There was a somber tone in his voice as Don Shula called the roll:
"Walsh. Then Landry. Noll last year. And now Joe Gibbs. It saddens me. So many great coaches not in the game anymore. Losing the great ones really hurts, and Gibbs is in that class. You knew when you played his Washington teams that he was going to be tough to beat. You had to play mistake-free, because his teams weren't going to make any mistakes."Bill Parcells on the retirement of his longtime rival in the NFC East: "I can identify with what has happened to him. I know he's going through some tough times (physically). I viewed our games as the ultimate in competition. It was such a great rivalry, and it seemed as though every time we met, there was so much at stake. This guy is one of the best ever. His teams were always prepared. He paid attention to detail. We were very fortunate to do as well against him as we did."
Another rival, Buddy Ryan, who went head to head with Gibbs for years as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles: "When you coached against Joe, you knew you were facing a challenge. Washington had good coaching and good players, and he made it all work. They were ready. You knew when you were going up against him, you were going to see some new kind of package (of plays).
"Some of the games we had stick out in my mind. I remember winning a shootout in Washington where we were losing something like 33-6 at the half. The Washington fans were all over me near the sidelines telling me what a bum I was. Then we came back and beat them at the end of the game, and when Joe heard about what happened, he chewed out the Washington fans the next day.
"Another thing I remember is that first team he ever coached lost the first five games. He was 0-5, and yet he was leading the league in both offense and defense. Figure that one out. He will go down as one of the great ones. I enjoyed coaching against him."