Pierce's Happy Present Remains Clouded by Past

Giant's Anger Lingers Over Exit From Redskins

CHANDLER, Ariz., Jan. 31 -- Life in the middle age of a professional football career cannot be finer than when you are sitting at a Super Bowl interview table wearing your jersey and facing the frenzy of questions that come from all sides. All of them about you.

And so New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce leaned back in a chair at the Sheraton White Horse Resort on Thursday afternoon and smiled wide for the cameras.

"I'm happy to be in [New York] and at the Super Bowl," he said.

But it never seems to take long before his mind goes back to a place four hours to the south, to Redskins Park, a home he thought he had found seven years ago and a team that suddenly didn't seem to want him two years ago. And then the smile disappears, and his voice bounces from one tinged with fondness to confusion and anger.

Maybe his feelings about the Washington Redskins are still not clear. He is hurt, but he is happy. He blasts the owner, Daniel Snyder, yet still calls him "Mr. Snyder," the way so many people do at Redskins Park.

"I still have respect for the man," Pierce said. "I just don't like the way he does business."

Pierce always wanted to stay in Washington. By the time his contract came up after the 2004 season, he figured he had done enough to prove he could be the team's future at linebacker. Contracts were discussed, but in the end, the Redskins did not sign him, worrying about needed additions to their offense.

Pierce was allowed to leave and signed with the Giants, where he has developed into a solid starting linebacker and a media darling in a city that embraces players who sparkle for the cameras.

Plus, Pierce got a contract that pays him $26 million over six years. His new life should be a dream come true.

Yet he remains haunted and perplexed by the Redskins experience.

He said he has spoken with several Washington players, and all of them are confused by what is going on with the search for a head coach. According to Pierce, the defensive players are happy that Greg Blache will be the defensive coordinator, since it means they will continue to do some of the same things they did the last few years, which develops a comfort level.

But they also are disturbed by the indecision of management and the fact that opposing players are calling them, wondering who will take a job as a head coach on a team where the coordinators have been determined.