By MARK CRAIG
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
All season, I've been in favor of bad things happening as a result of coaches who use and now abuse the trendy tactic of calling timeouts a split second before kickers attempt field goals. And, yes, that now includes even Joe Gibbs and the Washington Redskins following their emotional 17-16 home loss to Buffalo.
I know, I know. We're supposed to root for the Redskins. Or, at the very least, we're now supposed to overlook the 100th loss and worst moment of Gibbs' Hall of Fame coaching career. Give him a pass because the Redskins were playing a game five days after their best player, safety Sean Taylor, was shot and killed during a burglary at his home in Miami.
But the NFL and the Redskins insisted that the show must go on. So, with that in mind, and with all due respect ...
How does a Hall of Famer and noted workaholic with three Super Bowl championships not know it's a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to call consecutive timeouts to ice another team's kicker? And how does he not know ahead of time that Gregg Williams, his assistant head coach-defense, had cooked up the idea of playing the first snap with only 10 defenders as a tribute to Taylor?
Supposedly, not all of the Redskins' defenders were on board with the tribute. Probably because the way to honor a great competitor isn't by allowing no-name first-year running back Fred Jackson to sprint around left end for 22 yards in a key game during a playoff race. The Bills later punted, but the point is Gibbs was completely in the dark.
Asked about the decision after the game, Gibbs told reporters, "It's probably better for me to talk to Gregg about it before I comment on it."
Williams told reporters it was his decision to "let (Taylor) ride with us one more time." He also said the decision was "pretty much unanimous" among the defensive staff and the defensive players.
So half of the Redskins' roster and half of their coaching staff knew about this at the team hotel on Saturday night, and no one told the head coach? That, to me, looks like a red flag for the Gibbs II Era.
Unfortunately for Gibbs, that wasn't his biggest gaffe at the end of what must have been a physically and mentally draining week. No, his biggest problem was calling that second timeout in the waning seconds.
In the latest chapter of a trend started by Broncos coach Mike Shanahan earlier this season, Gibbs had an official stand next to him when Buffalo's Rian Lindell lined up for a game-winning 51-yard field goal. At the last possible millisecond, Gibbs called a timeout. Lindell's 51-yarder sailed through the rain and the uprights, but was waved off.
Gibbs said he then asked the official if he could call another timeout. Gibbs claims he heard the official say yes, so he called another timeout and was nailed for unsportsmanlike conduct. Lindell didn't follow through with the second attempt at 51 yards, but the chances of making two of them in the rain aren't great.
"I should have known the rule," Gibbs told reporters.
How did he not know it? How did he not know that Lindell would be moved 15 yards closer and easily drill a 36-yarder for the victory and most likely the Redskins' playoff backbreaker?
According to the Washington Post, Gibbs apologized to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder after the game. Snyder, the newspaper reported, said: "That's OK. We're all in this together."
We'll see about that. The Redskins are 5-7 this season and 27-35 since 2004 when Gibbs returned to the sideline after a 12-year absence.
Here's hoping Gibbs doesn't go out on this sad note. But the facts are his team has lost four consecutive games and has blown five second-half leads.
I'd love to see Gibbs walk away with a fourth Super Bowl championship. Just so long as he doesn't win it by calling a timeout as the other team is already snapping the ball on a field-goal attempt.
(Contact Mark Craig at mcraig@startribune.com.)
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