Joe Gibbs and Veteran QB's

[skinsguy]

Gibbs never had a problem benching quarterbacks nor going with the hot hand even if the starter was healthy (i.e. 1987 Jay VS Doug.)

At the same time, he preferred letting his young QBs hold a clipboard for a season or two until he felt they were ready. Rypien held a clipboard in '87, and got some playing time in '88 when Williams got hurt. He was the starter by '89. Joe never had the luxury of having a talented rookie quarterback like RG3 that he could thrust into the starting position from day one. Back in those days, the 'skins offense was built around a strong running game, so while I can't exactly say the quarterback position was not AS important, I can say that, obviously, Gibbs was able to win without a true franchise quarterback.

I think when he came back for his second stint in the NFL, he realized that a franchise QB is extremely important, and a running back by committee seems to be the choice for the backfield. I would have been curious to see what Gibbs would have done if he had RG3 and Alfred Morris.