NY Times:Redskins Are Not Panicking Under a Steady Hand

[semiskin]

I stumbled upon this article at work today, while I was missing the game, and found this article in the NY Times. About some very positive things that are going on with this team, things that no one has been reporting, yeah I'm talking to you Pastabelly and Queeny.

Anyhow, this team is going to be good, it's going to take some time but it's gonna happen. I think there is first and foremost, great camaraderie on this team, and respect and faith in the coaching staff.

It's a bit long but worth a read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/sports/football/05gibbs.html

Redskins Are Not Panicking Under a Steady Hand

By JULIET MACUR

Published: December 5, 2004

SHBURN, Va., Dec. 2 - Before a Washington Redskins practice this week, a cloud of calm hung over the locker room.

One day, players entered through the swinging doors as if returning from yoga class, their faces softly serene. They whispered into cellphones, shared hushed conversation, played handheld video games in silence.

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The next afternoon, they snapped towels and one-liners, trading silly insults and turning the room into a frat house.

These are the woebegone Redskins?

"I know it's really hard to believe, but things are really positive around here," the starting quarterback Patrick Ramsey said as he leaned casually against a wall outside the locker room. "We don't think things are as bad as they seem."

The Redskins have reasons for infighting, crankiness or long faces. They are 3-8, last in the National Football Conference East, and they play the Giants (5-6) on Sunday.

Yet there's no panic here at Redskins Park, and the reason is Joe Gibbs.

The players believe Gibbs will save them. Maybe not this season, his first as the Redskins coach after 11 years away, but soon enough.

"He doesn't show you his Super Bowl rings or his Super Bowl trophies, because he doesn't have to," Ramsey said. "We know how much he has accomplished. Just him being here is calming for us."

Every time the players enter Redskins Park, they are reminded of Gibbs's success in his first 12 years as the team's coach. Inside a glass case are three gleaming Super Bowl trophies. Each has Gibbs's name engraved on it.

When he returned, the fans presumed another Super Bowl team would magically appear, led by the miracle-worker Gibbs, who retired from the Redskins with a 124-60 record in the regular season and four Super Bowl appearances. Knowing how nosebleed high the expectations were, Gibbs, who turned 64 last month, braced for disappointment. Now he is living it.

"Right now all I want to do is get out of this; that's the honest truth," Gibbs said before letting out a high-pitched giggle. Then his smile disappeared. "But you can't do that. You've got to fight your way through."

Before he signed a five-year, $28 million contract to be the Redskins' president and coach, his wife, Pat, said he had "a good chance of ruining your name." Gibbs said he laughed, adding, "I kind of thought about that and said, 'Oh, well, what the heck.' "

Gibbs, who had built a championship Nascar team, said the challenge of resurrecting the Redskins thrilled him.

Now he has heard what the public and the people in the league are saying about him.

"It's passed him by, lost touch with the players, can't relate - I knew that was going to be said," Gibbs said. "That's the fear of doing it."

Gibbs, who is diabetic, also heard a report that he would take a front-office job after the season for health reasons. Joe Bugel, the assistant head coach of the offense, said that rumor hurt Gibbs.

"There's no quitting in him," said Bugel, who was also on Gibbs's staff the first time around.

Gibbs said that his doctors gave him a "clean bill of health" and that he was fit enough to spend 20 hours a day at the office. So, whether he rediscovers the secret to success next week or next year, he is sure it will happen.

"My intentions are to stay right here, Lord willing," Gibbs said, chuckling. "There's a lot of things that could happen, and God's in charge of all of them."

Gibbs, a born-again Christian, has told his players that adversity reveals a person's real character. It will make them better people in the long run, he says.

He learned that firsthand: his first Redskins team lost its first five games in 1981. That team, led by quarterback Joe Theismann, finished 8-8 and won the Super Bowl the next season.

These Redskins are giving Gibbs much more trouble. Their defense ranks second in the N.F.L., but their offense is 30th of 32 teams. Averaging 12.5 points, they have scored the fewest points in the league.

Gibbs takes the blame for that. He was known as a great offensive mind, the only coach to win Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks. Now there is nothing masterly about his offense, particularly the quarterback"I thought they might be 10-6, but there hasn't been a single bright spot in their offense," Theismann said. "As far as throwing the ball goes, the team is inept. Mark Brunell can't even complete an 8-yard pass, and I'm not sure if he'll ever get that back."

Gibbs gave Brunell a seven-year, $43 million contract, but he replaced him with Ramsey after nine games. Still, there is no tension between the quarterbacks; they go bow-hunting for deer.

Gibbs gave an eight-year, $50.5 million contract to running back Clinton Portis, who had back-to-back 1,500-yard seasons for Denver before coming to the Redskins. Portis had only 6 carries for 17 yards in last Sunday's 16-7 loss to Pittsburgh.

"There's no need for me to be freaking out right now because I didn't play much," said Portis, who has 945 yards rushing this season. "I can't be selfish because everyone on this team has been suffering, not just me. Right now everyone is trying to tear this team apart, but we're keeping it together."

That was Gibbs's plan. He said having players who would stick together in hard times was even more important than the game plan.

That is why, he said, the defensive players aren't fighting with the offensive players, who are the team's glaring weakness.

"You would think there would be some strife there between us, but not one single person has pointed a finger," said offensive lineman Ray Brown, who was also on Gibbs's teams from 1989 to 1992. "That's all because Joe Gibbs carries the burden and take the blame. He's our buffer from the negativity. He's our bulletproof vest."

Gibbs prides himself on being different from most N.F.L. coaches. He does not curse or embarrass players in front of their peers. His only motivational sign is outside the locker room on a sheet of paper: "Use COMMON SENSE & don't EMBARRASS the REDSKINS!"

The soft-spoken Gibbs is stern when needed, though he rarely raises his voice off the field. He is always a gentleman.

"He has that granddaddy effect on you," cornerback Fred Smoot said. "He's just one of those good, wholesome people who nobody would ever say something bad about. That makes you want to win for him, especially so he could live up to all the expectations."

These players see how hard he works, just as his Super Bowl teams did. On the way to team meetings, the current Redskins see photos of those championship teams. They see Coach Joe Gibbs standing in the same place every year: back row, dead center, looking nearly the same as he does today - very serious, though with much less gray hair.

"He built this team and we know that, so we believe in him completely," Smoot said. "If we listen to what he tells us, this team will never crack. We know we'll win big someday."

[jenmdixon]

semiskin, good find, but please edit the title of the thread to tell us what the title of that article is and where you got it...so that it isn't posted again

[bubba9497]

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83597

[semiskin]

Sorry Bubba I did a search and nothing matched. Please Delete.