The Forgotten Redskins Dynasty, Creation of Single-Back Offense
TAPE #001 FROM THE THE I-80 SPORTS BLOG ARCHIVE
Original interview recorded: February 2015
Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls with three different starting quarterbacks. His Washington teams reached four Super Bowls during his original 11-year run as head coach. He then went on to build one of NASCAR’s premier organizations.
Yet when the great NFL dynasties are discussed, Gibbs’ Washington teams have often occupied a strange place in football history.
Why?
That question became one of the defining moments of this recovered 2015 I-80 Sports Blog interview.
Paul Eide asked Gibbs directly why his Washington dynasty doesn’t receive the historical recognition afforded to teams like the Packers, 49ers, and Patriots.
Gibbs didn’t dodge the premise.
“Well, I’m glad that you mentioned that because I feel strongly about it.”
What followed was a remarkable conversation about Washington’s place in NFL history, winning with different quarterbacks and personnel, the development of the single-back offense, Kellen Winslow, trying to block Lawrence Taylor, and Gibbs’ philosophy about the people behind championship teams.
This is the original interview.
Listen to the Original Joe Gibbs Interview
Joe Gibbs Interview — February 2015
Runtime: 13:03
Interview subject: Joe Gibbs
Interviewer: Paul Eide
Recorded: February 2015
Archive designation: Tape #001
Collection: The Tape Room
Source: Original I-80 Sports Blog interview
Archival note: This recording has been preserved from the original I-80 Sports Blog media archive. The transcript has been lightly edited for readability, including punctuation and the removal of occasional verbal repetition. The substance and meaning of the conversation have been preserved.
What Joe Gibbs Discusses
During the interview, Gibbs discusses his careers in professional football and NASCAR, the similarities between building successful teams in both sports, and the people and relationships behind his success.
But the interview becomes particularly interesting when the conversation turns to football history.
Among the subjects discussed:
- Why Gibbs’ Washington teams are sometimes overlooked among the NFL’s great dynasties
- Four Super Bowl appearances during his original 11-year tenure
- Why more players from those teams belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Winning championships despite major personnel changes
- Three Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks
- The strike-shortened seasons and Washington’s legacy
- The origins and evolution of the single-back offense
- How Kellen Winslow helped inspire the formation
- Using the H-back to deal with Lawrence Taylor
- Gibbs’ philosophy on leadership, relationships, sacrifice, and winning
The Forgotten Washington Dynasty
PAUL EIDE:
Speaking about your coaching career, it just occurs to me that the Skins dynasty really doesn’t get the props that it really deserves.
Why do you think that is the case historically?
You hear about the Packers, we hear about the Patriots, and even the 49ers. What’s the scoop there, do you think?
JOE GIBBS:
Well, I’m glad that you mentioned that because I feel strongly about it.
And I think you’re right.
For our 11 years, for that period there, we went to four Super Bowls in 11 years. And we had great players.
I think that more of our players should be in the Hall of Fame. I think that era—you’re right. For some reason, that era kind of gets left out.
Obviously, the 49ers were in there, and the Giants, and there were some other real good teams.
But I feel just like you—you voiced the opinion, which I agree with.
PAUL EIDE:
The first one coming in the strike-shortened season, is it easy to dismiss for some reason?
JOE GIBBS:
Well, we had a strike-shortened season. We also had a regular season. We had everything in there.
And so I think to be able to overcome all that and the adversity and what it takes to be able to get to a Super Bowl—and to do it four times, four times—that says a lot about our ownership, our front office, and our players.
And so I agree with you, and I appreciate you bringing it up.
PAUL EIDE:
Well, one other thing—I’ve thought about this probably more than I should have—but it’s almost like you’re punished and the legacy’s punished because of your versatility.
You’ve got three different quarterbacks that you went to a Super Bowl with, three different running backs. But really, there’s a lot of personnel changes there.
I mean, as you would expect over an 11-year period.
Do you think the success you had with just so many different personnel changes has sort of been detrimental in hindsight, if that’s even a possibility?
JOE GIBBS:
Well, you bring up an interesting point.
I’ve never looked at it that way.
But I think we had a lot of those players that went through two, three, four Super Bowls.
And I think that for that period of time, we did have three different quarterbacks, but I think it says a lot about the surrounding players that we had with them—and those three guys.
People always say you won three Super Bowls with three quarterbacks.
What they leave out is three great quarterbacks.
You got Theismann, you got Doug, and you got Mark Rypien. I mean, those guys were special.
And so we had special players.
I appreciate you bringing it up this morning.
You make me feel good, okay?
Because I think we need more attention on what we were able to accomplish—that team—in that 11-year period.
PAUL EIDE:
It’s such a travesty to me.
And I’m not even a Skins fan. It’s just—I’m a history guy.
JOE GIBBS:
I appreciate that.
Believe me, you’ve shown that you’re very knowledgeable about the Redskins. I’ll say that.
How Joe Gibbs Developed the Single-Back Offense
The conversation then moved from Washington’s place in NFL history to something Gibbs helped change on the field: the development of the single-back offense and H-back.
PAUL EIDE:
One more thing about that.
Can you talk about the development of the single-back set? You’re credited, of course, with inventing that.
Can you talk about the first day you implemented that in practice? Did you say, “Hey, come on guys, check this out?”
How did that come to be?
JOE GIBBS:
Yeah, I think that’s real interesting.
You bring up a great point.
We were with the Chargers, and we drafted Kellen Winslow, great tight end.
And we found when we put him on the line of scrimmage, where you normally put a tight end, they can hammer him with two linebackers, and it made it hard for him to get off the line of scrimmage.
So we started thinking about it.
We said, “Hey, look, let’s take him off the line of scrimmage, okay, and let him move back and forth.”
And as a consequence, let’s take out a fullback. Let’s put one back there and let an H-back—let him play H-back—so we could actually have a tight end, get Kellen Winslow moving around, and there we actually wound up with a one-back set.
And that’s kind of how it all evolved.
It started with Kellen, and then when we came to the Redskins, we had a problem trying to block the outside linebacker from the Giants, if you remember that guy.
PAUL EIDE:
Oh, yeah, I think.
JOE GIBBS:
And so we said, “Hey, we can’t block him with a tackle. We can’t block him. What can we do?”
We said, “Let’s put a tight end in front of him.”
So again, our H-back served a real purpose.
If you go over and put an H-back in front of Lawrence Taylor, you make him at least now rush around that tight end, and we had a chance to at least now have a chance to block him.
And so there were different reasons to go to it, but basically it started with Kellen.
But then we kind of developed the one-back set, and it was very productive for us and allowed us to have a lot of formations, too.
So it kind of—it was an evolution.
But I can tell you’re a real football guy.
PAUL EIDE:
Oh, absolutely, sir.
Joe Gibbs on People, Teams, and Winning
For his final question, Eide turned the conversation away from schemes, championships, and football history and toward Gibbs himself.
PAUL EIDE:
Well, this is my final question. I know you’ve got a lot of interviews to do today and this morning. I really, really appreciate it.
The last question I had is just about you personally.
How much of your success has been attributed directly to your will?
And also, you’ve sort of increased your skill in life. Have you noticed that life sort of accommodates by demanding more of you?
JOE GIBBS:
I think for me it’s been all about teams.
It’s been about people.
I like people.
And it’s been able to recruit them, put them together in a group, and, like I said, ask them to sacrifice themselves and their individual goals for the goals of the team.
And so it’s been about people.
And so I look back in my life—it’s interesting you asked me that—and I think a lot about all the people and the relationships I’ve had.
And that, to me, is a real thrill to experience.
And most of it, when you’re in sports, a lot of it has to do with the tough times.
You go through tough times and losses, practices, all the hard work on the field, and that’s what kind of binds everybody together.
And then you’re hoping that you can kind of capture that feeling and wind up winning a Super Bowl.
And that’s hard to do.
Why This Tape Matters
Statistics tell us what Joe Gibbs accomplished.
This tape gives us something different.
It captures Gibbs discussing how he views the historical legacy of the Washington teams he coached—and agreeing with the premise that those teams have not always received the recognition they deserve.
When Eide suggests that Washington’s versatility may have paradoxically worked against its historical legacy, Gibbs pauses on the idea:
“Well, you bring up an interesting point. I’ve never looked at it that way.”
That’s the kind of moment an old interview can preserve that a retrospective article cannot recreate.
Gibbs then makes his own case for those teams: four Super Bowl appearances in 11 years, great players, multiple quarterbacks, personnel changes, adversity, and an era that he believes “kind of gets left out.”
His response eventually becomes personal:
“I appreciate you bringing it up this morning. You make me feel good, okay? Because I think we need more attention on what we were able to accomplish, that team, in that 11-year period.”
The conversation also provides Gibbs’ own account of the evolution of the single-back set—from finding ways to free Kellen Winslow from linebackers with the San Diego Chargers to using an H-back in Washington as part of the answer to an entirely different problem:
Lawrence Taylor.
And beneath both stories is the philosophy Gibbs returns to at the end of the interview.
“It’s been all about teams. It’s been about people.”
That’s why this recording belongs in The Tape Room.
Key Moments
06:09 — Why is Washington’s dynasty overlooked?
Paul Eide asks Gibbs why his Washington teams don’t receive the same historical recognition as other NFL dynasties.
06:25 — “I’m glad that you mentioned that.”
Gibbs says he feels strongly about the subject and agrees that the era is often left out of the conversation.
07:00 — Did the strike-shortened season hurt the legacy?
Eide asks whether the unusual circumstances surrounding Washington’s first championship made it easier to dismiss historically.
07:33 — Did versatility actually hurt Washington’s legacy?
Eide proposes that winning with different quarterbacks, running backs, and changing personnel may have made the dynasty harder to define.
07:59 — “I’ve never looked at it that way.”
Gibbs considers the premise and discusses the great players surrounding his three Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks.
08:39 — “You make me feel good.”
Gibbs says he appreciates the subject being raised and believes those Washington teams deserve more attention.
09:00 — Gibbs praises Paul’s knowledge of Redskins’ football
“Believe me, you’ve shown that you’re very knowledgeable about the Redskins.”
09:21 — The birth of the single-back set
Gibbs explains how Kellen Winslow and the Chargers helped inspire the formation.
10:04 — Solving the Lawrence Taylor problem
Gibbs describes how the H-back became useful in Washington when trying to account for the Giants’ dominant outside linebacker.
10:54 — “You’re a real football guy.”
After discussing the evolution of the offense, Gibbs offers his assessment of his interviewer.
11:20 — “It’s been all about teams.”
Gibbs closes by reflecting on people, relationships, sacrifice, adversity, and what binds championship teams together.
Artifact Record
Archive Number: TR-001
Artifact: Original interview audio
Interview Subject: Joe Gibbs
Interviewer: Paul Eide
Recorded For: I-80 Sports Blog
Recorded: February 2015
Duration: 13:03
Original Filename: Joe Gibbs Interview.mp3
Recommended Archival Filename: 2015-02-17-joe-gibbs-interview-i80-sports-blog.mp3
Audio Format: MP3
Channels: Stereo
Sample Rate: 48 kHz
Embedded Creation Date: February 17, 2015
Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014
Original Source Referenced in Metadata: PIX_001_032.mov
Original Premiere Project Referenced in Metadata: MMS_CrispySMT_Gibbs_2015.prproj
Collection: The Tape Room
Provenance: Original interview conducted by Paul Eide for the I-80 Sports Blog
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