Over the last decade, the Washington Redskins have employed six head coaches.
The Eagles have had one.
Since 1999, the Redskins have burned through more than a half-dozen so-called No. 1 quarterbacks. None have started more than 42 games.
The Eagles have had Donovan McNabb. He's started 131.
Since Jeffrey Lurie bought the Eagles in 1994, the franchise has been one of the most successful in the NFL. Nine playoff appearances. An NFC title. Only five teams have won more games since his first full year of ownership. He's hired talented people to do the work and let them be.
Since Dan Snyder bought the Redskins in 2000 _ well, let running back Clinton Portis finish the thought.
“I've been here for six years. I've been enduring change since I've been here,'' Portis said. “We've done had a new this, a new that, a change in quarterback. ... That's what it is around here. Change.''
They may be only 120 miles apart, but there's much more that separates the two teams that play on Monday night. The Eagles (3-2) have something the Redskins (2-4) don't. Call it consistency, stability, familiarity - or just a comfort in knowing that everyone can focus on football because the front office isn't going to throw a curveball.
“Not a lot of turnover every single year has given all the players a little bit of continuity,” running back Brian Westbrook said, “as well as a familiarity with the coaches as well as their style. It's very hard to come into a year or season and have different coaches coaching you every single year or every two years. For the most part, we haven't had a lot of turnover, and coach Reid has done a great job of really hiring from within.”
For the Redskins, that must sound like football heaven. In fact, it felt like a landmark moment Friday when the team announced that something wasn't going to change _ that coach Jim Zorn would keep his job through the end of the season.
The only two teams the Redskins have defeated this year, the St. Louis Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, both entered the weekend with 0-6 records. The Eagles stumbled last week against the Oakland Raiders, but that had more to do with taking a struggling team lightly than anything else. They're on notice not to have that happens again, not against an NFC East rival in prime time.
“I felt embarrassed,” McNabb said. ``When you get embarrassed, you don't want to get embarrassed again.''
