| CHICAGO —
Jimmy Raye led the Kansas City Chiefs to the fifth-ranked passing offense (totaling more
than 5,600 yards through the air) last season. But with the dismissal of Gunther
Cunningham and the arrival of Dick Vermeil, Raye was out of a job. That was, until Marty
Schottenheimer called the former Chiefs offensive coordinator and 24-year NFL veteran. Schottenheimer,
who had Raye on his staff when he was Chiefs head coach, was more than happy to hire Raye
as Redskins offensive coordinator. As I quickly found out, Raye is excited about the
reunion and the challenge in front of him in the nation’s capital.
PFW: How is it, working with Marty again?
JR: He seems to be a little more involved than he was before, but I think that’s
because he’s trying to get back up to speed after being away from coaching. His
expectations and attitude are the same as before, and we quickly established the
continuity that we had built up in Kansas City.
PFW: How have the players received the new coaching staff?
JR: The players are excited, and they’ve been very receptive so far. The big thing
with NFL players is how you start. If you can win early and show what you’re doing
works, things will be fine. But if they question what you’re doing and don’t buy
into the system, then you’ll have problems.
PFW: How was minicamp?
JR: It’s interesting anytime you install a new system. The first minicamp, we
didn’t have any wide receivers — Michael Westbrook’s still rehabbing (from
a knee injury), and we lost (James) Thrash and (Albert) Connell to free agency — so
things were much better with the second camp after we brought in (free-agent WR) Kevin
Lockett and drafted (WR) Rod Gardner.
PFW: How’s Jeff George doing?
JR: The toughest thing so far is that our QB (George) is going through his seventh
system in 11 years. Luckily, he used a similar terminology when he was in Oakland with Jon
Gruden.
PFW: Will you use TE Stephen Alexander like you used Tony Gonzalez in K.C.?
JR: We’ll definitely try to take advantage of his abilities. He runs well, has
good hands and probably has more pure catching ability than Gonzalez. He’s just not
as big or as physical.
PFW: How about the offensive line?
JR: Well, you know we lost our guards from last year (Keith Sims and Tré Johnson), so
this is a transition area for us. If we can plug those holes and build some depth,
we’ll be in good shape.
Related stories:
Q&A with Dave Wannstedt
Q&A with Chargers' Norv Turner |
