By the time his players report for work this morning, Joe Gibbs will have watched every snap of the Redskins’ loss to Tampa Bay. He will have met with his defensive coaches. And he will have finalized the message he will present to the team.
The next three games — home against Carolina, Atlanta and Philadelphia — will determine whether Gibbs discovered solutions to the team’s problems.
Before going any further, here is, verbatim, Gibbs’ 1-minute, 45-second soliloquy from Monday’s press conference:
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“What I’m focused on right now is [that] this game is kind of where we are. That’s not where we want to be. I told the players today I would spend a lot of time [examining things] over the next day and a half before I see them again. I think what’s important for us — this is where we are, we kind of know what we can do and what we would like to be, and I’ve gone back to review some of the films where we played well and did some extremely good things.
“And then what’s important for us on Wednesday is to say, ’This is where we are. This is what we want to be,’ and it’s important to say, ’This is how we get there.’ I talked a lot today to a lot of our players, one-on-one talks, because it’s very important to me what they feel, particularly our leadership group. It’s extremely important to all of us down the stretch here, and I want to play the six best games we can. I’m hoping for a great three-game homestand at our place. We have a lot of work to do, obviously, and yesterday is not where we want to be, so we have to try and find a way to get where we want to be.”
Fascinating stuff, isn’t it? The timing of the message was surprising. Instead of showing satisfaction with the successful decision to start Jason Campbell at quarterback, Gibbs showed he’s fed up with the missed tackles, busted assignments, dropped passes, penalties and the lack of turnovers and sacks.
Gibbs was trying to determine where the Redskins are, where the Redskins want to be and how the Redskins get where they want to be.
That took Gibbs the better part of three days. The Insider, however, instantly can answer all of his questions.
• Where the Redskins are: At 3-7 overall, 1-3 in the NFC East and 1-5 in the conference. Only Detroit and Arizona are worse.
The Redskins reached this point for several reasons. They approached the offseason falsely thinking they were closer to the top of the NFL than they were. Wrong move.
Second, Gibbs stayed with Mark Brunell too long. Campbell wasn’t ready to start Week 1, but he should have played in Week 3.
Third, the offseason approach — overpaying free agents, trading for a young player — worked better in 2004 and 2005 than it did this year. Player evaluation and acquisition is a hit-and-miss game, and the Redskins have far more misses than hits. As a result, the Redskins still need some of the same things they did last year: a pass-rushing defensive end, a safety, a complementary receiver.
• Where the Redskins want to be: In playoff contention every year.
They want to be balanced in their play calling (they have 279 rushes and 295 passes), want to run effectively (they rank 12th in the NFL), stop the run (they have fallen to 19th), force turnovers (they have five defensive takeaways, last in the league) and commit few penalties (their 71 infractions are the fourth most in the league and their 640 yards second most).
Those horrific statistics show why the Redskins are 1-5 over a six-game span for only the third time in Gibbs’ career.
• How the Redskins get where they want to be: Starting Campbell is the best first step.
The offense needs only minor tweaks now that the move to Campbell has been made. Sign a left guard with starting experience to replace or at least challenge Derrick Dockery. Trade David Patten for a late-round pick because he can help a team that needs a No. 3 receiver. If the Redskins are unable to sign Ladell Betts or T.J. Duckett, use a second-day draft pick to get a running back who can spell Clinton Portis.
The defense needs an offseason overhaul, but the salary cap will prevent that. A couple of obvious moves: Have Dan Snyder swallow his ego and trade a Day 2 draft pick to Pittsburgh for safety Ryan Clark and have him guide Sean Taylor. Draft the best cornerback available in the first round and have him compete with Carlos Rogers. Sign an under-the-radar pass rusher who won’t make a lot of money but will get better results than the current group.
How the Redskins react to Gibbs will be telling: Will they believe the Hall of Fame coach’s message, or will they go through the motions?
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Gibbs said. “But we have to find a way to ourselves untracked and play our brand of football.”
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