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Skins Quotes Post-Game vs. Steelers 2016: Jay Gruden

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REDSKINS HEAD COACH JAY GRUDEN

On injuries:
"Nothing much. Just really a couple bumps and bruises.”

On the game:
“Thank you, fans, for coming out. We let them down in a big way. I want to congratulate Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers. They did a heck of a job.”

On how to become as consistent as the Steelers:
“We’ll find out. You know, that’s the thing. The Steelers have been consistently good for a long time and that’s what we’re trying to do and we thought we were ready to compete. We competed there for a while and then didn’t make some plays and they made the plays. Great situational work in there, third downs, they converted fourth downs. We didn’t convert and we weren’t very good on third downs. The money downs is a big difference in the game, but overall they just out-coached us and out-played us.”

On if CB Josh Norman should have covered Steelers WR Antonio Brown late in the game:
“I think [Bashaud] Breeland has done such a good job in training camp and Breeland is one of our corners. He’s a good corner and he got beat by a great player today and some great passes that I don’t know what corner can defend. I’m not going to lose faith in Breeland, but there could be merit to that later on down the road. I love our two corners, I like all four of our corners, and they just made some great throws and great catches.”

On Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger:
“Every time I see him he plays like that. He is a great quarterback and loves the show. The… huddle they have going and he’s able to get in the right play. Coach [Todd] Haley did a great job of dissecting our defense and then getting good nickel runs in there against our defense, and then getting some good play actions and some good shot plays. They had a great combination of things working today and they converted, like I said, on some big third down plays and fourth down plays.”

On if QB Kirk Cousins should have played more in preseason:
“I don’t think so. Whether you get a little bit of time against the Buffalo Bills and the first preseason game isn’t going to really carry over to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night, you know? It’s a totally different defense. There could be some merit to that and we’ll look into doing that next year, but we had some plays out there to be had and we just failed to make them. Hats off to Pittsburgh, they made them.”

On getting the running game going:
“Yeah, I think you’re right. I think that’s the one thing we [have] got to really look at. We’ve got to get our running game going to take some pressure off the quarterback. You know, we get a little bit too giddy sometimes with the weapons that we have. You know, you look at Jordan Reed, and Pierre [Garçon] and DeSean [Jackson], and Jamison [Crowder], and Ryan Grant, [Josh] Doctson, and Chris Thompson out of the backfield, you forget about the bread and butter of this football team. It needs to be the running game. We’ve got to make sure we stay balanced and I think that’s my fault tonight. Something we really take a look at and make sure we become a more balanced football team.”


On if enough improvements were made in the offseason to stop the run game:
“Yeah, I think we missed some tackles here and there. We had some good blocking schemes in there. You know, I’ll have to look at the film. I’m not going to point the blame on anybody – defensive line, linebackers – or anything. Let’s look at the film, see what happened. DeAngelo [Hall] ran the ball extremely well, he really did. He broke through some tackles and made some big time runs and we missed some tackles that we normally make and it’s something we have to really look at because we’re playing a team that can run the football very well next week in the Dallas Cowboys. So we better get our ducks in a row or it’s going to be a long one.”

On Cousins’ performance:
“You know, we lost. I don’t feel really good about anybody’s performance including mine when we lose a football game. So, I think we all have to feel that way. We all have to make sure we do whatever we can to make sure we don’t get this feeling too often. And we need to bounce back. We’ve got a good Cowboy team in here playing a lot of big men on offensive line and a good defensive coordinator, a good coach, so we’ve got to get ourselves picked up off the ground and ready to roll.”

On lack of pressure on Roethlisberger:
“Yeah, I think part of the reason, you alluded to it earlier, is they had good balance. You know, we had to play our good run defense and then he pulls it out and then he drops back. You know, on third down some of those third-and-eight calls, he had the ball so dang quick. You know, back shoulder fades or fades to Antonio [Brown]. He was hitting guys in the seams. He did a nice job of getting the ball out and the line did a good job protecting him. And on the flip side of that, our offensive line actually did a pretty good job protecting him. We didn’t give up a sack. He really wasn’t pressured a whole lot, so we have to take advantage of that. But, we’ll take a look at everything. Get some things corrected, settle down a little bit. Don’t get too ahead of ourselves. We got a lot of work to do and we got to do it.”

On what to tell the team heading into a short week:
“They know, they already heard.”

On if there were issues with timing between Cousins and the receivers:
“I don’t know. I’ll have to take a look at it and talk to Kirk a little bit. You know, we had some issues there communication-wise and things that we—you know, these are plays that we’ve run for a long time. So we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Maybe the disguise in the coverage, I don’t know, I’ll have wait and see, talk to Kirk.”

On when the decision was made to play WR Josh Doctson:
“Probably yesterday. Made sure he’s good to go. He had a couple good days at practice. You know, I wanted to get him out here pregame warmup and let him run around, just get a taste of the game. You know, he’s our fifth wideout. We got him in a little bit, sporadically. So we’ll see how he feels tomorrow and hopefully we can use him the rest of the time.”

On the pregame military presentation:
“It was awesome, I tell you what. There was a bright spot. The fans came out in a big way, and the military presentation… that gives you goosebumps all the way. The way the players took advantage, took part in it. That was fun to watch.”

On whose idea it was:
“That was the players.”
 
Gruden is in waaaaaaaaaay over his head and still doesn't realize it.

Out-coached in every way, shape and form. Period. You're supposed to learn by your third year.

Nick
 
"You know, we get a little bit too giddy sometimes with the weapons that we have. You know, you look at Jordan Reed, and Pierre [Garçon] and DeSean [Jackson], and Jamison [Crowder], and Ryan Grant, [Josh] Doctson, and Chris Thompson out of the backfield, you forget about the bread and butter of this football team. It needs to be the running game. We’ve got to make sure we stay balanced and I think that’s my fault tonight."

Call me skeptical about this statement. I'm not sure I've seen anything from Gruden since he's been here that he thinks running should be the bread and butter.
 
Oh, he's said it a million times. That's the blahblahblah...

What he's never done is actually to do anything to make it so.
 
I think we could have run for 150 and still lost convincingly. Big Ben and the Steelers overall offensive game toyed with our D most of the night. Anything they needed, they were able to get. Need a 4th and 1? Throw a 30 yard TD pass. Need 2nd and 9? Run off tackle for 13. Convert 3rd and 13? Have Ben step up into the pocket, look around, and find a receiver wide open 15 yards downfield. If they'd have needed 45 last night instead of 17, they'd have gotten it.

Not that I wouldn't wanted to see us push 'em like that.
 
I think we could have run for 150 and still lost convincingly. Big Ben and the Steelers overall offensive game toyed with our D most of the night. Anything they needed, they were able to get. Need a 4th and 1? Throw a 30 yard TD pass.

Speaking of their 4th downs, reminds me of another tragically flawed game-plan...
What I thought was bothersome, was even the pass plays were too conservative.
Steelers have 4th and 1, and they're bold enough to throw way downfield.
Yet the Skins are constantly throwing 5 yard patterns, no matter the score, or no matter how much we need for a 1st down - even if it's 3rd and long, and even on our 4th down attempt : how about the time it was like 4th and 6, and we go for it, and commit the cardinal sin - throw it to a guy who isn't even at the `st down marker ???
 
I think we could have run for 150 and still lost convincingly. Big Ben and the Steelers overall offensive game toyed with our D most of the night. Anything they needed, they were able to get. Need a 4th and 1? Throw a 30 yard TD pass. Need 2nd and 9? Run off tackle for 13. Convert 3rd and 13? Have Ben step up into the pocket, look around, and find a receiver wide open 15 yards downfield. If they'd have needed 45 last night instead of 17, they'd have gotten it.

Not that I wouldn't wanted to see us push 'em like that.
Problem is, it's not just about last night. Gruden has given little more than lip service to running the football since he walked through the door. The best we've done under him was his first year, when we still ran most of Shamahan's stuff. Gruden doesn't like, or believe in, running the football. That's why it's the red headed step child under his watch.
 
Another thing....As unprepared to handle it as he was, you'd almost think he'd never seen zone defense until last night. he damn sure didn't have Kirk ready for it.
 
No argument on the first post. Gruden's biggest flaw to date in my book has been inability to craft a credible running game.

On the second, what we don't and can't know at this point is how much of Kirk's glaze-eyed performance last night against all that soft zone was on lack of preparation by the coaches, or simply his own inability to consistently, decisively and accurately take the underneath, midrange (and possible deep options we can't see on TV and w/o looking at coaches film) options.

I didn't think he looked right all night. But whether that's on him, or the coaches, or both, I can't pretend to know.
 
Tomlin basically came in and declared Prima Nocta on the skins last night.
 
What's sad is you could run any of our MNF games on a loop because they re basically all the same.

We always look like a deer caught in headlights on a National stage.
 
12 runs for the whole team combined a game ain't gonna cut it for the Redskins if they want a shot at winning and controlling a game. Playing from behind? Yeah they put themselves in that spot but the Skins weren't that far behind at the half, 14-6. The running game went out with the bath water way before that.

I thought that either a> the coaching staff might have figured out that all Pittsburgh had to do was run left or b> the Steelers were going to get bored running the same play over and over again for 5+ yards a pop.
Wrong on both counts. Seriously, they must have run that same play at least 25% of the time. Why not - never did get stopped.

They gotta open up the playbook. Or get someone more creative who can design better plays.
They need a player(s) to do this or that to make it work - BS . If you ain't got them, game plan around with who you've got. Really they have nothing to lose by being aggressive and falling flat. They're already flat and too predictable on both sides of the ball.

I guess one could lay a lot on Kirk but he threw for more yardage than Ben and still wound up with a 70% completion rate despite his horrendous start. Nor did he get a TD - for the first time as a starter but did toss up a couple of Int's. A lot of garbage time with that and he didn't pick up some open receivers but I'm not gonna hit him upside the head with a billy club. However I am less tolerant of mistakes by guys who are making a premium and he needs to be better.

5 False Starts last night? Five - that's way too many for a preseason game let alone a regular season one.
 
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I thought the OC calls the plays but Gruden final say in red zone. Anyways, heard on Dallas radio driving home, Skins are laughing stock since we signed Norman but don't put him on best receiver Brown. Really they are right on that, makes no sense what Barry did. You can see Gruden stays away from the defense.

I want Jay to make the calls but he's the walk around head coach now. There's probably a divide on the running game with Callahan and OC. Never trusted Callahan, he wants to be head coach. The running game will suffer and we might as well keep a TE in to block and just air it out. That's all we got and Kirk better get his act together or we move on without him.
 
Neither Gruden nor McVay are running game coaches. If they aren't working it out with Callahan for whatever reason - bring in some help.

A man's got to know his limitations.
 
I think it was interesting that Cooley noted the Steelers were playing like the underdog by being aggressive and trying to convert fourth downs and put up points while Gruden and Barry seemed much more passive, seeming to wait for the Steelers to make some mistakes and give us easy scoring opportunities.

With Roethlisberger out there they should have been smarter than that.
 
Total Rushing Plays :
Pittsburgh - 30
Washington - 12

And it's not like the running game wasn't working because look at our average :

Average Gain per Rushing Play :
Pittsburgh - 4.9
Washington - 4.6
 
What you saw Bellichick and his staff do in getting the Patriots ready to play and win against the Cardinals without that many starters is something we have not seen and are not likely to see from this coaching staff.

These coaches are average. They are not poor, but they are not a cut above either.

It was perhaps more surprising that the team did not do better on offense given that is where the best talent on the club resides and where the biggest investments in draft picks and FA dollars has been spent (sans Josh Norman).

But the offense looked as if it didn't have an established game plan to break the Steelers defense down and exploit any match-ups.

Or else whatever they did have, they were unable to execute any of it.

For $20M, Kirk Cousins is going to learn that the expectations for what he needs to do for the team have risen exponentially.

Fans and some in the media are looking for him to turn into Drew Brees II.

Or at the least a capable passer like Phillip Rivers.

But if he has an up and down season where this kind of game is not an anomaly but par for the course, he won't be back in 2017.

Because Scot McCloughan will use that #1 pick on a passer and spend all that extra money on other positions of need.
 
Fans and some in the media are looking for him to turn into Drew Brees II.
Or at the least a capable passer like Phillip Rivers.

Those two guys and Cousins were about the same (2015) for these first two: Accuracy around 70% - check. 7.5 yards (or so) per attempt - check. Low to mid 40 attempts per game - Wow, I hope not. He needs to stay in those low 30's where he was at last year for attempts per game. He's already started the season with 2 Int's (had 11 total last year). Kirk was pretty wild at the beginning of last year also and then settled in. Anyway, throw less, run more. It'll be gooder in the long run.

He needs to earn his $20 million this year for sure and didn't start the year off doing so. But the team can't to try and turn him into something he's not. He's not a guy (right now) that's going to do well tossing 40 to 50 passes a game. Maybe have him run the ball 8 to 10 times a game. Of course not, it's not what he can do for any amount of money and your not going to turn him into that. There's other good QB's who don't fare well with a pile of attempts. Wilson had 43 finished at 60% and without two long passes doesn't break 200 yards.
 

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