sportscurmudgeon
07-17-2004, 10:36 AM
Matty:
I have two problems with your view of Trotter and the Skins' move to sign him.
1. Trotter was - and still is - a good linebacker. The problem with Trotter was his assessment that he was a GREAT linebacker. The contract he demanded from the Eagles - which got his ass cut from the team - and the one he got from Danny Boy paid him more than Ray Lewis was making at that time. Think about that for a minute from the perspective of how the hell Trotter could have possibly thought he was in Ray Lewis' league and from the perspective of how that contract could be a good value to a team that gave him that contract. Here is what that tells me: (A) Trotter's opinion of himself is way beyond reality. (B) Danny Boy is not a great judge of linebacking talent and what you should pay to get it.
2. You say that everyone had trouble adapting to Marvin Lewis' system - almost as if that excuses Trotter and others for their performances on the field. Excuse me, but Marvin Lewis has been able to teach his system to players at more than a few other teams and be very successful in doing so. (See Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Minnesota and Cincy...) But the Redskins just could not get it? And that makes Lewis' system to blame? I might suggest that their failure to figure out how to run the Marvin Lewis defense showed that they are either less talented than they have been given credit for or they are not smart emough to pick this up quickly.
Just a thought... And by the way, I think the signing of Jeff George was 100 times worse than the signing of Jeremiah Trotter.
I have two problems with your view of Trotter and the Skins' move to sign him.
1. Trotter was - and still is - a good linebacker. The problem with Trotter was his assessment that he was a GREAT linebacker. The contract he demanded from the Eagles - which got his ass cut from the team - and the one he got from Danny Boy paid him more than Ray Lewis was making at that time. Think about that for a minute from the perspective of how the hell Trotter could have possibly thought he was in Ray Lewis' league and from the perspective of how that contract could be a good value to a team that gave him that contract. Here is what that tells me: (A) Trotter's opinion of himself is way beyond reality. (B) Danny Boy is not a great judge of linebacking talent and what you should pay to get it.
2. You say that everyone had trouble adapting to Marvin Lewis' system - almost as if that excuses Trotter and others for their performances on the field. Excuse me, but Marvin Lewis has been able to teach his system to players at more than a few other teams and be very successful in doing so. (See Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Minnesota and Cincy...) But the Redskins just could not get it? And that makes Lewis' system to blame? I might suggest that their failure to figure out how to run the Marvin Lewis defense showed that they are either less talented than they have been given credit for or they are not smart emough to pick this up quickly.
Just a thought... And by the way, I think the signing of Jeff George was 100 times worse than the signing of Jeremiah Trotter.