Cowboys at Redskins - Team talking points
Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins – Fedex Field - Sunday, 18 December, 1615 EST on FOX/ 2115 GMT on Sky Sports Xtra
If you missed the last 20 years, you would still recognise a meeting between coaches Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs this late in the season as a key NFC East battle, but last season saw the first time the two men had come face-to-face on a football field since Parcells resigned as Giants boss because of ill health in 1990.
The Cowboys of 2005 bear a striking resemblance to the Giants side that won two Super Bowls under Parcells' stewardship. They have a ball control offense, looking to run first and chew time off the clock with a veteran quarterback in Drew Bledsoe whose accuracy is highly valued as it reinforces his coach's mistake-free mantra. The defense was overhauled by Parcells over the summer, with big, fast youngsters to see them rank eighth in the league in yards allowed.
Twelve years after he retired, and eight years after he was voted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame, Gibbs was coaxed to hand over the reigns of his Nascar stock car racing team to his son and head back to the NFL. Head coaxer was owner Daniel Snyder, appointing his fourth coach since since buying the team for $750 million (£428m) in 1999. Snyder has pumped massive amounts of money into the franchise without any return on the field of play. In his first spell at the helm, Gibbs won 140 of 205 games, including three Super Bowls from four appearances but the NFL has changed since then, with free player movement and the salary cap affecting Gibbs' ability to stockpile talent as he once did. He inherited an outstanding defense, which has performed this year despite being ravaged by injury, but the offense is still a patchwork, not helped by Snyder's tendency to meddle and bring in headline-grabbing talent. Quarterback Mark Brunell is a Gibbs acquisition, at 35 a short-term solution who has performed solidly but unspectacularly. Running back Clinton Portis is not a bruiser in the traditional Gibbs mould but is one of 11 rushers in the league this year to have gained more than 1,000 yards on the ground and is carrying the side.
Hats and caps for all of your favourite teams
NFLBriefing.com
If you missed the last 20 years, you would still recognise a meeting between coaches Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs this late in the season as a key NFC East battle, but last season saw the first time the two men had come face-to-face on a football field since Parcells resigned as Giants boss because of ill health in 1990.
The Cowboys of 2005 bear a striking resemblance to the Giants side that won two Super Bowls under Parcells' stewardship. They have a ball control offense, looking to run first and chew time off the clock with a veteran quarterback in Drew Bledsoe whose accuracy is highly valued as it reinforces his coach's mistake-free mantra. The defense was overhauled by Parcells over the summer, with big, fast youngsters to see them rank eighth in the league in yards allowed.
Twelve years after he retired, and eight years after he was voted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame, Gibbs was coaxed to hand over the reigns of his Nascar stock car racing team to his son and head back to the NFL. Head coaxer was owner Daniel Snyder, appointing his fourth coach since since buying the team for $750 million (£428m) in 1999. Snyder has pumped massive amounts of money into the franchise without any return on the field of play. In his first spell at the helm, Gibbs won 140 of 205 games, including three Super Bowls from four appearances but the NFL has changed since then, with free player movement and the salary cap affecting Gibbs' ability to stockpile talent as he once did. He inherited an outstanding defense, which has performed this year despite being ravaged by injury, but the offense is still a patchwork, not helped by Snyder's tendency to meddle and bring in headline-grabbing talent. Quarterback Mark Brunell is a Gibbs acquisition, at 35 a short-term solution who has performed solidly but unspectacularly. Running back Clinton Portis is not a bruiser in the traditional Gibbs mould but is one of 11 rushers in the league this year to have gained more than 1,000 yards on the ground and is carrying the side.
Hats and caps for all of your favourite teams
NFLBriefing.com
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