The last time Joe Gibbs was in Canton he was being enshrined into pro football’s Hall of Fame in 1996. When he brought his Washington Redskins back for Monday night’s Hall of Fame exhibition season opener against the Denver Broncos, he didn’t have time to see if there was any dust on his bust.
“I was in quarterback meetings, but one of our players, Chad Morton, visited the Hall and came back laughing,” Gibbs said. “I asked, `What are you laughing about?’ He said, `They had a video of you and you had the projector with two reels of film.’
“That dates a guy, doesn’t it? Now we’re all computerized and all this stuff. That was kind of comical.”
He has been away for a dozen years, but when the Broncos tied the score at 17-17 with 1 minute 26 seconds to play, it was vintage Gibbs calling plays through a radio helmet he had never used and moving his offense 66 yards for the winning field goal. He watched third-string quarterback Tim Hasselbeck complete passes of 35 and 21 yards against Denver’s third string, and he let his backup kicker, Ola Kimrin, win it with a 39-yard field goal.
The Broncos had tied the score on a two-point conversion, also foreign to Gibbs.
“If I would have been here I wouldn’t have voted for it,” Gibbs said. “All they’re doing is putting in more things for the coaches to decide. Now we have [officiating] challenges and two-point conversions. I always vote against all that.”
Then Gibbs showed he hasn’t lost his style, thanking his players and praising the opponents in his usual self-deprecating, sincere way. In winning three Super Bowls from 1981-92, Gibbs made an art form of convincing his players that every team they faced was great and his little old Redskins would have to overcome all obstacles, including his own coaching shortcomings.
“We couldn’t get something going in the first half offensively. It was a hard first half, and that’s my fault,” Gibbs said. “I’m the guy who’s got to make it go, along with everybody else. I really appreciate the players. I told them that.
“Denver came after us with some stuff. Denver is a pretty stout outfit. Really good.”
No matter that the sloppy Broncos committed 13 penalties and threw three interceptions.
For Redskins fans and management, the return of Gibbs was a sight for sore eyes. He might have been away, but at least he had been here before. Predecessor Steve Spurrier, a successful college coach, was clueless.
“It’s great not to have to explain the practice-squad rules every day like we did for the last circus,” said one club official.
Gibbs is the Redskins’ fifth coach in five years under demanding and impatient owner Daniel Snyder, who was a fan when Gibbs won and is expected to lay off for a while.
“Anybody who’s ever gone back someplace where you’ve got a lot of pride at stake probably can imagine the emotions I have,” Gibbs said before training camp. “The Super Bowl trophies, that’s great, but that’s in the past. What all of us here now are focused on is the future. … I’ve been embarrassed a little bit by all the attention, but the good thing about sports, that quickly goes away if you don’t do well.”
The most industrious and resourceful coach of his time must adjust to a free-agent system that favors youth over his beloved veterans, but if Monday night’s debut of top draft choice Sean Taylor at safety is any indication, the adjustment will be easy. Taylor intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown.
Gibbs passed on tight end Kellen Winslow and receiver Roy Williams in favor of Taylor even though he is an offensive coach. He also had traded away his best defensive player, cornerback Champ Bailey, to Denver to land running back Clinton Portis. The Redskins signed underachieving ex-Seattle cornerback Shawn Springs to replace Bailey, and Monday night Gibbs saw dividends when Springs added an interception to Taylor’s pair.
Taylor was fined $25,000 by the league for missing the league’s mandatory rookie symposium and has fired two agents, but on the field he was auspicious as the defense of assistant head coach Gregg Williams and defensive coordinator Greg Blache kept Gibbs afloat with turnovers, the same formula Bears coach Lovie Smith is stressing.
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“I lobbied all off-season for [Taylor],” linebacker LaVar Arrington said. “Please just give me that one killer behind me. To come out and prove out the way he did, that was gorgeous. That was like looking at my girlfriend. It should be illegal to have him play with the second team.”
At 63, Gibbs may find his round-the-clock way of coaching cannot improve his diabetes and general health. When pursuing veteran quarterback Mark Brunell during the off-season, Gibbs had to be briefly hospitalized.
“Diabetes is good for me,” Gibbs reasoned. “It helps me watch what I eat. Before, I was a maniac. I would have a doughnut on every finger in the morning. I would be downing 1-, 2-pound Mr. Goodbars at night. I can’t do that anymore. I’m probably healthier than when I left.”
He made that comment before the grind of the off-season, let alone the preseason or regular season. Already, he is limiting interviews and media access to his team, reflecting the policy of paranoia that has gripped the arrogant Snyder’s regime from its start. Snyder’s payroll including signing bonuses will exceed $100 million, largest in the league. Gibbs is getting approximately $7 million, more than any other coach, enough to drag him away from his happy life as a NASCAR owner.
They paid the 33-year-old Brunell a signing bonus of $8 million to compete with young Patrick Ramsey. More surprising, they paid ineffective defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin $8 million to jump from the New York Giants and Springs $10 million. They paid Bears defensive end Phillip Daniels a $3 million signing bonus. Daniels suffered an abdomen injury on the first day and didn’t make the trip to Canton.
Gibbs also showed his knack for making adjustments at halftime. The Redskins gained only 37 yards in the first half, 183 in the second. Gibbs complained that halftime has been shortened to 12 minutes since he left.
“It’s pressure-packed,” he said. “The NFL is doing the best it can to make that a nightmare. You’ve got 12 minutes to figure that out. You’ve got to be extremely organized.”
Organization is Gibbs’ strong suit. He has 19 coaches on his staff, including former head coaches Williams and Joe Bugel and former coordinators Blache, Jack Burns, Dale Lindsey and Ernie Zampese.
“They were all excited,” Arrington said. “They had such a glow about them. Quiet and calm at the hotel, that glow in the locker room. Legends, man.
“The pressure is going to be on [Gibbs] the whole season. If anybody can handle it, he can. The coolest thing is we needed to score. Nobody wanted to stay for overtime and we went down there and scored.”