clarkskin Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Given that it is early April, draft threads have been exhausted, and people are finally sick of JC/Cutler postings, I thought I'd take a break from all that and bring up a topic that bothers me from time to time. It is simple fact that during his first tenure here from 1981-1992, Joe Gibbs was one of the most successful coaches in NFL history. What irks me is that he has also become type-cast by media types (as well as some fans) as having been a conservative, run-dominated guy whose offenses basically relied on power football all the time. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the numbers back it up. Gibbs was a product of the Air-Coryell coaching tree and was known for innovations in the passing game. He was that type of coach that would run a play action rollout on 3rd and short and throw all the way across the field to a wide open tight end. He ran flea flickers (sorry Joe T), and the formations and motion he developed in the posse years gave opponents headaches. I'm sure most know all of this, but I wanted to dispute the commonly held notion that he was all about power running and guys like Riggings. Look at these numbers: Year Passing Offense Rank Rushing Offense Rank Overall offense 1981 10 12 10 1982 12 10 12 1983 7 3 1 1984 19 4 3 1985 23 2 20 1986 6 17 9 1987 4 7 4 1988 2 25 10 1989 1 14 5 1990 5 6 4 1991 5 7 1 1992 12 13 14 In 8 of 12 years, his passing offense was in the top 10 In 7 of 12 years, his rushing offense was in the top 10 in 9 of 12 years, the skins offense was in the top 10 overall in 8 of 12 years, the passing attack ranked higher than the rushing attack Again, no huge argument here, it just bothers me when people have the misconception that we were all about power running. What he really strove for was balance. People also are mistaken when they say that he ran first to set up the pass. That was not always the case. Oftentimes he would come out firing right away. I remember the play action touchdown to Gary Clark on the first play of the Eagles game in '89. How 'bout the 56-17 beatdown on the Falcons in '91 where the Falcons kept playing man coverage so he just threw it all day? Anyway, sometimes it is fun to remember the days when we were consistently good, and played an exciting brand of football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkskin Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 Maybe someone would know how to format those numbers for me in a column?? Sorry--didn't look that when I was typing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePreciating Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Ahh, AirDoryell. Beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDawg Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Ahh, AirDoryell. Beautiful. And Riggings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicious Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 It's called Oline, something we are missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Ahh, AirDoryell. Beautiful. :rotflmao: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEavyJumbo85 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 It's called Oline, something we are missing. correct. probably the main reason he didn't throw it as much the 2nd time around. probably why he played it so close to vest a lot. If you can't trust those guys to keep your QB off the ground, you aren't going to be slinging it all over the place. Unless you're Steve Spurrier :doh: Good O-line = do whatever you want on offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Lloyd Christmas Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 lol at airdoryell im also sick of zorns east coast offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
addicted Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Another commonly held misconception from Gibbs 1.0...Gibbs loved to trade draft picks for players like he did in 2.0 but back then he traded for players that were players who fit his system. He only used 3 first round draft picks in the 1980's proving that a team that trades draft picks can have success. His problem in version 2.0 was he didn't target good players like he did in the 80's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEavyJumbo85 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 im also sick of zorns east coast offense. I really don't think we've seen it yet. Unless you're certain that the high school like operation they ran last year is the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEavyJumbo85 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Another commonly held misconception from Gibbs 1.0...Gibbs loved to trade draft picks for players like he did in 2.0 but back then he traded for players that were players who fit his system. He only used 3 first round draft picks in the 1980's proving that a team that trades draft picks can have success. His problem in version 2.0 was he didn't target good players like he did in the 80's He didn't target anyone in the 80s. Gibbs was a bad personnel guy, Beathard ran the show when they were good. Gibbs and Beathard disagreed a lot and it eventually got so bad that Beathard left in 1990. The dynasty fell shortly thereafter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CounterTrey75 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 I agree. Especially the 91 season when the flea flicker couldn't be stopped. Every time I saw Byner give the ball back to Ryp, I put my hands up for a TD. It was automatic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandymac27 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 I really don't think we've seen it yet. Unless you're certain that the high school like operation they ran last year is the whole thing. Oh God let's hope not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSO Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 He didn't target anyone in the 80s. Gibbs was a bad personnel guy, Beathard ran the show when they were good. Gibbs and Beathard disagreed a lot and it eventually got so bad that Beathard left in 1990. The dynasty fell shortly thereafter. Well, the interesting thing here is that Gibbs was arguably better in the personnel department than the coaching department in his second go-around. Not to say he was a bad coach... far from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 I agree. Especially the 91 season when the flea flicker couldn't be stopped. Every time I saw Byner give the ball back to Ryp, I put my hands up for a TD. It was automatic!Stop it. I just felt a warm tear running down my cheek. I'm so old skool I actually remember when we were that ****ing dominant. 1991 seems like such a long time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CounterTrey75 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Stop it. I just felt a warm tear running down my cheek. I'm so old skool I actually remember when we were that ****ing dominant. 1991 seems like such a long time ago. :cry::cry::cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkskin Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 lol on the doryell thing--nice proofreading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braxford Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Great points about Gibbs. I was just watching my Super Bowl DVD's the other day and the offense had such balance and efficency I started drooling. When the offense under Gibbs 1.0 got into the red zone they scored. Now when the offense now gets into the redzone I just hope Suisham doesn't shank the kick...ARGGGHHHHH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFromYellowstone Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Maybe Gibb's AirDoryell offense could make Anquan Randle El, Santonio Moss and Malcomb Kelly an elite group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PROSCOUT Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Another commonly held misconception from Gibbs 1.0...Gibbs loved to trade draft picks for players like he did in 2.0 but back then he traded for players that were players who fit his system. He only used 3 first round draft picks in the 1980's proving that a team that trades draft picks can have success. His problem in version 2.0 was he didn't target good players like he did in the 80's This was Bobby Beathards department. Beathard was the one who traded picks around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE HAMMER'IN HOG Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 correct. probably the main reason he didn't throw it as much the 2nd time around. probably why he played it so close to vest a lot. If you can't trust those guys to keep your QB off the ground, you aren't going to be slinging it all over the place. Unless you're Steve Spurrier :doh:Good O-line = do whatever you want on offense. Absolutely! It could be said that Gibbs was a product of Bobby Beathard. BB made sure that when JG took the field he had the best offensive line in football for 10 years, something JG apparently never understood, because when left to his own device JG was all about skill position players, don't know if he really ever understood the importance of the offensive line, and BB's ability to find QB's better than JC late in the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba9497 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Good O-line = do whatever you want on offense. Five players played in all 4 Super Bowls seasons 4 were Hogs Jacoby Grimm Bostic Warren Monk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tr1 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Beathard's frustration was with Gibbs sticking with older players...something he may have been guilty of in Gibbs II. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkskin Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 Well my typo on Air "Doryell" basically led to my thread being a missed point. I still think that Gibbs' legacy is misrepresentend quite a bit amongst media members. They don't give him enough credit for being an offensive mastermind and a real creative mind in the passing game, as well as in the running game. He was not the Marty-ball guy that some want to make him out to be. Oh well, back to the "Campbell sucks" threads for us all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSF Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 I liked your thread Clark. It's fun to remember those Gibbs I teams. You are definitely right in that Gibbs liked to sling it around early, and then pound the ground game to close out the game. Sometimes he would just keep slinging it around until they were up by 30 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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