Redskins Great - Joe Jacoby

Washington Redskins:

Redskins Great - Joe Jacoby

by Robert Janis - Capital News Services

12/15/05

He was one of the main reasons the Washington Redskins played in four Super Bowls and won three of them. He was one of only a few players who made the counter trey the bread and butter play for the Redskins. And he almost played for the Seattle Seahawks.

Of course, I am referring to number 66 Joe Jacoby, offensive tackle for the Washington Redskins from 1981 through 1993.

Born on July 6, 1959 and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Jacoby was one of four children (three boys and a girl). His dad made washing machines and dryers and his mom worked in a department store.

Jacoby got involved in organized sports when he was in seventh or eighth grade, he said. He started in youth leagues. Then when he attended Western High School in Louisville, he played football and basketball. He played offensive line for most of his four years at Western High School and played defensive line his sophomore year. He was good enough to be selected All-State in football and All-County in football and basketball.

Although he was recruited by many schools including Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Western Kentucky for football and some Division II schools for basketball, Jacoby took the scholarship offer from the University of Louisville because it was close to home.

“University of Louisville was competitive at the time,” said Jacoby. “We played in the Independence Bowl my freshman year. But we would only attract about 12,000 to 18,000 spectators to see our games.”

He was a team captain at Louisville his senior year.

Jacoby signed with the Redskins as a free agent after the 1981 draft. “At the time, the NFL draft had 12 rounds and was a two day affair,” said Jacoby.
“On the second day I started getting phone calls from teams who wanted me to sign with them as a free agent after the draft.” He received phone calls from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Redskins. The day after the draft a scout with the Seattle Seahawks showed up at his home with a contract. Jacoby talked to the man but didn’t sign. He wanted to visit Washington and talk to the Redskins before he made any decision. “The Redskins showed an interest in me from January to the draft. They kept in contact. No other team kept in contact with me for so long. I wanted to be where I was wanted,” said Jacoby. He remembers that the scout from the Seahawks actually drove him to the airport to make the trip to Washington.

The day after arriving in D.C. Jacoby met with Joe Gibbs and the coaching staff. “I had a 20 minute or so talk with Coach Gibbs. We discussed my opportunities of making the team as a defensive lineman. For some reason Gibbs thought I played defense. I didn’t correct him. I left the meeting and signed the contract,” said Jacoby.

Jacoby believes that he was signed by the Redskins because he was on film and Bugel had a chance to see him play. “The University of Pittsburgh had a great offensive line that included Mark May and Russ Grimm. So the Redskins scouts filmed a game. That game happened to be Pittsburgh against Louisville. So when Bugel was evaluating Mark May and Russ Grimm he was also watching me,” said Jacoby.

There was a mini-camp almost immediately after the draft. Draftees, free agents, and veterans participated in the workouts. “At mini-camp there was not too many opportunities to show what I could do,” said Jacoby. “The Redskins had drafted Russ Grimm and Mark May and had Jeff Bostic. So there really wasn’t a chance for me to show what I could do until training camp.”

He almost didn’t make it to training camp. As it turned out, Joe Bugel, the offensive line coach, was given authority to sign 18 offensive lineman. Jacoby was the nineteenth. There was some talk that he would be cut. But he hung around until training camp.

When training camp opened Mark May, the Skins first round pick, was holding out. So Jacoby finally got a chance to show what he could do. “I guess I impressed the coaches enough,” he quipped.

Jacoby pointed out that Bugel emphasized technique. “He worked with groups in tandem or pairs. He worked with what you had,” he said. During the process Bugel refined Jacoby’s technique.

Of course, Joe Jacoby was a Hog. “Bugel wanted to create something because we were such a young group of linemen. There was me, May, Bostic, and Grimm and we were all in our first or second year. The Hogs came about to build unity and camaraderie. We had T-shirts we had to wear one day a week or we would be fined. The money was used later for a party for the offensive line.”

He said that the key to their success was the camaraderie. “Grimm was my roommate for 11 years. We were all about the same age and we hung around each other. We went out to bars, grew up with each other, went to each other’s weddings.”

Everything started to come on Jacoby’s second year with the team. “It was a tough year. There was the strike but the players were able to bond well together.” It was that year that the Redskins made the Super Bowl and defeated the Miami Dolphins in Pasadena, California.

Now recognized as one of the best offensive tackles to play the game, Jacoby was an instrumental part of the Redskins bread and butter play. The Green Bay Packers had the Packer sweep. The Washington Redskins had the counter trey.
And it was Jacoby and Russ Grimm that made the play work. The running back would take a step toward the left, then take the hand off and run right. Jacoby and Grimm would pull in the direction of the runner, right, while the rest of the line would go in the direction of the fake -- left. “Grimm and I pull around and Russ kicks out the outside linebacker and I run up into the hole and pick up the inside linebacker or safety. The first time we ran it I ran around and there was no body to block. Riggins ran up into the hole and the linebackers were gone. They were totally fooled by the play,” said Jacoby. He noted that the play kept evolving. “The teams learned that the backside end could crash down on the play. So the play evolved to include the H-Back going into motion and taking out the back side end and the center would take out the nose tackle.”
Jacoby remembered that the play was introduced into the Redskins play book in his third or fourth year with the team. He noted that it was picked up from the University of Arkansas. “The coaches were looking at film scouting players with the University of Arkansas and saw the play,” said Jacoby. He pointed out that several teams in the NFL now use the play and the Redskins under Gibbs has gone back to it. “The play the way the Redskins do it now is somewhat revised,” said Jacoby. “Now the H-back fills in for the back side tackle and the tackle doesn’t pull.” Jacoby believes that John Riggins ran the play better than Clinton Portis does now. “John had the speed of the offensive linemen. So we meshed well. Portis is a little quicker and gets to the hole quicker,” he said.

Jacoby played in all four Super Bowls for the Redskins. But, he said, the first one was special. “My mom died my rookie year during training camp. I missed a week to 10 days to attend the funeral. That first Super Bowl in Pasadena was played on my mom’s birthday. It was special and emotional,” said Jacoby.

He was simply amazed with the 35 point second quarter the Redskins had in the Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos. “In 20 some years as a high school, college, and pro football player I had never seen anything like that offensive output,” he said. “In one quarter we had 18 plays, five touchdowns and a total of almost 350 yards in offense. The team couldn’t believe it was happening.
It was fun and we were enjoying ourselves. And we all said, “just keep it going.’ We knew how explosive the Broncos were. The last time we played them we lost. This was our time to make redemption.”

Jacoby also has fond memories of the season that led to the Redskins last Super Bowl appearance in 1991. The Redskins started the season 11-0. Everyone was talking about an undefeated season. “We all thought that we allowed things to slip away after the 1990 season,” said Jacoby. “So we were determined and focused in ‘91. Coach Gibbs didn’t have to remind us on anything. The players took it upon themselves. The night before a game we had meetings after Gibbs talked to us for 15 or 20 minutes and the guys talked about what it meant to them. We aired it all out and let our feelings be known. Once we got to 11-0 we had to finish the job and we were very focused. The pressure to win came from within each one of us.”

Jacoby noted that the offensive line was close to breaking the record for the least sacks in a season. “We took pride making sure that Mark Rypien stayed clean,” he said. The result was a convincing victory in the Super Bowl over the Buffalo Bills.

The Redskins made the playoffs again the following year but lost to the San Francisco 49ers.

The following year, 1993, Gibbs retired and Richie Pettibon, the team’s defensive coordinator, became head coach. “We all got old quick. There were injuries on both sides of the ball. We weren’t sharp and things snowballed. I hurt my back and had to leave early and then retired after the season.”

Pettibon was head coach for only one season. Jacoby believes that he should have been given more time to prove himself.

After retirement Jacoby took full control of his Chrysler-Jeep dealership in Warrenton, Virginia. He started the business while he was still playing in 1993. He still runs the dealership and he does a post game and Monday Morning Quarterback show on the Redskins for radio station WTEM. He is married and has two teenage daughters.

He coached football for one year at Liberty High School in Warrenton, Virginia. The school had opened only three or four years before. “We played 500 ball,” said Jacoby. But he dropped out of coaching because he was involved in so many other things. “My girls are into swimming and I take them to practice as early as 4 in the morning. Then I have the dealership. Coaching too became too much,” he said.

Commenting on the Redskins current season (I interviewed him in November when the Skins were 5-6), Jacoby remembered that the Redskins started the ‘89 season 5-6. “We won the last five games and ended up 10-6 but we didn’t make the playoffs.” The Giants won the NFC east with a 11-5 record and the Los Angeles Rams was the wild card with an 11-5 record. That season there was only one wild card team to make the playoffs and there were three divisions, noted Jacoby.

During his 13 year career with the Redskins Joe Jacoby played in four Pro Bowls and has been named as one of the 70 Greatest Redskins. He has been and continues to be considered for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Jacoby feels very fortunate to have been able to play pro football for 13 seasons and to appear in four Super Bowls. “And we could have had more,” he concluded.

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