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ES COVERAGE: Joe Gibbs' Final Season Press Conference 01/01/07 (FINAL UPDATE POSTED)

JimmiJo

By JimmiJo
in The Stadium

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Sweet Sassy Molassy

Sweet Sassy Molassy

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At the Gregg level or the Steve Jackson level?

I mean at a Steve Jackson level. I think that Saunders will be okay. Williams did have 2 good years, he needs to shift his focus and fix a lot of how he deals with the players and his philosophy. If he proves that he can't do that, then he deserves to be out of here. We've got way too many middle management coaches.

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Tarhog

Tarhog

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I didn't get the feeling a GM is all that likely. I think the attitude Gibbs expressed (and this is all just my impression, not anything he said) is that they aren't ruling anything out, but that he doesn't feel a GM is some kind of a magic bullet. On the other hand I may just be misreading, and what he really meant was that they weren't going to discuss high-level decisions in public.

That presser really made me feel better about things. Thanks to Jimmijo for getting in my 'how are you feeling?' question - because what I was looking for was a high commitment level, the same commitment level he verbalized at the very first training camp after coming back. I'm willing to ride it out with Coach Gibbs through hell if necessary, as long as I know he's 100% in this thing for the duration.

Thats what I heard from him today.

And I swear, I think they must have extremeskins up on the big screen at Redskins Park. Because the fan concerns he referenced were dead on.

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Tastes Like Chicken

Tastes Like Chicken

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I mean at a Steve Jackson level. I think that Saunders will be okay. Williams did have 2 good years, he needs to shift his focus and fix a lot of how he deals with the players and his philosophy. If he proves that he can't do that, then he deserves to be out of here. We've got way too many middle management coaches.

:applause: I agree with you about the middle management. It seems to me also, that no matter how you try to explain it, money can change people and it seems that GW acted like he could plug in his system and rest on his laurels. His defense was majorly exposed this year, and it certainly seemed like all of a sudden our defense was unable to swarm to the ball, unable to gang tackle, unable to stuff the run, and Sean Taylor looked very very lost at times. GW definitely needs to cut out a layer of his staff and rethink his overall coaching strategy. I would hate for Sean Taylor's God-given talents to go to waste and for our defense overall to be so poor, just as Saunders' scheme and Campbell's learning curve swing upwards next season.

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Aghar

Aghar

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Not that I expected anything different but didn't this PC sound alot like last years? "We have the building blocks for the future, etc" lines? And the other thing. The Jags game was Redskins football? I loved the ending but if giving up 30+ pts. at home to a team that usually scores 17 at home should not be labelled Redskins football.

Maybe I'm reading into it too much....:whoknows:

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Tarhog

Tarhog

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Not that I expected anything different but didn't this PC sound alot like last years? "We have the building blocks for the future, etc" lines? And the other thing. The Jags game was Redskins football? I loved the ending but if giving up 30+ pts. at home to a team that usually scores 17 at home should not be labelled Redskins football.

Maybe I'm reading into it too much....:whoknows:

I think what he was referencing was that coming into that game, the Jags were considered one of the most physically dominant teams of 2006. We imposed our will on them and won a very tough game. That was how I took that comment. What I found a little funny is that he started to name other games where we played 'Redskin's football' and stopped. We understand Joe, coming up with season highlights in 2006 ain't easy.

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@DCGoldPants

@DCGoldPants

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I think after listening to the coach on channel 4. I'm not very optimistic about the next few weeks.

We're the top at keeping our core guys around? How do you define core guys? Jimoh and Lemar Marshall?

I'm hoping for some divine intervention here and the Coach wakes up realizing that its time to take a long hard look in the mirror about the stuff he's saying on t.v..

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TK

TK

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January 1, 2007

Redskins Park

Head Coach Joe Gibbs

On the fans:

“The first thing I want to start out with is our fans at FedEx the other night. I thought that was one of the greatest exhibitions of fans supporting a team that at that point was 5-10. That is something that I will always remember. We went out there and the crowd was electric. I think they stood up for a big part of the game. That really stuck out for me. I really appreciate each and every one of them.”

On the season:

“We got off to an awful start. We want to take a hard long look at that. That got us going in the wrong direction. It took me by surprise. Our team worked extremely hard in the off season. They did every single thing that we asked them to do. We had great attendance. That is one thing I am focused on, is to go back and research the off season as we enter into this year. Certainly we do not want a repeat of what happened last year by getting off to a terrible start. We were inconsistent during the year. We had some very emotional, highlighted wins where we looked like what we wanted to look like. The Jacksonville game was an example of Redskins football.”

“We went through the first portion of the year not being able to be consistent from week to week. We reached a point that we all talked about with six weeks to go where we stopped to re-evaluate things. We have players here that really care. We have great leadership and the right character on our football team. A bunch of those players came to me and we all talked. They care about it. I don’t think it is money. You can’t pay guys to do this, to be a part of a team, sacrifice and do some of the things that our football players do. Some of them are playing roles on this football team where they are asked to sacrifice. You can’t pay them and you certainly can’t threaten them. That is not part of it. They do it because they really care about it. A bunch of those guys came to me and we all talked. The coaches met and we said we don’t like where we are. We said this is what we want to look like. We had film of some of the victories that we had. We said this is where we want to be. We made a decision to change philosophically in some areas and readdress things down the stretch. We changed some things in practice. As a consequence there were some good things to point to for sure. Certainly, certain parts of our team played outstanding football. We came close to mirroring what we want to be. Down the stretch our football team showed great character and great heart. We were out of it and it was strictly a pride thing for us. The character of our football team and the way our guys care about things stood up. They played hard down the stretch. There were a number of players that made real statements about their future here and what roles they can play for us.”

“Having said how disappointed we are at being 5-11. I need to address it that way. Everyone can certainly hold me accountable for that. Having said that, there are things that we can point to and I think we have some of the key ingredients here to build on. That is what I am looking forward to. The players kept me going down the

stretch with their hard work. What we decided to do in practice wasn’t easy. They went after it hard. They wanted to play physical and that showed up down the stretch also. That is the way we finished out the year.”

“To summarize this year it was extremely disappointing for us. As I look into our off season and what we are going to do, certainly it is something we will take a long hard look at and try and do every single thing to get back to where we want to be. We kind of know what we want to do here and we have some things laid out that we are going to be embarking on. We are going to go after it hard.”

On special teams this season:

“I don’t know of a group that played any better for us in the time I have spent a season here. We have real character on that group and real leadership. That is the heart of your football team. Special teams is an unselfish role. We have a lot of guys in there that are our kind of guys and led that group. That group played outstanding football.”

On how he can mesh the two different offensive styles between he and Al Saunders (Associate Head Coach – Offense):

“It is always a process. Al and all of us were in meetings together. As an offensive staff it was all of us together that talked that over and made the decisions that we made about strategy, what we wanted to do, and more or less our running schemes and what we wanted to get back to as far as doing some of the things. Al was in on all of that. We all talked our way through it. It was Al calling the plays down the stretch. We all went forward and said this is what we wanted to do. From the last six weeks I know we stepped up in a lot of areas. That is encouraging. We came out of the season, with as bad as it was, most of the players that I talked to and a lot of the offensive linemen feel like they have confidence. They know what they can do and they did it consistently against good football teams. That is one of the things you point to.”

On if he felt this was his worst season as a coach:

“I think you could say that. It was disappointing. I know for me it was the toughest five months of my professional career as far as coaching. I don’t look at it so much about myself but all the people we let down. You have an owner that is busting his hump doing everything he can to try and help us. You have fans doing everything they can. Your responsibility is to win football games and you don’t. For me, during the time I have been with the Redskins this season was most disappointing. Last year we played extremely well down the stretch even though we lost some guys. I thought for us to make the playoffs last year was a step forward for the franchise. That is what we would like to be every year, a team that can do that. Had we been able to duplicate that record this year, you can see where we would have been in the NFC. That didn’t happen.”

On if he feels he should have changed their philosophy during the bye week:

“I would have loved to have done that but you are going through a process at the time. We just hadn’t reached that point in our thought process. I would have loved to have done it in the first week and say we came out of pre-season and didn’t win a game and we need to readjust things. We didn’t do that. You look back and say you would love to have changed some things. Up here you don’t have that luxury. There are a lot of times where you go forward and make decisions week by week. The only thing that makes them right is having the right record when it is all said and done.”

On if he feels if they had gone to Jason Campbell (QB, #17) earlier that things may have turned out differently:

“That is also one that is a process we went through. It takes in everything that has happened to you week by week. All of the things that you are seeing on the football team. I don’t think you have the luxury of saying you would like to go back and do this or that. You look back at it and see that we weren’t successful with all of the things you could have done. I don’t think you have the luxury to say that if I did this or that it would have changed everything.”

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kwitt

kwitt

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I think after listening to the coach on channel 4. I'm not very optimistic about the next few weeks.

We're the top at keeping our core guys around? How do you define core guys? Jimoh and Lemar Marshall?

I'm hoping for some divine intervention here and the Coach wakes up realizing that its time to take a long hard look in the mirror about the stuff he's saying on t.v..

I forgot to watch that. I still can not figure out how Gibbs can fire himself as an offensive coordinator (hall of fame ability) but refuses to let go of his GM duties (complete failure).

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flexxskins

flexxskins

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I didn't get the feeling a GM is all that likely. I think the attitude Gibbs expressed (and this is all just my impression, not anything he said) is that they aren't ruling anything out, but that he doesn't feel a GM is some kind of a magic bullet. On the other hand I may just be misreading, and what he really meant was that they weren't going to discuss high-level decisions in public.

I got the exact, same impression as you did Tarhog. IMO it was like coach Gibbs either felt like the GM situation is such a non-factor to our losing situation that it's not even going to be considered in days to come or (like you mentioned) he felt that that information is not for public knowledge at this time.

That presser really made me feel better about things. Thanks to Jimmijo for getting in my 'how are you feeling?' question - because what I was looking for was a high commitment level, the same commitment level he verbalized at the very first training camp after coming back. I'm willing to ride it out with Coach Gibbs through hell if necessary, as long as I know he's 100% in this thing for the duration.

I know that you were seeking another statement of commitment from Gibbs, but I think that he really appreciates when a fan/reporter or in this case both (Jimmijo), asks "how are you feeling?"

Personally, I thought that it was a classy question and I am glad to know now that it came from our own Jimmijo. :applause:

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SkinsFTW

SkinsFTW

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Also sounds like Adam will be here as well. The reporters asked Gibbs directly if Adam asked to be traded and he said no.

as far as he knows Adam will be back too.

Why would he ask for a trade?

Who would turn down 5Mil a year to watch football games from the best seat in the house and even get to go out and destroy kick returners several times a game in the process?

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littlenana57

littlenana57

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Sometimes I wish our coaches and players would care 1% as much as we care ... it makes me sick hearing our HOF coach saying that he might go back to the same mistakes he did in the 2 losing seasons ... I don't know what to make of this ...

I agree except..i would have at least have had a season like 2005....then to play like that as we ended(until seattle/who i predict will knock off the cowgurls), that's the coaching we need....next year....with what we have now...yep...it might work:2cents:

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TotalRecall

TotalRecall

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I didn't like how Gibbs tried to sugar-coat the season by saying "there were 5 games, I think, that we lost by 3 points or less." Implying that they are a better team than their record indicates. In reality, there is a big difference between the Colts, who probably has the best offense, the Ravens, who probably has the best defense, and the Chargers, who is probably the best overall balanced team. If you can't put your team up with the league's elite then don't even try to say you've got a good team.

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JimmiJo

JimmiJo

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I didn't like how Gibbs tried to sugar-coat the season by saying "there were 5 games, I think, that we lost by 3 points or less." Implying that they are a better team than their record indicates. In reality, there is a big difference between the Colts, who probably has the best offense, the Ravens, who probably has the best defense, and the Chargers, who is probably the best overall balanced team. If you can't put your team up with the league's elite then don't even try to say you've got a good team.

In fairness I don't think that is what he was saying. He hwas not saying that the Redskins are a good team, in fact he qualified his comments repeatedly. What he was saying is that they are not as far off as the record indicates.

In that regard he is right, as football is a game of inches and with an improved defense the team can end with a much better record next year.

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