Joe Gibbs
As the NFL announces that the 2014 Super Bowl will be played in the new Meadowlands stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, there are people chiming in on whether or not holding a Super Bowl in a cold-weather city is a good thing or a bad thing.
Joe Gibbs is one of those people. The former Washington Redskins head coach has coached long enough that his teams have probably played in every type of weather imaginable. He had a sad story to tell about playing a big game up in the Big Apple and doesn’t seem to want a repeat for the “big game”.
It was January 11, 1987 and the Redskins were playing the Giants for the NFC championship in the Meadowlands. Gibbs had 4 words to describe the game during an interview on SIRIUS XM’s Mad Dog Radio.
“It was a nightmare.”
The Skins lost to the Giants 17 – 0 and, according to Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, that game marked the first time in the hall of fame coach’s era that Washington had been shut out.
Reporters covering the game reported the wind speed anywhere from 23 mph to 30 mph, and quoted the Redskins’ center at the time,Jeff Bostic, saying it hit 40 mph.
Gibbs said later that “the coin flip”, which the Skins lost, “was possibly the biggest play of the game.”
Gibbs remembers that game played in terrible weather and, according to a USAToday report of his radio interview, he feels that good weather for the Super Bowl would be a good thing.
“I think what we’ve got to pray for is for the Super Bowl day, the day of the game, you gotta have decent weather. You can have some nightmare situations in New York, that far north, particularly that time of the year.
I think as far as the fans going, as far as the teams practicing, everything up there will be great. It is New York. Everybody loves being in New York. I think what we’ve got to pray for is the day of the game that you don’t have a nightmare scenario, which you can get in New York.”
The wind seemed to be the biggest problem during that NFC Championship game. Now, when that is that case, teams that have a good running scheme would have some hope for a decent game when checking out a weather report forecasting high winds. According to ProFootballTalk.com, on that championship game day, Gibbs’ team struggled in the kicking game and averaged 3.0 yards a pass. In high winds, a run game is a must.
Gibbs seems worried that the weather won’t be cooperative at the Meadowlands in February, when the Super Bowl is played.
“And it is going to be a tough, tough situation if something like [the 1987 NFC East championship game] comes up in New York.”
“The teams that go to the Super Bowl that year better make sure they can run it because they’re going to have to,” Gibbs said.