Primetime42 wrote:Just throwing it out there, because I'm not sure when it happened, but Laveranues Coles used to be pretty damn fast.
I'm talking he broke Deion Sanders' speed record at FSU.
And he was pretty consistent with that his first time around with the Jets.
Did something happen when he was with you, or did it just sort of gradually go?
Because I find it hard to believe all that speed just dissipated overnight.
As JP said... ever since the toe injury... Coles hasn't stretched too many DB's... to his credit, he has managed to adapt and get tough yards instead of deep yards. Other than the way he went out, which was pretty cry babyish, I really liked the guy when he was here.
... but after the toe injury, he couldn't seem to do what we originally got him to do... which was to stretch the defense. And then to whine about not being part of the offense enough when you were thrown to as many times as he was, was a little bit much. Very primadonna-ish, and not even really indicative of how he had behaved for his entire team here.
It also seemed that after he left there were a few players that seemed to think that Coles' angst (with not enough catches) had spilled over a little bit into the dressing room towards the end of the year. That was reported after the fact though, and could very well have just been bad reporting.
BEFORE we got Moss, I thought he was the more fragile one... we'd been told that by a certain jets 'expert' that Sideline Santana would 'shy away' from hits and step out of bounds and be often injured.... and never have what it takes to be a number one guy... and nothing could have been further from the truth. The guy plays hard and touch wood... hasn't missed a down that I can remember... and I don't think many people would deny that he's considered one of the most dangerous receivers in the league right now.
Not only that, I could not believe how solid the guy was standing beside him at camp... I always think of him as slight because he's obviously not very big (tall) but the dude is ripped... and to me he plays with no less toughness than Coles did (or does). But Santana is a whole different level of speed than Coles is... at least at their current 'level of ability'... or at least it would seem that way. Most teams try to use two guys to cover Santana for most part, and Coles doesn't command that type of respect IMO.
Fact is, regardless of what people thought of this trade when it went down, as time passes... the Redskins are the ones that really won this trade... at least in terms of personnel - we still paid a giant chunk of money to make it happen that we never should have had to... but Moss for Coles is all Moss right now in my opinion. Were it not for a new CBA agreement the trade may have been more devastating because of the cap hit... but we were able to eat it ultimately... and come out with a dynamite playmaker.
The Jets got a good receiver, and at a better price than we were paying him, but we ended up with a better receiver making less money than Coles was anyway. It worked out pretty well for both teams, but if Coles is going to start playing the 'me' game there then his services might be short-lived.
And considering that Santana was all about how much opportunity he had been sfforded by the Redskins in last week's press conference, I think it's safe to say that from a team spirit stand-point... the Redskins won there as well.
Sean Taylor was one of a kind, may he rest in peace.