Bruce Smith Was Still Good His First Season In Washington

[UltimateSkins]

People always bash Smith around here because he stuck around for one year too long just to get the sack record, but for his first three seasons here, he was actually a decent DE.

In 2000 he had 10 sacks and 58 tackles which was pretty damn good considering it was his 16th season in the league.

This is why I think bringing in Simeon Rice would be a good idea. Rice still has more in the tank than Bruce Smith did when he came here and I believe Rice could easily get 12 sacks on the year, even if only used in pass rushing situations. Rice is a natural sack artist. Do you guys remember when the Redskins played the Bucs two years ago? Rice tooled Samuels and forced multiple fumbles with 3 sacks on the afternoon.

As long as the price tag isn't too high, why not go after Rice? We had 19 sacks last year incase you guys forgot.

[Skinsinparadise]

yeah I read today that Rice is going to visit the Giants -- it would stink that they who ALREADY have a better pass rush than us, upgrade it more and use him against us, again assuming Rice still has it from a health stand point.

[flexxskins]

You're right, his 16th season was fantastic. But not just because it was his 16th season, that's a good season for any DE in the league.

BTW, IMO the thread title should have included a reference to Simeon Rice.

[Touchdown Redskins]

Good point. I think it might even be worth it to sign him simply to keep him away from competition in our own division. He's definitely worth keeping around as long as it doesn't hurt our chances of extending Cooley or signing Landry.

[Skinsinparadise]

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Sunday, July 29th 2007, 4:00 AM

Simeon Rice could soon be with the Giants.

ALBANY - Simeon Rice always insisted he's a better player than Michael Strahan. Very soon, the Giants might find out for sure.

Rice, the 33-year-old defensive end who has had a running feud with Strahan for the last nine years, is scheduled to come in and visit the Giants tomorrow, according to two NFL sources. With the 35-year-old Strahan holding out of training camp and threatening to retire, the Giants are exploring their options and want to see if Rice is healthy enough to take Strahan's place.

Rice became available Thursday when he was cut by Tampa Bay. The Bucs said he failed a physical due to a shoulder injury that limited him to eight games last season. But Rice claimed he was waived when he refused to take a pay cut from the $7.25 million he was due this year.

The Giants likely will give him a physical tomorrow, but even if he passes it, Rice told reporters in Tampa that he needs at least three more weeks to rehabilitate his shoulder. However, if the Giants are satisfied with Rice's progress, they do plan to discuss a contract with him, according to a source.

When that will be is still something of a mystery. As of last night, Strahan and Tom Coughlin had exchanged several messages, but had yet to speak to each other. And GM Jerry Reese hadn't had any conversations with Strahan's camp since he spoke with the DE's agent, Tony Agnone, Thursday night.

Strahan, according to sources close to him, is home in California pondering his options. He has set no timetable to make his final decision.

However, the Giants' flirtation with Rice could push him over the edge. According to one source, Strahan is likely to be livid when he hears of Rice's visit. Not only has the seven-time Pro Bowler had a long-running war of words with Rice, but he also knows Rice will be expensive. And considering Strahan was rebuffed in his efforts to get a raise on his $4 million salary, he's not likely to be happy to see big money possibly going to someone else.

The fact that it's Rice will make it worse. The public sniping between the two of them dates back to 1998, when Rice was still an Arizona Cardinal. As recently as last August, Rice said, "Year in and year out, Michael Strahan is a great player. But he's still not me."

Strahan's response: "If you don't want to pay attention to what the defense is counting on you to do, if you just want to run up the field and get sacks, then you can be a Simeon Rice. You can have big numbers but you don't have the respect of defensive ends.

"He seems to be a little bit jealous of something," Strahan added. "I don't know what it is."

Perhaps it's the fact that Rice, a 6-5, 268-pounder, is second among active players with 121sacks. Strahan, of course, is first with 132-1/2, but that fact seemingly had no effect on Rice's ego. When he was cut by the Bucs, Rice said, "I'm the best that ever did it and they never gave me my props."

This actually is the second time the Giants have flirted with Rice. In 2001 they tried to lure him to become Strahan's teammate with a contract worth approximately $5 million per year. But he was looking for an annual salary closer to $7 million, so the Giants instead settled on Kenny Holmes.

That season, Rice began a string of five straight years with at least 10 sacks, totaling 67-1/2 over that span. The streak ended last year, his 11th NFL season, when he played in only eight games and registered only two sacks.

Rice also has drawn interest from the Tennessee Titans, who reportedly are trying to set up a visit as well.

[LongLostSkin]

Hell, Bruce Smith would still be the best pass rusher on this team. We could use an impact guy there, for a decent price tag of course.

I really don't like the idea of Simeon on the Giants, everytime we played the Bucs he was all over the place, just causing a tremendous amount of havoc.....we don't need that in division games now.

[laxpck]

Tell you the truth. I would rather have Strahan if he gets cut. Gap tooth and all.

I am now going to walk into oncoming traffic for thinking that way.

God but I would hire Stahan just to play the two games against the G"ay"-Men with a humongous chip on his shoulder.

[Hitman#21]

Tell you the truth. I would rather have Strahan if he gets cut. Gap tooth and all.

I am now going to walk into oncoming traffic for thinking that way.

God but I would hire Stahan just to play the two games against the G"ay"-Men with a humongous chip on his shoulder.

That would be great:applause:

I think Strahan will be cut or traded in the upcoming weeks, maybe we can make a run at him.

[Bleeding Burgundy]

That seems like a slap in the face for strahan. If he had any reservations for staying in NY at least.

[jnhay]

That would be great:applause:

I think Strahan will be cut or traded in the upcoming weeks, maybe we can make a run at him.

Isn't he already contemplating retirement? Getting cut would just make his decision for him, and he's not getting cut.

[Hitman#21]

Isn't he already contemplating retirement? Getting cut would just make his decision for him, and he's not getting cut.

Listen he still wants to play but not for the Giants he belives the Giants are rebuilding and cant deal with another season like last. You have to read between the lines here.

[turbodiesel#44]

Gee, you guys just don't get it, do you? GW uses LBs and DBs to apply QB pressure and sacks with blitzes. And a 212lb safety is much better equipped to stop the run from several yards behind the line of scrimmage where he can take in the bigger picture. Rice sucks at occupying blockers. He just blows past them shirking his duties. Same with Sapp. Incapable of playing the GW scheme.

JG has already stated he is not interested in Rice. He has the luxury of 3-5 more years to develop a young DL. Timing is everything. We don't need another BS. We should enter this season with the 30 something ranked DL intact from last year because they have improved so much during the offseason. Wouldn't want to upset that chemistry or mess with the DLs confidence by actually having ANY camp competition. HTTR.

[Canadian Hog]

Just a thought, but had the Redskins been so concerned about upgrading the defensive end position, they had the opportunity to do so with their first pick in last April's draft.

That provided the writing on the wall - if they deemed it such a grave concern, they wouldn't be waiting until the end of July to fix it.

[IWANTOBEGM]

Rice = poor attitude which is not needed in the locker room.

Washington has spent the last few days with the DL's working on technique as they plan on using him some at end on obivous passing downs. I'm good with that.

[JoeSkins]

Gee, you guys just don't get it, do you? GW uses LBs and DBs to apply QB pressure and sacks with blitzes.

No defensive coordinator is going to say "no thanks" to a DE who does what DE's are paid to do: get to the QB. Free pressure without blitzing is a mark of a good defense.

[LoudMouth12thMan]

Yeah right. So decent that he came to the golf course where I work part time (3 weeks ago), I'm standing right next to him talking to him on the range and on the putting green wearing my Skins cap and he says nothing. I talked to him at length, not just a casual hello, and to top it off he left a Maxfli ball w/ a Bills SB logo printed on it in his cart for the cart guys to find and never mentioned a thing to me about my hat. "Nice hat" anyone? or "I'm pulling for them" or somethin'. He's not a Redskin by heart, and rightfully so I guess. He's a Bill that played for us on the tail end of his career. I like the guy b/c he's always been nice and will always chat, but I don't see him as a former Skin nor do I think he sees himself as part of the Skins community. He's a Bills guy and sees himself as such. He's not someone I think of when I look back at our history. As far as being good his first season, who cares, he just doesn't consider himself part of the Skins community from what I can tell. Not that I ever expected him to frankly.

HTTR

[IWANTOBEGM]

No defensive coordinator is going to say "no thanks" to a DE who does what DE's are paid to do: get to the QB. Free pressure without blitzing is a mark of a good defense.

No coach, or at least Joe Gibbs, is going to bring in an over paid premadonna who is a cancer in the locker room. Saying no thanks to a player like Rice, who is hurt as well, is easy to do.

[WorldBFree76]

Sometimes a player's talent will be high enough that it will overcome his attitude.

Rice would be one of those cases.

[Walking Deadman]

All Smith will remember about the Skins is maybe three things:

1. When he played for the Skins he got paid mega-dollars for a guy at the end of his career not for the guy that played in 4 SBs

2. By getting paid waaaaaayyyyyyy too much as a Skin kept him going long enough to eventually break the all time sack record.

3. He never won a SB and thanks to the Skins in the 1991-1992 season, he was kept from getting one; despite all the hype and media love for the great Bills that season.

He's a HoFer but it will be as a Bill and it doesn't suprise me at all. I like Smith but I feel that there are alot of other guys that are more part of Redskins History and the "family" element than Smith.

[Touchdown Redskins]

I understand that we don't get pressure with our DLine, but it wouldn't hurt to, for once, have a dominant pass rusher...

[Skinsinparadise]

Gee, you guys just don't get it, do you? GW uses LBs and DBs to apply QB pressure and sacks with blitzes. And a 212lb safety is much better equipped to stop the run from several yards behind the line of scrimmage where he can take in the bigger picture. Rice sucks at occupying blockers. He just blows past them shirking his duties. Same with Sapp. Incapable of playing the GW scheme.

JG has already stated he is not interested in Rice. He has the luxury of 3-5 more years to develop a young DL. Timing is everything. We don't need another BS. We should enter this season with the 30 something ranked DL intact from last year because they have improved so much during the offseason. Wouldn't want to upset that chemistry or mess with the DLs confidence by actually having ANY camp competition. HTTR.

Reading the post, it sounds like you work with the team. If that's the case great, if not:

the lecture about how Gregg uses the back 7 not the front 4 for QB pressure. Yep, we get that but is that really where ALL his pressure comes from? Clearly, not or they wouldn't have signed Andre Carter last year. And if you have been reading their clippings this year, the D line have said that they will be let loose to go after the QB in a bigger way this season.

luxury of 3-5 years to develop a DE. Really. I guess Daniels is a spring chicken at 34 years old -- I guess with his perfect health :cool: and spry young age he should be easily playing and staring until he's 39.

You are talking about how much they improved this off season. Again, if you are working with the team, great, I'll go with it. But just because Montgomry, Golston said they know the system more and worked out a lot and Daniels says he's feeling better -- doesn't mean its in the bank and this time they will be studs. Only the team would know that.

Otherwise, when don't you read about players feeling that they will be better. Its rare to read a player say look I am out of shape, I don't get the play book and I expect to have a lousy season. Optimism reigns pretty much for EVERYBODY in the off season.

And as to messing with the D lines confidence by giving them some competition. IMO they'd have to have a pretty fragile ego and not think much of their abilities if we have to pamper them and worry about them being hurt by us throwing them some competition.

It's practically a cliche in sports that competition makes players better. In fact I recall one of the NFL scouts talking in one of the web sites about the problem with the Skins and they mentioned the lack of competiton for spots, and that we don't have the depth to scare players into thinking they could lose their jobs.

[turbodiesel#44]

Reading the post, it sounds like you work with the team. If that's the case great, if not:

check your meter

[Skinsinparadise]

check your meter

LOL, :cool: no saracism implied. Your post just read very preachy like you are in the know. You know how Gregg's defense works, and we don't. You know about how the line will be better and you know that Rice will disrupt chemistry. And that we have 3-5 years before we need to worry about developing a DE -- in my opinion doesn't make sense looking at our roster unless you know something that we are missing.

Now on all those counts yeah anyone working for the Skins would have some insight there that we don't. I got no clue whether the D line will be better, yeah I read the clippings but EVERY season players boast how they are going to break out so I take it with a grain of salt.

And as to Rice yeah is feasible to me that he's washed up or will be a problem in the locker room. For us it would be a guess either way, for someone who works with the Skins, they'd likely know the real answer.

Anyway just having some fun, and no offense implied.

Cheers!

[turbodiesel#44]

LOL, :cool: no saracism implied.

Cheers!

Sorry, I meant I was being sarcastic. We enter the season with the exact same DL that stunk up the league last year at dead last. I really hope our guys improve, but a significant improvement will only make them average by NFL standards. We have left ourselves with absolutely ZERO options other than hoping for the best out of these exact same guys.

BS WAS good his first year with us. It was a mistake sticking with him after his game dropped off. But who can argue with his 10 sacks and 58 tackles? A short term deal with a proven playmaker (if healthy) could propel this team back to winning. As far as shaking up the locker room, after watching every game last year, I think that is badly needed. We are not talking about TO here.

DB blitzes are great to surprise and change up the game, but ignoring the affect of a good DL pass rush and the related turnovers is foolish, IMO.

No offense taken

[michael_33]

Gee, you guys just don't get it, do you? GW uses LBs and DBs to apply QB pressure and sacks with blitzes. And a 212lb safety is much better equipped to stop the run from several yards behind the line of scrimmage where he can take in the bigger picture. Rice sucks at occupying blockers. He just blows past them shirking his duties. Same with Sapp. Incapable of playing the GW scheme.

JG has already stated he is not interested in Rice. He has the luxury of 3-5 more years to develop a young DL. Timing is everything. We don't need another BS. We should enter this season with the 30 something ranked DL intact from last year because they have improved so much during the offseason. Wouldn't want to upset that chemistry or mess with the DLs confidence by actually having ANY camp competition. HTTR.

If our coaches and most notably Gregg Williams believes in such a rediculous stratagy,than we are all doomed!!

It's OK to have a different philosophy in creating havok on the Defensive side of the ball,but to say having great D-lineman is not at all that important because of what scheme I run is complete and total errogance!

I can understand the team shying away from players just looking to get paid and contibute nothing,but to avoid any possible upgrade to your team when there is an obvious weakness is downright STUBBORN and STUPID!!

Now I'm not saying we need to sign RICE immediately,but to not look into any player in the NFL to help the team,because Gregg's Scheme is invincible is rediculous...!

I think last year showed we need to do whatever it takes to improve all area's of the team if it is possible without 1)breaking the Bank 2)tearing up team chemistry and 3)fitting the right person into what scheme we are running