If that's on the level, ya lost me there brother. Did you feel we failed in 1991?
Teams have bad games.
Yes, it's on the level and here is how it works. We play Dallas twice every year. Every single season. We know those games are coming. No one knows before the season starts who will be playing in the Super Bowl. It comes later, after regular season business has been taken care of. Ergo, regular season more important.
Don't get me wrong, I love Super Bowls and I love winning Championships. You bring up 91. Loved it but not as much as 83 and do you know why? We demolished the Cowboys on the way to the one in 83. I'm a simple man, Om. Beat Dallas. Yes, teams have bad games but have bad games against other teams, outside the division. And when Dallas is bad, don't just beat them...I want to see them crushed, to see them driven before us, and to hear the lamentation of their women! (too much? over the top?)
Guess it goes to what I said in another thread earlier ... the notion that Robert's failure was Gruden's fault and not his own. I know a lot of people still feel that way, and that's fine since it's all just opinion at this point for us fans. I just never did buy into it personally. I was surprised at Jay calling Robert out after that one game like he did, but even then I remember thinking (and writing I believe) that given what we'd seen and heard leading up to that from Robert, part of me kinda felt it was understandable in a 'tough love' kinda way.
All that's old news, though, so I really don't want to rehash it yet again. For one thing, it IS old news and will likely never be fully resolved among fans. Mostly, though, because of what we seem to be watching happen over the past few weeks---a team, warts and injuries and all, apparently finding itself and going through the metamorphosis we've all been suffering waiting for for so long. To still see Gruden in the context of what happened last year (or in one game out of 14 so far this year) just doesn't seem right to me. Could it all still collapse? Sure. But that's not the way the evidence is trending.
Please don't misunderstand. I do not lay the blame for where Robert is all on Jay. Not in the least. Part of it goes to Mike Shanahan. I absolutely believe, beyond all doubt, that without blowing out his knee in the Seattle playoff game he would be a different guy today and I totally blame the fact that he was still in there on Mike. I also blame part of his tough time adjusting to the pro game on Mike/Kyle. They took the easy path with him as a rookie. It produced a spectacular season, one likely never to be duplicated in NFL history (what rookie QB throw will ever only throw 5 INTs again?), and if Robert had not gotten hurt against the Ravens it might have produced a Super Bowl. But they did nothing to help the lad along as a pro player.
The next season he was a head case after the knee. Again I blame the organization. Everyone let him back to early. Coach, trainers and doctors all failed him again. And because he spent the whole of the off season working on his knee, not his game, he was woefully unprepared to be an NFL pocket QB. Again, on the coaches. There needed to be some give and take there but for whatever reason Iron Mike Shanahan, the scourge of Haynesworth, had become Neville Chamberlain, the appeaser of RG3.
Then comes Jay. First time HC, totally new system, no QB coach, and calling his own plays. All after 2 years of the Shanahans spoiling the lad rotten. What he likely needed from Jay was tough love from Day 1 and a coach humble enough to admit he couldn't do everything himself. Robert got neither.
Could Robert have made some changes? Yes. Should he have made some changes? Oh yes. I don't believe the kid walks on water and does no wrong but the tape from '12 doesn't lie either. A coach that can fit their system to his physical gifts can get magical things and from where I sit it looks like Jay was more interested in making Robert fit the system then in making the system fit Robert. Call Mike and Kyle what you like...they adapted to the talent they had at QB. Jay did not.
In the end, there is enough blame to go around. The Shanahans, Dan Snyder, Robert himself and Jay all shoulder some. No question. But like Goal, I rather subscribe to the theory that all things come down from the top and when it comes to on field performance the top is the Head Coach. Hence, Jay shoulders more of the blame for the last two years in my view. Yes, the team is turning around now or at least appears to be (I'd really like to see it beat a team with even a .500 record before jumping on that bandwagon though). Yes, Cousins is looking more and more like an NFL QB by the day. Yes, we are leading the division. And yes, all that is happening under Jay. He gets credit for it. No question.
My only point is that in my world things are cumulative. I reject the complete "what have you done for me lately" attitude that is so prevalent in modern times in favor of an overall view that takes into account a complete track record. Robert is a huge failure on Jay's track record and one that leaves him less rope than he might otherwise have had. At least for a while.
Postscript - none of this is done to rekindle the discussion about Griff or to take away from what Kirk has achieved. The discussion is useless and likely totally over unless the team moves to keep Griff for some reason and Kirk is doing what he is doing independent of the Griff situation. This is just a response to the major here who seem befuddled by how I see things. I do not expect to change anyone's mind.
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