Coach Joe Is On The Warpath/Moss Doubtful
Wow, Coach Joe wanted no part of the media today (can't blame him for that) and engaged in some of testy exchanges. Made for good theatre.
Okay, Ill get back to that in a minute. First the news.
Santana did not practice and is listed as doubtful. He didn't rule himself out, but after not practicing all week and just running a few routes Gibbs did not sound like he would play. Said there is a chance Santana could take warmups Sunday and maybe sneak into the active roster, but it sounded remote.
Also, Lloyd was back to practice and Mike Sellers missed most of practice with his heel injury, largely as a precaution.
As for Coach Gibbs, he certainly had his game face on. Any reporter who has been around here more than 30 seconds learned long ago that coach Joe is never going to say much the later you get in the week and people looking for flowery quotes on Friday in particular are barking up the wrong tree.
Today he was downright ornery - and if I'm a Skins fan I'm all in favor of that. He looked like he was ready to crack a head or two if need be. It started off well enough but after 90 seconds he got worked up, his arms started pumping. The man was animated
It started when one of the guys from the Times (DLD) mentioned the 0-20 record the Lions have here in DC - something Gibbs already talked about earlier in the week - and the man started getting a lather. "It's ridiculous," Gibbs started, and then went on a rant. Segued into: "We won Super Bowls here before, right now we can't win anything." He then dropped a "swinging soul" bomb - about as close as this man will ever get to cursing. "We need to get A win someWAY, and it's going to take every swinging soul we've got." (Am I the only one who smells a Swinging Soul T-shirt here?).
Seemed like this would be a good time to let the man walk, and Coach Joe was already heading towards the locker room as he concluded this response, then my fellow Baltimoron, Jerry Coleman from Sportstalk 980 alluded to some comments that Gibbs allegedly made to George Michael during an interview about wanting to run the ball 70 percent of the time, and I turned the recorder off and just took it all in.
Coach Joe must have grunted the word balance six times in the exchange. "I have never said that my entire life! It's balance." (This reminded me of two things - a geology professor I has in Syracuse who would randomly yell out "Balance!" during his lectures to wake people up who fell asleep, and also the dude in Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" video, whose yelling "Science!" in the background.)
So, now we're ready to play some football! That's what I'm talking about. Bring on the Lions.
Posted by Jason La Canfora
at: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/2007/10/coach_joe_is_on_the_warpathmos.html
That's good news - Joe's getting fired up. I hope he lights a fire under the team to play a complete game - not just 2 quarters. I'm feeling better about our chances with the Lions.
... now if Joe could only get through to B. Lloyd and light a big flaming fire under his butt ...
