If I may ...

[Henry]

I just happened to watch SB26 last night and figured I'd share with the class.

A few observations:

- First of all. This was as dominating a performance as I have ever seen in a Superbowl. The score really should have been far more lop-sided, but Gibbs was classy enough to let up in the fourth quarter, by the start of which the score was 37-10.

- With all respect to Marvin Lewis, I don't think Redskins will ever see a better defensive coordinator than The Bone. His game plan was flawless. His blitzes were perfectly timed and they almost always worked. In fact the whole coaching staff: Matt Millen, Jim Hannifan, etc. was an all-star cast. It was almost creepy to see them all on the same sideline.

-I forgot was great safety play does for a secondary. We had some really, really good safeties. They were crushing Lofton and Reed every time they got near the ball. Our front seven was really deep. Everyonw made a play or two, but the guy who really stood out was Wilbur Marshall. He was everywhere, and seemed to be in on every big play. You could also tell he was talking trash all day and was really getting in the Bills' heads. I could see Arrington being that good someday, but I don't think he's there yet.

-Anyone who doesn't think Art Monk deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because he dissappears in big games really needs to watch this game again. He owned the Bills in the first half. In fact, in the first quarter he was the only player on either team doing anything on offense. Gary Clark owned the Bills in the second half. Those two really made a devastating tandem. I'd take Monk, Clark and Sanders over Moss, Carter and Reed ANY day.

-Our offensive line. Man, sometimes I forget just how amazing that line was. They simply destroyed the Bills DL. Lachey in particular was simply awesome. Bruce Smith made one or two plays, but was otherwise completely neutralized. However successfull Spurrier becomes here, I will always miss having huge TEs that could block like tackles as well as catch. Our Jumbo Package, with three or even four TEs, was unstoppable in short yardage. For our last two TDs Gerald Riggs simply walked through a five-yard whole untouched into the endzone.

It was a lot of fun to watch that game again. I can't believe I ever took Gibbs for granted. He was one hell of a coach. Spurrier could get us there again, but I'll sure miss the old counter-trey.

[Mad Mike]

but I'll sure miss the old counter-trey

Maybe not! Living in FL has it's advantages. Ive been catching re-runs of the Spurrier/ Gators games and I've seen them run the counter-tre more than once!:high: Suprise, Suprise!

[NVskinsfan]

Very TRUE!

We gave up a total of 9 sacks that year. Way to keep the QB healthy huh?

Defense had, what 3 shut outs and was dominating for the most part of the season and then cranked it up in the playoffs. :thumbsup:

Offense ran the 3 WR sets and were running up and down the field all season long. I loved that season and still love that offense.

If Lewis leaves next year, get Pettibone back on the horn and tell him to suit up!

[SonnyJ]

Millen was actually was the MLB on that team. He didn't play in the playoffs, though, because, in the Falcons, Lions, and Bills, the Redskins were playing primarily passing teams. Millen only played on run downs, with Gouveia taking over in passing situations. So, the team made him inactive for each game.

That team was just awesome. I've watched the tape of that game a few times, and I'm actually disappointed that the score wasn't more lopsided. The Bills absolutely had no chance. I remember hearing that, of the four SBs they played in, the only one the Bills didn't feel very confident about going into was the one against the 'Skins. Without a doubt that team was one of the best ever. They just steamrolled the league.

P.S. - I saw the Bone coming out of the Amphora in Vienna last Friday. Didn't say anything to him as he was talking to other people. Big guy, and I don't mean just his gut. He's also looking like he's getting up there in years.

[Om]

I love that tape, Henry. Probably have watched it 20 times over the years ... and always end up smiling. I have no problem with anything you said about the game, but will add a couple thoughts:

- Brad Edwards got away with murder in that game. The zebras, to their credit, called a pretty loose game, and as a result, Brad walked away a hero. He coulda been a goat. The hit on Andre Reed near the end of the half WAS interference, and would have been called 99 out of a 100 times in the regular season. I can think of at least a couple more plays where he got there just a hair early as well. Happily for him, the Super Bowl zebra crew gave some serious latitude. We'll credit Brad with being smart enough to have anticipated that.

- Fred Stokes was HUGE for us in ‘91, and never more so than in the SB. Haven't seen too many guys with quite the nose for the ball that guy had.

- Biggest play of the game may well have been the first play of the 2nd half. The Andre Collins blitz, drawn up at halftime, that led to Gouveia's INT and return to the Buffalo 2 (he should have scored ont he play, by the way ... bet he's never forgiven himself for stepping out of bounds). That play, and the resulting quick score to make it 24-0 before people were even back in their seats ... took Buffalo's heart. For my money, the game was over right then.

- I know you weren't doing so, but it occurred to me it would be highly unfair to Spurrier / Lewis to compare them in any way to Gibbs / Bone at this point. That ‘91 team was the culmination of 12 years of continuity, planning, tweaking, building, etc., by a coaching staff as good as any that has ever prowled a sideline. One that had been together for a good long time, featuring many players who had been in their "systems" for years. Those Petitbone schemes, like the Gibbs schemes, had been installed over time, and honed to perfection. I can recall Gibbs commenting over the years how his offense had grown and been expanded and fine-tuned over time, and how he had added to it bit by bit, season by season. No way his ‘81 offense – as ambitious as it was starting with Air Coryell, then morphing into the Riggo Drill – could have held a candle to the sophisticated, unpredictable, explosive animal he was running by ‘91.

We'll hope that the SS system, as clever and unique as it has shown itself to be to date, has room to grow as well. I'd like to think that if he's still coaching us in 2012, we'll be looking back at the early years and marveling at how far it's all come. And we'll also hope that in the meantime, regardless of how this thing gets started this year, Redskins fans and the NFL world at large will give him that time before deciding his approach either "works" or does not. Well, maybe not 10 years, but you get my drift.

You know they won't ... but you can hope.

- Anyway ... all that said, SB XXVI was a damn riot.

[Henry]

You know, I don't think that Edwards hit was necessarily interference. I always thought it was before I saw it again last night. However, upon further reveiw, I think the arguement could be made that he was going for the ball. In fact, the pass was head right towards him and he was looking it into his arms when he collided with Reed. I'm sure he knew where Reed was and what was going to happen, but I also think he was primarily going for the INT, and if Reed got in his way, Reed was gonna get hurt.

A lot of other hits were much, much closer, and if the refs had wanted to they could have called maybe half of them, but I don't think the zebras were inconsistant, which is really the cardinal sin of refereeing in any sport.

[redman]

I haven't seen that game tape in years. What I recall about that game was:

- Brad Edwards was a hitting machine! He was so pumped up that he just plain flat became a different player during that game. He really helped fire up our defense with his play.

- Wilber Marshall brought so much attitude and aggressive, physical play to that defense it was astounding. And yeah, he talked *&$%# all day long!

- The blitz packages that Petitbone ran were unreal. Jim Kelly took an absolute beating back there, and was literally knocked silly, on a busted call no less. As I remember it, a DB misread a coach's signal and thought he was supposed to blitz. Luckily enough, he ran free off the edge and absolutely clobbered Kelly from the blind side, literally knocking him from the game for a few plays.

- and of course, Thurman Thomas missed the first plays, maybe the first series, because he couldn't find his helmet. :laugh:

Wow, what a great game!