And the special teams were hurt by the cut of Torrance, which apparently was driven, as were many other decisions, by wanting to avoid cutting more of the dreadful draft choices.

Of course it was inexcusable to draft three receivers in the second round, but it was a firing offense to pick three and have none of them be able to contribute. Just picking randomly from an Internet list would have produced a better outcome than the Redskins obtained.

The future looks bleak. The abrupt trade for Jason Taylor, who has also contributed very little, cost another second rounder, but that won't matter anyhow as long as the current top executive does the pick. The team is aging and replacements are lacking; the bench is astonishingly slim. There is no good correlation between who is paid well and who plays well. The o and d lines are doing as well as their talent permits, and that simply isn't good enough to match up with the top quarter of the league.

Most important, it's hard to believe that the owner will keep the new coach for long. As with the Wizards, it's easier to fire the coach than to admit that the players assembled by management don't measure up. Coach Zorn shows too much emotion, and too little trust in the players. But he is a rookie, and needs time to mature. I doubt that the owner will give that to him.