Why the backstabbing?

Whatever. It's water over the dam now. What's iomportant now is finding a way to assure that Patrick Ramsey is protected in 2006...

ahmen!

Pierce - The guy did a great job for us and I have no hard feelings. I think AP was the most "honest" of all these guys. He told the Redskins he'd seek the best deal he could and the Skins would have the chance to match any offer. He got his deal and the Skins decided not to match. Not to mention this is the guy's first (and maybe only) big payday so I'm not sure any of us would have handled it differently. I wish him the best, but I can't say the same for the Giants.

Smoot - Definitely one of my favorite Skins. The guy always played hard and played hurt. He was a team leader and I wish we coulda kept him. But I will defer to Williams here. The guy obviously seems to know what he's talking about when it comes to D, so who am I to argue? Smoot got a decent amount more from Minny, and I'm kind of glad we showed a little spending restraint. I think in this case both sides were a little hypocritical with their comments. We said we wanted to keep him and Smooty said he wanted to stay here, but at the end of the day it seems neither side was willing to budge much to make that happen. So I can only assume we didn't want him as bad as we said, and he didn't want to stay here as much as he indicated. I have no hard feelings here either. The saddest part of this whole thing is probably smootsmack's name change. I have great memories of Smoot as a Skin and this won't really tarnish them. I just wish he wasn't such close friends with Champ.

Coles - I've had time to calm down and think about it, but I still can't understand it. LC was my favorite Skin. I thought the guy was great and always played hard. He had great speed and instincts and usually made something out of nothing. Even on those brutal screens we kept running last year, LC was usually able to turn no gain into some gain. I just can't make sense of his logic here:
- LC would rather leave the Skins coached by JOE GIBBS, to go play for the freakin' JETS?????? Nothing against the J-E-T-S or Herm Edwards but what is this 1970? Is Joe Namath there? I can't understand this.
- LC didn't like the offense but he caught 90 balls! Only one WR in the NFL was thrown to more. Granted most were short routes but that's what the coach and team wanted (needed). Since when are WRs used exclusively deep? Maybe they should come up with new positions called SWR (short WR) and LWR (long WR).
- If LC was a free agent and decided to leave I'd still be upset for the reasons above, but he got a $13M bonus 2 years ago. I know he liked Spurrier blah blah blah. Well no one said Spurrier would be here 7 years so I don't think that argument holds up.
- He knew his cap hit would kill us and hurt the team that made him rich, but he didn't seem to care. As for the "$5M giveback", no one really knows the story and the bottom line is he gave nothing back.

I figure Snyder said "f*^k him", he'll sit for 2 years and watch from his flat screen. But my guess is that Gibbs decided that was not the best route for team chemistry and decided to dump him, despite the hideous cap hit. And I respect Gibbs for sticking to his offer of letting non-Skins go.

That being said we can't afford to bend over every time a player starts crying. I give Gibbs and the Skins a pass this time since LC was not Gibbs' signing. But I hope this is the last time we ever give in like this.

I do have hurt feelings from LC's departure. I guess he wasn't exactly the guy we all thought he was. I hope he's happy playing for the JETS in the friggin' AFC. So long and good riddance.

I'd hoped I'd have many great memories of Ramsey throwing TDs to LC all over the field. Instead I'll forever remember Coles as our $9 Million Dollar Baby.

Crazy Cannuck - last time I checked Herm Edwards could get his team not just close, but into the AFC playoffs and should have been the AFC championship game. That's a far cry from 6-10 in the NFC.

How many years did Herm Edward spend away from the sport before becoming a coach?

How many Super Bowl rings does Edwards have as a head coach?

Crazy Cannuck - last time I checked Herm Edwards could get his team not just close, but into the AFC playoffs and should have been the AFC championship game. That's a far cry from 6-10 in the NFC.

That's a fair point, but something tells me the team's record had little impact on Coles decision. He wants the ball deep.

Also maybe I'm a biased old man, but it amazes me that anyone that saw the Skins play in the 80s wouldn't want to play for Coach Gibbs. I guess times have changed.

Canuck - Gibbs did great things in the 80's. But this ain't the 80's no mo. I'm sure it was hard being on that offense last year. When you have a defense like we had, you have to win more than 6 games. It didn't require a lot of points.

If I were a player Herm Edwards seems like the coolest coach in the league IMO.

I'm also sick of the "how many rings does XXX have."

Gibbs won three rings a long time ago. It was a different game. So far he has yet to prove he can win in today's NFL. This isn't saying he can't, but I'm letting Gibbs record speak for itself. He had plenty of talent and the best defense in the NFC. That's a lot to work with and he just made a mess.

A blast from the past...

"This is a very demanding job. It's a long grind and I feel that after 20 years as a head coach, there are other things that I need to do. I appreciate all the support, especially from former Redskins players in the area and again, I wish we would have come closer to the success those players enjoyed under Coach Joe Gibbs."

Hmmm. It would seem that there have been 'far far better men' that came before Coach Gibbs that have acknowledged his success.

That's a lot to work with and he just made a mess.

He's cleaning up a mess from the previous HC.

;)

If you want to toss Gibbs' credentials aside, fair enough.

So explain what ye ol ball coach did to garner your complete support then??

I'd hoped I'd have many great memories of Ramsey throwing TDs to LC all over the field. Instead I'll forever remember Coles as our $9 Million Dollar Baby.

Lav "$9 million dollar baby" Coles

Has a nice ring to it