The folks at Super Bowl 47 Betting think the game is a battle of quarterbacks. They love that Joe Flacco "has been building a very respectable career for a half-decade," the tortoise to Colin Kaepernick's hare.

Tell you what; I think Tony Romo is a better quarterback than Flacco. Don't twist that into a Hog Heaven knock on Flacco. Romo plays for a deeply flawed team. I've been more impressed by the front office of Flacco's team than by Romo's team for quite a long time. And yes, the Ravens would have had more Super Bowl appearances with Romo. I offer no guarantee of a Super Bowl win with Romo.

Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome spent his entire career with the franchise, first as a Hall of Fame player for the then Cleveland Browns, then joining  front office in 1991. After grooming him for the job, owner Art Modell named Newsome general manager in 2002. Newsome has been a Draft Day genius for the Browns-Ravens for a long time. He was equally adept at hiring a head coach. 

There's a lesson in that for our own Daniel Snyder. Hog Heaven studied Newsome's career for clues when Snyder might grow into a legit football executive. Growth to general manager is a 12 to 15-year process. Snyder bought the Redskins in 1999 and began active management in 2000. By that measure, Snyder is just about due to become a good football executive.

For all the talk about quarterback, the Redskins cannot become a Super Bowl contender until Snyder becomes a Super Bowl caliber executive. Dan Steinberg reported in DC Sports Bog Wednesday that Snyder fired Vinny Cerrato for failure to protect him from Jim Zorn. Sorry, Mr. Snyder. That won't cut it. An owner's prime focus is his front office executive team, not so much the head coach or quarterback.

Cerrato needed help from Snyder as much as Snyder did from Vinny. Teamwork between owner and the chief football executive are how contenders are built. It's the reason the Ravens, Patriots, Packers, Giants and until recently the Eagles, are perennial contenders. It's more than a matter of quarterbacks.

Sadly, Snyderrato fed each man's flaws. Snyder was as much to blame for Zorn as Cerrato was.

Snyder's recent hands-off active management is a good start in the sense that do-no-harm is a good start. But, that's not a good finish. Genuine teamwork between Snyder and executive vp Mike Shanahan will sustain winning.   

I love the Redskins and want to see another Super Bowl in my lifetime. Washington has its quarterback (ask me again in September). Now, I'm pulling for Snyder to get it right as an astute owner. I think he is on his way, at last. He just needs one or two more years of seasoning.

Super Bowl or Bust in 2015.

This information provided by InsuranceQuotes.com.

From: Bankrate Insurance’s InsuranceQuotes.com

Redskins Hog Heaven congratulates Robert Griffin III who has been named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and overall Rookie of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America.

Griffin gained 4,015 yards of total offense, scored 27 touchdowns by passing or rushing, and set NFL rookie records for 102.4 passer rating, 1.3 percent interception rate, and rushing yards by a quarterback.

Off the field, Griffin won over the football world by being as genuine as he seems to be.

While having breakfast at an IHOP yesterday, Hog Heaven overheard a conversation by a large group of (more) elderly gentlemen who were discussing Sammy Baugh. Sixty years from now, someone who is 12 years old today will tout Griffin. These are the good old days for somebody.

In 50 years of watching pro football, Hog Heaven has never seen anyone like RGIII.

Griffin and RB Alfred Morris have been named to the Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers Association 2012 All-Rookie team 

The BIG prize is to be selected Rookie of the Year by the league itself. Both Griffin and Morris are finalists. Fan voting for the 2012 NFL Pepsie Max Rookie of the Year continues to January 29, 2013. Go here to vote early and vote often.

The NFL will name it's Rookie of the Year during Super Bowl week.

HAIL.

Image: November 17, 2012, Rob Carr/Getty Images North America via zimbio.com.

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The Hogettes, those crossdressing men with pig noses, announced they are hanging up their snouts forever. With them passes another sign of the end of the Era of Gibbs, the good one marked by three Lombardi Trophies.

My friend Tom Shearman (Never met him. Exchanged email) published a seven-minute video profile of the Hogettes we think is worthy for Redskins Hog Heaven.

Like the name of this site, the Hogettes chose that handle to honor the offensive line that powered three teams to the Super Bowl. That made them one of the few, certainly among the first, to pick an identity not tied to the aboriginal people once called American Indians, now Native Americans, I guess. Some people have become so sensitive about the the team name.   

So here's to The Hogettes. May their legacy live as long as the memory of those fabulous Hogs, the O-line of champions.

Image: 2011, Redskins Hogettes, photo by Anthony Brown

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The Official Mom of Redskins Hog Heaven heard an update last week on Robert Griffin III's knee and she was certain the young star would be inundated by calls from tort lawyers.

Why, asked I?

"Because of the way he was mistreated by that man." The Official Mom couldn't recall the name of Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan.

There you go. The official Mom was thinking like a typical mom whose sympathies are entirely with the kid.

Football is a world of men. Trying to explain that world to women is never entirely successful. Throw a bunch of men together absent women, say on a weekend fishing trip, or any kind of stag party, and we revert to our teen years complete with earthy language, crude jokes, and a healthy dose of He-Man hyper masculinity (I have the power).

The Official Mom was sure RGIII had to be misinformed when I explained that Griffin III wanted to stay in the Seahawks game. He was just being one of the guys in a locker room where all of the guys are playing hurt. She couldn't see it.

Both the league office and the players' union looked into the Redskins' handling of Griffin's injury and neither finds fault in it. The lawyers won't get far with the supposed victim or with the Courts.

Everyone from Mike Shanahan to fans to Griffin himself can learn from the experience.

Learning from the past

Pain should tell you something.

Jay Cutler took himself out of a playoff game when he believed his injury-hampered performance hurt the Bears' chance to win. Clinton Portis hit the dirt in a 2010 game when facing imminent hits by defenders.

Griffin might never have heard of those instances, but the negative fallout reinforced the culture of playing through pain. In fact, Griffin pulled a guilt card on Shanahan by saying he (Griffin) earned the right to play with pain.

And he certainly did earn that right, but Griffin was wrong about being the team's best and only quarterback option to win. At one point during the third quarter, Griffin's passer rating was in the low 70s. Russell Wilson's rating was 104.

QB Passer Rating differential in one of three stats Hog Heaven finds worth watching. Cold, Hard Football Facts considers QBR differential a quality stat because it has the highest correlation to winning. The differential is as much a measure of a defense's ability to suppress quarterback passing as it is a measure of the quarterback himself.

In the third quarter, Washington's defense was doing a poor job containing Wilson as was shown by his high QBR. Gimpy Griffin was not playing well enough to overcome that. Seattle was doing a better job against an easier, more hampered, target.

Coaches must coach

And that's my only knock against the Coaches Shanahan in this affair. In the second half of the Seahawks game, Head Coach Shanahan failed to put a healthier quarterback on the field while OC Shanahan did not adjust play calling to a lot more handoffs to Alfred Morris. You know, a game plan that either Griffin or Kirk Cousins could run while still expecting to win. However, you read it, this was a failure to coach. Hog Heaven thinks that it cost us the game.

Landry warned us

LaRon Landry said some highly uncomplimentary things about the Redskins' training and medical staff when Washington declined to sign him to a new contract.

Landry missed parts of two seasons with a slow-healing Achilles injury. He opted for an unconventional stem cell treatment instead of surgery suggested by the team. The Redskins medical staff misdiagnosed an injury to a bruised wrist when Landry actually suffered a dislocation with torn ligaments.

Washington had a tough time replacing Landry who played a full season with the Jets. It's time to take his comments more seriously. The Redskins have competent trainers an medical people, headlined by Dr. James Andrews, the go-to orthopedic surgeon of all sports. Something is clearly amiss with the way the coaches, trainers and doctors are working together. 

In management, we call that process improvement. You follow sports to get away from boring work issues. Ignoring this problem could be damaging your favorite athletes.

Rookie growing pains aren't always in the knee

Griffin does not escape blame either. For a player who took pains to say that his play style is not like Michael Vick's, Griffin runs in the manner of Vick with similar results.

Despite the gibberish he told the coach, he was hurt because he had an injured ligament. If the coach is going to leave the medical decisions to the player, the player owes the coach a better decision, or more accurate description of his physical symptoms.

The Redskins had the best orthopedic surgeon in the locker room at half time of the Seahawks game and nobody asked the right question. They asked the question that got the answer they wanted to hear. There is a difference.

Grow up, young man.

Every one of these issues is fixable. Do that and all the Official Moms will be happy.

Image: Jacqueline Griffin with son, Robert III, from here.

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Redskins Hog Heaven congratulates Alfred Morris and London Fletcher for their selection to the Associated Press NFL All-Pro Second Team for the 2012 season.

Adrian Peterson (Vikings) was the unanimous choice for first team running back. Marshawn Lynch (Seahawks) joins Peterson on the first team. Jamaal Charles joins Morris as second team running back.

Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman, both of the 49ers, were named first team Inside Linebackers. Daryl Washington (Cardinals) joins Fletcher on the second team at ILB.

None of those fabulous rookie quarterbacks from the Golden Class of 2012 made the cut as Associated Press All Pro. The NFL voted QB Robert Griffin III, LT Trent Williams and specials team Lorenzo Alexander to the 2013 Pro Bowl.

Griffin won't be playing football anytime soon. He sure earned a trip to Hawaii for his 2012 performance.

More: see John Bibb's story on Bleacher Report and the All Pro roster on NBCSports.com.

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Mike Shanahan is a stone cold, high stakes riverboat gambler, boy. Shanahan doesn't just take risks. He places his biggest football bets at quarterback, the highest risk-reward wager on the team. Most of the time, he loses.

Look at all of Shanahan's quarterback moves since his arrival in Washington.

Dumps Jason Campbell – BET LOST

We'll cover the bet on McNabb in a moment. This is about Campbell. There were football reasons to believe that Campbell would be a poor fit for the Shanahan's West Coast Offense.

Joe Gibbs picked Campbell to run his conservative flavor of the Downfield Offense. Campbell met Gibbs' requirement, which was to be a better game manager than Mark Brunell as the team rode the legs of Clinton Portis to the playoffs.

Shanahan has higher requirements for QBs for his offense. Campbell, despite his best effort in 2009, never profiled as a playmaking quarterback. But by casting Campbell aside, Shanahan dismissed his greatest asset – his adaptability.

Campbell suffered through instability at position coaches and offensive coordinators in his time with the Redskins. While that hindered his development, he was skilled at working new offensive schemes. He was versatile, adaptable, moldable and willing to try.

Campbell was a better quarterback for Washington than the three men who followed him.       

Trades for Donovan McNabb – BET LOST

Donovan McNabb was a quarterback legend everywhere but Philadelphia, or so it seemed.  His 2009 stat line is gaudy (10-4 record, 2:1 TD to INT ratio, 92.9 passer rating) and he was practiced in Andy Reid's version of the West Coast Offense. McNabb did not pass the eyeball test, however. His skills were in decline. Hog Heaven writers wrote that McNabb and Campbell were as two ships passing in the night, with the SS McNabb slowly sinking while slow boat Campbell continued to make steady, if modest, growth.

Benches McNabb in the Lions game – BET LOST

Eight weeks into the 2010 season, benched McNabb in a winnable game against the rising Detroit Lions with about two minutes to go. Shanahan post-game explanation of Rex Grossman's two-minute drill skills was the blah-blah-blah we've come to expect when he doesn't want to give us an explanation.

Grossman took a sack and lost the fumble on his first play that was recovered by the Lions and returned for the score that nailed the coffin shut. Washington lost 37-25.

The Redskins held the lead in third quarter as the offense coped with the injury loss of Clinton Portis and Ryan Torain. Scores by Keiland Williams and Brandon Banks twice gave the 'Skins the lead in a back and forth fourth quarter.

McNabb struggled against the Lions, but benching him late shocked the system. The team did not recover in time to win the game. In hindsight, that move would have been better done at half time, giving everyone time to get used to the idea.

Did Shanahan draw the wrong conclusion from this experience when he processed the RGIII decision in the Seahawks game? The question is rhetorical. We don't need more blah-blah from the coach.

Bypasses Blain Gabbert in the 2011 NFL Draft, selects Ryan Kerrigan instead – BET WON

With the tenth selection in the 2011 Draft and in deep need of a franchise quarterback, Missouri's Blaine Gabbert fell naturally to Washington. Shanahan took one look and promptly swapped positions with the Jaguars. The 'Skins selected Kerrigan with the 16th pick. Gabbert got his coach and GM fired.

Whew!

Side note: Both Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick were available when the Redskins went for Kerrigan. History might have changed if the Shanahan's jumped on one of those quarterbacks instead of Kerrigan.

In 2011, Mel Kiper and others projected Robert Griffin III as a second or third day 2012 Draft pick – if he was drafted at quarterback at all. With his world-class hurdler speed, some scouts projected RGIII as a pro wide receiver prospect. the buzz for Griffin built over the course of the 2011 season, before most Redskins fans knew Baylor had a football team.

Some things just work out no matter what you do.

Doubled down on Rex Grossman and John Beck for the 2011 season – BET LOST

“I believe in ‘em.  And I’ve been doing this for a long time.  And I put my reputation on these guys that they can play.” ~ Mike Shanahan, July 2011.

When Coach Shanahan said things like that, he was just kidding. We all knew it at the time. When the whistle blew at the season's first kick off, fans clinched every orifice and hoped for the best.

The Redskins won five games in 2011. For comparison, Jason Campbell went 4-2 in six for the Raiders. Just sayin'.

Tripled down on Robert Griffin III in the 2012 NFL Draft – JACKPOT!

This story is too well known to go into detail here. Just search "Robert Griffin III" on this site, or any other NFL site to read how well this selection worked out.

Selected Kirk Cousins in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft – BET WON

Cousins saved a win against the Ravens after Griffin went down and performed admirably in the win against the Browns. That alone is the payoff on this Draft pick. If only Coach Shanny made more use of him.

Full disclosure: Redskins Hog Heaven is a Spartans alumnus who followed Cousins' career at Michigan State for four seasons. I have high confidence in the kid. I also have an academic connection to Wisconsin and admired Russell Wilson's exploits for the 2011 Badgers.

The knock on Wilson was that he was too short to play quarterback for the NFL. The knock on Cousins was that he was too "cerebral" to play quarterback in the NFL. If Wilson was taller and Cousins was more athletic, perhaps six or eight GMs and coaches who needed quarterbacks would not have lost their jobs this month.

The real knock is on the Big Ten Conference that has not produced spectacular quarterback prospects since Drew "too short" Brees and Tom "too cerebral" Brady.  

Both Wilson and Cousins say they have played short and cerebral all their lives. They both say that they landed in the right spot for them while praising the Lord for directing them there. Cousins is not the athletic match of Wilson who was drafted by a MLB team. Hog Heaven considers them equivalent quarterback talents, however.    

Playing Robert Griffin III after the Ravens game – Outcome to be determined

Vince Lombardi is the only coach I can think of who would have benched Griffin in the second half of the Seahawks game and made it stick. Lombardi was such a giant that everyone conformed their opinion to whatever Lombardi did. If Lombardi did it, it had to be right.

If Lombardi managed the risk to Griffin III exactly as Mike Shanahan did, the mob would not be critical Shanahan now. Lombardi is dead. Shanahan is not, so he takes heat for playing Griffin after his knee injury. Lets draw a distinction now.

We admire the healthy player who suffers a crippling injury during a game and then plays through the pain. We admire players who play with their injury in a high stakes game. Admiration for Terrell Owens was at its peak when he overcame his fractured fibula to catch nine passes for 122 yards in the 2005 Super Bowl (refuse to use Roman Numerals).

We admire Griffin for wanting to play on with an impaired knee, but this process should have been better managed.

Starting Cousins in the Eagles game would have given Griffin an extra week to heal. Pulling Griffin at any point after the first quarter against Seattle would have put the better quarterback on the field. As the game went on, Griffin's impaired play was less than Wilsons and less than what Cousins might have done.

Cousins would have helped his case more by completing five or six of his 10 pass attempts instead of three, but the Shanahans made several serious blunders this game.  

Alfred Morris rushing attempts was short by about 10 carries. Morris gained 35 yards on his first three rushing attempt, and net 49 yards on eight carries in the first quarter. He finished the game with 16 attempts for 80 yards in the entire game.

Games flow to their own pace. As Griffin's performance dropped, reliance on Morris and Evan Royster should have gone up. That's true whether Griffin or Cousins was at quarterback.

If the Redskins won, it is unlikely that Griffin could start against the Falcons this Sunday.

Shanahan bet the 2013 first round Draft pick on Griffin. If Cousins and Rex Grossman are Washington's active quarterbacks next September, then Shanahan is the big time loser.

Stay tuned, and cross your fingers, on that. 

And yes, Hog Heaven has been in a football snit all week.

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