December 5-- Should the ref have helped Gibbs?
The team did not hold a walk through today due to the inclement weather.. The fields needed to be plowed to actually have a session and the team ultimately elected not to do so..
Thus, the Redskins will play a game against Chicago where they essentially did not hold one full practice since Sunday.. Joe Gibbs decided to scale back the one day where the team was to hold a full practice (Tuesday) based mainly on the team's need to recover from the game Sunday..
The mood has been definitively different this week as the days pass since the shooting death of Sean taylor.. The media was allowed into the locker room for the first time since Taylor was shot on Tuesday.. His locker (as it is at Fed Ex Field as well) has been enclosed in plexiglass with his pads and uniforms in tact.. Clinton Portis said it remaisn tought to have his locker next to Taylor's and said "nothing is completely back to normal yet." But the mood has been different ever since Monday's funeral.. many of the people I talked to that were on the team plane from Miami said the mood was much more upbeat then from the flight down.. The 3 hour service appears to have been cathartic for most..
Joe Gibbs was asked publicly for the first time whether he will be honoring his contract and staying for a fifth year after his team's fourth straight loss on Sunday.. Gibbs said he is not changing his stance from what he has said in the past, and that being he is going to fufill his contract which is for 5 years, this is year 4..
Gibbs continued to publicly admonish himself for making a mistake by calling a second time out at the end of the Bills game, and refused to allow any of the blame to be shifted to the referree who he had discussed his intentions to..
Gibbs said he doesn't feel as if he could ever take too much of the responsibility when it comes to the team's successes or failures...
I spoke with a number of different people about the ref and his obligation to explain the ramifications of Gibbs making that call.. It was mixed, Joe Bugel admitted "everyone wants Joe Gibbs to be perfect. He's not. But nobody works harder at the game of football then Joe." Jason Campbell said he believes the ref should have told Joe what would happen if he called the timeout but admitted that because of his inexperience, he doesn't get explanations from refs everytime he asks either.. "When you've been around like a guy like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, refs are more apt to listen." Asked whether Gibbs has earned enough respect to get that type of treatment, Campbell responded "definitely."
Clinton Portis was fair about it saying "look at it from the other team's view. If they tell him that, the other team is going to want to know why they told him that. Who knows?"
Bears coach Lovie Smith stuck up for Gibbs to, "I couldn't tell you how many mistakes I make every game."
The Redskins never did ask for a petition to change the Thursday game despite the tragedy a week ago.. Lovie Smith reiterated the Bears would have done anything to accomodate the Skins..
Injury Report: G Randy Thomas (triceps) wearing an arm brace and listed as probable appears as if he will be active for the first time since injuring his arm in week 2.. WR James Thrash (ankle) is out.. RB Clinton Portis (shoulder) probable.. WR Antwaan Randle-El (hamstring) probable.. FB Mike Sellers (back) probable.. CB Shawn Springs (back) questionable..
Joe Gibbs did say there was one time in his career when he chose not to kick to a return man because he deemed that player too dangerous, but it was only after he learned his lesson the hard way.. Gibbs said once back in the '80's special teams coach Wayne Sevier told him he wanted to kick to Chicago's Willie Gault (a track star/WR) to show Chicago they could stop him.. First kick, Gault goes 103 yards for a touchdown.. Gibbs fired at Sevier, "I said I've seen enough and we didn't kick it to him again." So will the Skins take their chances with Devin Hester? The way Gibbs talked about it, expect them to be extremely careful..
The Skins are ranked 22nd in KO return average by the opposition, but that number is skewed, 2 yards fewer per return and they would be top 10.. The team is the best in the league at punt return average allowed, under 6..
OK, must win time..
Thus, the Redskins will play a game against Chicago where they essentially did not hold one full practice since Sunday.. Joe Gibbs decided to scale back the one day where the team was to hold a full practice (Tuesday) based mainly on the team's need to recover from the game Sunday..
The mood has been definitively different this week as the days pass since the shooting death of Sean taylor.. The media was allowed into the locker room for the first time since Taylor was shot on Tuesday.. His locker (as it is at Fed Ex Field as well) has been enclosed in plexiglass with his pads and uniforms in tact.. Clinton Portis said it remaisn tought to have his locker next to Taylor's and said "nothing is completely back to normal yet." But the mood has been different ever since Monday's funeral.. many of the people I talked to that were on the team plane from Miami said the mood was much more upbeat then from the flight down.. The 3 hour service appears to have been cathartic for most..
Joe Gibbs was asked publicly for the first time whether he will be honoring his contract and staying for a fifth year after his team's fourth straight loss on Sunday.. Gibbs said he is not changing his stance from what he has said in the past, and that being he is going to fufill his contract which is for 5 years, this is year 4..
Gibbs continued to publicly admonish himself for making a mistake by calling a second time out at the end of the Bills game, and refused to allow any of the blame to be shifted to the referree who he had discussed his intentions to..
Gibbs said he doesn't feel as if he could ever take too much of the responsibility when it comes to the team's successes or failures...
I spoke with a number of different people about the ref and his obligation to explain the ramifications of Gibbs making that call.. It was mixed, Joe Bugel admitted "everyone wants Joe Gibbs to be perfect. He's not. But nobody works harder at the game of football then Joe." Jason Campbell said he believes the ref should have told Joe what would happen if he called the timeout but admitted that because of his inexperience, he doesn't get explanations from refs everytime he asks either.. "When you've been around like a guy like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, refs are more apt to listen." Asked whether Gibbs has earned enough respect to get that type of treatment, Campbell responded "definitely."
Clinton Portis was fair about it saying "look at it from the other team's view. If they tell him that, the other team is going to want to know why they told him that. Who knows?"
Bears coach Lovie Smith stuck up for Gibbs to, "I couldn't tell you how many mistakes I make every game."
The Redskins never did ask for a petition to change the Thursday game despite the tragedy a week ago.. Lovie Smith reiterated the Bears would have done anything to accomodate the Skins..
Injury Report: G Randy Thomas (triceps) wearing an arm brace and listed as probable appears as if he will be active for the first time since injuring his arm in week 2.. WR James Thrash (ankle) is out.. RB Clinton Portis (shoulder) probable.. WR Antwaan Randle-El (hamstring) probable.. FB Mike Sellers (back) probable.. CB Shawn Springs (back) questionable..
Joe Gibbs did say there was one time in his career when he chose not to kick to a return man because he deemed that player too dangerous, but it was only after he learned his lesson the hard way.. Gibbs said once back in the '80's special teams coach Wayne Sevier told him he wanted to kick to Chicago's Willie Gault (a track star/WR) to show Chicago they could stop him.. First kick, Gault goes 103 yards for a touchdown.. Gibbs fired at Sevier, "I said I've seen enough and we didn't kick it to him again." So will the Skins take their chances with Devin Hester? The way Gibbs talked about it, expect them to be extremely careful..
The Skins are ranked 22nd in KO return average by the opposition, but that number is skewed, 2 yards fewer per return and they would be top 10.. The team is the best in the league at punt return average allowed, under 6..
OK, must win time..
posted by Bram Weinstein | 6:56 PM
5 Comments:
ya know bram i've been listening at 12noon alot more lately only because some people were telling me that you seem kind of distant on the Taylor subject. Although i dont put you in the same category as wilbon and some others who were absolute absurd in their assesments of Taylor, you seem to keep your distance from the reality of his life which was mostly good. Did you know that that gun charge was plead out only because he didnt want to go into the season with any type of controversy. In fact that charge was dropped because their is absolutley no proof that he had one. Had that case gone into the season it was most likely going to be dropped altogether, but he didnt want to miss any time. All he had to do was make 10 appearences at local high schools and that was the end of it. So this guy changing his life around was not something he had to strive to do. Good reporting is supposed to be about facts, not opinions especially when it comes to life and death. This is public, look it up.
Also I agree that Gibbs should have known the rule but here it is right out of the rulebook. Again, facts would be nice to know. Take notice to the NOTE part.
Rule 12 Section 3 Article 2
If an attempt is made to call a time out in these situations, the officials shall not grant a time
out, play will continue, and a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct shall be enforced. If a
time out is inadvertently granted, the penalty shall also be enforced.
Note: The Referee (or another official) will notify the Head Coach (i) that two charged time outs
by the same team in the same dead ball period are not permitted, and (ii) when he has
exhausted his three charged team time outs in a half.
I tend to believe that's a well-deserved penalty, because my opinion is that icing the kicker really isn't sportsmanlike conduct. Sportsman just play the game. I am an English teacher, though, not a sportsman, so your mileage may vary.
I was watching tonight to see how they handled Hester's returns; I thought (so far, through two and a half quarters) that they have done OK. I have also seen that, when they try to use him on offense as a receiver, he doesn't perform well at all -- messes up routes, seems confused by defensive routes. I remember wondering last year why he was on defense and special teams instead of busting the games open as a receiver, and the answer is apparently that his playbook-studying smarts aren't what they ought to be.
Bram, how are things different when it's an NFL network, local TV, or Fox game? Does it affect y'all as the press team much? I'll bet you could do a blog entry or two on that subject alone, if you run out of topics sometime :)
I never said you had to like the rule. It is unsportsman like if you wish to think so, but not by the rule book. There is no rule saying you cant call a timeout before a field goal. We dont live in a world of what ifs and maybes and what people TEND to think when it comes rules and laws. Thus some things are absolute. In other words somethings arent open to interpretation.
I think the ref helping Gibbs out is like a teacher helping a student cheat.
Gibbs shouldn't have asked in the first place.
Dave--
I appreciate your thoughts.. I tried my best to put everything with Sean into context as best I could.. There is one note point however regarding the gun incident that should be noted, he took authority into his own hands and did not involve the police in a matter that ended with their accussations, the following charges and ultimately him being the victim of gunfire.. Lets not paint this as innocently as you suggest..
Plus Taylor did own a firearm, whether he used it or not in the incident is what was at issue..
I don't know if you knew Sean, so it's hard for me to comment on your relationship with him, but suggesstions good or bad about his personal choices should be left to those who know him best, thus criticizing me should come from someone who knew him, not someone who thinks he knew him..
I said from the get go that this was a person who rarely opened up to me and I didn't know him as well as I would have liked.. The distance I took from the subject was more based on that.. Dave, if you never met him or knew him then I suggest you trust my opinion a little more then yours..
I do appreciate the thoughts and as always, you can e-mail me at bram@bramshow.com
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