I want to commend Joe Gibbs on keeping this team together

[ChapelHillMatt]

Been a while since I've posted over here, figured it was time I came back over.

I just want to say I've been critical of Joe all year, I thought the game had passed him by. I looked at his numbers since coming back and saw a 5 to 6 win team basically. Other than the run at the end of 2005 there just wasn't much to write home about. We sat on leads, we were to conservative at times and I just didn't see things turning around. I mean here we are in year 4 and this is all the progress we've made?

Well I was ready for him to retire, things just weren't going well but then something funny happened. Tragedy struck and Gibbs showed what type of coach he still was, he kept this team together and now they are playing some inspired football. I've never seen anything like it, it's as if the HOF coach we grew up loving has returned.

Now I expect us to win this week and build off of this late season run grant you, I don't want us to regress and become a 5 win team again. I want to build towards our common goal and that's a Super Bowl but right now Gibbs has gotten my attention and got me thinking maybe the game hasn't passed him by.

[KidBroSweets]

Yeah I agree. I've been extremely critical of Joe as well. He seems to be making all the right calls now. As soon as Minnesota gains the momentum the other night Joe comes up with a huge challenge. Props to Joe....hopefully we can keep this going.

[The Skinsinator]

Super post and I agree with all of it. One crucial thing that alot of us and eveyrone for that matter forget is how successful his teams are in December. Definitely the most important time to be. Beating Dallas on Sunday would be the cherry on top. Great job Joe Jackson Gibbs.

[skinsfan36]

great point he may have lsot us some games but he has this team on track after a terrible tragedy

[SkinsfaninNJ]

But our staff has coached differently with their backs to the wall. They are showing more guts and making better and quicker decisions.

If Gibbs and co. come back, I want to see them coach with a sense of urgency like they are now and did at the end of 2005.

[ChapelHillMatt]

But our staff has coached differently with their backs to the wall. They are showing more guts and making better and quicker decisions.

If Gibbs and co. come back, I want to see them coach with a sense of urgency like they are now and did at the end of 2005.

Agreed.

Let's not wait until we are 5-7 or 5-6 before we start playing Redskins football. Next year let's play like this out of the gate and not put ourselves in these do or die situations.

Because even if we do this we are still going to be the 6th seed, that means no home playoff game and forced to win 3 on the road if we are to make a run at the Super Bowl.

[santanadasavior]

After the death of Taylor, and then the timeout debacle in the Bills game, I, for the first time, thought it was time for joe to hang em up. He has not only impressed me with how he has got the team to win some games, but how inspired the whole team is playing. I don't recall one huge mistake that any one has made since the passing of Sean. He has our boys playing focused and with a purpose. I am very proud of him and the team and I would want Joe as my coach until the end of time.

[smoak]

I never doubted Joe and thought that the notion that the game had passed him by was laughable. Of all Joe Gibbs' qualities, his best is his ability to be a leader. That hasn't changed. I really believe in my heart that if we can find a way to scrape a win this Sunday that Joe's leadership will be a big part of that...

It takes a lot of luck to win the Superbowl, but anyone that doesn't think we are a better team now than at any point since Gibbs walked away after the '92-'93 season... Well I just wonder what they are looking for in a football team I guess. As bad as it has been, the team has never quit like somne of the ol Norv Turner teams. And the Spurrier teams were just a joke and devoid of anything resembling talent at the sklill positions on offense. I mean Wuerful? Really? Matthews? C'mon.

Congrats Joe for brining meaningful December football back to an organization that was in complete shambles.

[PennSkinsFan]

And folks, please read the article by Mike Wise in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/25/AR2007122501222.html?sub=AR) on Joe Gibbs' grandson Taylor.

I think it is vitally important, absolutely critical that we understand that while Joe Gibbs was consoling, ministering and lifting a teams spirits that was reeling from the tragic loss of Sean Taylor and the loss of 5 starters from injury, Joe Gibbs was dealing with an even more important struggle personally, making Joe Gibbs an even more remarkable person that most of us knew or thought. We all thought back about how important is was for Gibbs to be leading this team in this time of tragedy and healing, but inside, Joe Gibbs was personally struggling at home too.

The little comfort we can give Coach Joe is for him to know that we out there in Redskins Nation are praying for young Taylor Gibbs.

[Hr fan]

Personally never thought that JG lost it, because in his case "it" is fundamental to his personality. However, have always felt (and still do) that he wears too many hats to concentrate to the extent necessary to be the Gibbs style head coach. Tragedy erased any trace of Joe the team president and Joe the GM. He has again, however briefly, become only Joe the HC. To paraphrase John Madden, Joe knows what to do better than anyone else in these pressure games. Welcome back, Joe the HC.

[CarMike]

Matt, i've been pretty hard on coach Gibbs this year. Which I think he deserves. I blame him on a lot of our 2nd half failures. But I gotta give coach Gibbs his props as well. I never thought in a million years we'd win 3 straight down the stretch, and possibly make the playoffs.

[redwolf1218]

i've never heard of any coach or team having so much adversity to deal with.

Gibbs grew quiet as he recalled his grandson's odyssey this past year. He stood and walked behind the desk of his Ashburn office to retrieve a photo of the youngster, which he put next to him on the sofa.

"It about broke your heart," he said. "He would just be layin' there, across Melissa's chest. He knew what he had to go through and just accepted it."

On Sunday, he will be at FedEx Field to see if the Washington Redskins can beat the Dallas Cowboys and go to the playoffs. Actually, that's inaccurate. Taylor is coming to see his grandpa, the 67-year-old man whom a little boy taught more about hope and resilience than any player Joe Gibbs has ever coached.

"I just remember the courage he had," Gibbs said. "You think about courage and you think about adults and tough guys. Me being a tough guy, things like that. Here was a little guy that was 2, knowing when he got in the car to go to that hospital what was going to happen."

[KidBroSweets]

But our staff has coached differently with their backs to the wall. They are showing more guts and making better and quicker decisions.

If Gibbs and co. come back, I want to see them coach with a sense of urgency like they are now and did at the end of 2005.

Exactly! This is really the point all the "Campbell haters" are missing. The entire team has played different since he went down. Gibbs and the rest of the coaching staff has been far more aggressive. The same thing happened 2 years ago. The playcalling becomes more aggressive and we start winning. I know that sounds silly but I think that's a huge reason to our success.