Coach Gibbs at His Finest

Anybody else notice the little nuance at play here?

Asked about continued playing time for Arrington, Gibbs described him as "a work in progress and we'll see where everything leads. You just work week to week and see where he is week to week. LaVar hopefully continues to make progress and you hope he plays a lot."

Everybody knows Arrington had a huge game, everybody knows that Arrington proved that he deserves to start, and everybody knows that he will be starting. But this little touch by Gibbs is vintage Joe; by insisting that LaVar needs to work week-to-week, Gibbs is keeping the big fella motivated. He's making him work for it. And you just know that Gibbs knows what a positive effect that has on the rest of the team: everybody EARNS it around here. And when LaVar's teammates see him earn the playing time by practicing hard, and then go out and kick ass on game day, you know they're rooting for him and you know they're behind him. THAT's team chemistry.

You don't know what you're missing until it's gone. Welcome back Joe!

That excerpt above comes from this WP article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/24/AR2005102401678.html

I thought this was a very interesting comment by LaVar, and perhaps very revealing about the entire situation:

"I run hard every day," Arrington said. "I think I stepped it up a little the last couple of weeks of practice. I didn't know I needed to show them that. I might have done it a little quicker."

Perhaps all the coaches were looking for from their superstar LB was to put forth a superstar effort in practice? It seems to have finally sunken in with him, better late than never I guess.

"I run hard every day," Arrington said. "I think I stepped it up a little the last couple of weeks of practice. I didn't know I needed to show them that. I might have done it a little quicker."

I caught that too. Sounds like he finally started growing up. He will be twice the player he was if he lets GW coach him up. This could be very exciting.

As far as "knowing LaVar is going to start this week" - if he practices well. He will still have to work hard week in, week out.

We need to bring it all this week.

It sounds a little like Lavar was taking everything for granted. That he just figured he would be the starter if he was healthy. It sure took him long time to figure this out and you would have thought that the coaches would have relayed that to him. Which they may have and it just took awhile for it to sink in.

I think the benching sent a good message.

Is it possible that maybe the coaches were...they might have been,,,could it be... they were right in this whole thing?!?! Sounds like maybe Lavar needed to step it to the appropriate level. Maybe it was a message. Sub par practice means sub par performance. Which translate to no play. If they can bench Lavar for slacking they'll bench anyone. I like it.

Back in the 60's the Packers had a middle linebacker Ray Nitschke. Before Lombardi showed up, Nitschke was known as a ferocious but undisciplined player. Lombardi beat discipline into him and Nitschke became one of the great MLB's of all time. Nitschke gave credit to Lombardi for this acheivement saying Lombardi taught him (Nitschke) that disciplined ferocity beats undisciplined ferocity every time.

The whole Arrington saga has reminded me of this. Yes, LaVar is a great talent and playmaker. But, (I firmly believe) if he buys into the system and into GW's teachings, LaVar he can be an even better LB and be the All-Pro (and, no, I don't mean Pro-bowl pretty boy voting) he has always had the talent to be. Maybe the light is going on in Lavar's head to this effect.

P.S. - Please don't ask me for the cite on the Nitcshke thing, it's very old and from memory.

human nature, he's incredibly talented and has gotten by on it. but this staff will hold him accountable to it. play up to it, practice up to it, work up to it.be all you can be by pressing in and then through . he still has time to make an incredible mark on this league. a lb that not only causes fear but anger because they will no longer get free plays off of him.

I think the benching sent a good message.
I love this. What does it say to the other players if the STAR of the defense is on the bench for not "bringing" it in practice? It sets a standard that all of the team must meet and subsequently raises the level of play all the way around. Proof is in the pudding. The Redskins are showing progress each week. They are miles ahead of where they were in week one and I'm sure they'll be miles ahead of where they are now, say in week 12. Outstanding job by the coaching staff so far!

I'm a college Professor of Accounting.

You could do a Harvard Case study on Gibbs' Managerial technique.

He sees un-tapped potential in people they themselves don't see.

He tailors his approach to getting the most out of each one to that particular player.

Jim