Don't let the door hit ya........

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/288460p-246923c.html

Coles, who has bashed Washington's Joe Gibbs in recent days for running a conservative offense, tried to make nice by saying he and Gibbs parted on good terms. Asked what it says about him that he couldn't play for a Hall of Fame coach, Coles became angry.

"I'm sorry you have to ask me those kind of questions," he snapped. "I don't think it says anything about me. It says what kind of person you are. Why would you even put me on the spot like that?"

So Coles didn't like being asked why he couldn't get along with a Hall of Fame head coach who owns 3 Super Bowl rings.

I'm sorry, but that whole situation says a lot about you, buddy.

It says a lot about you when you are questioning a head coach with the track record that Joe Gibbs has.

It says a lot about you when you complain about playing in a run oriented offense and yet you've had more passes thrown your way than any other WR in the entire NFC.

But then again, the Jets are used to WRs that just want the damn ball, I guess.

The question I've got to ask is, can Coles ever be happy?

Apparently the fat pay day the Redskins gave him didn't make him happy. Getting more balls thrown to him than any other NFC WR didn't make him happy. Playing for a Hall of Fame head coach with 3 Super Bowl rings didn't make him happy. And apparently, having to deal with the NY media didn't make him happy yesterday.

For his sake, I hope Chad Pennington's shoulder heals. I wonder how happy he'll be playing in an offense with Curtis Martin if they are running a back up QB out there?

I can't believe what I'm hearing in Redskins land

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18484-2005Mar8.html

You have got to be kidding me.

12 months ago Antonio Pierce was a back up OLB on the Redskins. And now he's supposed to be this irreplacable player that the Skins couldn't afford to lose?

This reminds me more of the Redskins signing Jeremiah Trotter away from the Eagles. And we all know how that one worked out.

12 months ago we also had people saying that the Redskins defense was doomed because they were replacing Champ Bailey with "injury prone" Shawn Springs at CB.

That seemed to work out, OK.

The bottom line is that I don't see Pierce or Smoot or Coles as irreplacable.

I also don't see the newly found fiscal responsibility as a bad thing.

Just look at the two teams that played for the Vince Lombardi Trophy this past season. Both the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles built their teams based on being fiscally responsible. Sure, the Eagles went outside that gameplan a bit last offseason with the additions of TO and Jevon Kearse. But, they were able to make those impact moves because of how they ran things leading up to last offseason.

And while I've said before that I think Joe Gibbs needs a real GM to help him out, those comments were based on what happened last offseason and not what has happened this offseason.

About the only move that I can criticize so far this offseason is trading Coles for Santana Moss over taking Coles up on the offer to forgo the $5 million deferred signing bonus payment and saving themselves a healthy chunk of cap space this offseason.

I'm not sure that Moss will be worth that much to this team given his injury history and the fact that he's not the toughest WR in the NFL.

But, the decisions to not pay Pierce more than Pro Bowl OLB Marcus Washington and to not pay Fred Smoot more than #1 CB Shawn Springs were solid moves, IMO.

Reebok signs up hockey's Next One

http://en.rbkhockey.com/news/read.php?pr_id=205

Hockey's biggest phenom, Sidney Crosby, has signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract to endorse Reebok hockey equipment.

This is easily the biggest move that the sporting goods giant has made since acquiring The Hockey Company. Crosby has been touted as the LeBron James of hockey and has been compared to players like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

At a minimum, the kid has a ton of talent and has the charm and charisma to be a media darling in the future.

It will be interesting to see how far Reebok goes to push Crosby into the mainstream in North America.

Is it the system?

That is the question that is being asked today by many Redskins fans after starting MLB Antonio Pierce signed a healthy FA contract with the NY Giants.

12 months ago Pierce was a back up OLB that played primarily on special teams. But with a knee injury to FA pick up Mike Barrow and Jeremiah Trotter being cut, Pierce was moved inside where he thrived in new defensive guru Gregg Williams' system.

And after a season where he led the 3rd best defense in the NFL in tackles, plenty of people were saying that Pierce was the heart and soul of the defense and that he was so smart that he was like having a coach on the field.

Well, the coach on the field has moved on to a division rival after the Redskins actually used fiscal responsbility and opted not to match a $26 million offer from the Giants that included a $6.5 million signing bonus.

Personally, I thought that they should have matched it. But, that likely would have ended any hope of trading disgruntled WR Laveranues Coles. It might also have ended any chance of re-signing UFA CB Fred Smoot.

So the Redskins have decided to roll the dice and try a similiar transformation with OLB Lemar Marshall who played well last season as Lavar Arrington's replacement at the Will LB spot. That is if Mike Barrow can't come back or is cut due to his knee injury that kept him off the field all of last season.

Basically, the Redskins seem to be looking at what the New England Patriots have done lately and they are trying to mimic what they've done.

The Redskins upgraded themselves at center by signing ex-Raven Casey Rabach to a deal that only included at $4.5 million in guarantees and averaged under $3 million per season.

The Redskins have also added former Patriots WR David Patten to a similiar sized contract that won't include huge cap numbers in the future.

While neither of these signings are earth shattering, they do show that after years of fans saying that Snyder and company should stop going for the big splash in free agency, that perhaps he's finally gotten the message.

And to me that's a good thing.

The only big money that was thrown around this offseason was to keep franchise LT Chris Samuels. And he was more than happy to shout that he was a "Redskin for life" at his press conference.

I'm just hoping that Snyder and company can figure out a way to be fiscally responsible and to make Fred Smoot a "Redskin for life" as well.

Ahhh, the opening of NFL FA is here!

Now is the time where the NFL's parity wields it's power.

Teams have to cut loose veterans to get under the salary cap and teams with cap space overpay for players.

As a Redskins fan, I know all about overpaying for free agents. Ever since Dan Snyder bought the team there have been a parade of overpaid FAs from Mark Carrier, Jeff George, Deion Sanders, and Bruce Smith early on in Snyder's reign of terror to Mark Brunell last season.

But maybe this is the offseason that the crazy spending stops.

Sure, they just gave Chris Samuels a huge extension, but he's a two time Pro Bowl LT. Guys like that never come cheap.

But, all the talk that the Skins were about to throw crazy money at ex-Titans CB Samari Rolle seems to have eminated from the player's camp in an attempt to artificially inflate the market using the Redskins rep as high spenders as leverage.

The hot rumor in Redskins land is that they've addressed one major offensive need in signing ex-Ravens center Casey Rabach.

The next things on their FA plate have to be re-signing or replacing defensive FA's MLB Antonio Pierce and CB Fred Smoot.

The Skins also need to figure out what they are going to do at the WR spot.

Is Rod Gardner a goner?

Is Laveranues Coles a goner?

Are there any FAs that will fit their scheme and their cap goals?

Will there be a WR they like available when they are on the clock with the 9th pick in the draft?

After those questions are answered, then they might also want to look at upgrading their pass rush from the DE position.

I'm just hoping that while they are looking to address all these various needs that they use a little more restraint than they have in the past.