Commentary by John McNamara, Staff Writer
Once again, optimism prevails as the offseason begins for the Washington Redskins. Why the faithful - and head coach Joe Gibbs - feel good about prospects for next year remains a mystery.
Maybe because it's a local tradition. Where the Redskins are concerned, the offseason is always better than the season itself. At least that's how it's been since Gibbs "retired" 12 years ago.
Since then, (in chronilogical order) the Redskins were supposed to be saved by Richie Petitbon, Norv Turner, Ken Harvey, Michael Westbrook, Heath Shuler, Gus Frerotte, Stephen Davis, Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Marty Schottenheimer, LaVar Arrington, Steve Spurrier, Patrick Ramsey, Laveranues Coles, Mark Brunell and, of course, Joe Gibbs.
So far, Gibbs' Second Coming is a disappointment. His 6-10 record was the worst of his coaching career and only a game better than the overmatched Steve Spurrier the year before.
If anything, Spurrier's record was more impressive (I can't believe I'm saying this) because the NFC East featured two good teams - Philadelphia (12-4) and Dallas (10-6) - last season. Gibbs' Redskins had only one team in the division (Philadelphia) that was clearly superior. Yet they still managed to lose three out of four to the Cowboys and Giants. The conference as a whole was a lot stronger last year, too. In 2003, there weren't any 8-8 NFC teams skulking into the playoffs.
The best team the Redskins beat all year was the no-account Vikings in the season finale. That defeat completed a Minnesota slide that included seven losses in 10 games. Spurrier's final Redskins team at least managed to knock off New England, which didn't lose again the rest of the season and won the Super Bowl.
Don't tell me that the Redskins are getting closer to being good because they lost seven games by a touchdown or less. Guess what? So did Spurrier's last team. In fact, during Norv Turner's miserable (3-13) first season in 1994, the Redskins lost eight games by a touchdown or less. You can see where that road led.
If the Redskins are to improve next season, it must start with Gibbs. To his credit, he has acknowledged that he had a lot to learn about his personnel and about how the game had changed. He even admitted that some other first-year coaches might have done a better job than he did. Call it humility if you will, but I think Joe was just being honest.
He really didn't have a very good year. In fact, he got outcoached by assistant Gregg Williams. Williams was in charge of a defense that finished third in the league. He did a masterful job of juggling despite a rash of injuries (Matt Bowen, Arrington, Fred Smoot, etc.) that allowed him to start only three players in the same spot every week.
Gibbs' accomplishments weren't nearly so impressive. In three of the key areas of a head coach's responsibility - personnel, setting a tone and strategy, Gibbs' gets two passing grades and a failing one.
His personnel moves and the atmosphere he created within the locker room were generally positives. Draft picks Sean Taylor and Chris
ey could be stars for the next 10 years. Free agent signees Marcus Washington, Cornelius Griffin and Shawn Springs were key contributors.
But those moves were negated by the Brunell debacle at quarterback. The Redskins greatly overpaid for the former Jacksonville star ($43 million) and Gibbs stuck with him for more than half the season before Ramsey got a chance. Brunell had difficulty passing for as little as 100 yards in some games - in a year when the rules were rewritten to enhance the passing game league-wide.
Gibbs, loyal to the end, continues to insist that Brunell's signing was a good move. But because of the salary cap, his salary will be an albatross around this organization's neck for years to come. At least doctors can bury their mistakes; Gibbs will have to live with his.
In terms of setting a professional tone day in and day out, Gibbs succeeded. The Redskins were never really blown out, never really embarrassed. He fostered a sense of unity and purpose long absent from Redskin Park. It's to his credit (and the team's) that the Redskins played harder against Minnesota with nothing at stake than the Vikings did with a playoff berth on the line.
On the flip side, Washington was flagged for more than 1,000 yards in penalties, 66 off the franchise record and slightly more than last year. Many a Redskin drive was halted by a jump offsides or a delay of game. The Redskins played hard, but not always smart. More discipline is needed.
As blasphemous as it sounds, Gibbs gets a failing grade for strategy. His offense seemed rooted in the past, unable to cope with the faster pace and more frequent and varied blitzes of today's NFL. The once-daring Gibbs (his '83 team set a league scoring record, since broken) appeared reluctant to take chances on offense. As a result, the Redskins completed only four passes all season that covered 40 yards. They scored more than 21 points in a game only twice and wound up ranked 30th in offense, 31st in scoring.
Gibbs' desire to protect the quarterback at all costs - in contrast to Spurrier - didn't prove particularly effective, either. Redskin quarterbacks were sacked 38 times this season, only five fewer than last year.
There were other problems. Gibbs' spent his 12 years away from the NFL as a team owner in NASCAR, where time is of the essence once the car rolls into the pits. But when Gibbs returned to the sidelines, the play clock, time management and the tricky replay challenge rules seemed to flummox him, particularly early in the season.
His missteps in that area proved damaging in the 21-18 home loss to Dallas, when the Redskins moved into field goal range on a long pass to Rod Gardner in the closing seconds. But they couldn't get the kicking team on the field because there were no timeouts left; they'd been used up on replay challenges and to correct personnel mix-ups.
If anyone can adjust to the changes in the rules and in the style of play, if anyone can tailor an offense to the personnel on hand, it's Gibbs. At one time, he was the master of the halftime adjustment; now he's got a whole offseason to fix things.
In his second season the first time around, he won the Super Bowl. It took him a year before he really got his NASCAR team up and running, too. Given the frequency of marked turnarounds in the NFL from one season to the next, the Redskins could certainly make playoffs next season.
But, considering Gibbs' struggles in Year One, Chapter Two, that doesn't look like as sure a bet as it did a year ago. And, as the unhappy season unfolded, the franchise's glory days of the 1980s and '90s seemed to slip a little further into the past.
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