Ashburn, Va. ? Joe Gibbs spoke for 12 minutes nonstop. He said nothing new and repeated the same words and phrases several times, sounding more like a man at a loss to explain something gone awry than a Hall of Fame football coach.

He tried massaging the numbers as best he could, and explained the ramifications of the salary cap as if no one else had ever dealt with it before. He could not, however, escape the final conclusion: The Washington Redskins were just 1-for-3 in their major offseason goals.

“We lost two players,” Gibbs said. “I don’t like that. Did I think it was going to be that hard? No. I thought we’d win both of these. We didn’t.”

The Redskins lost middle linebacker Antonio Pierce and cornerback Fred Smoot to free agency in the past week.

They also sent disgruntled receiver Laveranues Coles to the New York Jets for Santana Moss, an exchange that counts a crippling $9.3 million toward Washington’s salary cap this season because of Coles.

The trade will eat up all but a sliver of the $9.5 million saved in the one goal that was achieved: the restructuring of tackle Chris Samuels’ contract.

In other words, the Redskins have retained their status as one of the NFL’s busiest teams in the month of March. Yet there has been little dividend since Dan Snyder bought the team in 1999.

From Deion Sanders on down, the big names haven’t won and haven’t stuck around, complicating the team’s salary cap picture. Only two marquee free agent signings — defensive ends Bruce Smith and Renaldo Wynn — stayed more than three seasons.

It’s been only two years since Snyder crowed over signing four Jets during the offseason. There’s a real chance that only guard Randy Thomas will be back next season. Coles is gone, while injuries to kick returner Chad Morton and kicker John Hall make their returns uncertain.

The jury is still out on last year’s blockbuster crop. Shawn Springs, Marcus Washington and Cornelius Griffin had strong first seasons in Washington, while Clinton Portis looked like an overpaid star and Mark Brunell was a bust. Some of the $25.6 million in bonuses paid to Brunell and Portis would have come in handy during negotiations with Smoot and Pierce.

Pierce left for the New York Giants, signing a six-year, $26 million deal. Smoot went to the Minnesota Vikings for $34 million over six years. The Redskins’ final offers were in the ballpark both times, but Gibbs and Snyder wouldn’t give up the extra dollars to close the deal.