When Gibbs trudged off the field toward the tunnel at FedEx Field after one loss late this season, a belligerent fan screamed: "Hey, Joe, go back to NASCAR!" The remark was loud and pointed enough to elicit notice and anger from a few Redskins assistants.
Although Gibbs admits being stung, albeit momentarily, by such remarks, the coach believes that he is ultimately in control over such hectoring. "Anybody can imagine what it feels like," Gibbs said at Redskins Park last week. "You have all those emotions: you get your feelings hurt and all that. But I have to put it in the right context: If you don't win football games, every single thing about you gets criticized."
"There's a lot of criticism, a lot of second-guessing," Coach Joe Gibbs said. "The only way you change that is winning football games. I'm motivated to try to do that. Can I do that? We'll find out."
(John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
|
|
Gibbs returned to the NFL with the third-best winning percentage (.683) in league history. Gibbs remains the only coach in NFL history to win three Super Bowl titles with three quarterbacks plus three tailbacks. Such accomplishments led to his enshrinement in the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1996 with a bronze bust.
Gibbs was considered an offensive mastermind whose teams performed with discipline, precision and smarts. Gibbs's quarterbacks were protected from pass rushers, and the coach was known for making brilliant halftime adjustments, providing the Redskins the edge in close games. (Gibbs entered the season 61-31 in games decided by a touchdown or less.)
But this year's Redskins, who have an NFL-record payroll of more than $120 million, have performed in stark contrast to those past clubs.
The Redskins must score at least 11 points against the Vikings today to avoid recording a franchise low for total points scored since the advent of the 16-game schedule in 1978 (not including the strike-shortened 1982 season). Washington is only 79 penalty yards short of setting the club mark set in 1948. (Washington's 1,032 penalty yards this season mark the first time a Gibbs-coached team has reached 1,000.) Although Steve Spurrier, who coached the team in 2002 and 2003, was lambasted last season for allowing his quarterbacks to be pummeled, Gibbs's Redskins have given up only three fewer sacks. And Washington is 3-7 in games decided by a touchdown or less.
The publication of a book entitled "Joe Gibbs: The Genius Behind the Clipboard" -- by Mike Richman, originally scheduled for this winter -- has recently been delayed until June 30. Although the postponement is coincidental, it is fitting given the Redskins' miserable season.
Gibbs insists he has never considered retiring although he was compelled to rebut an ESPN report that he was contemplating it because of health reasons. Whenever Gibbs had been down from a tough outcome, the coach, who has a strong Christian faith, viewed his struggles through a religious prism; a test he must pass before reaching success.
Joe Gibbs Racing, founded by Gibbs in 1991, ended up almost as successful as Gibbs's first Redskins. Gibbs won NASCAR's prized Daytona 500 in 1993 and Winston Cup titles in 2000 and 2002. But Rennie Simmons, Gibbs's best friend and tight ends coach, sees parallels between this season and the start of Gibbs's NASCAR endeavor.
In 1992, Gibbs second-guessed his decision to pursue racing after his team finished 19th in the points standings. Simmons recalls attending Gibbs's first race at the Daytona 500 that year, when his driver Dale Jarrett's car was totaled.
"When he [Gibbs] first got into NASCAR, he would go in a crowd and people would be yelling, 'Go Cowboys!' " Simmons recalled, noting that Jarrett won the race the following year. "It took a while for him to get that thing [NASCAR] built up."
Coy Gibbs didn't know what to expect in his first year as an offensive quality-control assistant with the Redskins. In 2003, Coy was a driver in the Busch Series for his father's racing company. After the race season ended in November 2003, Coy, a former Stanford linebacker, conveyed a desire to become a football coach. The wish coincided with his father's contemplation of returning to the NFL, but this time without being too distant from his family.
Although naturally protective of his father, Coy has been perhaps the most stoic among the Redskins staff regarding the criticism this season. Coy said that growing up as the son of an NFL coach helped him develop an even keel. Despite his father's success in Washington from 1981 to 1992, Coy also retained vivid memories of the low points.
Coy and his brother J.D., who is three years older, were ballboys at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., where the Redskins perennially held training camp. The brothers were on the sideline at RFK Stadium watching their father work. Coy didn't fully comprehend his father's legacy until the final Super Bowl title after the 1991 season. But Coy connects more to his father's first NFL tenure than the NASCAR years.
