Gibbs and espionage?

Saw this AP story awhile back, and it got me wondering, how much spying goes on in the NFL? Is Gibbs just excessively paranoid about it? Or are other (more open) coaches naive? Anybody know?





ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -- Joe Gibbs' return to coaching is becoming a cloak-and-dagger operation.

Gibbs is so intent on avoiding distractions and keeping his game plans secret that the cleaning staff is not allowed on the coaches' side of the building during meetings. He said Thursday that there will be "limited number" of practices open to the public at this summer's training camp, and he has taken the unusual step of barring reporters from watching most of this weekend's three-day minicamp.


"There's a lot of technical things that you're going over," Gibbs said. "You would prefer to be able to do that without people standing there watching them."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/nfl/06/03/bc.fbn.redskins.secretive.ap/

NFL rules prohibit scouts from viewing free, public training camp practices of other teams.

As far as I'm aware, no one has ever been caught. I'm sure it happens though.

I can't blame Gibbs for wanting to close everything to the public though. I've often thought about how easy it would be for an opposing team's scout to view practices.

This is kind of interesting... 18 months or so ago, Dr. Z from SI said something very similar to that in a Q&A column...

To Will of Las Vegas: Thank you and thank you (two nice comments). Where does Joe Gibbs rank in the pantheon of great coaches? Very high indeed. A great offensive innovator. He could load up with big guys, or go with the three-wideout bunch package that somehow always managed to shake someone free. A strange person, though. Very suspicious. He once publicly accused me of being Buddy Ryan's spy and of feeding the Eagles' coach the inside information that Gibbs was putting in the shotgun (for the first time) in Washington's upcoming game against Philly. We ironed the whole thing out a year later, but guys on the Skins told me that he still used to bring it up at team meetings, how Buddy had spies around the league who would feed him inside stuff. Hey, Buddy! Run for it! He's onto us!

At first I thought "OK, Gibbs may be a little suspicious", but after reading Z's reaction, I then thought "Jeez. Dr. Z is such a prick."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/dr_z/10/17/mailbag/index.html

Well if the Kansas City Star is right, Gibbs is looking to emulate a lot of what the Chiefs do offensively:

“The first thing I was interested in was looking at the five best rushing teams and the five best passing teams in the league,” Gibbs said recently. “I was very interested in Kansas City because they did a lot of shifting and motion stuff.”

Do what you have to, frankly all I care about is how this team performs in real games and if that means locking down the practice filed and putting hoods on people so be it.

Having been among the media throng during the Redskins' second minicamp, when Gibbs first started expressing his "paranoid" tendencies, I can tell you that he takes espionage and info leaks very seriously. It's not just particular formations or plays that he's concerned his opponents will find out about-- he doesn't even want the media reporting where particular players are lining up during practice (ie, LaVar Arrington lining up at defensive end).

His definition of what constitutes "technical information" is, in the eyes of many members of the press, unreasonably broad, and this difference in opinion is ultimately what led Gibbs to close all but the first 20 to 30 minutes of each practice to the media during minicamps. Of course, that period consists mostly of stretching and mundane positional drills, so there is very little of substance to report as far as what the team is doing on the practice field. Good for Coach Gibbs and the Redskins; bad for the beat reporters who rely on watching practice to provide their audience with something other than meaningless soundbites and the canned information that's fed to them by the media relations department.

When Coach Gibbs informed the press of his decision to close practices, he said that he wanted to hold his cards as close to his vest as possible until September, and avoid giving his opponents any premature indication of what the new Gibbs arsenal has in store. That's why much of training camp will also be closed to the public and the media.

Actually, I think George Allen was more secretive (paranoid?) than Gibbs. Wasn't it Allen who claimed a Cowboys spy was in a tree overlooking the practice field? I don't know if there were spies, but if so they SURE didn't see anything the year we clocked the Cowboys 26-3 in the playoffs. They never could adjust to our brand new 5-man D-Line the entire game.

Do what you have to, frankly all I care about is how this team performs in real games and if that means locking down the practice filed and putting hoods on people so be it.


I agree let Gibbs do what ever it takes!!!!

yea for this first year atleast. He hasnt been coaching for a while and no sense letting otheres get a sneak pick. We'll win the super bowl this year and show what we got, then they get spend next offseason trying to defend it.

I know UM practices are stickly monitored. one of the parking garages overlooks one of the practice fields, i would watch sometimes to let some of the rushhour to pass by, but everytime i tried security would quickly come over and ask you to leave.

I agree. I hate that we won't be getting our great reports on training camp but like some of the others have said, whatever it takes to win!!! I'm so tired of losing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!