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Gibbs Proves His Mettle in Second Redskins Stint
Coach Brings Washington Back to Playoffs in Second Year of Return
By JOSEPH WHITE, AP
ASHBURN, Va. (Jan. 3) - When Dan Snyder bought the Washington Redskins six years ago, he ordered huge blowups of magazine covers from the glory years, framed them and put them on the walls outside the locker room. All were from the Joe Gibbs era, when the team won three Super Bowls.
When Gibbs came out of retirement, the coach immediately took them down.
"It was like starting all over again," Gibbs said. "The players, they see the Super Bowl trophies and all that, but they're not focused on that. They want something now. They want something for modern day, and so do I."
Now he has something. For the second time in his career, Gibbs has transformed the franchise, imposing his will to lift it out of the doldrums and into the playoffs. He will coach his first postseason game since 1993 when the Redskins visit Tampa Bay on Saturday, a stirring comeback for a club that was 27 games under .500 during the 11 seasons he was away from football.
"Those trophies in there are not by accident," defensive end Renaldo Wynn said. "It's been there from the beginning, the sense that 'Has this game passed him by?' And it hasn't. The Xs and Os have changed, but at the same time you have to have the mentality to go out and be physical, hit people and have a unity, a togetherness."
A coach with a good reputation doesn't hurt, either.
Since the day of his comeback announcement in January 2004, the 65-year-old coach has said at least a hundred times that "the past doesn't buy you anything." Actually, it has bought him plenty, starting with a five-year $27.5 million contract.
It also bought him Phillip Daniels.
Throughout his eight-year career in Seattle and Chicago, Daniels had always gone home to Atlanta to train in the offseason. He is devoted to a power-lifting regimen that gives him the strength he needs to play in the trenches. When he signed with Washington last year, he found the Redskins' weight program had a different emphasis that didn't suit him. Atlanta seemed a sensible offseason destination once again.
But Gibbs asked Daniels - and the entire team - to stay in town.
"I sacrificed my workouts in Atlanta just to be with the team and be a leader," Daniels said. "If it was a different coach that hadn't won Super Bowls? Naw, I would have probably stayed in Atlanta. But my thing is, I just trust Joe Gibbs so much."
In fact, anyone looking for a sign good things were on the horizon for the Redskins this season should have listened to Gibbs in the spring and summer. He kept bragging about a 97 percent attendance rate for workouts, meetings and other activities. He claimed it was the "best attended offseason in all of sports."
Even free-spirited Clinton Portis stuck around instead of going home to Miami, saying he was humbled after the team's 6-10 record in 2004.
Outside the building, there was a nonstop swirl of controversy over Sean Taylor's arrest in Florida; trade demands from Laveranues Coles and Rod Gardner; the departure of popular free agents Antonio Pierce and Fred Smoot; and Gibbs' own misinterpreted comment that his "time in football will be short."
Inside, the silent majority toiled away.
"The fruits of our labor are coming due for us," Wynn said. "All of the hard work. It got to a point, after those tough losses in the middle of the year, guys were definitely wondering, 'Is all this worth it?' Because they know other teams that are not putting in nowhere near the work that we put in the offseason.
"Now to see that it is working, you're playing for something, the playoffs is the icing on the cake."
The offseason work was a source of motivation when Gibbs called a veterans-only meeting after a three-game losing streak dropped the team to 5-6 in late November.
"I could tell everyone was shook up in the building," Gibbs said. "When I met with the senior players, (guard) Ray Brown said, 'We're upset. We worked real hard in the offseason and we paid a price.' We had a talk about that. I think that has driven this football team."
The Redskins haven't lost since.
There are several other factors involved in Gibbs' quick revival act, including a superb selection of players. His initial offseason haul included Marcus Washington, Shawn Springs, Cornelius Griffin, Ryan Clark, Chris Cooley, Mark Brunell, Taylor, Daniels and Portis - all major contributors to the playoff run.
Portis and Brunell looked like expensive mistakes a year ago, but Gibbs has been vindicated on both counts, with Portis setting a franchise rushing record and Brunell a career high for touchdown passes.
Gibbs' best move might have been the hiring of assistant Gregg Williams, whose defense kept games winnable while Gibbs slowly modernized an offense that came out stagnant in the new millennium.
Gibbs also needed a year to weed out unwanted players and reinforce his zero-tolerance for anything that embarrasses the team or distracts from game preparation. Springs said he'd love to do some friendly trash-talking about Tampa Bay receiver Joey Galloway this week, but Gibbs wouldn't allow it. Portis is allowed to dress up in costumes on Thursdays, but only as long as he doesn't diss an opponent or interfere with a meeting.
Taylor has become a model player after a difficult rookie season, while Gardner - who threw a late-night midweek birthday for himself last season - was shipped away.
"The first year, we had some guys that probably didn't want to be here, so that didn't help," linebacker Lemar Marshall said. "This year, Coach Gibbs was just determined. That was the key word, he was determined to make that change, to get this team back to where it needs to get to. He was determined not to be in that situation again."
Now comes the next step. The playoffs are here. Gibbs' message: Focus even harder, and don't be content just to be there.
"I think our guys are too smart for that," Gibbs said. "I hope that's not going to be the case. I talk to them about that all the time."
It would be hard to bet against him. Gibbs' playoff record is 16-5.
01/03/06 14:47 EST
Coach Brings Washington Back to Playoffs in Second Year of Return
By JOSEPH WHITE, AP
ASHBURN, Va. (Jan. 3) - When Dan Snyder bought the Washington Redskins six years ago, he ordered huge blowups of magazine covers from the glory years, framed them and put them on the walls outside the locker room. All were from the Joe Gibbs era, when the team won three Super Bowls.
When Gibbs came out of retirement, the coach immediately took them down.
"It was like starting all over again," Gibbs said. "The players, they see the Super Bowl trophies and all that, but they're not focused on that. They want something now. They want something for modern day, and so do I."
Now he has something. For the second time in his career, Gibbs has transformed the franchise, imposing his will to lift it out of the doldrums and into the playoffs. He will coach his first postseason game since 1993 when the Redskins visit Tampa Bay on Saturday, a stirring comeback for a club that was 27 games under .500 during the 11 seasons he was away from football.
"Those trophies in there are not by accident," defensive end Renaldo Wynn said. "It's been there from the beginning, the sense that 'Has this game passed him by?' And it hasn't. The Xs and Os have changed, but at the same time you have to have the mentality to go out and be physical, hit people and have a unity, a togetherness."
A coach with a good reputation doesn't hurt, either.
Since the day of his comeback announcement in January 2004, the 65-year-old coach has said at least a hundred times that "the past doesn't buy you anything." Actually, it has bought him plenty, starting with a five-year $27.5 million contract.
It also bought him Phillip Daniels.
Throughout his eight-year career in Seattle and Chicago, Daniels had always gone home to Atlanta to train in the offseason. He is devoted to a power-lifting regimen that gives him the strength he needs to play in the trenches. When he signed with Washington last year, he found the Redskins' weight program had a different emphasis that didn't suit him. Atlanta seemed a sensible offseason destination once again.
But Gibbs asked Daniels - and the entire team - to stay in town.
"I sacrificed my workouts in Atlanta just to be with the team and be a leader," Daniels said. "If it was a different coach that hadn't won Super Bowls? Naw, I would have probably stayed in Atlanta. But my thing is, I just trust Joe Gibbs so much."
In fact, anyone looking for a sign good things were on the horizon for the Redskins this season should have listened to Gibbs in the spring and summer. He kept bragging about a 97 percent attendance rate for workouts, meetings and other activities. He claimed it was the "best attended offseason in all of sports."
Even free-spirited Clinton Portis stuck around instead of going home to Miami, saying he was humbled after the team's 6-10 record in 2004.
Outside the building, there was a nonstop swirl of controversy over Sean Taylor's arrest in Florida; trade demands from Laveranues Coles and Rod Gardner; the departure of popular free agents Antonio Pierce and Fred Smoot; and Gibbs' own misinterpreted comment that his "time in football will be short."
Inside, the silent majority toiled away.
"The fruits of our labor are coming due for us," Wynn said. "All of the hard work. It got to a point, after those tough losses in the middle of the year, guys were definitely wondering, 'Is all this worth it?' Because they know other teams that are not putting in nowhere near the work that we put in the offseason.
"Now to see that it is working, you're playing for something, the playoffs is the icing on the cake."
The offseason work was a source of motivation when Gibbs called a veterans-only meeting after a three-game losing streak dropped the team to 5-6 in late November.
"I could tell everyone was shook up in the building," Gibbs said. "When I met with the senior players, (guard) Ray Brown said, 'We're upset. We worked real hard in the offseason and we paid a price.' We had a talk about that. I think that has driven this football team."
The Redskins haven't lost since.
There are several other factors involved in Gibbs' quick revival act, including a superb selection of players. His initial offseason haul included Marcus Washington, Shawn Springs, Cornelius Griffin, Ryan Clark, Chris Cooley, Mark Brunell, Taylor, Daniels and Portis - all major contributors to the playoff run.
Portis and Brunell looked like expensive mistakes a year ago, but Gibbs has been vindicated on both counts, with Portis setting a franchise rushing record and Brunell a career high for touchdown passes.
Gibbs' best move might have been the hiring of assistant Gregg Williams, whose defense kept games winnable while Gibbs slowly modernized an offense that came out stagnant in the new millennium.
Gibbs also needed a year to weed out unwanted players and reinforce his zero-tolerance for anything that embarrasses the team or distracts from game preparation. Springs said he'd love to do some friendly trash-talking about Tampa Bay receiver Joey Galloway this week, but Gibbs wouldn't allow it. Portis is allowed to dress up in costumes on Thursdays, but only as long as he doesn't diss an opponent or interfere with a meeting.
Taylor has become a model player after a difficult rookie season, while Gardner - who threw a late-night midweek birthday for himself last season - was shipped away.
"The first year, we had some guys that probably didn't want to be here, so that didn't help," linebacker Lemar Marshall said. "This year, Coach Gibbs was just determined. That was the key word, he was determined to make that change, to get this team back to where it needs to get to. He was determined not to be in that situation again."
Now comes the next step. The playoffs are here. Gibbs' message: Focus even harder, and don't be content just to be there.
"I think our guys are too smart for that," Gibbs said. "I hope that's not going to be the case. I talk to them about that all the time."
It would be hard to bet against him. Gibbs' playoff record is 16-5.
01/03/06 14:47 EST
