While his Washington Redskins beat the Denver Broncos 20-17 on a last-second 39-yard field goal by Ola Kimrin on Monday night in the Hall of Fame Game, the Hall of Fame coach saw enough mistakes to fill an entire preseason. And then some.
Still, the Redskins marched efficiently to the winning kick behind third-string quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, offsetting a long night of general inefficiency.
The worst news for the Redskins was right tackle Jon Jansen ruptured his left Achilles' tendon in the first quarter and likely will miss the season.
"We might have lost one of our best players," Gibbs said.
"It looks like it's bad."
The Broncos struggled even more than the Redskins for most of the game, although that franchise's only Hall of Famer, John Elway, certainly couldn't complain. His weekend was made on Sunday, when he was inducted into the Hall along with Barry Sanders, Carl Eller and Bob Brown.
Fourth-string quarterback Mike Quinn led Denver's 13-play, 58-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass to Jeb Putzier and drew the Broncos to 17-15. Quinn hit Charlie Adams for the two-point conversion to tie it.
Back came Washington, with a 35-yard pass from Hasselbeck to Darnerien McCants sparking the winning march. Backup kicker Kimrin didn't flinch on his attempt, and Gibbs was a winner again.
"It was big for us," Gibbs said. "Denver has a veteran group and we were just trying to come back."
Many Broncos fans who filled Fawcett Stadium for the ceremony Sunday were back in their No.7 jerseys and they saluted their hero with cheers when he was introduced. But there were no Hall of Fame performances on the field, only the usual collection of errors for an opening preseason game.
Safety Sean Taylor, Washington's first-round selection (fifth overall), had a strong debut, though. He picked off fellow rookie Matt Mauck twice, scoring from the 3 on the second interception.
In all, there were 22 penalties for 189 yards. Dozens of other infractions either were declined or offset each other.
