The Gruden Files - Year Two

[Chris]

Is that like moderating yourself?

Yes, and I liked it.

 

[fansince62]

I am so glad I am not as cynical as you. I am happy to see the playoffs, and attend the game. I am happy there has not been a media firestorm of drama surrounding this team since game 1. I am happy there is an obvious upward mobility to the franchise that is getting play in the national media. I am happy our QB started all 16 games.

I'm happy!

armchair psychology may not be appropriate here.

so am I....wonderful things going on in other areas of my life at present! I'm happy that you're happy! we should get together and throw a "We're Happy Party!" you buy of course.

my focus is on the future evolution of this team. what's happening now is great......doesn't occupy my attention as much as it does others.

 

[stevenaa]

Morris is expected to be gone next season. I understand working in the young guys during season that at the start held low expectations. Got to see what we have. Jury is still out on Jones. He's made some adjustments in his carry to stop the fumbles. Hopefully he's learned. But I don't know if he's the guy of the future, or if that guy is on the roster. Almo has looked off. It may simply be that his running style doesn't fit the running style of this offense.

 

[McD5]

Morris is expected to be gone next season. I understand working in the young guys during season that at the start held low expectations. Got to see what we have. Jury is still out on Jones. He's made some adjustments in his carry to stop the fumbles. Hopefully he's learned. But I don't know if he's the guy of the future, or if that guy is on the roster. Almo has looked off. It may simply be that his running style doesn't fit the running style of this offense.

Of course a team is going to play a 3rd round pick. That shouldn't surprise anyone. What team wouldn't play a 3rd rounder?

And with Morris in a contract year it's even more reason to give Jones some snaps.

 

[fansince62]

Of course a team is going to play a 3rd round pick. That shouldn't surprise anyone. What team wouldn't play a 3rd rounder?

And with Morris in a contract year it's even more reason to give Jones some snaps.

I don't know...the Redskins with many of the guards/tackles they have drafted?

 

[McD5]

I don't know...the Redskins with many of the guards/tackles they have drafted?

Sorry, I should have been more specific. What team drafts a RB in the third round and doesn't play him? Exactly, no one.

Seeing Jones on the field isn't some conspiracy. That was a given.

A more difficult decision this week is who they play at center. Lich seems like the obvious answer, but I won't be surprised if he sits.

 

[Smoot Point]

I dunno... It's the playoffs... sit the rookie that has lowest YPC & most fumbles. His big plays were on screens... I'm pretty sure Chris Thompson can handle those. We haven't really needed him on the field much during the 4 game winning streak. Save him for next season, unless we need him because someone got injured...

 

[Goaldeje]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. What team drafts a RB in the third round and doesn't play him? Exactly, no one.

Seeing Jones on the field isn't some conspiracy. That was a given.

A more difficult decision this week is who they play at center. Lich seems like the obvious answer, but I won't be surprised if he sits.

No one is questioning why Jones got snaps. We're questioning why he got so many of them. Especially since Alfred has been reliable, durable, an overall great human being, and really THE only offensive weapon we've had since Griffin was injured.

I still think it's revealing that without Jones to vulture carries, Morris looked damn good last week. Didn't hear a whole lot of comments about his burst or running with authority or whatever.

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that Jones, when healthy, would get 50-75% of the snaps, over Morris, I would have assumed we drafted the next Adrian Peterson. We didn't, and I can't figure out why Gruden effectively benched Morris. That's all.

 

[Ax]

Again, anything is possible. But in this particular case there is no evidence at all that what is being suggested---that Gruden made up his mind on Robert and Morris before ever seeing them in person---actually happened. None. There is only supposition and interpretation.

I'll stick with common sense on this one.

Obviously, I need to clarify. If I said he made up his mind before ever seeing a player, I clearly misspoke. I don't remember saying so, BTW.

But very early on, in his rookie season, based on whatever, Gruden determined that Griffin was not his guy, and treated him as such, IMHO, from then on. What he lacked, was the balls to make the change then. As it would have been more likely Kirk would have fared no better. Which, as it turned out due to injury, he wasn't. I believe he felt that Kirk, coming from a more NFL ready college program, could ride the bench, learn the system, under zero pressure, and be ready to take the reigns this season. I believe he wasn't willing to wait the extra time for Griffin to come around. Knowing how tenuous the job is, you can't blame the guy for trying to save his own ass first.

Pointing out that I, and apparently others, saw the bias for what it was, doesn't mean someone is right or wrong. It simply states the presence of a bias. Not fatal. But it is what it is. And, as previously stated, head football coaches can be as petty and biased as anyone.

As for Morris, nobody thought he lost a step last year. But plenty were critical of Gruden abandoning the run. I get it. As a former QB, and with the rules as they are, passing is part of his DNA. Regardless of the verbal stroking he gives to the idea of wanting to be a tough, run first offense. This year, in almost every game, regardless of production, Morris was getting subbed out after 5 carries or less. A few times more than 5, More times less than 5. Anybody not in the morgue knows you need to work in young guys. I just saw no good reason for the timing of it. I guess if I wanted to be like some, I could demand everybody acknowledge how right I was. Since Morris, even after having half of his carries given away, still finished with a higher YPC average than the new toy did.

Then again, to follow another conspiracy theory angle from earlier in the year, maybe Gruden, knowing it was his contract year, intentionally withheld carries to give the team an advantage in upcoming negotiations with Morris.

 

[Ax]

I still think it's revealing that without Jones to vulture carries, Morris looked damn good last week. Didn't hear a whole lot of comments about his burst or running with authority or whatever.

Boom!

And as far as I could tell, he very seldom looked off to me all year. I took it as him dealing with the frustration of getting pulled all the time. Going from being offensive MVP the last 2 years, some might say the last three, to being an afterthought, would be tough to take. I would think. Hell, if someone just started watching the team this year they might think Jones was the incumbent starter, and Morris was being "worked in".

 

[McD5]

No one is questioning why Jones got snaps. We're questioning why he got so many of them. Especially since Alfred has been reliable, durable, an overall great human being, and really THE only offensive weapon we've had since Griffin was injured.

I still think it's revealing that without Jones to vulture carries, Morris looked damn good last week. Didn't hear a whole lot of comments about his burst or running with authority or whatever.

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that Jones, when healthy, would get 50-75% of the snaps, over Morris, I would have assumed we drafted the next Adrian Peterson. We didn't, and I can't figure out why Gruden effectively benched Morris. That's all.

I don't think it's hard to understand why he got so many snaps. Alfred has a lot of miles on the tires, and is in a contract season.

How else would Scot know whether to give Alfred a big payday if he didn't get a good look at the 3rd round pick over a period of many games and in many different situations? That seems reasonable.

Or, as was suggested here by NFLPhilosospy before the season began, Alfred wasn't a downhill runner, and he wouldn't look good in Scot's scheme. Many of the writers like Keim, etc.....now agree with him. They believe that Alfred is best suited for a zone blocking scheme, and that he'll sign with a team like Denver or Atlanta.

If someone is really pissed about that, that anger should probably be split with McLovin--he drafted him and prefers a scheme that may not best fit the skills of Morris. But I seem to have missed the 1,000 posts about McLovin's mistakes. No one likes to criticize him.

On a related note, David Amerson was just rated as the fourth best CB in the entire league. Why did McLovin release him? Where's the "McLovin is making a big mess of this team thread?" Or the "Perry Fewell sucks thread?"

If we win the SB this year, no one is going to care that we cut David Amerson.

Team>>individual players.

 

[MikeSr619]

No one is questioning why Jones got snaps. We're questioning why he got so many of them. Especially since Alfred has been reliable, durable, an overall great human being, and really THE only offensive weapon we've had since Griffin was injured.

I still think it's revealing that without Jones to vulture carries, Morris looked damn good last week. Didn't hear a whole lot of comments about his burst or running with authority or whatever.

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that Jones, when healthy, would get 50-75% of the snaps, over Morris, I would have assumed we drafted the next Adrian Peterson. We didn't, and I can't figure out why Gruden effectively benched Morris. That's all.

well said. Nobody (outside of speculation) knows why this happened. Morris looked damn good last week and was hitting holes head on. Blaming him for that safety would be silly. He should have never gotten the ball to begin with.

 

[McD5]

That safety was an awful play call. He appeared to be 5 yards behind the LOS before the ball was even snapped. Terrible.

 

[Henry]

Our rushing offense is terrible. It's not downhill. It's not nothing.

Right now it looks like "we've just passed a lot so let's do a run or something with, uh, this guy" every few snaps. Which is why every single back in this offense has looked tentative, confused, and mistake-prone.

That's fine right now, because Cousins and the passing game is making up for it, but sooner or later I'd like to see a coherent plan to run the ball, even if it's not our primary method of attack. Even when we were run first early in the year our running game looked disjointed and lacking in any overall philosophy.

We can get to 9-7 that way. I don't think we can win a Superbowl that way.

 

[Ax]

Keep the Morris to Jones carry ratio at around 4 to 1, and we'll be fine.

 

[TomE]

Gruden was just trying to keep Alf fresh for the playoffs.

boom!

 

[Ax]

Gruden was just trying to keep Alf fresh for the playoffs.

boom!

If that's the case, the man is brilliant!

 

[TomE]

If that's the case, the man is brilliant!

According to the book of McD5......

 

[fansince62]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. What team drafts a RB in the third round and doesn't play him? Exactly, no one.

Seeing Jones on the field isn't some conspiracy. That was a given.

A more difficult decision this week is who they play at center. Lich seems like the obvious answer, but I won't be surprised if he sits.

You're right about that. Seems to me that the rotation philosophy when tried in the league works for maybe a year....but crumbles under its own wait (pun intended). RBs just seem to need 20+ carries to really make a day of it. that's my take on the real argument in play.

Cooley thinks Lich is a difference maker. I frankly don't know....what I remember is that over the years he tends to be over-powered in pass protection at times. hope he plays - he has earned that privilege.

 

[Knightingale]

Right.... I've been out of circulation for a few days as not been well. But back on it like Wallace and Grommit now!

Good grief this has been an interesting thread to follow with lots of opinion being bandied around. Thought I'd weigh in with my tuppence on the matter of Jay Gruden.

This of course is just my opinion and just how I feel about things, take it as you like.

I think what we're seeing is a rookie head coach learning his craft and growing with this team. And for what it's worth I really like that.

Does he handle everything well? No. Is he perfect? No. But he does seem to be learning pretty damn fast.

That's what strikes me as different about this Redskins team as a whole this year. They didn't go for the quick fix.

In years gone by we'd make a splashy trade or a grab a free agent to try and fix the team, or go for the next hot young coach or an older coach who promises superbowl glory. Not this time. Some of this has been luck to be honest.

The appointment of Gruden was, to a degree, a confluence of circumstances. The Redskins were TOXIC. We were a bad team with a broken QB and with a bad future and surrounded in controversy (from the franchise name to the players) and with a history of culling coaches. Also.... Dan Snyder. For a top flight coach we were likely bottom of the list.

So we got Gruden.

Boy did he look like a Rookie coach last year. But he never lost the team like ShannaClan did.

Then we did the one good thing that really turned us around. We got Scotty, and he started bringing in and drafting the RIGHT players. Not the best players, but the RIGHT players. I remember Draft night and wondering what the heck we were doing passing up some of the players on the board at the time. We didn't know it at the time of course, but I don't regret for a second drafting Scherff now.

And then piece of luck number 2. We had Cousins on the roster. Who knew he'd be this good. (I mean it's still early days, but I'm an optimistic sort!)

The benching of RGIII and the subsequent handing of the team to Cousins was absolutely the right move. Was RGIII handled well? Nope. Not by Shanahan, not by Gruden, not by the Redskins and not by RGIII himself. There's plenty of blame to go around here as has been intimated in other posts. I do believe that being on the bench will help RGIII and I really hope that he has a bright future in this league. I'll always treasure that 2012 season as one of the most exciting I've ever been witness to. A winning streak came right out of the blue and I still rue what we'd have done in the playoffs had he been healthy. C'est la vie!

As for Gruden in the situation, as I mentioned above, I think he's a Head Coach who is still learning his craft, I think the mistakes he made with RGIII were part of that learning curve.

I think it really helps him that he's now got the proper infrastructure behind him in a proper GM who supports him and a decent staff now. I think part of his rookie mistakes last year was trying to do too much himself.

I like this Redskins organisation at the moment. We have a smart and firm guiding hand at GM, Snyder and Allen seem to have stepped back and are leaving the football guys to it, and we have a young team and a young coach who are learning and growing together. There's a cohesiveness and team spirit here that I haven't seen for a long time. At my most optimistic I'd like to see Gruden/Cousins being our Belichick/Brady (in as much as they stick around together as a pair and grow together over the years). I'm not saying that Gruden or Cousins will ever be at that level, but I do think we have a shot at it being something special and sustainable.

If Scotty can keep adding his magic touch through the draft and free agency then I think we really have a shot at a sustained level of competitiveness and, dare I say it, Superbowls.

Whatever happens in the playoffs this year I'm kinda excited to see Scotty/Gruden/Cousins Year 3.

(OK Technically I know it's Scotty Year 2!)