The godfather of wide zone football answers his cell phone and greets a stranger on the other end in a perfectly courteous southern accent.
“I don’t know how much football you know, but I’ll assume you’re a good fan and you realize just basic premises,” he says, before launching right into an abridged version of a clinic that has been sought out by some of the most important names in the sport, from Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators to Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints.
It won’t take long for Alex Gibbs, now 78 years old, to explain how we got to this moment in the 2019 NFL season where the most dangerous non-quarterback remaining in the playoffs is a 6’ 3”, 240 pound running back who, despite reaching nearly 22 miles per hour at full sprint (at one point the fastest ball carrier in the NFL this season), has the slow motion gait of a hobby jogger at your local public track and the body of a defensive end.