Peter King rips Spurrier

[PennSkinsFan]

CNNSI (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/peter_king/01/05/mmqb/index.html)

[PennSkinsFan]

" In the end, Steve Spurrier was a fraud. He signed a five-year contract and vowed to give the job three years. In my business, that would be called entering into an agreement while knowingly planning to cheat your employer. Then he quit after two years. This is charlatanesque. An offensive player on the Redskins told me: "The job was killing him, and killing his wife.''

Here's the thing, Steve. In football -- real football, not the kind you played at Florida, where week in and week out your players were better than 80 percent of the opposition -- I've got an apt cliche for you: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

I'll never forget the game at the Meadowlands last year, a rainy, sleety day fit for a plow horse, when Spurrier let terminally mediocre Shane Matthews pass 36 times while handing the ball to one of the best 10 backs in football, Stephen Davis, only 19 times. Washington lost in overtime. After the game, I asked Spurrier about the disparity, particularly on such a bad day to throw. "I don't know,'' Spurrier said. Good answer

[RedskinsDave]

The ONLY honorable thing he did was leave the $15 million behind.

[Spence]

Hard to argue with any of that.

[TexSkin]

yeah can't believe I am agreeing with King

[jporterweb]

I'm not reading it. I'm sick of people ripping people while they're down. It's easy pickings. They said it the whole time he was here no need to keep talking about it.

[mhd24]

He should first check his facts. The skins didn't loose in overtime like he said to the giants. Secondly, he thinks Brandon Lloyd is a better football pleyer then Terell Owens. He thinks Davis is a top 10 rb in the league. This isn't true either. I'd rather have:

1) Tomlinson
2) Priest
3) Portis
4) Green
5) Mccallister
6) Williams
7) Taylor
8) Jamal Lewis
9) Henry
10) James

I'll add Barlow, Bennett, and Barber as equivalent players when considering age and salary.

Oh, and why trust the opinions of one Peter King when he believes that:

"The Redskins will regret drafting Fred Smoot, trust me"

or that he leads a personal campaign along with Dr.Z every year agianst Art Monk for the Hall of Fame.

[Green-Is-Good]

His higher salary is all the more reason to give him more carries! 19 on a day like that? Inexcusable. At least admit to being an idiot. "I don't know." What the hell is that?

[Ford]

Originally posted by mhd24

1) Tomlinson
2) Priest
3) Portis
4) Green
5) Mccallister
6) Williams
7) Taylor
8) Jamal Lewis
9) Henry
10) James


I can't stand Peter King any more than the next guy but your list is strugglin. Fred Taylor, Travis Henry, or Edge who is nowhere near what he used to be over Steven Davis?? Jamal Lewis at #8? Excuse me?

[mhd24]

I didn't rank them based on ability, I just ranked the rb's who I think are better. Fred Taylor IS BETTER then Davis. This year, Fred had more rushing yards (1572 for Fred Taylor versus 1444 for Davis). Taylor also 48 catches for 378 yards while Davis only had 14 catches. Taylor also played with a rookie qb. Taylor is clearly a better running back. Henry had 1350 yards rushing, but he played with a fracture in his leg, while Davis sat out. Henry is more durable, and is a better reciever. Edge is just as good a power back as Davis, but is a much better reciever.

[BigCountry]

Yeah that RB list seems pretty flawed to me. Also, Barber and Bennett don't even come close...

[Green-Is-Good]

Originally posted by mhd24
I didn't rank them based on ability, I just ranked the rb's who I think are better. Fred Taylor IS BETTER then Davis. This year, Fred had more rushing yards (1572 for Fred Taylor versus 1444 for Davis). Taylor also 48 catches for 378 yards while Davis only had 14 catches. Taylor also played with a rookie qb. Taylor is clearly a better running back. Henry had 1350 yards rushing, but he played with a fracture in his leg, while Davis sat out. Henry is more durable, and is a better reciever. Edge is just as good a power back as Davis, but is a much better reciever.

Again, if yards rushing is your basis for this, why is Lewis ranked 8th? He played with Chris Redman, Kyle Boller(also a rook), and Anthony Wright!

[fergie56]

I'm a bit confused... everyone seems to think that what we needed, besides the usual DL and RB, was a new head coach. Danny boy didn't want to fire Spurrier this year which I am sure a lot of fans would have ripped him for. What does Spurrier do... makes it easier for everyone by quitting... by admitting it wasn't working for him or the Redskins. So nobody, including King thinks he can coach at the NFL level, which he clearly showed, he leaves and they rip him for that!!! Leave the poor man alone... he got in over his head and walked away!!! He's 58 years old - why would he want to put the extra stress at this time in his life. Not to mention, when the end of the season comes along, he takes the blame for everything - he realizes he screwed up... and he left, which is exactly what everyone wanted!!

Steve... enjoy your golfing and your college game or golfing - after 20 years of coaching you deserve it.

[Spence]

Whether Stephen Davis is a top ten running back or not is irrelevant. He's a damn good running back who helped his team to the playoffs and a 12-5 record [so far]. Spurrier ran him out of town because he thought Trung Canidate was better.

And that settles that.

[mhd24]

Here's how I'd rank them:

1) Tomlinson
2) Holmes
3) Portis
4) Green
5) Jamal Lewis
6) Deuce Mccallister
7) Ricky Williams
8) Fred Taylor
9) Travis Henry
10) Edge

Now, I consider Barber, Bennett, and Barlow as players who are just as good as Davis. This is because of age, salary, and pass catching ability. Davis is a very poor pass catching rb.

[mhd24]

If Davis was making 500,000 a year like Trung, he'd still be here. He had a 10 million dollar cap hit, and when you are not even a top 10 player at your position, and reaching 30, you can't have that much invested in one player.

[HollywoodKolt]

Originally posted by jporterweb
I'm not reading it. I'm sick of people ripping people while they're down. It's easy pickings. They said it the whole time he was here no need to keep talking about it.

I agree, it's easy for him to say this now. But if I remember correctly when Spurrier took the job Peter King was exited to see what he could do. I'll have to dig out my SI and look. Hmmm this maybe the only time I ever find my self agreeing with a buckeye fan :D

As for Spurrier does it seem to anyone else that he's aged almost ten years since he took the job.

Here's two pictures of Spurrier now (it's like 1/4 of the way down the page)
http://www.redskins.com/story.asp?ContentID=12458 (it's like 1/4 of the way down the page)

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/sports/articles/2002-11-05/images/steve_spurrier_lg.jpg


Here's a picture of him last year during the preseason.
http://bengals.enquirer.com/2002/08/27/spurrier_zoom.jpg

[Keino]

Well said Spence, However, I must take exception to Fraud Taylor being in the Top 10 on anyone's List. Fragile Freddy.......Fred "Full season Pay, Half season Play" Taylor?????? Better numbers on a worse team...........

[JoeDaSchmoe]

He's had two years in a row now without a major injury.

[HollywoodKolt]

Originally posted by JoeDaSchmoe
He's had two years in a row now without a major injury.

compared to how many years with a major injury?

[JoeDaSchmoe]

Oh, I know. I'm just saying that may be changing. He got a lot of goal line carries for the first time in his career this year and didn't snap.

[Green-Is-Good]

Davis is injury prone? Is it national cracksmoking day and I am unaware? If any back took as many hits as Davis, they would get hurt often. I was under the impression that all of us agreed that letting Davis go was a bad move. I guess I was wrong.

[hail2skins]

Originally posted by fergie56
I'm a bit confused... everyone seems to think that what we needed, besides the usual DL and RB, was a new head coach. Danny boy didn't want to fire Spurrier this year which I am sure a lot of fans would have ripped him for. What does Spurrier do... makes it easier for everyone by quitting... by admitting it wasn't working for him or the Redskins. So nobody, including King thinks he can coach at the NFL level, which he clearly showed, he leaves and they rip him for that!!! Leave the poor man alone... he got in over his head and walked away!!! He's 58 years old - why would he want to put the extra stress at this time in his life. Not to mention, when the end of the season comes along, he takes the blame for everything - he realizes he screwed up... and he left, which is exactly what everyone wanted!!

Steve... enjoy your golfing and your college game or golfing - after 20 years of coaching you deserve it.

If should have thought about that before taking the job IMO. He can just walk quietly away without his career being talked about. He played in the NFL so he should have been familiar with the amount of work that went into coaching.