Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Player Problems Nothing New for Gibbs

Dexter Manley provided big plays and
big headaches

Poooor Joe Gibbs. He just didn't know what he was getting into when he came back as an NFL head coach. Sure, he can manipulate the X's and O's with the best of them, but he has never deal with the likes of today's modern-day player with the dollar signs in their eyes and huge egos. Nope, players in Gibbs' day never created any distractions.

Well, that's what many would have you believe these days. What short memories some writers have. Issues with players, involving money, the law, and other areas, are nothing new to Joe Gibbs. Some examples from Gibbs Era I:

March 1981: Gibbs goes to John Riggins' Kansas farm to try to talk the flaky running back out of his one-year, contract-driven retirement. Riggo greets Gibbs on the porch not long after sunrise with a just-opened beer in his hands. The coach left not having any idea whether or not he'd talked Riggins into returining--and not sure if he really wanted him back. A few months later, Riggins showed up at camp, proclaiming that he was "bored, broke and back."

September 1982: The Redskins, along with the rest of the NFL, go on strike.

August 1983: During training campPro Bowl safety Tony Peters was arrested in the wee hours of the morning in the dorm at Dickenson College on cocaine distribution charges. Peters received a two-year suspension

August 1983: Defensive end Matt Mendenhall, who started every game the year before, walks out of camp.

August 1983: Cornerback Jeris White, who started every game the year before, fails to report to camp due to a contract dispute. He never played for the team again.

August 1984: Mendenhall leaves camp again, this time for good.

August 1986: Dexter Manley ends a holdout that lasted all of training camp by signing a new contract.

September 1987: The Redskins, along with most of the rest of the NFL, go on strike. No veteran crossed the picket line, the only NFL team that didn't have at least one vet participate in the replacement game.'

August 1988: Manley suspended for all of training camp due to a positive drug test.

August 1988: Markus Koch, who was an occasional starter at defensive end, walked out of camp.

August 1989: Defensive tackle Dean Hamel, citing "burnout", walked out of training camp.

November 1989: Starting cornerback Barry Wilburn is suspended for four games due to a positive test for cocaine.

November 1989: Manley tested positive for narcotics for the third time and was banned from the NFL.

August 1990: A quartet of Redskins--Gerald Riggs, Raven Caldwell, Darryl Grand, and Markus Koch--fail to report for camp due to contract disputes.

August 1993: Mark Rypien misses the first two weeks of camp in a contract holdout; Jim Lachey, Darrel Green, and rookie Desmond Howard didn't report until the team had broken camp.

Quick Take on 2005 Schedule

Week 1 vs. Chicago

There were suggestions that it would be appropriate for New York to play Washington to open the season on September 11, but the NFL chose to pit the Skins against da Bears. A rematch of one of 2004’s most forgettable games, one that featured Mark Brunell and Chicago’s Jonathan Quinn combined to go 18 for 44 passing for 160 yards (3.6 yards per pass). Neither QB should be in the lineup for the opener.

Week 2 Monday night at Dallas

A major confluence of jinxes here with Washington having problems with Dallas in general , Parcells having it over Gibbs (eight straight), Gibbs’ mediocrity on Monday night (9-15). The Redskins haven’t won in Dallas since Heath Shuler led them to a 24-17 win there in 1995.

Week 3 Bye

Bye should be favored by a field goal. Sorry, an old one there. Pretty early for a bye, not many bumps and bruises to heal or regrouping to do. The schedule makers have been pretty good about having it more towards the middle of the year in the past, so they were due to get the early on.

Week 4 vs. Seattle

Since about 2000, the Seahawks have supposedly been the NFL’s up and coming team. If they are 1-2 coming in to this one, the deathwatch could already for Mike Holmgren’s coaching tenure.

Week 5 at Denver

Portis vs. Bailey. Of course, it won’t come to an individual matchup between the two, but that’s what will be talked about endlessly prior to the game.

Week 6 at Kansas City

The second of tough back-to-back road games against the AFC West. The Redskins have never won in KC and they haven’t even come close since 1971.

Week 7 vs. San Francisco

If the Niners do draft a quarterback with the first overall pick, this could be either Aaron Rodgers’ or Alex Smith’s first NFL start. San Francisco will be coming off of their bye week and assuming that Tim Rattay isn’t getting it done through the first five weeks, this would be a good time to make the switch.

Week 8 at NY Giants

Washington’s season took a decided turn for the worse at the Meadowlands in Week 2 last year. Patrick Ramsey threw three picks after coming in for an injured Mark Brunell.

Week 9 Sunday night vs. Philadelphia

The last three Eagle games at FedEx have been prime-time affairs. The first two were Eagle blowouts by a combined 68-14. Last year the Redskins had a chance to take the lead late, but Ramsey threw an interception and Philly was able to hang on.

Week 10 at Tampa Bay

Gibbs and Bucs coach John Gruden both have Super Bowl rings and both have tough roads to hoe to get another one. Which son of a quarterback will be calling the signals for Tampa Bay—Brian Griese or Chris Simms?

Week 11 vs. Oakland

This is the first of two straight home games against head coaches fired by Dan Snyder. Norv Turner returns and there’s no doubt that the Raiders will play awfully well, at least according to Norv.

Week 12 vs. San Diego

Following the Norv Bowl is the Marty Bowl. Perhaps if he’d abandoned his ultra-conservative style sooner he would still be coaching the Skins. The only Redskins team ever to lose to the Chargers was coached by Marty Schottenheimer.

Week 13 at St. Louis

In 2000 Norv Turner’s Redskins went into the house of the defending Super Bowl champion Rams and came out with a 33-20 win to raise their record to 7-4. They lost the next four in a row, costing them the playoff spot that seemed certain and costing Turner his job.

Week 14 at Arizona

Dennis Green’s team is aiming for the division title. Of course, in the NFC West that means a .500 record.

Week 15 vs. Dallas

This is the first of three straight division games to close out the season. If the Redskins are going to make the playoffs, or even have a respectable season, they will have to win this one.

Week 16 vs. NY Giants

It was against the Giants at FedEx that Ramsey got his first win as a starter under Gibbs last year.

Week 17 at Philadelphia

Perhaps the Eagles will have clinched everything that they can clinch and the Skins will be playing against Koy Detmer instead of Donovan McNabb.

Draft: Separating the Smoke From the Fire

Baseball has its Hot Stove League. NASCAR has what’s called Silly Season. The NFL doesn’t have a catchy name for the annual barrage of chatter that happens every year in the few weeks prior to its annual selection meeting, but it’s just as hot and just as silly nonetheless.

Remember, back in the day, that cloud of hazy smoke that would hang over an event such as a Grateful Dead concert? The atmosphere around the NFL draft is beginning to resemble something just that whacky.

There are a few reasons for all of the buzz other than the immense popularity of the NFL and the intense interest in the draft. One of the very nature of NFL draft deals. While some are completed in advance of the draft, most are made while one of the teams involved is on the clock. It’s not until then that the teams involved know exactly what they’re trading.

Due to the necessity that deals be conducted at the last minute, there is nothing concrete in the days leading up to the draft. In the place of hard news are reports from anonymous team and league sources, speculation and some stuff that was just made up.

Of course, the Internet increases both the number of rumors making the rounds and the speed at which the stories travel exponentially. What used to be speculation being chewed over by a few guys enjoying a cold one after work is now spread to hundreds if not thousands in course of an evening. On top of that, there’s the constant pressure for the major sports Websites such as ESPN.com and CBS Sportsline to come up with new content—something posted three or four hours ago is sometimes considered old news. The compressed news cycle demands that stories be published before they’re fully developed. This leads to an increase in the quantity of stories and a decrease in the quality of them.

Speaking of low quality, there are also dozens of self-declared draft “experts” with their own Websites out there. At best they serve up rehashes of other reports; at worst they engage in sheer, uninformed speculation and rumormongering.

To be sure, there was no shortage of smoke being blown by NFL teams prior to the advent of the Internet. Back when the World Wide Web was just a gleam in Al Gore’s eye, Redskins GM Bobby Beathard would annually dole out vast amounts false information to the media. In fact, a good way to figure out who the Redskins would draft would be to take a list of prospects and cross off the name of any player that Beathard mentioned in public. Whoever was left had a shot at being picked.

In fact, a search of the Post’s archives reveals not one instance of Beathard being quoted uttering the name “Darrell Green” in the weeks prior to the 1983 draft. Green, of course was the Redskins’ first-round selection.

One thing is for sure. As Vinny Cerrato said at this time last year, "These next two weeks, you can't believe anything you hear."

And, just like at that Dead concert, be careful of how much of that smoke you take in. In both cases it can lead to faulty judgment.

Arrington Blowing off Steam

Arrington didn't seem to be too angry about being
forced to play against San Francisco in December

There's a certain danger in examining the words of a 26 year old man who wears his emotions on his sleeve. It's especially dangerous when that player has just had knee surgery for the second time in seven months. But as the whole thing has created quite an uproar so let's parse some of his statements as quoted in the Washington Post:

Why is it that nobody is really speaking about how hard and the sacrifices I put forth to try to get back out there? They're so quick to talk about what we do wrong.

The first part is just silly. Is Joe Gibbs supposed to call a press conference to praise Arrington to do what he gets paid millions to do, spend the offseason getting prepared to play in the fall? And the second part is just wrong, at least in public. This coaching staff does not criticize the players to the press.

To me it kind of [stinks]; it [stinks], because it's not like I have a relationship built with [the coaches] anyway, because they're new and then I get hurt and every year it's always someone new [as a head coach].

This sounds almost hysterical. First of all, maybe there would not have been so many new coaches had Arrington done what previous coaches had asked him to do. Arrington wouldn't play within the defensive scheme as Kurt Schottenheimer wanted him to do and he gave a lot of resistance to playing from a three-point stance as Marvin Lewis wanted him to do. Actions such as that help keep the coaching revolving door turning.

On top of that, wasn't Arrington one of the players who didn't return phone calls to Gibbs when the coach was rehired back in January of '04? Certainly, his enthusiasm for the return of the legendary coach was very limited. Last time I checked it takes two to build a relationship.

Does that mean it's right the way it's being handled? . . . It makes you wonder, man, what's their agenda?

Their agenda is to win football games, not to coddle players and massage their egos.

When asked if he'd discussed his feelings about the situation with Gibbs, Arrington said:

I don't really care, to be honest. I just care about getting healthy and trying to be able to play. I don't really care what anybody thinks at this point

In other words, no, I'm blasting away with both barrels publicly without talking to the coach first.

I'm taking as much time as I need, and if that means they're upset and want to get rid of me, then so be it. But I'm not coming back before my knee is better. I tried it their way, and it got me on crutches again. Now I'm going to try it the way that Dr. Andrews and the rest of the medical staff want me to do, and that's the bottom line.

Now this is a pretty serious charge here. Arrington is saying that the Redskins forced him to do things against the advice of his doctor and that they would get rid of him if he didn't go along. It would naive to think that such things don't happen, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Here are Arrington's own words from Redskins.com on December 8:

I felt pretty good out there," he said. "I still have to get a little more comfortable out there. I fee relatively new right now, as funny as that may sound. . .Guys are still fighting and continuing to get things done--I want to be a part of it. I don't want sit back and watch when I'm healthy. So if I'm healthy and I'm not on Injured Reserve, I'd like an opportunity to go out there and play. That's the way I feel.

So, that's the way he felt then. Yesterday, it was this:

I worked my [butt] off to get back on the field and for what? Three [late-season] games? There wasn't no playoffs on the line. There wasn't no Super Bowls, and I still worked my [butt] off to play in those three games.

If Arrington is waiting for a brass band to lead the ticker tape parade to celebrate him busting his [butt] so that he can perform the job he gets paid millions of dollars to do, he will be sorely disappointed.

For his part, Gibbs said the following:

Being the guy he is and the competitor he is, he wanted to play, But I told him, long-term, what's important to us is you, your health. Not just you as a player, but as a person.

Certainly, Gibbs is putting the best face on this from the team's point of view. If the NFL was truly concerned about the long-term health of its players it probably would have to shut down entirely as virtually nobody who plays for any length of time escapes without some degree of long-term damage to his body. Still, at least as far as last December is concerned, it does appear that Arrington was feeling well and quite eager to take the field.

Lost in the he said, he said exchange between Gibbs and Arrington is the important aspect of the story, the fact that Arrington had the surgery. Unanswered here is a key question: was the procedure necessary because he played in December or because he pushed himself too hard trying to rehab in time for minicamp or was it because there was some stuff in there that wasn't found in the initial operation? This is the information that really matters, but we don't get that.

There is danger in making too much out of this. In the halls of Redskins Park, a couple of reporters happen upon Arrington, who is on crutches and feeling very down. In answer to a question like "How's it going, LaVar?", the reporters get a notebook full.

This doesn't mean, however, that all is well at Redskins Park. There certainly is some hangover from the only constant being change in coaches, staff, and players. The long-term effects of that chaos might take a lot longer to work their way out than many of us thought.

Putting the Special Back in " Teams "

Is John Hall in danger of being replaced?

The Redskins made their second veteran free agent signing in three weeks yesterday, adding former Carolina Panther Brian Allen to roster. From Redskins.com:

The Redskins continued to add to their depth and special teams with the signing of free agent linebacker Brian Allen, formerly with the Carolina Panthers, on Wednesday.

Allen, 6-0 and 232 pounds, has appeared in 46 regular season and four postseason games during his four-year NFL career, making nine starts. He has amassed 133 tackles (72 solo), one sack and one interception.

. . .

Primarily utilized on special teams, Allen was a member of the Panther's kickoff coverage team that ranked fifth in the NFL in 2003.

Allen will continue his status of being primarily a special teams guy. His signing comes after the acquisition of Buffalo's Pierson Prioleau, a safety in name only, a special teams player by trade.

After the 2004 season ended, Joe Gibbs expressed the need for the Redskins to upgrade their "teams" as he calls the kicking units. They certainly were nothing special about the results from those units last year. Out of the 32 NFL teams the Redskins were 20th in punt return average, 12th in kickoff return average, 26th in punt return defense and 14th in kickoff return defense. That's a mixed bag of the mediocre and the awful.

The Redskins probably aren't done with making adjustments to the "teams". After signing just camp-fodder variety kickers to compete with John Hall the past two seasons, they will have some real competition for Hall, who missed half of last season with an assortment of injuries. Washington signed Jeff Chandler after putting Hall on injured reserve towards the end of last season. Chandler showed enough, including kicking four FG's against the 49ers, including a 49 yarder to warrant a new contract from the Redskins and a chance to battle for the position.

Chandler is five years younger than Hall, who turned 31 on St. Patrick's Day this year. Certainly that's not old for a kicker but add to that the injury issues and Hall's $1.4 million cap hit for 2004 and you have a vulnerable veteran in Hall.

Gardner: Nothing Doing

It appears that a trade the Redskins have been seeking to complete almost since the day after the season ended, one to send Rod Gardner elsewhere, won't happen before draft day, if ever. From an article in the Washington Post::

Gibbs initially was hopeful that a deal for Gardner would be completed by now, expressing optimism about the degree of interest in the former first-round pick, but the market for him has been relatively stale, league sources said.
. . .
"I haven't seen any movement there," said one NFL personnel executive, who said the most likely time for a deal could be at the April 23-24 draft.

In waiting until draft day, the Skins are hoping that a team looking to draft a receiver in the first two rounds will come up empty and deal away their third or fourth rounder for Gardner.

One of the hangups in a potential trade is Garnder's contract situation. Any team dealing away more than a throwaway pick for him wants to have him signed beyond the one year he has left on the contract he signed as a first-round draft pick out of Clemson. Gardner, realizing that his value would not be very high if he were to negotiate a deal right now, wants to play out the last year of his contract and become a free agent.

It seems like Gardner is holding all of the cards here and in a way he is, but it's not like he has a really strong hand. If he doesn't agree to an extension to make a trade happen he faces getting cut by the Redskins (they are very unlikely to keep him after publicly throwing him under the bus by announcing that he wasn't in their plans in 2005). If he faces being a free agent now, he'll be trying to negotiate a deal based on his 2004 numbers of 51 catches for 650 yards and 5 TD's, a performance quite similar to his '03 performance. That's not going to add up to a big contract. At least if he signs an extension to enable a deal with a new team he'll be able to keep the $2.1 million he's slated to make this year.

So, it's in 50/50's best interest to go ahead and grease the skids for his imminent departure from the Redskins. It's likely that he will find the post-draft free agent market to be a cold and unprofitable place to be.