Bram Weinstein grew up in the DMV and was a huge fan of the Washington Redskins.
Weinstein told Ampire Media’s John Keim this week that as a kid he always went to games at RFK Stadium, home of the Redskins, and that the Redskins were among the top three or four teams in the NFL for many seasons.
Joe Gibbs coached Washington from the 1981 to 1992 seasons, leading the team to five NFC title games, four Super Bowls, and three Super Bowl championships.
When Gibbs returned to the Redskins as coach for the 2004 season, Weinstein was there, now an adult, a graduate of American University and a reporter doing his job covering the Redskins.
Weinstein found Gibbs to be “a really nice person who was very generous with his time, except on Fridays when he turned into ‘Friday Joe.’ He put on his poker face.”
“He was extremely generous with his time Monday through Thursday, and then Friday came. It was like a light bulb went off in his head. It was like he was ready to get in the ring. He got really small and he didn’t have time for you anymore. He was just ready to go, and you could see his competitive spirit.”
Weinstein also notes that Gibbs was very good at getting to know people in the media and giving them time to do their work. However, when it came to putting in the effort and just working, he said, Gibbs took it as seriously as anyone I’ve ever seen. You could see the competitive fire literally coming out of him.”
During Gibbs’ second term, Weinstein says, “you could see why it burned him out the first time. It meant so much to him; his emotions were so high that the results were consuming him.”
In fact, the Redskins won over 600 of their games in nine of his twelve seasons during his tenure at 1.0. In those twelve seasons, there was only one losing season, the 1988 season, when they went 7-9.
“That’s how he was, and that’s probably why he was so successful. He knew how to deal with personalities, how to delegate authority, how to motivate. When Sunday came, he was deadly serious.”
“I think that’s why those guys played for him the two times they played for him.”
