4 WR or 5 WR Set ?!?

With this much fire power at WR what are you thoughts of Gibbs implementing a 4 or 5 WR set on offense somewhere along the season??

I think Gibbs is gonna stick with the basics here, and used what he won with back in the day.

Yup... Joe's mantra has been "maximum protection" from day 1. Don't expect a few of these WRs to be on the roster when the season starts.
My guess:
Here: Coles, McCants, Jacobs, Thrash, Cloman, Swayne
Gone: Dillard, Flowers, Russell, Gardner...

I'm not sure how frequently it will be used, but Gibbs did flash an empty backfield look during minicamp, putting the runningback in motion to the slot. I do believe there was a tight end in that set, though.

I asked Gibbs if there were any offensive coordinators or offensive schemes that he had kept an eye on during his retirement, and if he would be incorporating aspects of those systems into his own offense. He said he would be using different wrinkles that he has borrowed from the top 5 offenses in 2003. Based on his glowing praise for Mike Martz' system in St. Louis, you can be sure that there will be "Martzian" elements infused with the traditional Gibbs playbook (which, ironically, was a major influence on Martz), and Martz has been known to employ 4 wide receivers from time to time. Sending Faulk in motion out of the backfield as an additional wideout is something Martz does with great success, and I can see Gibbs doing that on occasion with Portis and the other backs.

You can't rule out anything with Gibbs-- he will do whatever is necessary to make the best use of the weapons at his disposal. But I don't see him going to the 4- and 5-wide looks a whole lot. He will always prefer to keep at least 6 blockers in on any play, and that means that there will typically be a tight end in there somewhere, so the most wide receivers you would see in any set would be four. Of course, if the depth at WR pans out as well as it appears to be at this early point in the evaluation process, Gibbs could be tempted to put a 5-wide look out there-- but just for kicks!

I think Gibbs will pull some plays and formations from other coaches here and there but for the most part we will see the good old fashioned Gibbs offense. Power running game, plenty of counters, smashmouth, motion offense that will pound you and when you least expect it go up top for the big play. But as much as he stresses the running game, he'll definitely have a lethal passing game.

Listen to Bugel's press conference on the redskins.com archive (I think Crisp has it on our site as well). He pretty much said that 4/5 WR is not what they're about. It's give the QB enough time to make a throw with Max protection, and use play action/motion to diguise passing plays. Then let the WRs make plays by having enough time to separate.

But I agree about the Martz thing, and I wouldn't put it passed Gibbs to try anything to see how it works. Like all good coaches, he'll steal it if it works!

Yeah, JG will use anything that works. Look at his roots. He's a direct product of Don Coryell's system, yet has had big time runners like John Riggins. He's a coach that wants to win, by whatever means necessary. He is not a run oriented or pass oriented coach, he's a win oriented coach, and that's what we've been missing for 12+ years.

I think we could implement that type of a formation just to play on some weeks, when the match-up would be favorable. If a team has some great run stopping power, but horrible pass coverage, this could be somthing to implement just for a week like that, since we have so many talented recivers.

I do not think that there will be too many teams in the NFL this season that will be able to boast that there #3 corner is better than our #3 WR

Some of the teams that could cover three of four receivers were in our division. The Cowboys had a fleet of top notch corners and elite safetys, and as far as I know they still do. The Eagles had just as much depth and talent at safety but lost their two top corners. The Giants had good corners, we now have their third in Brown, but all were known for giving up plays and most known for dropping potential pics.

Joe Gibbs always loved two peopel in teh back field and a tight end in the game. i was young when he was coach but I loved seeing the way Brian Mitchell was used for trick plays, I hope more of that is implemented with Gardner, Coles or whoever.