Over at Dan Snyder’s message board, extremeskins.com, threads with titles like “Thank You, Dan!” and “Where Were You When Vinny Resigned?” have been popping up all day.

Plainly, this town hasn’t been so fired up about a resignation since Nixon‘s, whose August 1974 departure was similarly mid-term, yet overdue by the time it went down.

There were all sorts of recollections of Nixon around the Skins today. Nixon was buddies with Bruce Allen’s dad, after all, and the Redskins coach even took plays from the president. Nixon’s play-call, a reverse to Roy Jefferson in a 1971 playoff game with the San Francisco 49ers, went for a 13-yard loss.

Cerrato leaves not long after being asked by a reporter whether he had given the Skins coaching staff enough talent to make the playoffs, and, even with the team 2-5, answering “Yes.” That will go down as his “I am not a crook!” moment.

For history’s sake, Snyder should have lent Vinny his helicopter to get outta town.