Casserly Keeping His Options Open

Despite his public comments about possibly considering a general manager, why would Gibbs yield any of his authority to anyone unless Snyder forced his hand? That's not likely to happen either, unless Snyder wants Gibbs to leave, so Casserly almost certainly won't be commuting out the Dulles Toll Road to team headquarters in Ashburn any time soon, if ever.

These days, he's doing plenty of commuting for his television job. Every Tuesday, Casserly takes the train from Union Station up to Philadelphia and spends the day at the suburban headquarters of NFL Films, watching game tape of the previous week's action, looking for trends and potential story lines for next week's show. He heads back up to New York every Friday for brainstorming sessions with his producers, writing scripts and doing rehearsals, all leading up to a full day in the studio on Sunday, including a column he writes for the network's web site.

"Going to NFL Films is a big part of what I do," he said. "When you watch a game on TV, even on a big screen, you only see part of it. You can't really see the defenses, you can't really see the line play. Basically you see the quarterback and the running back. Looking at the big picture just gives me a better feel for every team, and you're seeing it with your known eyes instead of hearing it from someone else."

Casserly essentially has become a working journalist in his new job after so many years of being on the other side of so many questions from writers and broadcasters covering his teams. Casserly was one of the most media-friendly executives in the game, an accessible guy who returned phone calls and almost always made himself available for comment. He also had years of experience in front of the camera, appearing on his own shows in Washington and Houston.

He now spends hours on the telephone himself gathering information, usually with sources at the highest levels of the game -- assistant and head coaches, general managers, team presidents and owners. He's obviously plugged in to scouts and personnel directors all over the league, and said he's had no difficulty at all getting any of them to call him back. He even honors the ridiculous prohibition imposed by control freaks like Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, among others, that prevents the media from speaking with assistant coaches, many of whom he's known for years.

"Some teams," he said, "are just more open than others. I can accept that."

Almost every Sunday, Casserly provides newsy tips and the occasional scoop to viewers. A few weeks ago, for example, he reported that the University of Alabama was interested in talking to Tennessee head coach Jeff Fischer about its coaching vacancy. Early in the season, during a trip to NFL Films, he saw game tape that showed New England defensive lineman Richard Seymour purposely stepping on an opponent's face, something that never came out until he showed the evidence on the air.

He also tackles issues. There's been a lot of discussion about the inequity in calling roughing the passer penalties this season. Two weeks ago, Casserly pointed out that the number of penalties called and the number of sacks recorded this season were about the same as they were last year, but also observed that, "the real problem has been the inconsistency in officiating crews in calling a penalty. One crew might have one call, another might have eight. Teams scout those crews and they play accordingly."

Casserly said he's thoroughly enjoyed looking at the game from a reporter's point of view and "I definitely have more of a feel for what they do. You've got these deadlines, and every week, I'm starting with a blank piece of paper. You can create things to fill that paper, but sometimes there are not always things to create so you do the best you can.

"I can tell you that if I report something, it is a fact. I'm not looking for scoops or trying to spark things to create a headline. I'm just gathering information, which I've done my whole life in the NFL. And if it's my opinion, I'm going to tell you right up front that it's my opinion. It used to bug me when people wrote things about us, but they never called to see if it was true. If I'm going to put something on the air, I'm going to call you and ask you about it. I want to get it right, and I want to hear what you have to say."

That's just what you'd expect to hear from any on-air network reporter, and Casserly clearly now fits that description, even in his rookie season.

He also remains a class act, and a great asset for CBS Sports who would be wise to avoid Redskins Park at all cost, unless he's going there with a camera crew.

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at Badgerlen@hotmail.com or Badgerlen@aol.com.