Tuesday, June 11, 2002

ProFootballWeekly.com asks personnel expert Joel Buchsbaum for his thoughts on the hottest topics in football. 

Not all athletes deserving of second, third chances

Talented but troubled RB Lawrence Phillips cut short his latest comeback attempt after one week with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes. Phillips, 27, claims that the Alouettes lied to him about his role on the team. This may have been his last chance to play professional football since he has created problems every step of the way during his career. He was arrested three times during his 19 months with St. Louis, was released from Miami in 1997 after pleading no contest to hitting a woman in a nightclub and was released in ’99 by San Francisco after missing practice.

Buchsbaum: We generally hear about all of these athletes who use athletics to change their lives for the better and go on to enjoy great success in the professional ranks. However, more often than not, what you’ll find is that professional athletes who supposedly change their lives revert back when adversity strikes again. The two times you can generally count on these players to seem like changed people is when they are enjoying great success and everyone tells them how wonderful they are, or when they reach the end of the line and need help from someone else. When Mike Tyson was on top of the world, there were hundreds of stories about how this thug from Brooklyn changed his life. However, when adversity struck, he went back to being the same old Tyson. Now that he has reached the end of the line, he’s asking for help again.

One player who may never learn is former Rams first-round pick RB Lawrence Phillips. Phillips was granted a tryout by the Montreal club of the Canadian Football League. Montreal has one of the best backs in the game in RB Mike Pringle, the team’s MVP. Phillips felt as soon as he arrived at camp, instead of being at the bottom of the depth chart, that he should have been a co-No. 1 with Pringle and given a chance to compete for a starting job. In less than a week, Phillips expected to be the No. 2 running back and get ample playing time in the first preseason game. Montreal told him he would start at the bottom of the depth chart and earn time on special teams and play some running back in the second preseason game. Phillips told everyone that Montreal lied to him and he walked out of camp — typical Lawrence Phillips. Everyone wants to give this kid second, third and fourth chances because he is a good athlete, yet he always finds a way to blow it.

How special can Washington be in 2002?

The Redskins have a power running back in Stephen Davis and spent the offseason adding to its young and talented defense. First-year head coach Steve Spurrier has great expectations for his NFC East club, but how far can Davis and the defense carry it?

Buchsbaum: The Redskins are a team at a crossroads right now. Steve Spurrier took over the team after being a tremendous head coach in the college ranks because of the method he uses — basically leaving the defense to the defensive coaches, the positions to the position coaches but coaches the hell out of the quarterbacks and receivers in one of the best systems in the business. Many people feel Spurrier is the best play caller this side of Rams head coach Mike Martz in the game of football and has a tremendous offensive mind. Spurrier also is one of the best at getting the most out of quarterbacks, proven repeatedly at Florida. Though none of his Florida or Duke quarterbacks have had great success in the NFL, it will be interesting to see how Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews do when working with Spurrier on a daily basis. In the long run, rookie Patrick Ramsey will be the quarterback for this team. He has many Phil Simms-type qualities, including a strong arm, a quick release and decent accuracy. Ramsey is a natural leader with a tremendous work ethic and toughness.

Washington doesn’t have the complete package on offense because it is very weak in the interior of the offensive line, but it does have RB Stephen Davis, a pair of bookend tackles and adequate receivers. Over on defense, the Redskins are literally loaded. LBs LaVar Arrington and Jeremiah Trotter and CB Champ Bailey are potentially as good as any at their position and legitimate Pro Bowl players. CB Fred Smoot could become another Pro Bowl corner and Dan Wilkinson can still dominate at defensive tackle. At defensive end, Renaldo Wynn should be a major upgrade over Kenard Lang and OLB Jessie Armstead adds veteran leadership to the equation.

Thus, the ’Skins should be the type of team that plays very good defense and has an adequate offense thanks to Davis and the ability of the quarterbacks to run the offense without turnovers. That means the key to the season for Washington could be how its special teams perform. That is the wild card here because right now, the Redskins look like a .500 team on paper. The special teams could make the difference between 10-6 and 6-10.

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