Game Notes: Redskins at Falcons

Go Deep said:

Seriously, he was asked the question or it was implied, can't remember exactly, but he answered very straight forward. I don't think he would lie like that to the press. I know the report of drama supposedly with Snyder and the comment "he's stealing money". That was some report in the news and not something Snyder has publicly admitted.

So, i'm going with the guy who said it publicly.

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I refuse to believe that Gruden wasn't hired prior to the 2014 season with a mandate to develop and get the most out of Griffin. That doesn't come even close to passing the smell test.

SNF said:

Not to take away from anything else you said, but Gruden has started Cousins 10 times, Griffin 7, and McCoy 4.

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Yes, I realize now that something I said earlier wasn't precise... I said Cousins has more playing time combined than Griffin & McCoy, but the numbers look like something this:

McCoy: Just over 3 games (injured early in Giants game 2014)
Griffin: Almost 8 games (injured early in Jags game & came in for McCoy in Giants game... Garbage minutes in Rams shutout)
Cousins: Almost 10.5 (was benched at halftime of Titans game and subbed in for Robert in Jags game)

So... What I said was inaccurate. Cousins will pass RGIII & McCoy's combined playing time next game.

Go Deep said:

In 2013 we were the worst team in the league in points scored in the 1st half. RG3 got most of them stats in garbage time late in the game. We weren't even in a lot of games in 2013. It was usually over by halftime.

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Which game? The 45-41 victory over the Bears in Chicago? 30-24 victory over San Diego? There were 3 blow outs that season... Green Bay, Denver, Kansas City... Pretty good teams... We weren't a good team.

Robert was 3-10 in 2013... pretty bad. What has Kirk Cousins done since 2013 by comparison? Discounting the Tennessee game which he was benched in and giving him credit for the Jaguars game that ANY of our QBs would've won, Kirk Cousins is 3-10. Over those same 13 games, Cousins led offense has scored 1 point less than the 2013 offense that RGIII ran. Right now, Cousins is on pace for a worse season than RGIII had in 2013.

You guys are all missing the bigger picture. It isn't about Robert or Kirk, or even Jay. It's about the team. The offense is more stable with Kirk, allowing the rest of the team to improve around him. If playing the player who you think gives the team the best chance is biased, then of course Jay is biased toward Kirk. Does it matter if the stats show overall worse production from Kirk than RG. Heck no. There are clearly longer sustained drives with Kirk. Keep telling yourself this is a rebuild. Accept that Jay lost faith in RG very early. Doesn't matter why. Kirk can move the team well when he isn't making a bone headed gaff. That is good for the team. He'll either grow out of it, or he won't. Maybe it's too late for him. Best case scenario is he figures it out. Doesn't matter. It's a rebuild. I don't follow college football or draft prospects. If there's a good QB prospect that fits the style Scott wants to run, a second best case may be seeing the team improve but not Kirk. Losing enough games to get into draft position to get the guy you want. The absolute quickest way to getting back to a winner is for Kirk to figure it out. Anything else adds a couple years. So be careful what you wish for. I'm wishing for Kirk to develop.

Pretty much everyone is wishing for Kirk to get better. Especially Gruden.

And just because we are rebuilding, we don't have to lower expectations.

Unless one can't handle it if we fail.

If we have a better defense and we aren't scoring more points... we can't possibly consider this a better offense

I'm just not sure we should have needed a whole extra season watching Cousins play to realize he is what he is. But I guess that's where we are.

Five games in, he looks like a really solid backup and a great guy.

Maybe over the next eleven he'll shock the world.

SNF said:

Not to take away from anything else you said, but Gruden has started Cousins 10 times, Griffin 7, and McCoy 4.

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I hear ya, point being that Griff has always been declared the starter for his entire career.

There has to be something said for that status , the other two came in as backups only, maybe not so much during that 'mismash' season of last year but Griff was still the designated starter going into both seasons under Gruden and got all of the 'perks' given to a starter during the off seasons.

Recalling from last years training camp, Griff (as the starter) would line up, take the snap and the D was in there for a potential sack, the D slows down to not hit the yellow jersey, Griff kept on going, moving around to make a play, his explanation was something like 'I was practicing scramble moves and getting the WRs to react', what he should have been doing was reacting to the D avoiding the negatives of being sacked, getting rid of the ball or getting it out quickly to his outlet. We could still see this mindset this preseason. It had to be frustrating to the coaches, they couldn't get him to accept or ingrain the basics of NFL QBing. He needed to get the basics first then augment his play with his exceptional talent.

Gruden initially declared a QB competition coming into this year. Kirk apparently went out and took some 'lessons' to learn his 'craft', not sure what Griff did. Then it was declared that Griff was the starter, I don't know why but suspect 'pressure' from certain entities which may or may not include Scot.
Now Kirk was back in his familiar spot as a backup fighting with Colt over position status. We think Kirk has improved some, not so much Griff.

Now throw that $16mil extension thing, Griff had to show some real improvement to warrant that risk, he didn't.

All I'm saying is that if Kirk was the proclaimed starter going into OTA and TC, he would have had all the first team reps, worked with the new line and skill starters, been the primary focus of the coaches and had time to acclimate to the pressures of being the guy. How much different would he be now, have no idea but probably some.

Henry said:

I'm just not sure we should have needed a whole extra season watching Cousins play to realize he is what he is. But I guess that's where we are.

Five games in, he looks like a really solid backup and a great guy.

Maybe over the next eleven he'll shock the world.

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Maybe not, but what's the option? Pick a QB and stick with him. There is likely no starter on this team.

Well, according to some reports, Gruden had and has had from very early in camp in 2014 absolutely no confidence in Griffin to run his offense effectively. Whether he's right or wrong in his assessment, at some point you have to allow the coach to play the player he wants to play, regardless of investment or seeming talent of said players. You hired the guy for his offense, let him run it as he sees fit. Forcing QBs on coaches has been a major issue of this organization for a while, and if you're going to change the "culture", that's a good way to do it. It appears that this idea of the best players playing ("best" being who the coaches consider to be playing the best at the time) regardless of investment and talent has taken root along the entire team, and I do think that that's a positive development. Especially if you have the right coaches in place to make said judgements. Jury's still out on that one, but at least they're getting the fair shot to be judged in that way.

I think Griffin still has what it takes to be successful in the NFL, but it won't happen here under this coaching staff. He'll be gone after this season, and that's a damn shame, but it is what it is. However, I'm not going to let those feelings color my opinions of who I think should be starting right now - you CAN'T go back to Griffin. You just can't. For right now, and the foreseeable future, you go with Cousins. Regardless of the (quite frankly) cowardly way the competition was run, in the eyes of the coaches, Cousins won the competition in the preseason. I don't believe he's done enough at this point to lose the job. If, however, Cousins needs to be benched, you should go with the only QB of the three that Gruden actually chose: McCoy. He's also the only QB to win a road game under Gruden. Finally, though there's no way to prove this, it just seems like he's the one Gruden likes the best. I think of the three QBs right now, McCoy's the only one with any job security at this point.

In conclusion, I get and understand the feelings of those that feel like we're giving up on Griffin too soon. However, the only opinions that should matter here are Gruden's and the coaches, and they've made their decision. We need to accept it and move on. Dwelling on it is just doesn't help, and in my case, is affecting my watching and critiquing of the team. I've decided to let it go, treasure the memories of 2012 and fully support whomever is under center for the Washington Redskins.

Sorry for the very late and very O.T. post.

Henry said:

I'm just not sure we should have needed a whole extra season watching Cousins play to realize he is what he is. But I guess that's where we are.

Five games in, he looks like a really solid backup and a great guy.

Maybe over the next eleven he'll shock the world.

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Maybe H. But what was the alternative this year?


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