For years, when things were going bad at the end of another lost Washington season, former owner Dan Snyder would bring legendary coach Joe Gibbs to town for a game. Whether it was Snyder’s attempt at trying to earn some goodwill amongst Washington’s fan base or simply the timing being right for Gibbs, the Hall of Fame coach’s return to watch his former team never felt like a big deal.
Everything changed under the new owner, Josh Harris. When Harris purchased the team, we learned that Gibbs and Harris had communicated and developed a strong friendship before Harris purchased the Commanders. Harris and one of his minority partners, David Blitzer, invested in Gibbs’ NASCAR team.
Since the purchase, we’ve seen Gibbs back. He was in town for training camp with Darrell Green last summer and attended games when he had time. On Saturday, there was no way Gibbs was missing the franchise’s most significant game in 33 years.
Gibbs was in Detroit on Saturday to see his Commanders upset the Detroit Lions, 45-31, in the NFC divisional round and head to the NFC championship game for the first time since 1991. Interestingly enough, Gibbs’ Redskins defeated the Lions 41-10 in the NFC championship game that season.
Washington improved to 4-0 all-time against the Lions in the playoffs, and Gibbs was present for three of those meetings.
After the game, the media caught up with Gibbs, who was understandably happy.
“So proud of everybody,” Gibbs said, courtesy of Mitchell Tischler of Monumental Sports. “For everybody to put this together, this team, in really a year, and so it’s phenomenal. It’s great. To get a win like that on the road, really hard, gives you great confidence…fantastic for everybody.”
So, what was it like watching sensational rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels?
“I think he’s an awful good quarterback, I’ll put it that way,” Gibbs said with a huge smile.
Joe Gibbs on Commanders win and Jayden Daniels! Holy Potatoes! pic.twitter.com/2kwI6DuZFw
— Mitchell Tischler (@Mitch_Tischler) January 19, 2025
Yes, Coach Gibbs, Daniels is an “awful good quarterback.”
It was great to see Gibbs in the building to witness the franchise’s biggest win since its last Super Bowl run.