Quote:
Originally Posted by 5RINGS
When Lavar Arrington was at the height of his popularity in Washington, was he the most popular player by a wide margin?
Was he the fan favorite?
I get the feeling that he was very hurt by a perceived rejection by Gibbs and Williams
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You hit it on the head. Lavar was the most popular player here by a long shot, until Clinton Portis arrived into town. Unlike Lavar, Portis was a favorite of Gibbs. That also, unfortunately, coincided with Lavar's injury and he turned out to be a non-factor in games, which began his slide in popularity.
The perceived rejection of Lavar came from Williams and Lindsey, not from Gibbs. Lavar feels Gibbs' fault is that he didn't go out of his way to declare support for Lavar as he would've done for his hand-picked boys Brunell or Portis. He thinks Gibbs should've made it clear to the defensive coaching staff not to malign Lavar. Wasn't going to happen since Gibbs ceded control of the D to Greg Williams, who obviously has a tough-love style of player management. Lavar couldn't relate to tough-love given his prior superstar status.