Dolphins at Redskins: Joe Gibbs Revival

Miami Dolphins at Washington Redskins
1:00 p.m. FedEx Field
In 2005, the Redskins are picked to finish dead last in the NFC East. Many around football believe they’re going to be one of the three or four worst teams in the league. The Redskins end up making the playoffs, and winning a postseason game on the road.

In 2006, the Redskins are picked to finish in either first or second place in the East. Many say they are one of the top teams in the NFC. The Redskins have Clinton Portis get hurt in the first preseason game and drop to 5-11.

What does this tell us about early season predictions? It shows they are useless. Just because I expect the Redskins to go 10-6 or 11-5 every season doesn’t mean they will. Just because all of ESPN’s analysts, who hope the Redskins won’t win more than six games so they can spend more time talking about Dallas or Philly, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.

The Washington Redskins, on paper, are still one of the best teams in the league. Let me run down some of the names for you: Portis, Ladell Betts, Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El, Chris Cooley, Chris Samuels, Jon Jansen, Randy Thomas, Cornelius Griffin, Marcus Washington, London Fletcher, Shawn Springs, Sean Taylor, LaRon Landry. Teams that routinely go 5-11 do not have talent like this on their roster. One bad season, sure. Detroit Lions bad? Not happening. Every possible thing that could have gone wrong last year, from all the injuries to all the close losses to a ridiculous schedule that had the Skins playing FOUR teams coming off their bye weeks (an NFL record), did go wrong for the Redskins. This team is too talented to go 5-11 again.

On the flip side, the Redskins are starting a young quarterback who has been behind center for exactly seven games. Now, I know that this hasn’t kept ESPN from pre-ordering a bust of Tony Romo in Canton, but Jason Campbell didn’t even have one or two eye-popping games like his friend in Dallas did (although he didn’t fumble field goal snaps). I’m still very skeptical of Campbell. I’ve seen so many potentially great quarterbacks come through this city in the past decade. And other than Brad Johnson’s 1999 season, all those quarterbacks either failed, or failed miserably. So excuse me if I tend to believe that Campbell is going to be more like Heath Shuler than Sonny Jurgensen. If he’s great, then great! I’ll be the first to say I was wrong. But his stats from seven games last year weren’t all that impressive.

Also, despite the talent that does exist on the defensive side of the ball, the question mark continues to be the defensive line. Along with Griffin, Phillip Daniels and Andre Carter are back. If they are all healthy, which was a big problem last year, then there is no reason the Redskins defensive line can’t be as good as half of the other d-lines in the league. If they get hurt, then potentially only Denver is worse at that position.

Regardless, the Redskins are going to field enough talent to win 10 to 11 games. Again, look at this roster and compare it to the rest of the teams in the NFC. Who would scare you more? Portis and Betts, or Julius Jones and Marion Barber? Moss and Randle El, or Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis? Taylor and Landry, or whatever retreads the Giants are trying out in their secondary? The big question for the Skins isn’t going to be about lack of talent. It’s going to be about how the coaches handle the talent that’s already on the roster.

This is not a shot at Joe Gibbs. Gibbs is not the problem (although I continue to wish he would spend more time refining the playbook than worrying about which make of automobile his NASCAR drivers are going to use next season). Joe Gibbs, despite last season, is still one of the most successful, most innovative and brilliant minds to ever walk a NFL sideline. Only Vince Lombardi is ahead of him in terms of NFL genius. That’s right, Gibbs is ahead of the late, great Bill Walsh. While Walsh’s coaching tree is unmatched in football, his success on the field is not light years ahead of a handful of other greats. The West Coast Offense, which worked very well for Walsh’s 49ers, is nothing more than a gimmick offense. Since the 49ers won their last championship (Super Bowl XXIX) a grand total of one team has won a Super Bowl using the West Coast Offense. One! And that was the Packers in Super Bowl XXXI. So it’s been more than a decade since a WCO won a title.

The WCO may be an efficient way to cover up defects at certain positions, like offensive line or even at quarterback (the Eagles have been using the WCO to cover up McNabb’s terrible accuracy for the last five or six years). It may win you a bunch of regular season games. But the WCO is, in reality, nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Most teams that use it are exposed late in the season or early in the playoffs. This is why you see fewer and fewer teams running primary WCO. Believe me, I’m not trying to put down Bill Walsh. He’s certainly one of the top five coaches in history. But to hear people say he was the best is an insult to Lombardi, who continues to be head and shoulders above everyone else.

Gibbs, on the other hand, perfected an offense that is used by the majority of teams today. Gibbs took power rushing and mixed it with play-action passing to create the famous “Air Coryell” offense at San Diego (while it was named after Chargers head coach Don Coryell, it was really a Gibbs invention). Almost every modern offense in the NFL uses some part of what Gibbs and Coryell created. The counter trey is now a staple of every single team in the NFL. That was a Gibbs invention. The play-action rollout is basically a Gibbs invention. This is offense that Gibbs helped spearhead was so successful, you see teams from every level run it. The Steelers, who won the Super Bowl only two seasons ago, used a hybrid of Gibbs’ Coryell attack.

The 49ers didn’t win all those championships just because of the WCO. They won them because they had Joe Montana, Steve Young, Roger Craig, Jerry Rice and John Taylor. Walsh was a much better GM then he ever was a coach. But what happened after Young retired and Rice went to Oakland? The 49ers stopped winning. On the other side, what happened to the Redskins after Joe Theismann broke his leg and John Riggins retired? They won two more Super Bowls, and would have won another one if Gibbs hadn’t retired in the first place. Gibbs won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks, three different running backs, a host of different receivers and completely different defenses. He won them because his offensive system truly worked. And his offensive system has staying power.

That’s why the game hasn’t passed Gibbs by. He is the game. His offense is the offense that the majority of NFL team run. Saying that the game has passed Gibbs by is like saying computer software passed by Bill Gates, if Gates were to disappear to Antarctica for a decade and then decide to come back and run Windows again. Joe Gibbs isn’t the problem. Just because he looks older and may have some trouble relating to players doesn’t mean he’s washed up.

The problem is his associates. Gregg Williams, who handles the defense completely independent from Gibbs, was a disaster last season after two great years before it. Williams’ assistants, especially those coaching the defensive backs, botched last season. Al Saunders never earned the respect of the Redskins offensive players. His system was a disappointment. The game hasn’t passed Joe Gibbs by, but Joe Gibbs may believe that it has. That’s why he went out and hired so many assistants. 2006 was clearly a case of too many cooks being in a one-bedroom apartment’s kitchen.

The solution to fix the offense is easy. The first step has already been made. Making Campbell the starter changes the whole dynamic of the offense already. The second step is for Gibbs to take more of a roll in play calling. Like he did in 2005. Like he did at the end of last season. Fixing the defense will be a bit harder. Gibbs has never been a defensive guru. He’s always delegated responsibility to a defensive coordinator, whether it was Richie Petitbone or Williams. Hopefully the additions of Fletcher and Landry, along with adding depth all around the secondary, will convince Williams to go back to his blitzing style of ’05 instead of the passive defense of ’06.

I think the Redskins can be very good this year. Just take another look at the roster. It’s very appealing. I honestly believe that if the Skins play up to their ability, stop fooling around with lesser opponents and avoid major injuires, this is a team that can win 10 games or more. Super Bowl is probably out of the question this season. But 10 wins for the second time in three years would be nice.

One of those lesser opponents are the Dolphins. I’m not going to waste much time talking about them. Trent Green shouldn’t scare the Redskins, but I said the same thing last year about Brad Johnson in the opener. The Fins have Ronnie Brown, who’s very good, Chris Chambers, who can be good depending upon who is throwing him the ball, and not much else. The only way Miami is winning games this year will be with their defense. Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas are still there and still showing no signs of aging.

The Redskins will win this game if they are able to create turnovers and execute in the short field. Miami should be prone to giving up the ball. The Predictor will be there for his fourth opener in the past five years. The only one I didn’t attend was last year’s disappointment against Minnesota. Otherwise, I’m 3-0 in openers. Let’s make it 4-0.