Joe Gibbs Retires

I'm incredibly sad to see the man leave with unfinished business. The greatest coach in the history of the Redskins (Lombardi was only there 1 year, he doesn't count; Allen only made it to 1 Super Bowl, which he lost), he took a franchise that had no pride and no identity, and he restored it to respectability. Of course, he's made plenty of mistakes along the way, such as:

• Mark Brunell


• Brandon Lloyd


• Adam Archuleta


• exorbitant yet strangely cap-friendly contracts for mediocre talent


• trading away draft picks like they were candy in trades where we either had the advantage (see trades for: Clinton Portis , T. J. Duckett or the aforementioned Brandon Lloyd...or Mark Brunell for that matter) or simply reached when it seemed we didn't have to (see the trades for the rights to draft Jason Campbell and Rocky McIntosh; I'm not including the trade for the rights to draft Chris Cooley as a reach- that man's awesome)


• Sticking with Brunell way too long in 2004 and 2006 when it was clear the man was hurt or just wasn't getting it done. You could possibly include 2005 as well, since he was never the same after the second Giants game and that really hurt the team's playoff chances


• sitting on 2nd half leads way too often costing the team wins (5 of the team's 7 losses in 2007 came when leading by halftime; the record for his whole second term is just as bad)


• bringing in Al Saunders when the team was just coming off a playoff run and did not need a continuity disruption

However, he's done a lot of quantifiable good for this team as well. Such as:

• Making the playoffs 2 of his 4 years (regardless of how this is done, it's still a good thing)


• Beating the Cowboys consistently (the Skins have won 4 out of the last 6 meetings, including the last 3 at FedEx which used to be Texas Stadium East)


• Brought in strong, competent assistants like Al Saunders and Gregg Williams and for the most part allowed them to do their jobs. You'll recall that I said bringing in Al Saunders was a mistake. However, I question more the timing than the choice. A coordinator of Saunders' quality should've been added in 2004, not in 2006 after the team had already made it to the playoffs using the system already in place


• While the offensive line may be old, for the most part there's some good young talent on both sides of the ball that make significant contributions. Players such as LaRon Landry, Cooley, Campbell, McIntosh, Anthony Montgomery, Kedric Golston and Reed Doughty leave a foundation you can build on.
  


• Also, a good mix of veterans with high character and even higher motors were brought in to help shore up the team's weaknesses. Veterans such as London Fletcher, Marcus Washington, Cornelius Griffin, and Shawn Springs anchor the defense, while Portis, Santana Moss (best trade of Gibbs II, even with the stupid cap hit we took to get rid of Coles), Antwaan Randle El, Casey Rabach and Pete Kendall (2nd best trade of Gibbs II) powered the offense

The unquantifiable good he's done was exemplified in his handling of the Sean Taylor tragedy. He was able to allow the team to grieve and then focus that grief on the task at hand. The team responded with a 4 game burst into the playoffs, the apparent special run unfortunately cut down way before anyone was ready with a devastating loss to Seattle.

The good is also shown in the universal praise and reverence his players and fellow coaches have shown once news of his departure became known. To a man, they all call him the greatest coach and person they've ever known, and they're determined to carry on his legacy whether he's there or not.

I know it could seem strange to a non-fan to be heaping praise on a guy that went 31-36 and never won a division title in 4 years, and is leaving a team that's $20 million over the salary cap with many hard questions to answer. However, if you read the articles and look at the faces of the players as they give interviews about their coach, you may just understand. Look at all the people in the area proudly wearing their Skins gear, and drunkenly shouting down opposing fans in bars all around. The pride is back.

And for that, I thank Joe Gibbs. Hopefully we can keep this together and win one for him next year to pay him back for all that he's done.

Okay, I'm done rambling now. Anybody else have anything to say about Coach Gibbs? Who do you think the next coach ought to be? Obviously I'm hoping for Gregg Williams to take over to keep the program intact, but I know there are those Skins fans that just want a fresh start. What do you think?