On the surface sitting a 34 year old back in an opener might not cause much of a stir in most NFL cities.
But the circumstances in Washington starting the 2019 season are somewhat different than most and as usual Jay Gruden was caught behind the curve on this one.
First, it seemed clear last season that the Redskins 6-3 start was as much due to Peterson's play but more importantly his leadership on a team that didn't have too many vocal leaders.
AP trains in the offseason like no one else. He comes prepared to play and is a perfectionist, criticizing himself for a blown pickup in pass pro after having a 100 yard game.
He sets the kind of standard for himself that Belichick sets for the Patriots.
Other players see that and find motivation in his example even as Gruden fails to set that tone as the HC.
Gruden should be smart enough to know that a lot of games in the NFL are won from the neck up. Talent is often sprinkled around these rosters with few teams having a consistently dominating presence. Even New England lost 5 games last year.
Against the Eagles we didn't seem to have any leaders on offense once the game tightened up. And 31 yards rushing overall? You aren't going to win many games that way.
Would Peterson have accounted for another 14 points against the Eagles? No.
But he might have helped settle guys down earlier in the game after Philly scored and the Redskins might have been able to erase a couple of Philly possessions by extending drives. Peterson has the uncanny ability to make something out of nothing at times in the run game even at 33 last year.
So, that is point #1 .
Point #2 is there were other ways to cover special teams on Sunday without sitting AP with Guice, McLaurin, Harmon, etc's plating their first NFL game.
We didn't need to panic over Reed and activate Holtz from the PS for this game.
With Smallwood active as well and Davis still on the roster that accounted for the additional special teamer to fill out the coverage units.
There was no reason the Redskins could not have gone with two tight ends in Philly pending Reed's re-evaluation for Week 2.
Besides Holtz didn't show me any ST, receiving or blocking skills that required the Redskins to protect him by moving him up so quickly, ie for Week 1.
I would like to see Gruden make the case that the league saw big potential in Holtz or that he figured on using Holtz in the game plan on offense.
To me what happened was Gruden was subtlely trying to ‘go back' on several moves the front office made during final cut downs.
Gruden didn't want AP on the team any longer despite there being no real backup forGuice in case he goes down. Smallwood was a nice pickup as depth but he has something like 400 yards rushing in his career. He's not an every down replacement for Guice. And the FO cut Gruden's love child Samaje Perine.
Gruden also didn't want to pull the plug on the Doctson experiment because he and McCloughan were in on the pick and he didn't want to admit defeat there.
So, he was able to move Holtz from the PS and cut a player that was popular with others in Robert Davis.
Gruden is petty. That's not a great trait in a leader. The fact he would have left the Redskins without a veteran to take over for Derrius Guice in case he got hurt is almost criminal.
But the circumstances in Washington starting the 2019 season are somewhat different than most and as usual Jay Gruden was caught behind the curve on this one.
First, it seemed clear last season that the Redskins 6-3 start was as much due to Peterson's play but more importantly his leadership on a team that didn't have too many vocal leaders.
AP trains in the offseason like no one else. He comes prepared to play and is a perfectionist, criticizing himself for a blown pickup in pass pro after having a 100 yard game.
He sets the kind of standard for himself that Belichick sets for the Patriots.
Other players see that and find motivation in his example even as Gruden fails to set that tone as the HC.
Gruden should be smart enough to know that a lot of games in the NFL are won from the neck up. Talent is often sprinkled around these rosters with few teams having a consistently dominating presence. Even New England lost 5 games last year.
Against the Eagles we didn't seem to have any leaders on offense once the game tightened up. And 31 yards rushing overall? You aren't going to win many games that way.
Would Peterson have accounted for another 14 points against the Eagles? No.
But he might have helped settle guys down earlier in the game after Philly scored and the Redskins might have been able to erase a couple of Philly possessions by extending drives. Peterson has the uncanny ability to make something out of nothing at times in the run game even at 33 last year.
So, that is point #1 .
Point #2 is there were other ways to cover special teams on Sunday without sitting AP with Guice, McLaurin, Harmon, etc's plating their first NFL game.
We didn't need to panic over Reed and activate Holtz from the PS for this game.
With Smallwood active as well and Davis still on the roster that accounted for the additional special teamer to fill out the coverage units.
There was no reason the Redskins could not have gone with two tight ends in Philly pending Reed's re-evaluation for Week 2.
Besides Holtz didn't show me any ST, receiving or blocking skills that required the Redskins to protect him by moving him up so quickly, ie for Week 1.
I would like to see Gruden make the case that the league saw big potential in Holtz or that he figured on using Holtz in the game plan on offense.
To me what happened was Gruden was subtlely trying to ‘go back' on several moves the front office made during final cut downs.
Gruden didn't want AP on the team any longer despite there being no real backup forGuice in case he goes down. Smallwood was a nice pickup as depth but he has something like 400 yards rushing in his career. He's not an every down replacement for Guice. And the FO cut Gruden's love child Samaje Perine.
Gruden also didn't want to pull the plug on the Doctson experiment because he and McCloughan were in on the pick and he didn't want to admit defeat there.
So, he was able to move Holtz from the PS and cut a player that was popular with others in Robert Davis.
Gruden is petty. That's not a great trait in a leader. The fact he would have left the Redskins without a veteran to take over for Derrius Guice in case he got hurt is almost criminal.