Quote:
Originally Posted by Beemnseven
Nope. They got old. Simple as that. Art Monk lost a step, Ryp wasn't on the same page with Sanders and Clark, while guys like Bostic, Jacoby, and Grimm had been there for 12+ years. That led to a stall in the running game when Byner stuggled to get past the 1000 yard mark for the season. The D was a little bit better, and really they guided the team to the playoffs that year.
But by 1993 the team had completely run out of gas. The window can close fast. Any player will tell you that. I've posted this before, but on a Redskins post game show last season Charles Mann was co-hosting. The subject came up as to how fast guys can go from being serviceable to old. When Mann signed with the 49ers, he said that he got old almost as quick as the flight from D.C. to San Fran.
I believe the same thing happened to the front four from '05 to '06. That's what scares me for this season.
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You hit that one right on the money. But I'll tell you something. That was one of Gibbs/Pettibone's best coaching performacnes. The 92 team was not very good. I remember we didn't even score a TD for several games in a row that year. Rypien was just terrible and Gibbs refused to bench him. I went to the last game of the season that year against Oak. I watched 87 year old Vince Evans look like Dan Marino that day. And Rypien was just terrible and we lost and everyone thought the season was over. Then somebody beat somebody, we got in and beat Minn. on the road. And very easily could have won the next week in SF when the field was all messed up. The WR's dropped passes, Rypien missed guys, B.Mitch fumbled in a critical situation and we lost.
I think Gibbs saw the writing on the wall and that was part of the reason he left. He saw the team was old and needed to be completly rebuilt.