Gregg Williams, Joe Gibbs, (1 Viewer)

[fatness]

Before the Redskins beat Carolina yesterday they were a fading team, doing worse on both offense and defense than last year. Supposedly Joe Gibbs held a team meeting this past week and reamed them out, and the results against Carolina were surprising. They ran the ball, they played tough defense, they made the plays they had to make to win a close game.

This article was written before that game. It's a long read, quite detailed, and explains the demise of the Redskins who were 3-7 at that point. Blame is spread around pretty thickly, but Gregg Williams gets most of it in the article. It's a good read.

Good, long article from Tom Friend at ESPN

That's ancient history now, because Joe Gibbs is 3-7 and, by all accounts, a grandfather figure at Redskin Park. You ask players what they think of him, and they say, "Good dude." If Joe Gibbs was 3-7 in 1987, nobody would've been saying "Good dude" -- they'd have been cursing him for the three-hour practices. Joe, the first time around, would've fixed this by now, but instead he appears to be a burned out coach again, who is allowing his defensive coaching staff to run amok.

For whatever reason, this stubborn, controlling, innovative Hall of Fame coach has chosen to be more of an observer this season, to be a CEO, to let his millionaire coordinators earn their keep. That's why the team doesn't have his smashmouth mentality anymore, his fingerprints. I asked an Indianapolis Colts defender what he thought of Al Saunders' Redskins offense, and he said, "Gimmicky." I asked a Redskins player what he thought of defensive guru Gregg Williams, and he said, "Arrogant. Thinks he invented the wheel."

It is a fractured team that, frankly, needs the old Gibbs to intervene. A year ago, when the team was 5-6, he held player meetings, got the pulse of the locker room and rode Clinton Portis and a stout defense to the second round of the playoffs. It was vintage Gibbs; he personally willed them to January. But now, on Thanksgiving weekend of '06, it's apparent last year taxed him way too much. He doesn't call plays anymore. He may or may not have the pulse of the locker room anymore. And he may or may not be fuming about it anymore.

"Why are we the 30th defense in the league? I think coaches got arrogant, I think Gregg got arrogant," the player said Tuesday, asking not to be identified. "They thought they figured it all out. They thought, 'We can win with scheme, we don't need players.' Don't be mistaken, this is a player-driven game, and so you need players. Any time in life when somebody thinks they've got it all figured out, it's going to come and get you. It's going to come and get you … the sentiment is a lot of guys are mad because the coaches think it's all about them. They think they're f------ geniuses, thinking they can just let guys go and get away with handling people badly."

Williams threw him a bone, a bone which has literally torn up the secondary. He made Jackson safeties coach and Gray cornerbacks coach and allowed Jackson to run his own meetings. That means that the Redskins' safeties and corners do not meet together, which is practically unheard of.

"Talk to any coach in the league, and ask them, 'Have you ever heard of corners and safeties not meeting together?'" the Redskins player says. "They'd say, 'What are you talking about?' That's crazy. But ever since minicamps, OTAs, training camp, we hadn't met as a secondary. On the field, the corners will start making a call or doing something, and the safeties will be, 'What are you talking about? We didn't go over that.' So now the corners are expecting help in certain situations, and the safeties aren't getting there in time. And people got beat in the secondary.

"Everybody was saying they had to start meeting together. So the last three weeks they have. But 40 percent of the time Steven Jackson's not in the meeting. Because he pouts, because Jerry's running the meeting."

On the field, Jackson's (and presumably Williams') techniques aren't working, either.

 

[softball]

Good read, it is long.

There are coaching problems, but the coaches don't play. And that is the root of all football evil. The players have to be good enough, and I don't know that on offense Lloyd,Randel El are good enogh and I know their D isn't filled with overwhelming talent.

They are middle of the road and all this coaching confusion drops them a bit.

Thanks for the heads up on the article.

 

[Biabreakable]

Awesome article. I wonder who the anonymous player is who spilled the beans is, but if this is true that safeties and cornerbacks have not been going to the same meetings and game planning together.. that explains a lot of miscommunication on the field.

The thing about the promise to Archuleta being promised that he would be used in the box and often blitzed.. then the team scapegoating him for his poor coverage later.. thats a raw deal right there. And a great waste and expense for the Skins both cap wise and as a defense. If Williams had a plan for Archuleta and thats the reason they signed him its really not his fault that they didn't stick with the plan or that the plan didn't work.

I wonder if it is Archuleta that leaked all this to Tom Friend or if it was someone else.

Thanks for sharing this one fatness.

 

[redman]

I think Gregg Williams is a very talented defensive coordinator but I have sensed from the get-go that humility is not exactly his strong suit. A lot of this stuff makes sense to me and has the ring of truth to it.

This article was quoting the unnamed player as if he's a DB, a veteran, and a multi-year Redskin. That leaves only two guys: Prioleau and Springs. The author could have fudged on the "we" stuff from past seasons, which would open things up for Archuleta to be the source, and he'd make sense given that he's being made the scapegoat for a lot of things. I think it's either Archuleta or Springs. FWIW, Springs has denied it.

I ultimately lay this at Gibbs' feet though. This team needs more involvement from him and not less. He's taken a more hands off approach during this tenure, delegating authority to people and the team does not have his personality this time around, at least not fully. On defense that's more understandable, but he also should have recognized the value of guys like Pierce and Clark and demanded that they be resigned.

On offense, he was correctly lauded for his humility in recognizing that Saunders might be in a better position to upgrade the offense than he was, but he's failed to ensure that Saunders merely upgraded it as opposed to overhauled it. With humility, as with all other things, you can have too much of a good thing, especially when you're talking about a Hall of Fame coach with offensive credentials taking a back seat to a guy who hasn't been in - much less won - half as many big games as he has. They've gone away from playing a smash-mouth, ball-control, play-action passing style that suited them nicely and have become a finesse team that isn't sure what it's about anymore. That represents a failure in leadership by Gibbs.

Jason Campbell may end up being the savior here, and may be the impetus for Gibbs to reinject himself into the day-to-day gameplanning, etc. Oddly enough, this team could end up getting hot and actually ending up with a respectable record given their 3-7 start, e.g. 7-9. It's maddening to me as a 'Skins fan that in this weak conference, they'd be right in the middle of the Wild Card hunt with wins over the Titans and the Bucs and sitting 6-5 right now instead of 4-7, but that's water over the dam.

 

[posty]

They are 4-7 because they have an owner that overpays for talent that really isn't there and trades away corresponding draft picks in the process...

Until that stops and they start building a franchise through the draft, they will always be floundering, which is a good thing...

 

[redman]

They are 4-7 because they have an owner that overpays for talent that really isn't there and trades away corresponding draft picks in the process...Until that stops and they start building a franchise through the draft, they will always be floundering, which is a good thing...

Ah, if only they could be like the Eagles and the Giants . . .

 

[GroveDiesel]

Bills fans to Gregg Williams when he left:

The guy is absolutely positive that he is a genius and that his schemes are great. But his defensive scheme gives up way too many big plays and absolutely relies on great DEs and great DBs.

If there really is a clause in his contract that promises him the head coaching job when Gibbs leaves, the Redskins are either going to be screwed on the field or Snyder is going to be screwed in the pocketbook.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

The funny thing is that they're only two games out of the wild card & I think they have a better chance of finishing strong than several of those teams in front of them.

 

[redman]

Bills fans to Gregg Williams when he left:

The guy is absolutely positive that he is a genius and that his schemes are great. But his defensive scheme gives up way too many big plays and absolutely relies on great DEs and great DBs.

If there really is a clause in his contract that promises him the head coaching job when Gibbs leaves, the Redskins are either going to be screwed on the field or Snyder is going to be screwed in the pocketbook.

The clause agrees to pay him $1M if he's still there when Gibbs steps down and they don't hire him; it doesn't guarantee him the job. The Redskins are a mint, so the money to them is nothing. BTW, Gibbs "leaving" simply means that he would no longer be head coach; he's still the team president, so if he decided in the meantime that Williams was ill-suited to take the job, you can be assured that they wouldn't hire him and would instead buy him out.

 

[Arsenal of Doom]

I am and always will be a diehard Redskins fan, but the way this franchise is managed makes me sick. The Danny should buy the Nationals, where he would actually be able to compete just by outspending everyone.

 

[jbz]

I am and always will be a diehard Redskins fan, but the way this franchise is managed makes me sick. The Danny should buy the Nationals, where he would actually be able to compete just by outspending everyone.

there's an idea. Yankees/Red Sox would have a team willing to go toe to toe with em in spending!After reading that article, I wanted to go out and find this Steve Jackson person and kick him in the nads for his coaching style. Anyone who stunts the growth of Sean Taylor deserves it.

 

[Marvelous]

This article was quoting the unnamed player as if he's a DB, a veteran, and a multi-year Redskin. That leaves only two guys: Prioleau and Springs. The author could have fudged on the "we" stuff from past seasons, which would open things up for Archuleta to be the source, and he'd make sense given that he's being made the scapegoat for a lot of things. I think it's either Archuleta or Springs. FWIW, Springs has denied it.

I think this almost certainly has to be Archuleta. This is Gibbs' third year, so every player has been picked by Gibbs to be there. But to date, everything has gone wrong for Archuleta. He has played terrible, been burned, now benched and relagated to special teams. The inside source provides explanations to problems with the Redskins coaches, which would provide some vindication. Also, if it is later found out to be Archuleta, he will probably be cut pretty quickly, which he and his agent would like.