Joe Barry Report Card

[Fear The Spear]

A great read from someone who watches Joe Barry up close.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-is-talent-or-coaching-slowing-the-defense/

Remember, Washington ranked among the worst in the league against the run with Knighton. They allowed 4.8 yards a carry last year, and are right around there (4.9) this season.

Hey, if bringing back Knighton lowers that Rushing YPC back down, 1/10 of a yard, I'll take it !
That very tenth of a yard could be the difference in the opponent getting a first down, or not getting a crucial first down !
or between getting a TD or not getting a TD !
Let's not forget the age-old saying, football is a game of inches !

 

[JohnssBass]

If it stops even one more 3rd & 11 I'm in...

 

[McD5]

Our O-line sucks!
Morgan Moses was a bust pick.
Cousins is an interception machine.
Trent Murphy sucks!
Gruden has NEVER had a good running game anywhere!
Matt Jones is a fumbler!

And after all of the spastic proclamations above were proven incorrect, now the new hot take is that Joe Barry sucks?

The accuracy of the hot takes has been hot garbage for the most part.

Maybe just relax and have some patience? It sure seems to have been the best strategy up until this point.

 

[Bulldog]

Haslett championed Brian Orakpo on a franchise deal.

Barry signed off on Reyes and Bruton coming over from the AFC West.

At the end of the day you need to properly evaluate talent.

Last week, Cooley gave Reyes and Bruton the lowest grades on the defense.

Reyes was cut this morning.

Only lasted 4 games and only started 1 after coming back from groin injury.

 

[Fear The Spear]

It's amazing how many times that fans are correct about players in evaluating sub-par talent, while it takes these well-paid, experienced, professional coaches/GM's much longer to realize those players don't have any business being on the team.
Tyler Polumbus, Chris Chester, Kendall Reyes, are just a few names that come to mind.
I guess the only argument is that there were no better options available.
But it's hard to believe that during such long spans of time, it wasn't possible to find someone better.

 

[Boone]

Well, to be fair, fans aren't super meticulous about stepping forward and recalling when they were wrong about players (or any other aspect of their team for that matter). The times we were emphatically correct - those seem to stick in our memory banks a lot more readily. So there's that.

The current regime is responsible for the years it's been here collectively, that's it. So far it's fair to say that they've built a capable offense and (perhaps) moved on from a bad move (Griffin) to find us a capable QB for the future. The other thing they've done is greatly improved the Special Teams units. I hear no acknowledgment or praise in this front, but across the board our place kicking, punting, return, and coverage units are vastly improved during the Gruden/McCloughan era. We have not done much on defense other than make an effort to rebuild the secondary. Losing Galette (who was expected to be a difference maker) two seasons in a row, and going WR in the first round this past draft were setbacks. If we can add talent on that side of the ball the next 2 seasons we could be a special team. Right now, it's a struggle.


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[Henry]

Gruden has NEVER had a good running game anywhere!

I'm fine giving Gruden the season to figure out the running game, but he certainly hasn't disproven this one yet.

 

[JohnssBass]

Barry may become a victim of Haslett fallout. I don't see Barry getting anywhere near as much rope as Haslett got all things considered, especially after Jay kept him around when 2013 made it clear he should be let go. And Jim had at least some success before getting to DC as a DC.

 

[Bulldog]

The Redskins don't have an NFL caliber defensive line and I don't care if we have Mike Zimmer in here as DC or Wade Phillips. That isn't going to change without an upgrade in personnel.

What a DC like Zimmer or Phillips MIGHT HAVE DONE is convince McCloughan and the front office to invest some resources in the defensive line in the offseason and lay off stacking more talent on an offense that already had play-makers on it.

I get that McCloughan didn't want to spend a first round pick on a defensive lineman who was strictly a run stuffer and didn't have the athleticism to show in the passing game in pressuring the qb.

BUT, at some point in the draft (Round 3?) or not trading the #4 pick, I think you then have to start looking for a defensive anchor for the interior of the line.

The team took Ioannidis in the 5th round but he was a college defensive end at 6'3 and 303.

No wonder why the team's attempt to move him inside to NT hasn't worked out that well.

He's not familiar with the position and he is undersized to play there.

We need a guy that is 6'3 and 325 plus inside with the experience coming in of being a DT.

These guys are out there. There is no reason we have to draft players and have to MOVE THEM to DT to try and develop some inside depth.

 

[Fear The Spear]

Barry may become a victim of Haslett fallout. I don't see Barry getting anywhere near as much rope as Haslett got all things considered, especially after Jay kept him around when 2013 made it clear he should be let go. And Jim had at least some success before getting to DC as a DC.

Don't Gruden and Barry have a history together, IIRC ?
I would think the old nepotism factor would give Barry some extra rope.

 

[Ax]

Well, gotta give Barry some credit. He makes due with the players he has. Multiple injuries last year, and, they're mounting this year.

Loser Gruden's offense, conversely, can't seem to operate if even one skill position starter goes down. Forgetaboutit if 2 go down. Loser needs everybody, plus some luck.

 

[Bulldog]

One thing I will say - when Lichtensteiger and Lauvao went down against the Giants and Long and Williams and then Kouandjio the next week were inserted in the interior our run game all of a sudden took off.

On Sunday against the Browns, Long and Kouandjio opened some pretty big holes for Matt Jones whose final numbers looked very respectable.

Sometimes teams don't want to change. They get used to playing guys at certain positions and its only when players go down that unproven guys get the chance to come in and show what they can do 'when the bullets are flying'.

As the club found out with Quinton Dunbar, he performs a lot better in the games then he does in the offseason practices.

 

[JohnssBass]

Don't Gruden and Barry have a history together, IIRC ?
I would think the old nepotism factor would give Barry some extra rope.

Quite possibly. I don't know that Jay's bosses in the Front Office are going to be so gracious and forgiving time wise considering how things went into a tailspin with Haslett. And Jay did keep Haslett around even after the wreck that was 2013 so again maybe the GM might look at some options other than Gruden's advice.

 

[servumtuum]

Don't Gruden and Barry have a history together, IIRC ?
I would think the old nepotism factor would give Barry some extra rope.

Joe Barry was Linebackers coach for Tampa Bay when Jay was serving as HC brother Jon's "offensive assistant".


Another interesting partnership relating to the convo is that Jay G. was OC for the UFL Florida Tuskers when Jim Haslett was the HC.


Networking works wonders-or so I remember hearing from job search consultants.

 

[Bulldog]

There's nepotism all over the NFL.

That's not a story that begins or ends in Washington.

Coaches like Shula and Shanahan feather the nest for their kids and they have a leg up in getting NFL jobs later on with other teams.

Kubiak got the Broncos job because he was one of Elway's best friends.

Now, he's also a good coach but he got the benefit of any doubt based on the personal relationship.

All that said, it's how the team performs with the coaches, assistants and front office people that are brought in.

I don't care if Bobby Beathard's son is brought in to be a front office executive as long as he can get the job done.

Here, Joe Barry was a curious choice for DC after his failure in Detroit. He seemed in the appropriate level job as a position coach in San Diego.

But Gruden wanted him.

OK, but to give Barry the benefit of the doubt you have to give him SOME talent to work with before calling for him to be fired.

Yes, the team improved in the secondary. We signed a pro bowl player in Josh Norman and drafted two players in Cravens and Fuller that may be future starters here.

But we are still woeful in the front seven.

Our inside linebackers are small by 3-4 standards. Compton while a 100% effort guy is only 235 and suffers against the run.

Kerrigan and Trent Murphy are much more effective players rushing from a line position with their hands in the dirt. They are not true outside rush linebackers as you see in traditional 3-4 alignments. Preston Smith is having somewhat of a sophomore slump so far and has made few plays that stand out.

On the line we don't have anyone to play inside. You knew we were going to be in trouble when Gruden indicated that it was OK because we were going to go with 33 year old backup Kedric Golston as our starting NT when running the 3-4 base defense.

That's really the answer of last resort.

Scot McCloughan needed to ensure that the final decision didn't have to come down to that.

We needed to make SOME investments in the line. Whether that was in the first round, in the middle rounds (3-4) or via free agency.

Selecting one defensive lineman who was a college defensive end in the 5th round and asking him to transition to the NFL as a NT in his rookie season wasn't nearly enough and that would have been the answer even if Ioannidis showed some promise at the position.

Instead he didn't make enough of a case to make the initial 53 man roster.

We were willing to expose him to waivers before bringing him back to the practice squad.

 

[Om]

Nepotism is as nepotism does.

Wes Phillips works here ...

 

[Fear The Spear]

Nepotism is as nepotism does.

Wes Phillips works here ...

What, are you tryin to re-fuel Goal's, Ax's and El's and everyone else's fire of "We shoulda, coulda hired Wade as DC !!!"

 

[Om]

Nah, not really. I was among those scratching my head when Wade left town unhired, and then again when the guy we did hire had such a uninspiring resume. But I made peace with it, figuring/hoping that given another chance he'd prove his mettle. And again, up through a week ago, I was still thinking he'd done well enough last year that maybe we were going to be okay. And maybe we still WILL be ... but it's getting increasingly hard to reconcile that thought with the dysfunction we've seen so far in 2016.

All that comment was meant to suggest is that I'm pretty sure if we had hired Wade, we wouldn't be discussing defensive coaching this week as possibly this year's teams fatal flaw.

 

[Ax]

What, are you tryin to re-fuel Goal's, Ax's and El's and everyone else's fire of "We shoulda, coulda hired Wade as DC !!!"

Got me in the wrong group brother. I would have been ok with Wade, but I don't recall ever being one who constantly frets over NOT signing him.

 

[Bulldog]

It seems obvious that one of the reasons Gruden didn't pick Wade Phillips is the generation gap.

Joe Barry and Gruden are about the same age and both have served on relatives' coaching staffs in their prior experience.

They have a lot in common.

Meanwhile, Phillips is old enough to be Gruden's father and has a high profile in the game.

And perhaps Gruden was a little bit put off by the resume and Wade's independence.