Star Ledger:Giants: Season hasn't turned out the way Armstead expected

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Giants: Season hasn't turned out the way Armstead expected

Thursday, December 04, 2003

BY KIMBERLY JONES

Star-Ledger Staff

Count Jessie Armstead among the legions who had envisioned Sunday's game between his former team, the Giants, and current team, the Redskins, having a lot more at stake than it does.

As it is, both teams are 4-8. Third place and last place in the NFC East are all that's on the line.

"We will make this into a New York and Washington Super Bowl right here," Armstead, the 11-year linebacker, said yesterday with a laugh. "Both teams are out of the playoffs, but we will make this a big ol' Super Bowl for us."

Uh, really?

"You have to play for the name on the back of your jersey," Armstead said during a conference call with writers. "You don't want to sit there and mess up something that has taken so many years to build up. You don't want to mess it up in the last four games of the season."

Armstead seemed to be looking forward to his return to Giants Stadium, where he spent the first nine years of his career. He is still revered by former teammates.

"I just miss it. I never could deny that point," said Armstead, who is in his second season with the Redskins. "You have been there your whole career and you had to go somewhere else. If you make it in New York, you can make it anywhere in the world."

After he was released by the Giants in February 2001, Armstead signed with the Redskins believing he had gone from one contender to another. That hasn't been the case.

The five-time Pro Bowler is third among Redskins with 77 tackles and leads his team with 3 1/2 sacks.

"Jessie still does the things he did," Giants coach Jim Fassel said. "He anticipates so well. He takes on blocks right at him so well. He can still be a sideline-to-sideline player. They cover him up and let him run."

Armstead no longer believes the Giants made a mistake by releasing him. The team called it a salary-cap move; Armstead was due to make $4.2 million in 2001. He signed a three-year deal with the Redskins for a total of $4.5 million.

"They made a decision that would help the team out best at that time," Armstead said. "You never know how things will work out in life. It might have worked out the best for them, and it might not. We never know."

Armstead is, of course, still closely tied to the Giants. He knows Fassel is likely on the verge of being fired after this, his seventh season. Armstead called Fassel "a great coach" who will probably be hired by another team, and said his departure from the Giants "may work out best for him in the long run."

He also recalled the days after Fassel's infamous playoff guarantee in 2000, the Super Bowl season.

"No matter how you look at it, you have to have the veterans to make sure that when the coach lays down the law, the law is abided by," said Armstead, who embraced that role. "When he said that to us, we just looked at each other and made sure that we (and) the younger guys were ready every weekend, week in and week out."

Unlike many people who think a coach can simply exhaust his run with a team and with players, Armstead dismissed that theory.

"That is just an excuse for people to have a reason to get rid of somebody," he said. "I don't think that carries too much weight. I think guys who love their job and love to play football will go out there and play no matter how long the coaches are in there."

Armstead wants to play 14 seasons, a goal he set for apparently arbitrary reasons. Whether he finishes as a Redskin, he can't say.

This much he knows: Washington owner Daniel Snyder won't be shy about telling Armstead, or anybody else, when his time is up.

Armstead described the difference between Snyder and Giants co-owner Wellington Mara as "Y2K and old style."

"Mr. Mara is probably one of the (most) low-key owners that you can find," he said. "When he speaks, he carries a lot of weight. When he says something, everybody is like, 'Wow, he said something.'"

In a series that has had so many meaningful games -- the NFC Championship Game in the 1986 season might top the list -- this will not be one. But these are proud franchises. The Redskins have finished last in the division only twice since 1970 -- the Giants twice since 1984.

"We aren't winning, but we just keep on doing what we are doing trying to get a win," Armstead said.

He could have been speaking for either team.