In the spirit of Christmas, good will towards men, peace on earth and candy canes, I’m going to keep this one mercifully short.

The Redskins have simply gone into the tank; there’s nothing more to it.

Last week we had the team with no heart; the players simply seemed to be going through the motions.

With the Dallas rivalry on the line this week, you got the sense that they were playing hard, but they simply had no brains. Most of the players seemed to be mentally checked out; running hard but not really paying attention to much of anything.

Makes you wonder if next week against San Diego if we’ll see the team with no courage. Lions, tigers and Chargers, oh my!

On another note details have emerged as to how the Redskins have managed to comply with the Rooney Rule with regards to both of their top spots in the organization, interviewing defensive backs coach Jerry Gray for the head coaching job and Pro Personnel Director Morocco Brown for the general manager spot.

Gray was recently passed over for the head coaching position at the University of Memphis. He has never really sniffed an NFL head coaching job, but is a reasonably qualified candidate given his years of experience as a defensive coordinator in Buffalo and elsewhere as a position coach.

It was something of a surprise that Gray had been passed over for the team’s defensive coordinator spot after the departure of Gregg Williams, as Gray was Williams’ DC in Buffalo.

Brown has held his position in Washington for the last couple of years and was in the second seat in pro personnel with Chicago before that. Somewhat ironically (to me, anyway) is that Brown and I got our NFL start in the same season, as interns with the Redskins in 2000.

Under since departed Vinny Cerrato, Brown was the third-ranking member of the team’s personnel department. He was considered a rising star with the Bears before he re-joined the Redskins and was credited with the NFL discovery of WR Rashied Davis, who had been a member of the Arena Football League’s San Jose SaberCats.

Moving on to the rumor mill, ProFootballTalk.com reports that the team already has a contract in place with Mike Shanahan and that already has been signed. According to PTF’s source, “He has already agreed to everything. Heck, he even picked out the G.M.”

If you’ll recall, those of us here at Bleed Burgundy (meaning, me) predicted this eventuality after the Allen hire brought the Shanahan rumors to light.

Will current head coach Jim Zorn be allowed to coach next week’s final game, or will he simply be replaced to get Shanahan off the market a week early?

No matter what, though, we, like those over at PFT, fully expect Zorn to be dismissed before the team’s plane leaves the pacific time zone after next week’s game in San Diego.