Great tribute - stupid football move.
Williams didn’t tell Gibbs and worse yet, he didn’t tell Buffalo. The Bills could have told them if they were willing to go along with it. If they said they would and exploited it, they would look like heartless bastards.
What they should have done is lined up with ten and jumped off sides. Buffalo gets a first and five in their own territory and the gesture is made. If Joe Gibbs had been informed, maybe he makes that suggestion.
Maybe not. We’ll never know.
And look at the offense. Joe Gibbs hired Al Saunders to run the offense, and it has been a constant battle between Saunders, a pass philosophy guy, and Gibbs, who is in the Hall of Fame running the ball.
If key people are not on the same page, it’s a recipe for disaster. If no one is on the same page, it’s the Washington Redskins.
It’s not Joe Gibbs’ fault. He is the favored son who returns to the dysfunctional family and is asked to right the ship. But he has been asked to perform with one hand behind his back.
That’s almost like playing defense with only ten players.
Dan Snyder - Please give us our Washington Redskins back. Fire Vinny and half of the coaching staff. Hire player personnel professionals and get out of their way. If you think you’re making money now, wait until the Redskins start winning.
Make the smart guy move. Steinbrenner did it (for awhile) and won. You can too. Let the smart football guys run the football organization.
Or sell it to someone who can.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Please don't ever root for any of my teams, Rick.
2 - Rick Vassar
Matt,
My dad used to scout part-time for the Giants when they had a Single A farm team in Springfield, MA in the old Eastern League (1957-65). He was also a fill in umpire for the Eastern League. His claim to fame was that he threw Earl Weaver out of a game when he managed Elmira (1962-65).
Some of the guys who came through there were quite impressive:
Juan Marichal
Felipe Alou
Matty Alou
Tom Haller
Jim Ray Hart
Jim Duffalo
Bill Hands
Frank Linzy
Hal Lanier
Manny Mota
Jose Pagan
The team moved to Amarillo in 1966 and old Pynchon Park burned down shortly after that. I spent my entire childhood trying to pick up bounced radio signals from Chicago and Philly. The next day, I would get the partial box scores from the West Coast games in the paper (no ESPN in the 1960's).
I thinking about give up on the Giants and rotting for the Diamondbacks. What do you think, Matt?
3 - Mike
"Please give us our Washington Redskins back"
If you switch teams with the regularity you do then they're not really yours are they. Real fans have grievance, fakes don't.
4 - Rick Vassar
It depends on your perspective. The beauty of sports is you can root for whomever you want, whenever you want.
If you are right (and I'm not saying you aren't), then where would all the expansion teams get their fans?
Not to justify myself, but most of these changes are geographic:
Giants/Red Sox to Orioles and now Nationals (btw, not a lot of Montreal Expo fans around here...)
NY Giants(NFL)/Pats(AFL) to Redskins
Celtics to Wizards.
I have lived in DC much longer than I lived in New England. I felt nothing when the Sox and the Pats won (finally).
It still hurt bad with the Giants in '02
You may not agree, but that's you.