If Springs...then Clements???

[phatboy41]

I don't want to make large changes on our team. People talk about how we sign too many flashy players that want cash and all and how that idea is horrible and then people go and say oh I want this guy and this guy. Getting depth at CB would be great, and we definately need it. I really don't think Springs said anything. If he did, then he was making himself a coward on the interview by proclaiming anyone to do that would be a coward for not coming out and just saying it. I don't want to get rid of Springs, I think he is a leader on our team. If we sign someone it should be as a back up, unless Springs shows some fast signs of slowing down later in the season.

[laurent]

Why is there a thread about Clements coming here every week?

There's been threads about him coming here going on 3 years now. I guess fans here are hoping that if they repeat it often enough then it will come true.

[Jethrodsp]

I hope Shawn Springs stays.

He is a great leader and ambassador for this team and still is playing good football.

[ZoEd]

I would settle for a true two way DE in the draft, a veteran corner to be the #3, and the acquisition of a better pass protector at guard to replace Derrick Dockery, whom I don't think the Redskins should resign.

What is so terrible about Dockery that would cause us not to resign him? If he doesn't get too many offers from other teams then we can most definitely resign him cheap. We still need to pick up a few O linemen for depth but Dock is good enough to resign as long as he doesn't get stupid and start whining for too much money.

[phatboy41]

I agree about resigning Dock. If we can get him for cheap money then we should definately resign him. He knows our team. He's been with us. Keep him here, unless he asks for too much money.

[21Knock_U_Out]

The problem, according to a notable Redskins player, is a scheme, a staff and a play-calling regimen that is flawed and predictable, and a sense that Williams is on too much of a power trip to adjust.

"Why are we the 30th defense in the league? I think coaches got arrogant, I think Gregg got arrogant," the player said Tuesday, asking not to be identified. "They thought they figured it all out. They thought, 'We can win with scheme, we don't need players.' Don't be mistaken, this is a player-driven game, and so you need players. Any time in life when somebody thinks they've got it all figured out, it's going to come and get you. It's going to come and get you … the sentiment is a lot of guys are mad because the coaches think it's all about them. They think they're f------ geniuses, thinking they can just let guys go and get away with handling people badly."

To be specific, Redskins defenders, particularly in the secondary, have regressed, Taylor being the main culprit. Out of the University of Miami, Taylor was arguably the most-talented cover safety to enter the league in years. His first preseason game, he intercepted two passes, returning one for a score. But he's been tinkered with so much now, Redskins players say he no longer plays on instinct.

A lot of Taylor's woes can be traced a lot to the hiring of Steve Jackson as Redskins safety coach. Jackson came with Williams from Buffalo, where he was a lower-level defensive coach, and Jackson supposedly was hurt when Williams chose DeWayne Walker as his main secondary coach in 2003 and 2004. He wanted the job himself, and when Walker left after the 2005 season, he assumed he'd get it. But Williams' old defensive coordinator in Buffalo, Jerry Gray, had just become available, and Williams hired him. Jackson was ticked.

So Williams threw him a bone, a bone which has literally torn up the secondary. He made Jackson safeties coach and Gray cornerbacks coach and allowed Jackson to run his own meetings. That means that the Redskins' safeties and corners do not meet together, which is practically unheard of.

"Talk to any coach in the league, and ask them, 'Have you ever heard of corners and safeties not meeting together?'" the Redskins player says. "They'd say, 'What are you talking about?' That's crazy. But ever since minicamps, OTAs, training camp, we hadn't met as a secondary. On the field, the corners will start making a call or doing something, and the safeties will be, 'What are you talking about? We didn't go over that.' So now the corners are expecting help in certain situations, and the safeties aren't getting there in time. And people got beat in the secondary.

"Everybody was saying they had to start meeting together. So the last three weeks they have. But 40 percent of the time Steven Jackson's not in the meeting. Because he pouts, because Jerry's running the meeting."

On the field, Jackson's (and presumably Williams') techniques aren't working, either. The innovators of Cover 2, such as Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy, want their safeties staying deep, 2 yards inside the numbers and staying squared up. They want them reading the quarterback and breaking downhill on everything.

But Jackson began teaching Taylor and Co. not to read the quarterback, but to read the receivers' breaks and releases and react accordingly. He wanted them to be aggressive out of Cover 2, to help on the run, even though Cover 2 is not known to be a run-stopping defense. Williams wants to call it a lot because, ideally, if you can stop the run with a Cover 2, you have the best of both worlds, because it's specifically designed to prevent the deep ball. But Jackson kept exhorting Taylor and his early-season safety mate, Adam Archuleta, to be aggressive playing the run out of the Cover 2, and they began to get beat on the play-action pass repeatedly.

According to the Redskins player, Jackson then began berating his players profanely -- although he tends to go lighter on Taylor -- and they reached bottom in Philadelphia, when Donte' Stallworth beat Taylor deep for an 84-yard touchdown. Witnesses say that at that point, the other defensive coaches became officially peeved at Jackson for making Taylor "play like a robot," and for turning him into a confused, regressing player who now tunes out coaches and teammates.

"And then Steve Jackson began pouting at practice," the player said. "He pouts at practice. He'll stand by himself and won't coach anybody. This last game in Tampa, we had a player at halftime go up to him and say, 'Are you going to just sit there and pout, or are you gonna f------ coach your guys up?'"

Williams, in the meantime, has not backed off of calling the Cover 2, perhaps out of stubbornness. And the rest of the league has clearly caught on.

"Guys are saying teams have figured Gregg out, his M.O.," the Redskins defender said. "They know he's going to play the run with Cover 2. They know he's going to come and blitz [leaving corners on an island] on third down, and none of our blitzes are getting there anymore. We're trying to get too cute, we're trying to reinvent the wheel, instead of understanding what wins football games.

"Gregg Williams, I don't understand. They're so arrogant around here, they think they can stop the run in Cover 2. When it's an obvious running down, he calls Cover 2. That's a seven-man front. They're going to get 4 yards a carry every time. There might be some games where, hey, we're playing the crap out of the run in Cover 2. Well, that's great. Then, you call it. But when you're getting gashed Cover 2, Cover 2, and they come out in two tight ends, two running backs, and one wide receiver and we're in Cover 2. … And if we don't call Cover 2, we blitz. And you live by the blitz, you die by the blitz."

Getty Images

Gregg Williams has led the Redskins' defense since being fired at Buffalo.There have been myriad scapegoats, too, all players that Williams asked for. Scapegoat No. 1: Andre Carter. He was brought in to rush the passer, but players say Williams calls so many run stunts, he's not being allowed to do what he does best: speed rush.

"Last year, the D-line started playing well when they straight started rushing the passer," the player said. "They could beat guys one on one and get in a rhythm and tee off. Now, we're trying to get too exotic, so we've got Cornelius Griffin doing exotic stuff, who doesn't rush on third down anymore basically. … All these stunts and games? The D-linemen are just saying, man, just let us go, just let us go."

Scapegoat No. 2: Archuleta. Bears coach Lovie Smith, Archuleta's former coordinator and mentor in St. Louis, badly wanted him in Chicago, and Archuleta preferred Smith, too. But the Redskins offered the richest deal ever for a safety, and Archuleta accepted it -- according to his agent Gary Wichard -- because Williams promised him he'd blitz him more than Smith, that he'd keep him in the box. Instead, Archuleta's blitzed only a handful of times, and has been benched for Troy Vincent and now Vernon Fox.

Wichard says that Jackson and Williams haven't spoken to Archuleta since the Redskins' bye four weeks ago, and that rookie Reed Doughty, who's been mostly inactive this year, is getting reps ahead of him in practice this week. That means Archuleta, who signed for a $10 million bonus last spring, is on the scout team, which baffles plenty of NFL executives.

Scapegoat No. 3: Rogers. He's the cornerback that was left on an island on the go-ahead touchdown Sunday against Tampa Bay's Joey Galloway. Williams blitzed and missed, costing the team the score. Afterward, Williams took public blame for the call, a rarity, but a Redskins player said, "No, he didn't. In meetings, Carlos still heard about it."

So what you have, according to one Redskins player, is a fractured defense that isn't playing passionately for Williams anymore. After making examples of Pierce, Smoot, Arrington, Harris, Clark, Stoutmire -- and now Carter, Archuleta and Rogers -- the morale appears beyond repair.

After reading this it seems to me that AA is behind this.

1.Refering to the Safties not on the same page as the corners, thats why they were being burnt.

2.He has gotten the most flak for his play

3.Williams always has praise toward ST.

4.A couple of weeks ago an ES member wrote to AA's girl friend on my space and said that he sucks!She then wrote back to him and said , it is not the players but the coaches!Speculation?Maybe.I just hope it is him and not Taylor.I would cry for a week if he left.

[909997]

i think its renoldo wynn

[fansince62]

"DID YOU ORDER THE CODE RED?!?!?!"

thst is wickedly funny!!!!!

[worstSeat]

Why, why, why? Why always AA, he's not being a cancer on this team, why does everyone always chose him to pick on? I don't get it :doh:

You see how often Archuleta was shown on the sideline BS'n with Taylor? Seems to be the opposite of a cancer, though I wonder what he's going to do now that he's no good in the "personal protector" role.

[dfbovey]

Why is there a thread about Clements coming here every week?

It's a likely scenario. Whether Springs said it or not, he's getting old and he's injury prone. Skins need a corner regardless.

If we pick up Clements and draft the best available pass rusher in the draft, that would be a great way to start the offseason.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Why, why, why? Why always AA, he's not being a cancer on this team, why does everyone always chose him to pick on? I don't get it :doh:

I don't quite get it, either...although I do suspect that more than one player conveyed those sentiments and AA could have been one of them. But the MAIN source?...Highly doubt it, not from everything that's been said. That is, unless everyone here wants to believe that Archuletta is a leader of the defense and is effected personally by how things were run before he ever signed onto the team...

[ATL_Hail]

I think it was Steve Czaban in cohoots with Mark Brunnell

[s0crates]

I doubt its Shawn Springs. I suspect Adam Archuletta because he is really the only guy who has a reason to be upset, but that is just speculation. I don't think we can really be sure who it is, but I really find it hard to imagine Springs saying the stuff written in that article.

Regardless, Clements may be worth looking into anyway. If Springs and Rogers can continue to play at the level they played at Carolina, we don't really need him, but if they revert to their early season form, Clements would be worth looking at.

Personally, I hope that Rogers and Springs continue to play as well as they did last week.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

No way its Shawn Springs. I suspect Adam Archuletta because he is really the only guy who has a reason to be upset, but that is just speculation.

If what was described in the article is true, then there could realistically be a lot of guys with reasons to be upset. It was speculated that defensive players aren't exactly applauding the handling of Arrington and now Archuletta, and even Ryan Clark...if that turned out to be true, then I could see a handful of Skins players possibly speaking out, as unfortunate as that is in my eyes.

[G-Prime]

it wasnt springs they interviewed him post game and he said it wasnt him

Something about his demeanor and how he acted during the interview kinda rubbed me the wrong way.. Couldn't say I trusted him 100%.. I'm a huge Springs fan and I hope he's telling the truth

[flexxskins]

without Springs this defense is at least a notch lower overall. Springs 2007 salary against the cap may be high but there aren't that many true cover corners in the NFL.

the Redskins are going to be taking a huge hit if they have to let Archuleta go before that roster bonus next March.

I don't see the Skins in the mix for a Clements or a Dwight Freeney and see the 2007 offseason as being a relatively quiet one, a la 2001.

If anything the Redskins will be JETTISONING salaries and big name players that have aged on the vine.

I would settle for a true two way DE in the draft, a veteran corner to be the #3, and the acquisition of a better pass protector at guard to replace Derrick Dockery, whom I don't think the Redskins should resign.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[flexxskins]

Why, why, why? Why always AA, he's not being a cancer on this team, why does everyone always chose him to pick on? I don't get it :doh:

Question is, why are you so offended? There are like 40,000 members here, some of their views might differ from yours. Try to relax. Unless it's you Adam. :whoknows:

[ZoEd]

Question is, why are you so offended? There are like 40,000 members here, some of their views might differ from yours. Try to relax. Unless it's you Adam. :whoknows:

It's getting old that's why. :2cents:

In the tailgate everything is Bush's fault, here in the stadium it seems to be AA. By the way, if it was him, good on him. Good on who ever it was, seems to be plenty of truth in it.

[3sbs3diffqbs]

I think it was Steve Czaban in cohoots with Mark Brunnell

Brunell is on the bench now. You got your wish. No need to continue dropping his misspelled name in random posts that have nothing to do with him.

My gut says its Prioleau. No hard evidence, it's just that my first impression was that it was a safety rather than a corner, and AA just doesn't seem like the guy either, I just don't see AA having a strong motive to stir things up with hearsay and false pretenses. If this article came from someone who has been on the team a couple of years, then it's sincere. If it came from a new player like AA, it just seems like a childish attempt to stir things up.