7. I think Daniel Snyder wanted assistant head coach/defense Gregg Williams to stay so much that he threw in a $100,000-a-year luxury box at FedEx Field into his three-year, $8-million deal. Actually, I don't think that. I know it.

8. I think I would argue the second-most important person in the Redskins' organization -- after Joe Gibbs -- is not Clinton Portis but Williams. As much as I've ripped Snyder over the years for a variety of dumb things, his signing of Williams was brilliant.

The fact that Williams would have been the leading candidate among all NFL assistants for the many coaching jobs out there scared the Redskins. So Snyder threw sick, history-making money at Williams. On Tuesday, Williams signed the deal to stay with Washington and Snyder threw in the luxury box.

The contract sent shockwaves around NFL. Previously, the highest-paid assistant coach in football was Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, at $1.6 million a year. Williams' contract averages $2.66 million... plus a luxury box. Next year he'll make more than eight NFL head coaches, including 2005 Coach of the Year Lovie Smith.

Could Williams have made more elsewhere as a head coach? Certainly. But he is a big quality-of-life guy. When his kids were young, he had a family rule that everyone, including he and his wife, had to read for 15 minutes at night before they went to bed. And they love living where they are.

Here's the other interesting thing: You will hear that the contract guarantees him to be the Redskins' next head coach. Not true. It only guarantees that he coach with the Redskins under Gibbs in 2006. After that, he's free to take an NFL head job if he wants. But it's likely that he'll succeed Gibbs either in 2007 or 2008.

Snyder rakes in more than $300 million a year. With their new stadiums as cash cows, Bob Kraft in New England and Jeff Lurie in Philadelphia join Snyder as the richest owners in the NFL. And so what have they done here? Kraft quietly re-signed ace personnel man Scott Pioli to keep him in New England for at least this year. Snyder re-upped Williams. Lurie paid to keep Tom Heckert off the market. It's brilliant. It's paying the guys who help you win.

9. I think I've been a little worried about my friend Mike McGuire, the Army First Sergeant from just outside St. Louis who's leading a platoon of brave men into reconnaissance work in Iraq, looking for the roadside bombs we hear so many terrible stories about.

I hadn't heard from him in three weeks, until this e-mail came on Friday: "They have computer labs set up here, but there's only about 20 [of them] and many thousand of us. Most guys get up at about 2 or 3 in the morning to get on and chat. Not me. I need to get my sleep.

"Things are going really good here. Best thing about the holidays here was the football game between the NCO's and Officers. We didn't win. The younger officers are too quick. Some good friends of mine went north and were there only three days before the first fatality. I would tell you more detail but for OPSEC [security reasons] I can't. It was a guy I knew in my last unit and they were passing through. I talked to him right before he left here.

"You should see some of the demolitions things we are getting to do now, pretty impressive stuff. It's cool being able to actually do your job and train on it too. They are changing our job now. We are what is called 'Call Forward Force.' It pretty much means that we go wherever it heats up and we will be needed.''

Then Mike gave me his sporting observations, including a few about his favorite sports team, the Rams: "Mike Martz, offensive mastermind, terrible head coach. Hope we get the guy (I guess Ron Rivera, the defensive coordinator) from Chicago. But along with that we need some defensive players. The guys they picked up last year just did not cut it.

"What about Texas-USC? Heard it was an awesome game. Do you think Matt Leinart will make it in the NFL? Or will he be another Ryan Leaf or Heath Shuler? Man, I was high on Shuler. What a bust. Thanks for taking the time for us ordinary soldiers. It's an inspiration to me being a huge sports fan all my life to have you as a friend.''

No, it's an inspiration for me, Sergeant. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Here are your answers: The Rams really wanted Williams, the Washington defensive guru, but Snyder's money prevented that from happening. Rivera's possible. He fits the profile: bright defensive coordinator who can get players to play for him. Yes, the college game was ridiculously good -- some say the best big college game in years ... maybe ever. Wait 'til you see this guy Vince Young, the Texas quarterback, play. He's a better running quarterback than Vick, and he's more accurate too. Leinart? I like him. He's won a lot of games and a bunch of big contests. And he's accurate. His arm is average, but so was Steve Young's and Joe Montana's. I don't see Leinart being a bust.

10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. There are two ad campaigns currently bombarding America's football viewers that need to be put out of their misery because they're so bad. The Pepsi Machine as Patriot ads are simply not funny. The Ted Ferguson Bud Light ads are not only unfunny, but annoying.

b. Strange experience at the ShopRite in West Paterson, N.J., the other day. Taking groceries out to the car, the cart-gatherer said to me, "Happy New Year.'' I said the same, then he said to me: "Don't get lost.'' You don't know quite what to say when a stranger out of the blue tells you not to get lost, so I said: "Thank you.''

c. Mary Beth King has used her winter break to re-familiarize herself with her New Jersey Devils. They're hot, too, now that Patrik Elias has returned from missing 40 games with Hepatitis A. We had a father-daughter night at the Devils-Caps. Brian Gionta is a poor man's Sidney Crosby, if you know what I mean.

d. Coffeenerdness: One of the side benefits of riding Amtrak is the Green Mountain dark roast on board. Best airplane/train cup of coffee out there.

e. I mean, do you ever hear me complain about Amtrak? Even the annoying phone people can't get me down, like the psycho woman in front of me on the Amtrak Regional Sunday morning, crying through the Stamford stop because her husband has been so thoughtless.

f. This is Monday, so Miguel Tejada must want to be traded. Again. Or maybe not. Let's ask his astrologer.

g. Did Tejada and Manny go to Flighty School this offseason?

h. How can a teenage girl steal the show in a movie? I don't know, but you watch oldie but goodie Beautiful Girls and you think: Natalie Portman is a phenomenal talent.