Gilbride to test reputation against pass-happy Pats

PHOENIX -- For a long time the label followed him around like a bad reputation does a college coed.

Kevin Gilbride was that Run-and-Shoot coach. It was a wide-open offense that Gilbride helped spread in the NFL, one he ran as the Houston Oilers' offensive coordinator in the early 1990s when Warren Moon put up enormous passing numbers.

Gilbride has helped make Eli Manning and the Giants offense dangerous. (Getty Images)

It was an offense that may have been before its time, which led to as much scrutiny for the men that ran it as any other offense in league history. The premise was simple: Spread the field with four receivers and throw the football.

Can't work, they said. Won't work, they cried. And Gilbride, as the most successful coordinator of that offense, took a lot of the heat.

It hasn't stopped. Mention Gilbride's name to most NFL observers and two things come to mind: He's the guy Buddy Ryan punched and he's also the coordinator who likes to pass the ball too much.

Right or wrong, that's his reputation. Even as coordinator of the resurgent New York Giants offense as they get ready to play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII Sunday, Gilbride is still a bit haunted by the Run-and-Shoot offense.

"It's always been interesting, let's use that term, to see how people try and define what you're doing," Gilbride said. "I've always done what the head coach was doing. From Jerry Glanville to Jack Pardee to Tom Coughlin. Wherever I've been I've been part of good football teams. And we've had some success offensively.

"Those days in the Run-and-Shoot, I'm very proud off. We were very successful. We were one or two in the league every year and we went to the playoffs every year. We had some great players and it was a system that fit those players very well. I'm very proud of the things we did."

The irony of all that Run-and-Shoot scrutiny is that the Giants face a team in the Patriots this week that is essentially running that offense. The Patriots use a lot of four-receiver sets on early downs, a staple of the Run-and-Shoot.

The reality is that many teams employ the Run-and-Shoot principles now, which makes Gilbride happy.

"It's permeated the league, at least the approach and the formations," he said. "And nobody is more reflective of that than the team we're going to play. In that sense, you kind of smile, maybe that's been one of the contributions you made to the league."

Gilbride has worked wonders with the Giants offense this season. After a heap of criticism aimed at his quarterback, he helped Eli Manning become a mistake-free passer in three playoff games. Gilbride's play calling in the NFC Championship Game victory over Green Bay was spot on. With temperatures below zero, he didn't go into the game without thinking about the pass, as some might have expected. He threw to help set up the run.

Some things don't change.

Maybe that's why he hasn't had a sniff of a head coaching job since he was fired as coach of the San Diego Chargers in 2001. After two seasons with the Chargers, and a 6-16 record, he was fired and he hasn't been on the head coaching lists any of the years since then.

Has he been blackballed for some reason? Or has the past as a pass-first coach come back to haunt him? What are the reasons he's not getting in the mix anymore because he can definitely coach offense?

"I'll let you answer that one," Gilbride said. "I don't have the answer."

He has rubbed some people, including the media, the wrong way at times. He alienated the media in San Diego and the Pittsburgh press didn't take kindly to him when he was coordinator there after leaving the Chargers.

But there is no doubt he can call plays. The Giants are the fifth team he's been with as coordinator of the offense.

Giants coach Coughlin had Gilbride coordinate his offenses in 1995 and 1996. He hired him because he believed in his passing-game principles. And Gilbride delivered with outstanding play calling, especially in the 1996 run to the AFC Championship Game.

Then-Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell still insists it was the best play-calling he's experienced as an NFL quarterback.

"I never got a head job until I went to Jacksonville and ran an offense that wasn't a Run-and-Shoot offense, but employed 85-90-percent Run-and-Shoot principles," Gilbride said. "All of sudden, two years and I got the job in San Diego."

Gilbride also was coordinator in Buffalo for two seasons, helping Drew Bledsoe throw for 4,000 yards in 2002. The next year, Gilbride lost speedy receiver Peerless Price to free agency, and the offense, he said, wasn't the same.

He was replaced after the 2003 season and Coughlin hired him again when he took over the Giants. Gilbride was the quarterbacks coach, but with two games left last season Coughlin stripped John Hufnagel of the play-calling duties and gave them to Gilbride. This season, he took over as the coordinator.

The Giants finished the regular season 14th in scoring offense at 23.3 points per game. They were a better rushing team than passing team, which shows that Gilbride has evolved. But they did throw it more than they ran it, so maybe not that much.

"Coach Gilbride has done a great job this season," Manning said. "When things haven't gone well and we haven't gotten into a rhythm, he's done a good job calling plays to get me into a rhythm, getting a first down, getting things doing. He's done an excellent job getting a feel for the game and understands what we need to do to have success."

The pass will always be dear to Gilbride's heart. And you can bet he will have Manning throwing it a lot to keep up with the Patriots Sunday. Yes, the same Patriots who run a version of the Run-and-Shoot.

So is having that reputation really that bad anymore considering what the Patriots are doing? Maybe Gilbride shouldn't want to shed the label after all.

If his offense scores Sunday and the Giants win, it might not hold him back anymore.