Downfield Gibbs???????

[That Guy]

skinsguy, it worked in the 80s with slower defenses and when the skins have an advantage of a rich owner and no salary cap... not that i don't think he can get it done... but things are a bit different now.

[SkinsRock]

Originally Posted by That Guy

skinsguy, it worked in the 80s with slower defenses and when the skins have an advantage of a rich owner and no salary cap... not that i don't think he can get it done... but things are a bit different now.

No offense, but I think that's a cop out. Most of Gibbs' old teams were made up of late picks, and other "finds". Blue collar players that became stars through their play...much like today's Patriots, so it wasn't like they were the Yankees buying up all the most talent....although it was easier to keep them around. But winning teams usually stick together better, even nowadays with the salary cap and all, because the players want to be there.

As for the defenses, yeah, they may have been slower, but still, they went against the Giants with LT (and wasn't Belicheck the D coord?), Buddy Ryan's D, etc. Are today's defenses that much better? I don't think so...just different. Plus, he has one of the best "modern NFL" defensive minds right there with him. Don't you think he bounces his ideas off Williams to see what he would do to defend them, and adjust from there?

So yeah, of course he needs to adjust to the way teams are playing now, and it seems tougher and is taking longer than expected, but if anyone can do it, it's Gibbs.

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by SkinsRock

Don't you think he bounces his ideas off Williams to see what he would do to defend them, and adjust from there?

I doubt he has to; you gotta remember that Gibbs and Co have been at this for quite a long time regardless of the 12 year hiatus and if Williams and Co coudn't figure it out when he was Head Coach, I doubt he'd know anything more than what the formations are representing such as pass d or run d.

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by That Guy

skinsguy, it worked in the 80s with slower defenses and when the skins have an advantage of a rich owner and no salary cap... not that i don't think he can get it done... but things are a bit different now.

I'm not sure I buy into your opinion that the 80's defenses were slower than what we have now. I mean, I am old enough to remember watching football and old enough to understand what was going on back in that decade, and I really don't see much difference in speed, if any.

As far as the salary cap thing goes, this actually works in the favor of Gibbs and he talked about how he wished he had this back in his first tenure with the team; I think if anything the salary cap has been one change that Gibbs as favored.