Norv Turner never did that here
Just when we weren’t looking, and certainly did not expect it, Norv Turner’s San Diego Chargers won seven of their last nine games. With two games to go, the Chargers are two ahead of Denver, their nearest rival for the AFC West title.
Seven of nine! Without checking the record, I don’t believe Turner ever pull off a string like that when he was with the Redskins. [Some reader, please check.]
Turner lost three of his first four games this year with the Chargers, prompting a lot of folks around here to wonder “why couldn’t this guy be coaching the Cowboys?”
Turner was the perfect example of why the NFL established the Rooney Rule, to prompt team owners to think outside the box when selecting new, talented coaching candidates, rather than recycling the old ones.
Turner always knew how to use the running game. He made a star of Stephen Davis. Before that, he rode Emmit Smith to the Super Bowl. Ricky Williams in Miami and Frank Gore in San Francisco benefited from Turner’s coaching schemes.
Early on, he seemed to be misusing LaDainian Tomlinson. That settled down and the Chargers have been on a tear since game four. LT2 is the NFL’s third ranked rusher.
Washington fans remember the Turner era as a failure. We find it hard to wrap our minds around the thought that Turner may make the Super Bowl before the Redskins do. His Redskins seemed to take on his “nice guy” persona, losing the muscular identity of those Gibbs I teams of the eighties. So, we don’t see Turner leading the Charger charge against the likes of the Colts and Patriots.
Yet, Turner gets a degree of sympathy, thanks to ham-handed treatment at the hands of Daniel Snyder, who counts among his blunders keeping Turner while firing — and not replacing — his GM, Charlie Casserly. Later, with three games to go in 2000, Snyder fired Turner anyway.
Ironically, the Redskins, at 7-6, had a winning record at the time.
UPDATE: See the “comments” for corrections to this story!
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5 Responses to “Norv Turner never did that here”
December 11th, 2007 at 8:59 am
One of the NorvSkin teams started 7-1, right?
December 11th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Aw, you made me go look it up, didn’t ya.
In 1996, Norv’s Redskins dropped its first game to the Iggles, then went on a seven game win streak before losing six of the last eight to finish 9-7.
In 1999, the Redskins went 10-6 and made the playoffs. They were swept by the Cowboys and lost to the Lions in Detroit in the regular season. In the post-season they beat the Lions at home in the Wild Card game, then lost 14-13 to the Buccaneers.
Like most fans, I see Turner’s time here as a failure. I just didn’t like the product on the field. Look closely at Turner’s record, though, and you see steady improvement in the won-loss columns in his first three years before plateauing in ‘97. In 1999, he got to 10-6 and the playoffs.
No coach since has bettered Turner’s record. Hmmm. Could be I’m too harsh on coach Turner. Could also be that winning takes more than swapping famous names in and out of Redskin Park.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:54 am
NorvSkin teams became known for a lack of focus and attention to detail as a result of Norv’s laissez faire approach to coaching. He flourished as an offensive coordinator in systems where the head coach was a stickler for performance and a motivator. But Norv, as a head coach himself, did not display those leadership skills when with the Redskins.
December 12th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Norville Eugene Turner was given 7, no make that 6.875 years, as the Skins head coach. After winning his first game against the Dallas Cowboys he proceeded to lose every last one of them after that with each of them being more and more embarrasing then the one before it. Deion Sanders and Norv became a great tandem of embarrasment to the Skins fans.
Norv’s coaching got so bad that most Skins fans wondered if it was intentional (including probably Dan Snyder). I know i did.
The final straw was the delay of putting in Jeff George against the Giants when Brad Johnson was floundering until it was too late. And then sending in the 43 year old Eddie Murray to kick a game winning 49 yard field goal after he had already missed a 44 yarder short the same direction instead of going for it on 4th and 3 when Jeff George was doing very very well.
You don’t put in an aging kicker to kick a FG longer than the one he missed short earlier in the game. Ridiculous…
After Snyder fired Norv the media pundits were all over him. These are the same ones now saying the game has passed Joe GIbbs by the same week of Sean Taylor’s murder. No mercy for Joe Gibbs or Dan Snyder but Mercy for Norv? Get real….
Norv’s Success in San Diego will no longer leave that question of “was it intentional?” un-answered anymore in this fans view.
December 12th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
6.875 years. That’s funny!
Dave’s comment makes the point. Turner’s numbers don’t quite reflect how bad a team the Redskins became in the 90’s. Turner didn’t tank the team single-handed. A lot of things were going on in the front office back then that the franchise has yet to overcome.
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