Smoke Signals: The Wrath of Champ

Sunday marks the return of Champ Bailey to Washington for the first time since 2004, when he was dealt with a 2nd round pick to the Denver Broncos for TB Clinton Portis. A lot of Redskins fans never forgave Bailey for leaving town, but it wasn’t up to him and he’s  moved on nicely and diplomatically says both teams got what they wanted in the deal. As for being a Bronco, he prefers it.

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“I think you kind of know what to expect every day,” Bailey said of Denver. “That’s the good thing. When I left there, it was a swinging door. When I got here, it wasn’t like that.”

There are, too, some differences in the fan base, Bailey said.

“I’m not going to lie,” Bailey said. “Everywhere I go outside of Denver, the only thing I get: ‘I wish you were still with the Redskins. I’m a Redskins fan.’ That’s all I get, everywhere I go. Any city, other than Denver, that’s all I get. Even in this city. There’s Redskins fans everywhere.

“I’m not going to lie. I know the fan base is bigger. Stadium’s bigger. They have a lot more tradition, but I still love being a Bronco. When I got here, [there were] no Hall of Famers in Broncos history. When I left there, there was probably 100.”

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Hmmm. Count me as one of Bailey’s biggest fans [and I think Denver got the better of that deal], but I rather suspect John Elway was a Hall of Famer-caliber QB before anyone in Denver had ever heard of Champ Bailey.

In any case, it is a melancholy homecoming for Redskins fans, thinking of what might have been:

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Bailey has made eight straight Pro Bowls and has been named All-Pro four times. Portis is Washington’s second all-time leading rusher, trailing John Riggins by nearly 900 yards. But he’s earned only one Pro Bowl selection in Washington.

“During the years he’s learned how to play the position,” Redskins corner Fred Smoot said of Bailey. “But … he’s a perfect athlete, one of the best athletes I ever played with. Darrell [Green] had unbelievable speed and unbelievable instincts, but you could line up Champ at running back and he would be a productive player. You could line him up at wideout. He’s just one of those players.”

Bailey thought he and Smoot, drafted two years after Bailey in 2001, would play together a long time.

“You could start building something special right there,” he said. “Good cornerbacks are hard to find. They had two good ones. I don’t understand why they couldn’t keep us together.”

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It isn’t just the fans who are wistful about Bailey. Smoot is, too.

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“I do miss playing with him,” Smoot said. “Those were some of my golden years of playing. At the time, I don’t think a lot of people realized, me and him had one of the best young tandems out there. I think if it wasn’t for Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, both of us could have got a little Pro Bowl action then, but we weren’t winning at the time and the Eagles were dominating.”

But when it came time for Bailey to get a new contract, the usually free-spending Snyder decided this was one time he wasn’t going to foot the bill. Bailey worked out a seven-year, $63 million deal with the Broncos, and the trade was on.

“I was all for going back there, but it didn’t work out that way,” Bailey said. “Financially it did me good because I got what I wanted as far as my contract. I came to a good franchise. That worked out great. I was going to a place that was real stable for a number of years.”

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Appropriately, the player Bailey was traded for is “very, very doubtful” for the Denver game, Head Coach Jim Zorn said yesterday. So don’t expect to see Clinton Portis running against his old team.

The  Denver Broncos are 3rd in the NFL in sacks, with OLB Elvis Dumervil [in the building!] tied for the league lead with 10.5 sacks. Meanwhile, the Redskins have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL, riddled with injuries and incompetence and filled with backups being shuffled around from one position to another. Protecting [or trying to] Jason Campbell’s blind side will be new LT Levi Jones, recently pulled from the scrap heap because no other team wanted him.

Read all the links

http://dcprosportsreport.com/2009/11/12/smoke-signals-the-wrath-of-champ.html