A Good Word Leads to Statement

"When we're all back in Miami and everyone is relaxing, everyone had a teammate," he said. "When we came through The U, everyone was hungry. I don't think any of us were the top recruit. Santana went to school on a track scholarship. When I went, they wanted me to play defensive back, so I think everyone who went in had something to prove. You were going against other guys. They instilled in you to want competition, you don't run from competition."

If Moss was first blinded by and then hungry for the bling, Portis recalls Miami wanting to prove he couldn't just climb the depth chart but sit atop it.

"After my freshman year, competing with James Jackson, knowing he was going to the NFL, I knew I could do the same," Portis said. "James had a lot of talent, but I believed I had just as much talent as James did. In talking to Dan Morgan and Bubba Franks and the guys I practiced against. By my sophomore year, I knew it was my time.

"At the time I was coming out, it was really an insult to go in the second round because all those guys were going in the first. So I played with an attitude, to prove that I should have been in that elite first class," Portis said. "It wasn't me wanting to compete with the rest of the world, but the guys you knew. It's hard to compete against guys you don't know, but knowing Edgerrin [James], Willis [McGahee], knowing we all came from the same backfield made me want to beat them out. If I can beat them out, I knew I was in good company."

It is a stunning list of Miami alumni in the NFL that provides both a comfort zone for one another as well as the ultimate benchmarks for competition and rivalry. A Miami all-star team could easily compete against a Pro Bowl squad composed of the other schools. The list includes James, Morgan, Jeremy Shockey, Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Warren Sapp, Reggie Wayne and Antrel Rolle. With Moss and Santana driving one another to greater performances, the Redskins appear to the biggest beneficiary.

"Going through college with Santana, knowing his dedication, and knowing how he works and what he stands for and knowing that having him on this team he's going to want to outperform me motivates me because in the offseason, I'm going to talk all kinds of noise about him," Portis said. "We're just competitors."

Said Redskins running back coach Earnest Byner: "That's the thing about having Santana here. He's so driven and so professional that he motivates Clinton. They push each other, in a good way."

Besides what both Moss and Portis refer to as having the "Miami attitude," Moss said his emergence in Washington is also a byproduct of his belief in Gibbs's word, a trust whose foundation was laid as the two spoke that day in Snyder's jet.

"Coach Gibbs didn't even talk football when they picked me up," Moss said. "It was all personal conversation. They know what you can do on a football field, or what you've done on a football field, but they don't know the person. You never get to meet the person. You only meet the player."

Gibbs did most of the talking, Moss recalled. He wanted to know if Moss was married. He told Gibbs no, but that he was still involved with the mother of his two children, Santana Jr. and Saniya. Moss also grew more impressed with the way Gibbs treated his best friend, Bo Rogers, who was also on the flight. At one point, Rogers asked Gibbs about NASCAR, about the differences between running a racing team and a football club. The Hall of Fame coach spoke to Moss's best friend so easily and earnestly that Moss thought Gibbs's personality was genuine. Months later, Gibbs would show his commitment to family by allowing Moss to miss time for both his son's graduation from preschool and his daughter's first birthday.

"That just let me know what kind of person I was dealing with," Moss said. "I learned that family was important to him. That's what you got out of those conversations. He's a good guy at heart. You want to bend over backwards for a person like that."

Moss and the Jets had been far apart on contract negotiations and, pessimistic about the prospects of returning to New York, Moss had asked his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to engineer a trade. Ironically, it was by watching Coles that Moss believed the Redskins might be the right fit.

"I knew they weren't going to bring me here and [merely] keep me dressed. I mean, the guy had 90 passes that he caught and 100-something that were attempted," Moss said of Coles. "You think I'm going to shy away from that opportunity? When you look at my last year [in New York], I had 60 attempts and 40 [actually 45] caught. So if you can do that with 40 or 50 balls, just imagine what you can do with 90 caught balls. I told myself this was going to be special."

Gibbs had reason to be uneasy on the plane ride. It was true that Coles wanted out of Washington, but he had been quite productive. (This season, with a revolving cast of mediocre, injured quarterbacks, Coles still had 73 receptions for a woeful Jets team). Also, Moss cost the Redskins approximately $9 million against the salary cap. Both men had something to prove, Moss that he was the deep threat Gibbs had envisioned, and Gibbs that his intuition and research on Moss were correct, that he had not missed and blown the budget at the same time.

"I became convinced of Santana talking to Clinton and other coaches. A lot of times, guys have great athletic ability but their attitude toward things kind of kills it off," Gibbs said. "I had a real confidence, too, because Clinton had been so high on him. I don't think Clinton would just want to be on a team with someone. The two people he's highly recommended were Sean Taylor and Santana, so that says a lot."