WP:Does Gibbs Have The Tools to Fix It?

[flexxskins]

By Michael Wilbon

Friday, September 22, 2006; E01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101636_pf.html

When a pro basketball team is in need of a victory, it turns to the franchise player, the megastar. A big league baseball team turns to its ace to stop a losing streak. In pro football, a team turns to its head coach. Which brings me to Joe Gibbs.

Probably no coach the past 30 years has been as successful at rallying a team, at pulling players out of a funk as Gibbs, which is one of the many reasons his bronze bust sits in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's why he pronounced late Sunday night, after the Redskins had dropped to 0-2, "We have to find a way to win a game and it starts with the head coach."

It was as if Gibbs were talking to himself as much as the reporters he was addressing. "Gotta find a way to fix a bunch of things," he said.

We've seen Gibbs fix things so many times, there's every reason to believe he'll do it again, beginning Sunday in Houston in what, absurdly enough, is a must-win game even though it's only Week 3 of the season.

The problem is that the list of things to fix just gets longer. Yesterday, for instance, the Redskins learned they will not have their best cornerback (and one of the best in the NFL), Shawn Springs, for at least this week.

This, unquestionably, is a setback. And it should have been avoided at all costs.

Springs should not have been on the practice field Wednesday. The surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle isn't a minor deal. It's fairly major surgery. And from talking to two players who have had the surgery, eight weeks is a reasonable time for recovery. So why was Springs trying to practice after five?

Because the culture of the NFL pressures players to come back too quickly. Because Springs couldn't go to dinner, pick up a newspaper or meet with his coaches without hearing that, without the team's best cornerback, Gregg Williams was limited in what he could do defensively.

In other words, without Springs available to cover the other team's best receiver man-to-man, Williams can't call on all those creative and effective blitzes the Redskins have used to devastate offenses. As one NFL player told me this week: "Gregg can't go after anybody right now. He has no dominant pass rusher, so he has to rely on blitzes. He does that as well as anybody, but everybody knows he can't do that without Shawn Springs."

Just about every NFL player, especially the best ones, feel a sense of obligation to try to play before it's wise to do so.

Every team in the NFL, and the Redskins are no exception, operate with that kind of unspoken pressure. Rarely if ever do coaches say, "Son, hurry it up." They just look at 'em with dreamy eyes and say: "Boy, it would be so much better for the whole team if we had you in there. Wow, just think of all the things we could do with you on the field."

And next thing you know, LaVar Arrington is practicing on a wet field and re-injuring his knee or Springs is suffering a new injury that is definitely related to the one that hadn't healed.

Springs played in 31 games the last two years. He's no slacker. He grew up here and is dying to help his team win and the coaches should have held him out. The coaches should not have allowed Clinton Portis to play in Week 1, either. This isn't hindsight. People close to both players were begging them to wait and not risk it. Portis, with six full weeks off after suffering that injury in the season opener, might well be 100 percent by now. Getting Springs back for 12 or 13 games in tip-top condition would have been a huge benefit. He calls the signals in the secondary. He calms down Sean Taylor. Now what?

As is, the Redskins are missing probably their best all-around offensive player, Portis. And they're missing probably their most important defensive player, Springs.

It's going to be hard to fix that, even for a man whose bust sits in Canton. But it would be silly to bet against Gibbs because we've seen him over the years successfully get teams to refocus.

Former Redskins offensive lineman Jeff Bostic, in a conversation yesterday about Gibbs, said: "I think it was 1989 when we started out 5-6. We didn't make the playoffs but finished 10-6. It was similar to last season when they were 5-6 and went 10-6 to make the playoffs. Look, Joe is just the type of general you want when things are bad. He steps right in front and says, 'Let me figure out how to get us out of this.' On the other hand, in 1991 when we were 11-0, his comment was, 'I'm just along for the ride.' "

Bostic, like anybody who has been with Gibbs during a slump, has a sense of what Gibbs has been emphasizing in practice this week. "He'll go back to basics," he said. "He'll do things like work on blitz pickups, even with a veteran offensive line."

Former players talk about Gibbs, in a stressful week like this one, being hands-on, grinding through each practice.

The question now is whether that will go far enough toward fixing a laundry list of problems.

Does Gibbs Have The Tools to Fix It?

Click on link above for full article.

[TheLongshot]

From what I've been reading, Portis is supposed to be back this week so I don't know what he's talking about there.

Usually with player injuries, you are dependant on the player to help you with the decision. Also, you don't find out unless you go out there. I don't think Springs' groin injury is going to affect his return all that much. I really don't think that they were expecting him to play on Sunday, even if he didn't hurt his groin.

Does he have the tools to fix it? I'm pretty sure he does, with all of the talent on this team. Hell, having Portis back goes a long way to fixing things.

Jason

[bubba9497]

yes he does

[SoCalSkins]

The biggest mistake was not addressing the qb situation in the off season. Given Brunell's crap play at the end of the season, why is it a suprise that he is playing up to his normal standard of worthlessness? If we were so willing to trade a pick for Duckett as insurance, why didn't we bring in someone more capable than Collins? We should have kept PR for another year, the 6th rd pick wasn't worth it or paid another capable vet to backup Mark until Jason was ready.

[SKINZ33]

I would say...uummmmm, YES.

[SKINZ33]

The biggest mistake was not addressing the qb situation in the off season. Given Brunell's crap play at the end of the season, why is it a suprise that he is playing up to his normal standard of worthlessness? If we were so willing to trade a pick for Duckett as insurance, why didn't we bring in someone more capable than Collins? We should have kept PR for another year, the 6th rd pick wasn't worth it or paid another capable vet to backup Mark until Jason was ready.

They didnt address it because they thought that Brunell was a little banged up towards the end of last season and thats the only reason he didnt perform so well. They probably thought he would be able to regain the form he had before his slight knee sprain but so far the problem has been going well beyond anything that an injury would contribute to IMO.

[Rdskn4Lyf21]

The biggest mistake was not addressing the qb situation in the off season. Given Brunell's crap play at the end of the season, why is it a suprise that he is playing up to his normal standard of worthlessness? If we were so willing to trade a pick for Duckett as insurance, why didn't we bring in someone more capable than Collins? We should have kept PR for another year, the 6th rd pick wasn't worth it or paid another capable vet to backup Mark until Jason was ready.

A lot of guys played crappy at the end of last year, hence us being knocked out of the playoffs.

Brunell can't be judged fairly without Portis being back there, because the offense is not complete.

On the other side of the ball, you cannot say Carter was a bust already. Springs hasn't been in there, and GW cannot unleash his D yet.

When both are healthy we can really tell what is going on with this team, but it is ashame we didn't have the depth to keep us from relying so heavily on those two.

[SkinsGuy]

Wilbon is a little behind the times.

Portis will be ready and will play Sunday versus the Texans.

As well, Springs said before that he was shooting for the Jacksonville game. He thought he might see 10-12 plays in the Houston game, but then didn't really think he'd play much.

The one part of his article I did agree with, though was about Gibbs ability to adjust a halftime and fix things quickly on the fly.

It was one of the main things that make him such a great coach.

I worry that with Saunders now calling the shots that Gibbs ability to do that has been neutralized.

How good is Saunders at it? Does Gibbs give himself input when situations like that arise or does he let Saunders take care of everything?

[DButz65]

Wilbon is a idiot, how can he compare baseball and basketball to football?

3 Totally different games, what a douche, thats the best he could come up with?

[D'Pablo]

Wilbon is a idiot, how can he compare baseball and basketball to football?

3 Totally different games, what a douche, thats the best he could come up with?

The comparison actually seemed apt. In the NFL, teams do turn to their coach in times of crisis. Besides, the comparison is about 2 lines of the entire article.

I thought this was one of the best Wilbon articles I've read in a really long time. He is one of the few writers that has kept the faith with Gibbs and this team. Gotta appreciate any love we get from the media these days.

[McMetal]

Gibbs doesn't make tackles or throw the ball, or even call plays at this point, so no, he can't fix it.

It's time for a players only meeting.

[DButz65]

The comparison actually seemed apt. In the NFL' date=' teams do turn to their coach in times of crisis. Besides, the comparison is about 2 lines of the entire article.

I thought this was one of the best Wilbon articles I've read in a really long time. He is one of the few writers that has kept the faith with Gibbs and this team. Gotta appreciate any love we get from the media these days.[/quote']

Yea i didnt make it past that part , didnt want to after reading it :laugh:

And do you watch redskins report? He might talk good about the team in his articles, but on TV he bashes them every chance he gets, i wish he would go back to chi town

[Stuckinphilly1]

Gibbs doesn't make tackles or throw the ball, or even call plays at this point, so no, he can't fix it.

It's time for a players only meeting.

Though I don't agree with you on the fact that he can't fix it, yes he can and yes he will but it does seem to be time for a players only meeting.....do they still have them in football or is it only hockey???

[SkinsFTW]

The biggest mistake was not addressing the qb situation in the off season. Given Brunell's crap play at the end of the season, why is it a suprise that he is playing up to his normal standard of worthlessness? If we were so willing to trade a pick for Duckett as insurance, why didn't we bring in someone more capable than Collins? We should have kept PR for another year, the 6th rd pick wasn't worth it or paid another capable vet to backup Mark until Jason was ready.

Before now I didn't think we needed a GM like a lot of others have suggested but if Brunell can't do it, and if Campbell isn't ready then why the hell don't we have any of the good QBs that were available on this roster or why didn't we keep Ramsey? If anything by not keeping Ramsey they seemed to be expecting either Brunell to play a full 16 game season (which is not even 10% likely with Brunell) or they expected Campbell to be ready to play instead, or both. We had a large portion of the remaining cap space spent on receivers who don't get thrown to anyway and if Brunell does a repeat of 04 and Campbell isn't ready we have nobody who is likely to win us the required 10-11 games this season. Ramsey would have done fine but I didn't say that I thought he was a Super Bowl QB, just that I think he could win us some games.