The spirit of Joe Gibbs is back with the Redskins. I noticed a vague sense of the familiar while watching the Rams at Redskins game. It was hard to pinpoint at first. Then it gradually dawned on me that I haven’t seen such slobber knocking Redskins football since Joe Gibbs’ heyday.
I don’t mean the “Return of Joe Gibbs” days. I mean the Joe Gibbs Redskins of the last century, the one your father and grandfathers talked about.
Those Redskins tried to knock you out.
Gibbs coached a muscular version of the Coryell System (Downfield offense). Don Coryell always had a big back like Chuck Muncie. Gibbs carried that further with John Riggins and Ernest Byner.
The today’s Redskins run the West Coast offense. Edge rushers like Roger Craig, Clinton Portis (in Denver) and Alfred Morris fit that system better. Matt Jones is the big physical back who would have been at home in Gibbs’ downfield offense.
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