By JIM DUCIBELLA, The Virginian-Pilot
© August 2, 2004
ASHBURN, Va. — With a touch of melancholy, LaVar Arrington describes his first four seasons in the NFL as “a long road in a short time.”
“A lot of growing pains,” the Washington Redskins star linebacker said at the team’s training camp. “But as we all know, nobody grows up without different obstacles they have to go through.”
Personally, Arrington has scaled each one.
The second player taken in the 2000 draft, he has already played in three Pro Bowls. One season, Arrington was among the league leaders in sacks. Last year, he was near the top in passes broken up.
As a team member — the only thing he says matters — Arrington has known nothing but disappointment. The Redskins have won just 28 games and have no postseason experience since he came aboard. He’s also involved with management in a $6.5 million contract dispute that isn’t scheduled for arbitration until after the season has started.
“We’ve been the laughingstock of our division the last few years,” Arrington said, softly measuring his words.
Suddenly, he starts talking about how sweet — his word — it will be when the Redskins win their next Super Bowl. Then he pauses. The notion of a team that has almost perfected ineptitude for 10 years pulling down the ultimate prize is almost more than he can fathom.
“Just to have a winning season, or go to the playoffs, or make a dent in our division,” Arrington finally adds. “It would mean a lot. I think the tide is turning.”
The reason is obvious. Arrington, who came out of Penn State’s once-storied program, has fallen in love with new coach Joe Gibbs’ revival of “The Redskin Way.” He is so enamored of Gibbs and staff that he says he’s “humbled” to be in their presence and will gladly play anywhere they place him.
The Redskins will move him to defensive end on occasion. They will blitz him from deeper on the field at other times. The rest is top-secret and still in design.
“They can change me to the point where I’m not even considered the best linebacker because I’m not playing there anymore,” he said. “I don’t care. I just want to win.”
That’s a far cry from the Arrington who publicly balked at former defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis’ plan a couple of years ago to shift him from linebacker to rush end in certain situations.
Teammate Renaldo Wynn has seen similar transformations in other stars. It’s all about trust.
“He’s been through many coaching staffs,” Wynn said, “and each has seen his athletic ability and tried all kinds of things. I think he trusts this coaching staff, that’s the main thing. We now have a coaching staff with 30 or 40 years of experience.”
There were signs of this a year ago. Early in the season, Arrington publicly called out units on the team that weren’t performing the way he thought they should.
Penalties and blown assignments rankled him. But the backlash was bitter. Word got out that Arrington was among those out of position. Many of the mistakes he criticized others for he was guilty of, too.
By midseason, Arrington was no longer discussing the team with media. Now, Arrington concedes that he “contributed to the epidemic of penalties.”
This year, Arrington said, he’s not going to back down as he did in 2003.
“This year, I’m not tolerating anything but everybody giving their best,” he said. “This is not going to be a waste of their time and a waste of my time any more.”
Gibbs isn’t interested in how well Arrington talks. He wants action.
“The best leaders are guys who make plays,” Gibbs said. “Certainly, we’re counting on LaVar to be a real playmaker this year. He’s a real talent, and we’re going to use him in a lot of ways. We’re going to try and be creative with him. Hopefully, his leadership abilities will emerge.”
Despite the down times, Arrington has never given the impression that he didn’t enjoy playing for the Redskins, didn’t embrace Washington and didn’t want to create a special bond with the fans. Now that he senses a true reversal of fortune, he wouldn’t dream of playing somewhere else.
“I wouldn’t want to go somewhere and be a part of something that’s already established,” Arrington said. “We’ve struggled here, and when that turnaround takes place, I will be so happy I’ll probably be crying and people won’t be able to stop me from crying. It means that much to me.”
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