Broncos vs Redskins Superbowl XXII replay official game thread

[SmootSmack]

I don't have the link, but this was from the Washington Post shortly before Gibbs' first game back in 2004:

"The date was Jan. 31, 1988, at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium. It was Super Bowl XXII, and the Denver Broncos had stunned the Redskins by jumping to an early 10-0 lead. Most surprising, though, was the Broncos' abandonment of the standard four-linemen, three-linebacker, 4-3 defense they had employed all season in favor of a three-lineman, four-linebacker 3-4 look that had confused the Redskins' offense, particularly the Hogs on the offensive line.

"This was after our first couple of possessions," Bostic said. "Coach Gibbs almost never came back to our offensive line meetings when we were on the bench. This time he did. He says, 'What are they doing to you up front?' We tell him what's going on. He puts his finger up to his face like he always does when he's thinking deep and he says, 'Okay, we're gonna zone block the defensive ends and we're gonna let the nose tackle stunt wherever he wants to go. We'll come back at 'em and run our counter plays and bottle them up inside.'

"But on the first play, instead of running the ball, we give 'em a look, and we run a hitch pattern instead, and Ricky Sanders catches it for an 80-yard touchdown. Eighteen plays later, and that's all it was, we've basically won the Super Bowl at the half. We're up 35-10, Tim Smith is going crazy running the ball and we score 35 points in the second quarter and we're doing whatever we want to do.

"They had no idea how to stop us," Bostic continued. "Joe figured out how to block 'em, and they never had a chance. That's a Joe Gibbs adjustment in a nutshell.""