The Redskin Report

There seems to be some confusion amongst Redskins fans over what exactly Joe Gibbs’ role will be now that Al Saunders has been hired on to run the offense. With Saunders on offense and Gregg Williams on defense, many fans seem to think that Gibbs is planning out his succession plan or that he’ll move into more of a front office role and make Vinny Cerrato obsolete.

Think to your own job, what does the head of your company do? He oversees things and makes the big decisions. He’s not down on the production floor doing the grunt work, nor is he designing the new products (assuming you work for a big company). During a game, all the plays will go through Gibbs headset as well. He’ll be able to talk with Saunders and give advice during plays. Although this wouldn’t happen, Gibbs could take over the play calling at any time during a game. Gibbs will also be the guy decided when to go for it on 4th and 1, when to throw the challenge flag, and when to call timeouts.

As for Gibbs making Cerrato’s position repetitive, its not going to happen. Gibbs isn’t going to be taking his Saturdays during the season to go watch a bunch of college prospects. I’m sure this idea has been floated by Cerrato haters, who refuse to believe he’s a big part of the turnaround here. There is no reason for Cerrato to go, the team is on the upswing, and a lot of unheralded players are making an impact on this team.

Gibbs will now have the chance to oversee all aspects of the team. He can sit in meetings with the defense and special teams, while before he had to focus 95% of his energies into the offense. Obviously he’ll still spend the majority of the time helping out Saunders with the offensive game plans. But the extra time he can spend on the other aspects of the team could help diffuse situations like the Lavar Arrington issues from last year. Just having a calmer influence to balance the intense Williams will help.

As fans, I don’t think we’ll see much change from Gibbs. He’ll still lead this team. He’ll take the blame when we lose, and give credit when deserved. Gibbs will still have the final say on what happens on and off the field. Behind the scenes there will be some differences in terms of where Gibbs spends his time and which meetings he attends, but really we have no idea what goes on in the those meetings anways. As long as it all works out, and looking back on Gibbs’ history, the chances are it will, as fans we can sit back and enjoy the ride.

In the Post:
Arrington’s Agent faces investigation; Change in Command; Gibbs turns it over