Return Of Lavar

to say that he is not a student of the game, that he is overrated, that we would trade him in a heartbeat, saying that smoot is a bigger leader which I believe is not true, that he is overrated,... some not all just believe what the media portrays i don't understand how a player who can single handedly change a season from going down the drain as one of the worst, to actually coming back to have a chance is not a leader. His interseption gave the team a spirit that we could do it, that spirit is stemed from leadership, I understand that we do have other leaders which is great and I try not to be biased, Smoot USED TO BE my favorite player but i don't believe he is a better leader. Some leaders on our team would be Coles, Springs, and Pierce. I do not put smoot anywhere near that catagory and I hope Daesal tells me why he thinks Smoot is more of a leader. Lavar's inspiration is what drove this team to that success and he would be playing in the probowl in about 25 minutes if he were not to get hurt.

you can claim to but one year ago no one would say he wasn't the face of this team, the leader the role model, I believe he has the love for this team as many other players do not. THe city loves him i am just stuned to see that there are only a few who are behind him, all of you may not be against him but few are behind him.

NEXT YEAR --56--

to say that he is not a student of the game, that he is overrated, that we would trade him in a heartbeat, saying that smoot is a bigger leader which I believe is not true, that he is overrated,... some not all just believe what the media portrays i don't understand how a player who can single handedly change a season from going down the drain as one of the worst, to actually coming back to have a chance is not a leader. His interseption gave the team a spirit that we could do it, that spirit is stemed from leadership, I understand that we do have other leaders which is great and I try not to be biased, Smoot USED TO BE my favorite player but i don't believe he is a better leader. Some leaders on our team would be Coles, Springs, and Pierce. I do not put smoot anywhere near that catagory and I hope Daesal tells me why he thinks Smoot is more of a leader. Lavar's inspiration is what drove this team to that success and he would be playing in the probowl in about 25 minutes if he were not to get hurt.

I will tell you how Smoot is a leader he play's hurt and sacrifices his body no matter how much pain he is in for the team, his play makes him a leader, you wont find him on the sidelines with pain, only an injury where he couldn't play, Smoot play's with a big heart. How's are defense been with Lavar on the field? We haven't stopped anyone, with Lavar out this year we were #1 most of the year and finished in the top 3, and what a comparison for Lavar to an undrafted journeymen in Marshall, If we can finish in the top 3 with the way our offense played this year keeping the defense on the field for 2/3rd's of the game with a journeymen LB how much more of an impact will Lavar have? I say not remotly enough to live up to that contract he was given, the one he signed and now is crying about because he was to stupid to read it and to stupid to hire a real agent who could read it, the fact is he is already way overpaid I can't imagine us agreeing to an additional 6 million, and yet he is still crying about it. Smoot has every right to try and get a big contract just as Lavar did, you have to have some brain's to be a leader and Smoot is much smarter than Lavar, Smoot fired the Poston's a long time ago!

It also seem's you have hung Lavar's entire carreer on 1 play, yes 1 play, big deal! Did we win a SB that year I am not aware of? Did we make the playoff's? The answer of coarse is no, so please stop with the shot heard around the world analogies please.

1) The defense got decent pressure on the QB this past season due to the Gregg Williams blitz packages. But if we had Lavar in there, you can line him up on passing downs as a DE, and then you don't need to blitz as many defenders. You send Lavar, dropping LBs and safeties into coverage, and lo and behold Lavar's pressure results in a hurried throw by the QB. And when you've got guys in coverage, and hurried throws by the QB, you get more interceptions. And we saw in 2002-2003 he had 11.5 sacks, so we know Lavar can get to the QB.

2) Trading Lavar is a financial impossibility. Trading him would hit our cap with $20 million in 2005. Just so you know, the team has only about $4-$5 million in room right now.

3) I think that Lavar and Smoot bring a lot of energy to the field, they're fierce, passionate, and emotional players. But the leader of the D is Antonio Pierce. He calls all the signals, studies the opposing offenses, and lines his teammates up accordingly. When rookies like Sean Taylor don't know their responsibility on a certain play call, they look to Pierce to set them straight. See, you have Gregg Williams on the sidelines calling plays before the snap, and he is a brilliant defensive mind. But once the offense lines up, Gregg Williams can't help you anymore. It's up to the players to adjust to formations and pre-snap motion, and Antonio Pierce is the guy who calls out those adjustments. Gregg Williams is reason 1 why the D was so great this year, but Pierce is reason 1a. He is the leader now, he's earned that role on the team.

All that said, Lavar makes the team so much better. Mainly because of the big play and turnover potential.

Arrington is a top 3 LB in the legue when healthy. I know some people here disagree but I'll go with the football professionals who all seem to think he is a difference maker. He dictates pass protection when in the game and is cause for concern on every play from the offense's point of view. He plays at another level in terms of speed and agility. Does he make mistakes? Yeah he makes mistakes but I'd argue the mistakes he makes are highlighted simply by the fact that he is faster and quicker than just about any other LB in the league. The mistakes he makes are common mistakes that every LB in the league makes. In fact i wouldn't call many of them mistakes but rather just good plays by the offense. It just looks worse when he does it because he is on another level in terms of athletic ability. Is he as good as say Ray-Ray? I couldn't possibly say yes but I can't think of any other OLB I'd rather have when healthy.

I think the people that are "down" on LaVar are that way because of his huge contract. I can understand that. Also, the knocks on him are that he plays out of control and out of position at times. I think that comes with the territory with a player like him.

I also think with Sean Taylor we're going to say similar things about him, but again that comes with the territory. For every play that he over runs, he'll have a bone crunching hit or force a turnover. Taylor and Arrington are both very physically gifted players who play with a ton of aggression and instinct. They're going to make their share of mistakes, but both will also make their share of hard hits and momentum changing plays.

It's interesting how it seems so many people are down on LaVar, but hold Smoot up to a different level. Perhaps if Smoot received a monster contract we might look at him differently when he gets beat for a TD or gets schooled all game long by a WR.

I think most would agree that straight up, LaVar is the better football player when compared to Smoot. So what makes them different? A big contract. Once Smoot has his it will be interesting to see if opinions change.

I think the people that are "down" on LaVar are that way because of his huge contract. I can understand that. Also, the knocks on him are that he plays out of control and out of position at times. I think that comes with the territory with a player like him.

I also think with Sean Taylor we're going to say similar things about him, but again that comes with the territory. For every play that he over runs, he'll have a bone crunching hit or force a turnover. Taylor and Arrington are both very physically gifted players who play with a ton of aggression and instinct. They're going to make their share of mistakes, but both will also make their share of hard hits and momentum changing plays.

It's interesting how it seems so many people are down on LaVar, but hold Smoot up to a different level. Perhaps if Smoot received a monster contract we might look at him differently when he gets beat for a TD or gets schooled all game long by a WR.

I think most would agree that straight up, LaVar is the better football player when compared to Smoot. So what makes them different? A big contract. Once Smoot has is it will be interesting to see if opinions change.

Great post Matty. I couldn't agree more....

2) Trading Lavar is a financial impossibility. Trading him would hit our cap with $20 million in 2005. Just so you know, the team has only about $4-$5 million in room right now.

Please read through the post and find anywhere someone says trade him. Everyone saying that he is a bit over-rated has also said it's impossible to trade him, that is not what we were debating. We may have put hypothetical situations out, but those were laid out ahead of time!

SChneed: Though I feel Peirce plays the roll of field quarterback, I don't see him as a leader. I don't think he's the guy who finally got off the bench and all of a sudden in the locker room presence. I feel Smoot is the guy that gets people fired up, I feel he leads by example, and he's been a veteran starter for the team for time to come. Pierce is great in that MLB roll, I loved seeing him move Dlinemen around, telling people what to do. At one point Greg Williams said that he would get half way through a signal and Pierce would turn around and finish calling it because he knew the rest. That's a great MLB, no doubt. However, I don't feel that property makes a real leader that everyone rallies around. Those are just my thoughts.

FRPLG: LaVar overruns not because of his speed, by his lack of confidence. You can get him going with counter plays, reverses etc. If he studied more film and was less of a freelancer he'd make many more plays, in my opinion.

Matty, good post. It's partially contract and partially attitude for me. The contract, was bigger than he deserved in my eyes, but I also know he won't receive a majority of it because we'll have him restructure in 4-5 years. The 6 million he signed the contract without but wants now is silly to me, and I think he should give it up. I know 6 million is a lot, and if he had a leg to stand on I wouldn't complain. However, if you sign a contract without it, sorry. Looks like he also overran his contract negotiations. I've said many times LaVar will make a big play because he's gifted, but he will also make more mistakes than Marshall, which on a fast team like our defense isn't always THAT bad. He's great in coverage because he matches up with TEs well. We have the ability to drop ST, Washington, and Arrington into coverage on top tier TEs. If it's a smaller guy we can even put Springs. That gives us a lot of leeway as far as how to scheme for big name TEs like TG, Shockey, McMichael, Gates, etc. Like Offiss, our defense was already great last year, I think we allowed the lowest yards per play, either that or 2nd, which in my opinion is a better gauge than total yards. So the drop off between him and Marshall will be slim. Will I be glad to have him back, sure will. He's exciting to watch, no doubt. I don't hate Lavar, just some of his actions. I just think he gets too much press and too much credit, but seems to get down when we're losing and doesn't do his job as the face of our defense to get the guys riled up. Complaining about getting a say in personel decisions also infuriated me. He's a linebacker - not exactly FO material. Shutup and play is what Snyder shoulda told him.

Smoot has the ability to be a leader which is why a lot of people love him. I remember him getting ragged when he got used one game, and that will happen to every player. I was in on it! If Smoot received Bailey money, I'd agree. I don't think his talent equates to that, but I understand Smoot jockeying for position. He needs to make money. I feel the club should find a way to accomidate him as long as it doesn't deystroy the cap. Smoot is more important to this scheme because of the 1 on 1 style we run. We need good corners. If our corners don't keep coverage. We're screwed!

Matty you pretty much summed up my feeling's on Lavar we are paying him way to much money for what he bring's to the field, if he was paid like an average LB or there about's I would be fine, but to blow our cap out of the water for any LB other than lawerence Taylor is dumb on management's part, but if you except that kind of contract you better be able to justify it with your play and he never has. As for Smoot I have said more than once that he's asking for to much money and all his antic's right now are just about trying to leverage the fan support into a bigger deal, I don't feel he will do better on the open market than the deal we offered, even if he recieved an offer close it won't be that much of a difference to make him jump team's, I said it before I don't believe Smoot will be else where next year I just don't see other team's breaking the bank for him I think we have been very generous with our offer and I believe he really want's to be in DC.

As for Lavar I am hoping he can justify that contract with his play but he will need a monster year to justify a monster contract.

WOW...I've created a monster.