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It's rare, if not unprecedented, for an NFL head coach to be in a position to clean up a mess created by his owner. After all, it's the coaches -- whose careers can in theory be shaped by the outcome of any given play -- who typically are prone to making ill-advised statements in the heat of the moment.
But in Washington, an "aw-shucks" head coach suddenly finds himself as the voice of reason beneath a commander-in-chief who loves to hear the sound of his own voice, especially when he's disparaging management of the New York Jets.
Then again, Steve Spurrier likely realizes that the bravado of frustrated "cool guy" Daniel Snyder could make it harder for Spurrier to do his own job, given that the 2003 season opens with a game against the team that Snyder suddenly loves to tweak.
"If there's any ill will or bad feelings between the Jets and the Redskins," Spurrier said on Wednesday, "I don't think it's on the coaching level or the player level. It just seemed like they had players, free agents and restricted free agents, that filled our needs, and we had an opportunity to attempt -- which we were successful in doing -- to sign all these players.
"If there's some bitterness among management-level people, that's something that they need to talk about. But we have the utmost respect for Herman Edwards and the Jets' coaching staff for all they've done there with the Jets."
(Translation -- please, Jets, don't hit our guys too hard just because you're pissed off at our owner.)
Sorry, Steve, but it's too late to play peacemaker. We expect the Jets to show title-game intensity in the opener against the 'Skins -- and Ball Coach knows it's coming.
And he can thank one very short man with a very large mouth for it.
But in Washington, an "aw-shucks" head coach suddenly finds himself as the voice of reason beneath a commander-in-chief who loves to hear the sound of his own voice, especially when he's disparaging management of the New York Jets.
Then again, Steve Spurrier likely realizes that the bravado of frustrated "cool guy" Daniel Snyder could make it harder for Spurrier to do his own job, given that the 2003 season opens with a game against the team that Snyder suddenly loves to tweak.
"If there's any ill will or bad feelings between the Jets and the Redskins," Spurrier said on Wednesday, "I don't think it's on the coaching level or the player level. It just seemed like they had players, free agents and restricted free agents, that filled our needs, and we had an opportunity to attempt -- which we were successful in doing -- to sign all these players.
"If there's some bitterness among management-level people, that's something that they need to talk about. But we have the utmost respect for Herman Edwards and the Jets' coaching staff for all they've done there with the Jets."
(Translation -- please, Jets, don't hit our guys too hard just because you're pissed off at our owner.)
Sorry, Steve, but it's too late to play peacemaker. We expect the Jets to show title-game intensity in the opener against the 'Skins -- and Ball Coach knows it's coming.
And he can thank one very short man with a very large mouth for it.
