Gibbs's Risk Is Rewarded

Parcells, the only coach who ever had Gibbs's number on a consistent basis when he coached the Giants, got so flummoxed that he chewed out an assistant coach. Wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson screamed at a kicker. And, late in the game, TV cameras caught one Cowboys player who appeared to be fast asleep on the team bench. Or maybe he was just in shock from a Sean Taylor lick.

The late-season playoff-run victory, built around a perfect game plan and a roaring home crowd, was always a Gibbs trademark. The Cowboys merely recapitulated a familiar experience of Redskins' foes of the past.

"Teams are like people. You have to develop confidence. A game like this tells you, 'This is what we are capable of doing.' It doesn't mean we'll do it next week. But it encourages everybody. 'Hey, we can play a game like this against a real good football team,' " Gibbs said.

The Redskins' defense played a huge role in this victory that put the team in realistic playoff contention, though Washington might be underdogs, even at home against the Giants on Christmas Eve.

However, the Redskins' offense, so dominant in first Gibbs era and so inconsistent in his second term, finally produced an intimidating game.

"Sometimes you get a real good flow and everything works," Gibbs said. Somehow, he forgot to use the word "I" in that statement.

But he's the one directing that play-calling flow -- the mixture of deceit and complementary plays that leaves defenders thinking they are seeing something familiar until, suddenly, they realize that have just been fooled by an entirely new wrinkle. Two of Mark Brunell's four touchdown passes were to receivers so open that they might as well have carried a rocking chair with them into the end zone.

"This win was big-time for Coach Gibbs," said tackle Chris Samuels, who gave an inspirational halftime talk in Arizona last Sunday when the Redskins trailed 10-3 and had played as atrociously for a half as they were exceptional in this game for the first 38 minutes. "These coaches, they're still working sometimes at 4 a.m. and they are back at work at 7 a.m. Those guys are fighters and they are winners. [Offensive line] coach [Joe] Bugel had a burr under his saddle for these guys. Even when we had a big lead, he was all over us. You could tell he wanted to blow these guys out."

No Redskins team ever beat a Cowboys club quite as badly as on this night. Twice, there were 27-point Washington wins. But never 28. And especially against a Dallas team that entered with a solid 8-5 record.

For many years, the Redskins have been brutally inconsistent, following their best performances with many of their worst. This Gibbs team, with only a couple of truly "smooth" performances in two years, is a far cry from those that produced similar performances at least once a month.

Still, Gibbs claims he sees the first glimmers of the vision that brought him back. "This team is special," Gibbs said. "We have a great chemistry. Obviously, we have talent. We're getting there. We're building something. You start to see some signs of a Redskins team that is going to be good this year and in years to come."

Of course, only time will tell. However, for one night, Joe Gibbs and the Redskins were truly back, in their glory, playing with precision and controlled violence, dismantling their most despised foe and handing Parcells one of the worst defeats of his career.

This was Joe Gibbs's moment, the one he came back for. There will probably be more. But at least there was one.