CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In his 12 years as coach of the Washington Redskins, Joe Gibbs studied all the factors that could affect a football game.Calling upon that experience, the three-time Super Bowl winning coach likes the Denver Broncos in Sunday’s big game, that is provided the weather cooperates.“My Super Bowl pick is Denver as long as there is not a big wind,” Gibbs said at the annual NASCAR Sprint Media Tour. “If there is a big wind, I’m switching my deal. I going to go to the window and try to get my money back.”Gibbs, who had a career record of 171-101 in two different stints with the Redskins, calls the Broncos’ scheme one of the best ever in offensive football. He credits its success to Denver quarterback Peyton Manning.“You’ve got a guy that is that experienced, that accurate and that knowledgable,” Gibbs said. “He’s calling everything pretty much at the line. When we call it from the sideline, you’re guessing (about the defense). Most teams obviously have audibles because you trying to put it back in the quarterback’s hands because he’s going to see things. You’re not sure what (defense) they’re going to play.”The former Redskins coach explained Manning, however, has more control of the play-calling than the typical NFL quarterback. It allows him to make more adjustments to get the defense out of position.“If you see him go to the line of scrimmage and you see him quick snap it, then you’ve got to get into whatever you’re going to be playing,” Gibbs explained. “Then, he goes to the line of scrimmage and he backs out of there. Now, he’s looking at what you’re doing and he’s making the call. Obviously, that scheme is hard to stop.”Gibbs, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996, wouldn’t call Manning the greatest quarterback ever. He’s hesitant to call anyone the greatest, adding that three great quarterbacks played for him. “You look through history and there have been some great quarterbacks,” Gibbs said. “Certainly, I think he is special, but I’m always leary to call anyone the best ever.”He didn’t even compare his three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks — Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien. Before coming to Washington, Gibbs served as a coordinator for the San Diego Chargers during the days of the famed “Air Coryell” offense. The 1980 Chargers, led by Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, averaged more than 400 yards of offense per game.Offered the head coaching job by Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke in 1981, Gibbs led the Redskins to their first Super Bowl win the following year.He recounted one of his gutsiest calls ever in the 27-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins.“We came out of nowhere to go to the Super Bowl in only our second year of coaching in the NFL,” he remembered. “It was like a dream deal. You’ve got John Riggins fourth-and-one, going off tackle 44 yards. I was down on my knees because I knew if we didn’t make it, I was going to get scalded.”It wasn’t nearly as close in Washington’s second Super Bowl win. Down 10-0 early to the John Elway-led Broncos, the Redskins scored 42 unanswered points in a blowout victory.“In ‘87 with Doug Williams, that was a whole different story with the first black quarterback that had a chance to play great in a Super Bowl,” Gibbs said. “He ends up being the MVP which was a great story. The second quarter, we score 35 points and that was a wild experience.”The third Super Bowl victory saw Washington deny the Buffalo Bills in a 37-24 decision. They weren’t known for the great skill players, with three linemen and the kicker being the only Pro Bowlers that season. However, that 1991 team pulled together like no other squad he ever had.“That team probably achieved more than any other,” Gibbs said. “It was a great team feeling. But, all of the Super Bowls were different experiences with different memories. I’ve got so many.”Not all the memories are good. To this day, it’s hard for the now 73-year-old owner of three NASCAR Sprint Cup teams to find any positives from Super Bowl XVIII. The Redskins went 14-2 during the regular season and beat the Los Angeles Rams 51-7 in the first round of the playoffs. They beat the 49ers in the NFC Championship game before being blown out 38-9 by the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl.“What I learned from that, I thought if you got to the Super Bowl, you were going to feel pretty good about yourself,” he said. “I never felt worse than going back on that plane ride. That was the worst feeling and I don’t think I will ever get over that. “That team was really the most talented team I coached, one of the best ever. To show you how smart that team was, we were plus-42 in the give-away, take-away ratio. That may be a record nobody will ever beat.”Many athletes and coaches try to adhere to a 24-hour rule. They won’t celebrate a win more than 24 hours, or they won’t dwell on a loss more than 24 hours.Gibbs, known for being a workaholic when he was an NFL coach, admitted he wasn’t able to put losses behind him that easily. He laughs, however, when thinking about a similar rule he did enforce.“I always felt like the losses were harder to get over,” he said. “It was a terrible feeling. We did have a 10-second rule for field goal kickers. We told (Mark) Moseley, ‘If you miss a field goal, don’t be looking over here for 10 seconds because we will be calling you every name you can think of.’ After that, it was OK.”
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