If Zorn Wins..........

[MTK]

Why am I not surprised?

[bigm29]

Gibbs should get alot of credit if Zorn wins. I relate our team to the cowboys of last year. I think Gibbs did a great job building an excellent foundation of a team (Much like Parcells did for the Cowboys, who got alot credit for their success in '07) and now its time for a young Jim Zorn to open it up and make us a top notch team. Offense is what I am worried about. Our defense remains good every year and I like the Blache hiring from within. Offense has always been our problem and I think that is where Gibbs was holding us back. However I said it once and I'll say it again: Next season will have little to do with the success of Zorn but the success of Jason Campbell. Campbell is what our entire future rests upon. If we want to go deep into the playoffs for once Campbell needs to get alot better. Although I like Campbell, I think he has all the tools, I am still not sold that he is our franchise QB and anyone who is sold is a fool.

[Paintrain]

He'll get some deserved credit if the Skins do well this year because he rebuilt the franchise from the shambles of the Spurrier era and was the most successful with making the playoffs twice in the past 3 years. He dramatically changed the roster and the culture at Redskins park during his 2.0 tenure.

He will also get some deserved grief if they are MORE successful than a middling near .500 team with extended losing streaks as they were under him. The telling sign will be how the offense performs. Of course Campbell is more experienced and should be making better decisions now than he was in his first 16 starts, but the playcalling under Gibbs/Saunders was very conservative for the most part and predictable/unimaginative at best. I've been re-watching some of the games from this past year (most recently the TB game) and it's shocking how basic most of the game plan was. It's no wonder we struggled to score 21 pts a game. It's funny how universally (so far) the players have said the offense will be 'more spread out and explosive' (Portis) and 'better suited to some of our strengths (Cooley) this year. If the '08 Skins turn into a scoring machine (acknowledging Campbell developing and the return of Jansen/Thomas are factors) then there is something to be said about the previous under-utilization of our talent.

[skinsnut]

Gibbs should get MASSIVE credit.
Before he came, we had Spurrier...what a joke.
This team has pulled a Dr Jeckle and Mr Hyde.
Yes it took a complete overhaul of players and coaching staff....
If you put it in perspective, we went from a laughingstock to a playoff team in just 2 years....and playoffs 2 of the last 3 in extremely difficult circumstances....dont forget the front office issues too.

Gibbs has resurrected this franchise...he has brought back the pride in Redskins Park.
In many ways, this may have been a far greater task than winning a Superbowl.

Yes, he was conservative, but c'mon...an old Brunell taking us to the playoffs?.....Collins doing so after no starts in 10 years?.....that is the midas touch.

In some ways...Snyder has the perfect opportunity to take a chance on a rookie coach.
22 of 22 starters back?....wow...
I must say, I am a little worried..as long as we stay away from tough head coaching issues that distract from X's and O's (such as a head case player)...we should be fine.

Credit always goes to the head coach....but so does blame....no one will blame Gibbs for a bad season this year...but they may give him some credit if they make the playoffs.

[SFREDSKIN]

Gibbs is in the HOF for a reason. Without Gibbs this team was nothing, he held Campbell back for a reason, that being that you don't throw a young QB into the wolves and expect not lose his confidence and damage him. This to me was Joe Gibbs finest coaching performance ever, to make it to the playoffs with the number of injuries all over the roster, tragic events, etc. Yes, Joe surrounded himself with a very experienced coaching staff, but at the end of the day he called the shots, not Danny. Joe deserves most of the credit, I for one disagree with the fans and experts that criticized Joe. If Joe would have come back next year I would have seen us in the SB. We'll see what Jim Z. can do with the team he inherited.

[prinzeofmoval]

Well hopefully this will benefit us..look at past coachs who left and how good the team did the following year..i.e.The Cowboys,Chargers and Steelers last year..The Bucs won it the following year that Tony Dungy left.We'll be okay..

[djnemo65]

Originally Posted by prinzeofmoval

Well hopefully this will benefit us..look at past coachs who left and how good the team did the following year..i.e.The Cowboys,Chargers and Steelers last year..The Bucs won it the following year that Tony Dungy left.We'll be okay..

Not to nitpick, but I think there are many more historical examples of teams being bad the year after a coach left than there are the opposite.

[redskinsfanatic]

the redskins are in better shape now than they have been in years.gibbs righted the ship and now the new captain just needs to learn how to sail.

[Giantone]

Originally Posted by redskinsfanatic

the redskins are in better shape now than they have been in years.gibbs righted the ship and now the new captain just needs to learn how to sail.

........but what if it's a motor boat?

[The Goat]

Well, you can pretty much expect to hear media and at least some fans give a hell of a lot of credit to Zorn if the offense finally takes off this year. Offensively, Gibbs 2.0 could be best described as inconsistent. And the thing is offense was really what Gibbs was doing. GW ran the defense, period. If the defense continues to shine that credit goes mostly to Blache, but it will have GW's mark on it.

But it's like others have said: Gibbs carried the team through the valley of death after he had brought stability and respect back to the franchise. What's that worth? Priceless IMO. Priceless.

[JDub21]

Coach Gibbs' greatest quality was dealing with adversity
he gave us everything he had and then some

He'll always have a place among the greatest figures in DC sports history

[SouperMeister]

I believe that Gibbs had both a positive and a negative impact. The positive is more lasting ... he demanded high character people, and added many tough guys that would never throw in the towel even in the most trying circumstances (Taylor's death). However, we cannot turn a blind eye to the number of blown leads, many after going conservative. When Norv was coach, blowing close games was a recurring theme, and I remember thinking then that Gibbs almost always put a team away when he had them down. Gibbs 2.0 reminds me a lot of the last 4 years Norv was here - talented teams that often found ways to beat themselves.

All that said, you can never take away the greatness of Gibbs' first tenure. Based on that, he should be on everyone's top 10 greatest coaches list.

[converted seahawk]

I come by it honestly

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by converted seahawk

I come by it honestly

Former fan? (you can PM me)

[converted seahawk]

oh, and thanks for the welcome