Must-Read Article on GW and the Defense

An article like this coming out is bound to have a huge impact on the psychology of the team I would think. Thank goodness for Adam Archuleta, (or whoever gave his perspective to Tom Friend of ESPN). Hey, Arch, you may have earned some of your salary with this. Change is needed, and it takes people to make their views known.

This is going to be a turning point for the Redskins. If Joe Gibbs were not here to lead, I think we would be at the point where things could disintegrate badly. However, Coach Gibbs I think is really going to have a challenge ahead.

Some questions:

Will the players start to let their feelings come more to the surface?

Will there be pro- and anti- Williams factions?

Will Williams actually read the situation, realize how dire things are, and take steps to listen to the players and change his stripes? I think that is not likely, but people can change. Or will he dig in and polarize? Or pretend all is well?

Will the team respond to Coach Gibbs' exhortation to play smashmouth? Will this demand lead to changes in the scheme which will set the players free to do what they need to do? Last year, we simplified on offense. Maybe we can do that on defense this year.

It is going to be a very trying time ahead for the Redskins, but I am hopeful that things will shake down in such a way that by the offseason we will be headed strongly in the right direction.

The article was quite a read, and while we all may have our suspicions as to who the unidentified player may be, I'm going to hold serve because I have always been skeptical of articles mentioning a third party who's not going to speak for himself. I'm reminded of the old "false flag" doctrine.

To think there's that kind of problem going on with the coaching staff is troubling (if the authors writings can be asumed as truth) It may also help explain why the product we've seen this season is what it is.

This was a pretty investigative article... and honest journalism requires you keep sources anonymous if requested. The whole story was pretty damn revealing- i knew there was some drama, but if this much friction is true the team has kept it pretty in house all season.

dead last fuckin defense... depressing...

let the fighting juice flow

Dexter Manley was talking with Bram on XXX radio tonight and said he knew who the player was who talked to ESPN. Said he was a CURRENT starter in the secondary whose contract is nearly over and who wants out of here by next year. He wrote the player's name down and showed it to Bram. All of this points directly to Springs. And I, for one, am glad someone finally had the guts to talk about what is really going on behind the scenes. The way this "D" has played this year, it had to be more than 1 or 2 players. It's comical to see everyone attacking AA and Carter, when the problem is so much deeper than that. I believed all along there was serious trouble between the players and the coaches, but never realized how truly bad it is.

That is all we need - Springs leaving town due to the total debacle of defensive coordination! I don't think that there is much of any chance that confidence can be restored in Gregg Williams' leadership.


Dexter Manley was talking with Bram on XXX radio tonight and said he knew who the player was who talked to ESPN. Said he was a CURRENT starter in the secondary whose contract is nearly over and who wants out of here by next year. He wrote the player's name down and showed it to Bram. All of this points directly to Springs. And I, for one, am glad someone finally had the guts to talk about what is really going on behind the scenes. The way this "D" has played this year, it had to be more than 1 or 2 players. It's comical to see everyone attacking AA and Carter, when the problem is so much deeper than that. I believed all along there was serious trouble between the players and the coaches, but never realized how truly bad it is.

That is all we need - Springs leaving town due to the total debacle of defensive coordination! I don't think that there is much of any chance that confidence can be restored in Gregg Williams' leadership.
Said he was a CURRENT starter in the secondary whose contract is nearly over and who wants out of here by next year
Springs' contract is not about to run out. We have him through 2009. He has the shortest contract left out of the starters and that is not short. Kenny Wright's contract will run out after this year, and so will The Ade's, but they're not starters.

That is all we need - Springs leaving town due to the total debacle of defensive coordination! I don't think that there is much of any chance that confidence can be restored in Gregg Williams' leadership.

I agree with you about GW. Springs is a player who commands a lot of respect on the team. His comments can't simply be explained away as a disgruntled player. Under GW, there have been a LOT of disgruntled players and, one by one, they've either left or been gotten rid of - most of them good players too. There's a common thread to all of this and it points directly to GW.

But, does Gibbs have the guts to make a tough decision about his coach, when that coach has clearly lost the respect of a lot of his players? Me thinks not. After all, it took Gibbs how many games to finally bench Brunell? How much longer will it take him to make an even bolder move and get rid of GW? Unless GW can totally change his personality, I don't see this situation improving at all. He's lost the players and, once that happens, there's no where to go but down.

Springs' contract is not about to run out. We have him through 2009. He has the shortest contract left out of the starters and that is not short. Kenny Wright's contract will run out after this year, and so will The Ade's, but they're not starters.

Manley also said that he and this player were good friends. It certainly isn't AA since he's not a current starter. The only secondary starters that come to mind on this are Springs or Rogers. Wright isn't playing all that well to be in a position to speak out and neither is Rogers, but Springs is. I still say it's Springs. In any event, it doesn't really matter who it is, the cat's out of the bag now. This player only helps to confirm what a lot of us feared was true anyway - that there is a major disconnect between the players and the coaches on the "D". There's just no other plausible explanation for why the entire "D" is sinking faster than the Titanic.

Got some more info on what Dexter told Bram. Dexter said he (Dexter) and Tom Friend were buddies and that Dexter knew the article was coming out, he just didn't know when, and he knew who the player was who talked to Friend. He wrote the player's number down who talked to ESPN and gave it to Bram. After looking at it, Bram said the player was a current starter and a leader on the secondary. His contract was nearing an end and that he did not expect to return next year and that he wanted out. Does anyone know the status of ST's contract? The only players this could possibly be are: Springs, Rogers or ST.