Coach Gibbs press conference live @ 12pm

Redskins_P

I'll do my best

e16bball

The team builds off the words and actions of the coaches and FO and they are very perceptive. By making our best offer to Pierce/Smoot, we show all the players that we will offer a lot of money to keep you around. And then you have to decide if someone else offers a lot of money, are you gonna stick around.

Redskins_P

He said he tried to be persuasive with Antonio

Redskins_P

Felt like he gave Antonio the opportunity to resign a long time ago

e16bball

He says hes been in touch with players about losing Antonio. Gibbs said to Antonio last year that we had real confidence in him and we guaranteed his money for last season to give him some confidence. He says he felt like we did that, and Antonio stepped up. Gibbs tried to bring that up in negotiations saying that he should choose us, we stuck by him when he wasnt a big name. Apparently old Pierce didnt buy it.

Redskins_P

He doesn't want to get into the specifics of both Antonio and Freds situation

e16bball

Gibbs thought that even after seeing the other teams' offers that we would win both of those guys.

Sounds like he put too much faith in those guys being core and loyal Redskins.

Redskins_P

e16bball, your turn to take over....I gotta get back to work now

e16bball

He also says that he and the team believe guys will be cut or come available and interesting to us and we will be very perceptive to the market for players.

e16bball

Will do, Redskin P

He's talking about Lavar and how he thinks his health is improving, as is his outlook. Also says we missed guys like Jon, Matt (Bowen) and Andre (Lott) who were out with surgeries and stuff.

He talks next about addressing the players' outlook about losing all these players, and he has called and talked to a lot of guys to explain what happened with LC, Pierce,etc. It sounds like the guys were most upset about losing Pierce.

He also says that we will see what develops, who gets released, who wants to be traded, but we are getting ready to move to the draft. Making plans for the draft, etc.

e16bball

Someone asked if he's here to talk about the team, or put out fires in Redskins Nation.

He says he knows the fans are sitting out there questioning the moves and wondering why we lost these great players. He says they may not agree with the results, but he wants them to know that we approached it with passion.

Basically he IS putting out fires is what he is saying.

e16bball

So that is the end.

Basically what I got out of it was that we really tried hard to re-sign Smoot and Pierce, but we were firm in our price range, and the offers they got exceeded our range. He hoped they would take less to remain with the Skins, but apparently the team overestimated the players' Redskin spirit.

Also, from what he said about the replacement of Pierce and Smoot, it looks like he wants to do it from the inside, rather than a big FA or a high draft pick. He really talked up Harris and Wilds, and also said that Barrow is way ahead of schedule on rehab.

He seemed really tired, but he also sounded confident about our ability to bounce back from these losses. He said basically it was personnel decisions and neither Pierce nor Smoot was worth overpaying to retain.

celts32

yada yada yada...The reasons they lost Smoot and Pierce are becasue they didn't offer as much money.

Tomorrow is the good press conference. The question I want answered is why they thought Moss was worth more than the 5 mil in cap space Coles was offering for his release? Santana Moss is that good that he is worth hamstringing your salary cap to get, when LC could have been released with minimal damage. They say they wanted value for LC, but I say the value they got is not worth as much as the cap room they could have had...