Quote of the year

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48941-2004Aug7_2.html

When asked what he told Jerry Jones after being contacted for a possible coaching position:

""I don't think that could ever work. I don't think that [an offer] came around. I told him, 'Basically I get sick when I see blue.' "

That is soooo down... it's like he has the professionalism of an NFL legend, in addition to the heart of a high school football coach! I feel extremely lucky to have the only head coach in the NFL with such loyalty.

Gibbs knows what it's all about.

The Redskins, smashmouth football, meaningful NFC East games in December, somebody pinch me I still can't believe he's back!

man thats so awesome, What other coach has that much class in the NFL? Serioulsy, how many coaches spent their carrer with one team and wouldnt play somewhere else.

THe only person I can think of is Cowher. THey just gave him another extension, which I wasnt sure they would do, but hes always been a steeler. If he didnt get the extension Im not sure whether he would coach somewhere else. Hes definitly a steerler at heart but if he got ifred this year I bet hed coach somewhere else.

Gibbs is a different kind of person. He understands loyalty and he cherishes it. I think he provides a great example for his players by showing that he is, without a doubt, a true Redskin. I think that in this salary cap era that this message might touch some players a little.

Winskins:

I'd love to believe that your idea that Joe Gibbs - as the personification of what fans think is a "true Redskin" - will rub off on some players. Unfortunately, my brain tells me that the two most operative words here are:

Not ... Happening.

The only place that players want to be touched - by teams and owners and coaches - is in the wallet. Groupies are another thing, but that is for a different thread.

And if Joe Gibbs is such a "true Redskin", how come he blew town back in the JKC days? Don't get too semtimental about all this. Joe Gibbs is a HoF coach who earned every accolade that ever came his way. But he looks out for his financial bottom line just as assuredly as players will look out for theirs. He is a great football coach and a fine human being but let's not put him in the same category as Mahatma Ghandi just yet...

Sports, sometimes hope is all a man has, please let us have that!

LOL

Matty:

There is a fundamental difference between "hope" and "fantasy". And you know it.

Of course we can hope that Joe Gibbs builds such a loyalty between himself and his staff and his key players that they all stay here forever and ever and we all live happily because Danny Boy has to build a warehouse to keep all the Lombardi Trophies.. We can applaud each and every thing Gibbs does that works toward that goal and we can heap all of the praise on Gibbs when those things happen.

But unless you are also willing to blame him for his abject failures every time a free agent leaves town to get more $$$ elsewhere, then it's all fantasy. The NFL is not a game of Dungeons and Dragons; it is not Madden 2004 either. It is a business where the 32 teams and the 2000 or so players all make business decisions.

In the business world, SOMETIMES the highest salary offered is not the job you want to take because it demands something of you that you are not prepared to give to the job. But in the NFL, all the teams play football; it isn't like coming to the Skins gives you a job where you make money by eating and sleeping but going to the Cowboys gives you a job where you are pumping out clogged spetic tanks all day. Both teams play football so if the Cowboys offer a player $5M and the Skins offer him $3.5M, he's going to be booking a flight to Dallas about 99% of the time.

That's not Joe Gibbs' fault. It is the way of the NFL. And unless Joe Gibbs is allowed to drug all the agents for all the players who come to negotiate with the Skins, he will keep some of his coaches and players and lose others.

In the vernacular of the day, just trying to keep it real...

I don't buy that today's athlete is all about the $$. I'm also not dumb, I realize that in today's NFL players come and go and 9 times out of 10 money talks.

I think what it boils down to is Gibbs is trying to re-establish the Redskins pride as a franchise. He's trying to recreate an atmosphere that is conducive to winning. Will it help us hold on to our potential free agents? Maybe not. But can it help make the guys who are here play harder and run through walls for the coaches? I think so, and I think that's what Gibbs is trying to do. I don't think he's trying to create a NFL eutopia.