Um, Excuse Me, Joe... Could We Get That Trophy Back?

In 2003, Bill Parcells came out of retirement to coach the Cowboys. Many sportswriters and prognosticators immediately crowned him coach of the year and predicted Super Bowls galore for Dallas. Bill got them to the playoffs, but the Cowboys fell flat. And this year was not a good one for Bill.

This year it was the Washington Redskins that lured a retired superstar coach back to the locker room. Joe Gibbs took over and everyone began stumbling all over themselves to give him the Lombardi Trophy. Turns out it is not his after all.

Gibbs is a great coach and I think the Redskins will be a force next year in the NFC. If you saw his team against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday you got a glimpse of what the Redskins will be like next year. They dominated the Vikings with a punishing running game and used an aggressive, blitzing defense to shut down Culpepper and Co. It was vintage Gibbs. I was screaming at the televised Mike Tice to stack the line with 8 defenders, but that might not have worked, either. "Do you hear that, Mr Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability."

We must also remember that the Vikings' defense couldn't stop Cub Scout Troop B from marching 10 yards down a narrow trail. But Gibbs made his point. Expect more of the same next year.

All of the experts were a year or two early with their Super Bowl predictions for the Cowboys and Redskins, but expect the Redskins and Cowboys to be much improved in 2005. The Eagles won't be wrapping up the division in Week 13 next season!