PFT: Washington may be in the Mariota business

Boone said:
No one at a meet and greet knows the Redskins draft strategy and certainly wouldn't be talking about it they did - I appreciate you sharing, but that's just someone trying to impress someone.
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This was Bruce Allen talking. Not some mid-level guy. I accidentally typed GMBA and immediately felt dirty doing so...

Nick
 
Fair enough, but I'll stick with what I said - Bruce Allen won't be making our picks on draft day anymore and he's not going to blurt out the truth about the Redskins intentions to visitors.
 
McD5 said:
On one hand, Griffin has every right to be pissed with our organization (Shanahan).

On the other hand, he should be counting his blessings.

Chip Kelly would have sent him packing a week ago to try and learn yet another offense.

At least here he already has a year of experience with the system.
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what are you saying? that Griffin isn't smart enough to learn an offense? is there some underlying reason for making such an assertion?
 
fansince62 said:
what are you saying? that Griffin isn't smart enough to learn an offense? is there some underlying reason for making such an assertion?
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Nope...he isn't alert/aware/cognizant enough to feel pressure in time to make his reads, because he has tunnel vision, in time to avoid being sacked or scrambling for a 5 yard loss out of bounds instead of throwing the ball away.
 
Funny..he did all of that in 2012 when he threw for over 3500 yards and like 6 interceptions.

I get he's regressed but he is able to do it. Perhaps the constant bullshit and drama placed on him isn't helping.
 
fansince62 said:
nice narrative (not intended sarcastly; this is well written and lucid)...and as others have directed at me: completely subjective...with the added (admittedly interesting) tangential foray into psycho-analysis.

the problem with all these opinion pieces is that a glaring contradiction lies at the heart of the argument: Gruden is a rookie ergo he was bound to make all the on-field and off-field mistakes he so willingly shared on the global stage that is Redskin football - at any scale his f-ups are excused because, well, he just got across the border under our lax coaching immigration polices and needs some time to assimilate the habits, logic and processes of a professional in the National Football league; the coaching search, discovery and signing process is supposed to end state in someone prepared for the job. I could be mistaken, but my guess is that when the brain-trust first sat down and thought through "what are the requirements"...their list did not look like this: someone who can't discipline his staff to teach basic techniques/correct incorrect schemes; someone who can't control the locker-room; someone who has the emotional matuirity of a 15 year old; someone who constantly shifts his position; someone who can't accomplish what HE STATES he needs to do ("coach em up better"); someone who can't even accomplish minor advancements in what the organization states is one of their hiring goals - improving the play of the starting QB; someone who will quit at the end of games; someone who demonstrably HASN'T FIXED A DAMN THING but instead conducts an endless pity party in the media....and I could go on and on.

yea, yea, yea. give him more time...we need some stability. which misses the point that others (e.g., Shanahan) were given time as well and did not succeed - i.e., time on station isn't the only or even primary key to success.

My core complaint is that I believe Gruden is a child playing in a man's role. I expected someone to step before the camera and calmly let everyone know: "Yes, we have our work cut out for us. This is a process. We are going to complete the transition in our culture started by the previous coach. I have a plan and I am collaborating with the management team and ownership to ensure we are all pointed in the same direction. We have solid players but need to improve core areas on the roster. I am dedicated to restoring the Redskins to football preeminence. We are going to succeed and we will have a lot of fun along the way. You Redskin fans are the class of all sports franchises. hang in there - it's just around the corner." instead we basically got a lot of dear in the headlights interviews, inconsistent decision-making that often had the appearance of knee-jerk qualities, and, most disturbing but hard to pin down.....a tacit "this was done to me. these players aren't doing what I ask them to do. I'm really ticked off." well, son, if you're ticked off......don't cry to the media about it. quietly and purposefully fix the GD mess you seem ill equipped to handle. in short....grow up and become a leader.

sure, there is time. from the roster up through ownership we should all be tired and leery of these endless dances of the sugar plum ingénues. once, JUST ONCE, I'd like to see a true professional hired by this team who evidences command of the situation right from the git go. welcome aboard Scott!! your job, desired or not, is to make everyone better.
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Hey, I can totally see your perspective on Gruden winding up being the truth. I mean, taking the negative position on a Redskins coach is the best bet on the table, anyway. amirite? :p

Seriously, though, I admit it's extremely difficult to see where Gruden's foolishness starts and where the total organizational dysfunction he inherited ends. I simply don't know, in the end, but what I do know is that Gruden improved a very young Bengals offense every year he was there. An offense that had previously been quite awful with a ton of aging vets and a Head Coach who was defensive minded.

I know that despite an Oline Shanahan built for the ZBS and not much else, and despite focusing completely on a QB all offseason who progressed very slowly in the offense and then got hurt the start of the second game of the season, the offense actually did some good things in terms of yards. I think that gets too easily overlooked. Your starting QB who took the vast majority of reps during the offseason, an offseason that is so incredibly limited nowadays due to the new CBA, gets hurt to start the season. Tough break for any coach. A break that would've been infinitely handled better had he hired a QB coach in the first place, but he didn't.

I also know he had a reputation, according to everyone who coached with him or was coached by him, to be a "player's coach" who was "honest and straight-forward" and "wouldn't play games" with them. Robert, himself, attested to this all offseason last year while taking subtle jabs at the Shanahan's.


So was Gruden just acting out as he always had been, except in a Head Coaching position this time (which was new to him and arguably required adjustments to his personality), or was he just the idiot boy in a man's role as you see it?

I just truly believe the organizational setup we previously had was so far from being conducive to success that anyone would fail. Now, the very legitimate question is did Gruden fail more than even a slightly better coach would have or did he fail less than most other coaches would have?

I think Scot being here will help us answer these questions a lot better. And I think all of the moves this offseason has to, at the very least, show us that he's willing to adapt for the sake of improvement. That's a good quality no matter how we want to spin it.

I will say the one thing I'd have to clearly disagree with you on is your view that Gruden was throwing an "endless pity party" with the media. I just simply didn't see that. I think the headlines from some of his more scathing pressers or interviews took away from the fact that, in almost every single one, he said he had to coach better and that's it on him to get the players to perform better. Maybe you think that's bs, and I get why you do, but I don't. I think it's easier to get overwhelmed by the mess that is the Redskins than you think, lol. I certainly don't fault you for wanting someone to rise to the occasion, though.
 
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Btw, I just wanted to say that the reason I love this place is that I can say the things I've said in my last few posts without it becoming some incredibly inflammatory battle zone where ignoring context and just generally poor reading comprehension, as opposing sides are taken, become the norm.

It's just good to feel like I'm around a group of people all on the same page, even if we interpret it differently. :)
 
McD5 said:
Unless McLovin feels otherwise in the next 5 weeks, he'll certainly get his shot.

But in the big picture, if we spent even a 3rd rounder and drafted a QB this season with 2 prior ACLs, a few concussions and a dislocated ankle? Fans would go f'n crazy. And opposing fans would laugh at us.

That's the elephant in the room.

How can a team possibly build their offense around a guy like that, believing that he'll still be playing three years from now?
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McD5 said:
On one hand, Griffin has every right to be pissed with our organization (Shanahan).

On the other hand, he should be counting his blessings.

Chip Kelly would have sent him packing a week ago to try and learn yet another offense.
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Is that the same Chip Kelly who just traded a bit more than a 3rd round pick for Sam Bradford?
 
I think I get it now. For some posters, its all Gruden's fault that Griffin can't play the position. 2012 doesn't validate Griffin as a bonified QB. Skins were 3-6 before the streak, hardly worthy of ROY performance. Funny how Griffin apologists have revisionist history. Robert himself said at the end of 2012 that Alfred was the MVP. Fact....Gruden doesn't run a Shanahan scheme offense, Griffin can't run a Gruden based scheme offense. Not Gruden's fault, not Griffin's. One has free agency to look toward, the other a new roster. That's the way football go.
 
I'll join the cliché/worn bromide bandwagon:

some coaches in the league know how to draw full value from their players; they know how to organize and lead their staffs; they know how to establish accountability; they know how to motivate and suborn individual identity into team goals and objectives; they adapt when confronted by strategic and tactical challenges; they have a vision thye share and inspire others to cash all their chips on. they live and breathe dignity and humility...while keeping a steady hand on the tiller.

others show up on TV and fiddle F their way thru inconsequential, uninformative, self-oriented, clueless interviews intended to lay blame on the very individuals they expect to invest trust and allegiance to themselves. they rely on mediocre reputations as coordinators for mid-tier offenses and schemes conceived by greater thinkers from the past. they benefit from football family trees.......and there is usually nothing inspirational these people have to say that makes one think "yup...that's the guy! he's the transformational spirit who is going to lead the young minds ad bodies trusted to his keep."

life can be a ***** at times. real leaders adapt and overcome. their followers are inspired. you can see it and hear it when it happens. others point the finger and operate to destroy the people they shuold be leading.
 
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Man Al, I didn't like the way Gruden handled some of the situations that unfolded last season, but that's a pretty global indictment to make after a single season. Spring is coming. Go outside and get some sun. Hope springs eternal. Renewal is possible.
Growth can happen. The wounds of previous years and battles can heal.
 
I didn't see a lot of self awarwness in Gruden that leads me to believe there will be a lot of self evaluation and improvement. I hope to God I'm wrong, but I'm not overly hopeful. I think more than likely we suffer through another disappointing year and then get better with a new coach that Scot has input on.

Gruden thoroughly unimpressed me last year.

As a side note, one CAN be disappointed in BOTH Griffin and Gruden. The whole team with as rubbish last year. I probably lay a little more of the blame at the feet of the guy in charge of leading the whole team, but regardless, the whole team was brutal.
 
There's not even a whiff of evidence that McLovin has ANY issues with our head coaching choice. Joe Gibbs couldn't have gotten 8 wins out of last year's squad. You guys need to remember that one of the long term institutional barriers to success here has been a lack of patience and continual coaching turnover. The idea that a new NFL coach gets one year to prove he has the right stuff - it's crazy. And look at the mess Gruden walked into for God's sake.
 
We're going to find out over the next few months whether Robert Griffin III has made clear strides this offseason toward becoming a legitimate NFL quarterback, capable of both managing an NFL-level passing game and being a running threat capable of threatening defenses. Like every other professional athlete, he's a grown man responsible for his own level of commitment to his craft. If he doesn't have that self-awareness, motivation and resolve in his own internal makeup, no stylized mythological Patton or Lombardi is going to give it to him.

And, with a year under his belt, we're going to start getting a legit sense of what kind of head coach Jay Gruden is going to be. The level of QB play he gets, from whoever ends up taking the snaps, will play a big part in how many games he wins in 2015 ... but beyond that, come the end of this season we'll have a far better barometer whether the rest of the organization is "buying in" and coalescing.
 
I love you Boone, but I hate that argument. So if the guy sucks, we should keep him here for consistency's sake? Blah. Frankly, I'd rather start over sooner to get a jumpbon the situation. Just as I've said this off season if Gruden knows Griffin isn't the answer, trade him or release him. Why bring the drama back?

I think a person can become a better football coach through study, lots of work, exposure to great coaches, etc. Leadership is a bit trickier to me. Gruden possesed a startling lack of leadership, and I'm not sure how to fix that. As Al said, he's not good at getting the best from those around him and he isn't good at building towards a common goal.

Or at least he wasn't last year. He could turn it around, but I don't think he will. The evidence suggests we made a bad choice. Let's face it, we on this board have rightly skewered many of the other decisions Bruce Allen has made, not sure why this one is any better.
 
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