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Has it really come to this?

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By Skin Patrol
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AOL Fanhouse asks Do Redskins fans want Joe Gibbs fired? Simply asking that question in happier times long since past would justified serious analysis for the querier. However, the 2nd coming of Coach Gibbs is still 5 games south of .500 -- unless my math is ridiculous, which it very well might be -- and the question perhaps deserves asking. There are certainly a few fans over at Extreme Skins who feel that way. Here's a perhaps representative sample-list of threads with comments to that effect:

Think Gibbs will be back next year?
Has Gibbs' fear rubbed off on Saunders and GW?
What Coach Would Make You Happy...Youngskin's?
Is Gibbs too nice?
Does Gibbs realize that we don't have "The Hogs" anymore?
The biggest difference between Gibbs Era I and Gibbs Era II

...etc. If ever there was a site that could capture honestly the feelings of "Redskins fans", it would have to be Extreme Skins. They have massive traffic that extends beyond the blood relatives of the site's handlers, which is one of a million things that distinguishes ES from Hogs Haven. And I can truthful-like confirm the existence of at least one Redskins fan (hint: Me!) who has questioned whether we have the right mix of coaches:

[Question:] Finally, the Redskins appeared to have put together an all star coaching staff after the hiring of Gibbs but lately I've been reading a lot of Skins fans that are less than impressed. Do you think you have the right staff in place to be a contender?

[My answer:] No, we don't. I think Al Saunders is an outstanding coach. I think Joe Gibbs is an outstanding coach. I don't know if the two are compatible with the offense; we're 20th in yards per game offensively and 26th in offensive DVOA per FO. That is simply unacceptable with an innovative Hall of Fame Coach combined with Al Saunders, who has a proven history of success. Either they are not compatible or they've both lost their touch, and I simply cannot buy that coaches as talented as them have forgotten the game of football. I'm very against rocking the boat with coaching changes, but those guys need to either learn how to work together well enough to move the ball farther than 19 National Football League teams, or they need to go their separate ways.

Don't confuse that for a call for an early exit of either Coach Gibbs or Coach Saunders, since I'm not yet ready to divorce myself from either, or both. But some people are. And those people are internet savvy.

Fire Joe Gibbs Dot Com says:

Well Skins fans, sometimes it's better to take hold of our destiny and damn the torpedoes, than it is to wallow in the misery of knowing that a once great icon of the gridiron has seen the game go by him. Here we are at 5-4 this season and we all know that the coaching staff has done little more with the team than last season, (5-11). Let's just burn the team to the ground and start over. Let's call for Dan Snyder to man up and look ahead to next season. In order to do that, he has to:
FIRE JOE GIBBS NOW!
Fucking yowza! [Did you know? The term "Damn the torpedoes" is attributed to David Glasgow Farragut, a Union US Naval Officer of note. While most famous for his demand of a charge into sea mines, torpedoes, that had already managed to sink the USS Tecumseh, I choose to remember Farragut as the commander repelled by a single confederate ship at Vicksburg despite having a 38:1 numerical advantage.] To FJG dot com's credit, they do provide an opportunity to vote for the alternative option "DO-NOT @www.firejoegibbsnow.com", though it is abundantly clear what they wish would happen. As The Bog points out, I think they've gone a bit overboard:
That deranged person will sure feel silly when I send him a postcard from Glendale. Right? Hard-fought? All in this together? Right? In all seriousness, this team is perhaps one game behind where we thought they'd be at this point; we all figured they'd lose at GB, NE and Philly, which would have left them no better than 6-3 right now. Still, it would appear that maybe we are not, in fact, all in this together.
To that I'd add that characterizing a 5-4 season as "little more than" a 5-11 season is likely a stretch. Actually, it is 7 straight losses less of suck -- that's a substantial amount less of suck.

But what do I know? Time for reader(s) to decide, and the vote is going up as a new poll: Should the team fire Joe Gibbs? Full disclosure: I am voting no.

Poll

Fire Coach Gibbs?

This poll is closed

  • 25%
    Yes.
    (125 votes)
  • 52%
    No.
    (262 votes)
  • 7%
    I don't know.
    (39 votes)
  • 2%
    South Carolina is 6-5 right now, a game over .500.
    (11 votes)
  • 0%
    I'm just saying, you know, maybe we should give that guy a look?
    (2 votes)
  • 1%
    They did beat Kentucky, and Kentucky beat LSU, and LSU is pretty good, right?
    (8 votes)
  • 0%
    What? Guy can't get a 2nd chance in the NFL?
    (3 votes)
  • 0%
    They did go from 2-6 to 4-4 in the SEC in one year.
    (3 votes)
  • 8%
    Just sayin'
    (44 votes)
497 votes total Vote Now

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