How Much Is Too Much For The Redskins and Their Fans

The tandem of Bruce Allen & Jay Gruden has most of RedskinsNation upset and looking for heads to
roll ASAP. I still support and have faith in Allen.....as for Jay.....that's another story.

    Hail RedskinsNation!!!! I know it's been a while since you've heard from #CPIII aka TattooedScorpio......well at least in written form. You can always catch #CPIII each and every Monday night from 7pm to 9 pm and every other Thursday night from 9 pm to 1030 pm on Sports On The Hill Podcast on TruRadio NetworkLLC. You can also catch me at Martini's Restaurant Sports Bar & Lounge each and every Sunday from Noon until 12pm. We stream our Pregame & Postgame show live there before and after every game win, lose or draw.

   Now let's get down to the reason for this article......Jay Gruden.....and his ineptitude as a coach need to be gone from the Redskins and the NFL truly IMO. We've seen the same story play out over 5 plus seasons with different storylines and plot twist but with the same heart wrenching ending.......and  losing seasons 3 out of 5. This season has started off like most of the past, slow start and trying to climb out of an early season hole. Last year was the exception when the team started (6-3) before the injury bug once again took away the hopes and dreams of a post season berth. This season is a bit different but with the same results......a (0-2) record. The statistics for the offense look better, scoring 27, 21 points in their first two games but let's not forget some of those points and yards were in garbage time when the opposing defense was playing more prevent defense at that point in the game. That's not to excuse Greg Manusky and his lack of defensive scheme, adjustments and horrible game plans but that's for later discussion in another article. Trust me, I'm not giving Manusky a pass, but Jay Gruden has my focus in this article....but if this continues on defense, I feel another article coming on.

    I know it's only week 3 in the NFL but haven't we seen this story play out before with Jay, when the team wins he gloats and takes credit yet when the team loses it's: "I need to watch the film" or throwing someone under the bus to take the heat off of him. He's had a built in excuse for the last 3 seasons with the rash of injuries that have effected this team. Other teams have had the same issues, yet they still are able to perform at a NFL level and win. Unfortunately with Jay is the same issues from year 1 to year 5 and 2 weeks into year 6. No balanced attack, no adjustments to the game plan during the game, no team identity or go to plays or formations. Now I'm gonna breakdown and explain my reasons for his immediate departure and the promotion of Bill Callahan to Head Coach and let Kevin O'Connell truly run the offense and develop as a OC. We've seen the inconsistent, pass happy game plans and we've seen the balanced offense that sticks with the run be successful. Problem is that Jay's ego and arrogance wont allow him to stick with what works if it doesn't mean throwing the ball 30 + times a game. The fact is when this team runs the ball 20 + times they're more successful and allows the defense to stay fresh and be more effective. Also having a Hall Of Fame caliber RB in his backfield, that just had a 1'000 yard season last year in this very offense withAdrian Peterson yet the team is only averaging 37 yards rushing a game. The fact that he doesn't utilize him and have made some questionable and disrespectful comments about the running back is amazing to me. Now I can go on and on about his lack of sticking with the run but that's just one issue of many I have with him and his coaching, game planning and play calling.

Lack Of Adjustments: 

    As a life long die hard Redskins fan I've seen all types of crazy things happen with this team but one thing that frustrates me the most is his lack of adjustments when the other team stops what was working in the beginning of the game/first half. Even with a lead, tied or trailing we see the same results, the offense gets predictable and constantly having 3 and outs to put more pressure on the defense. We all know which leads the defense taking chances trying to make something happen or take the momentum of the game back and we know what that leads to....blown coverages, missed communication or the team getting gashed for a big run that puts the game further out of reach. In the first two weeks of this season we've seen this twice. In week 1 the Eagles were down by 17 at half and proceeded to score 25 unanswered points and come back to win. Granted the defense had a bad half also but the fact that Philly switched up their offensive blocking scheme to double team the ends and running straight up the gut and it worked. First half they had a total of 25 yards rushing, by time the end of the third quarter they had run for 76 yards in that quarter alone. That goes on Manusky for not switching/adjusting up his vanilla scheme. Now the part that's on Jay even though Manusky's game plan and scheme failed and fueled the Eagles comeback, was Jay's lack of adjusting his game plan to adapt to what Philly's defense was doing to the offense. We saw the same plays, formations, penalties and mistakes that has stunted this offense and team as whole. Why doesn't Kevin O'Connell have more say so or control of he offense if he is the Offensive Coordinator.

Adrian Peterson has shown some frustrations on the sideline but has been quiet
and reserved with the way things have played out and some of the things Jay has said
in the media lately.

Unbalanced Offense: 

   The issue with Jay Gruden's offense is that it depends on a pass heavy attack, with the lead, behind or tied it never fails.....he abandons the run which plays into the opposing defenses hands. This O-line is built to run the ball and impose their will on the D-line. When pass blocking the offensive lineman are in a retreat position by having to stand up and step back to anchor to attempt to pass block as opposed to the linemen pushing off the ball imposing their will on the defense when run blocking. Another upside to running the ball is it takes time off the clock and also gives the Redskins defense a chance to rest and get ready for the next series. When Gruden first got hired I checked out his pass:run ratio while being the coordinator in Cincinnati under Marvin Lewis and his ratio was around 55% pass 45% run but here in Washington its more 65% pass and 35% run and that's being generous. There has been a handful of games where he actually stuck with the run and ran the ball down the opposing teams throat and the team has won those games but yet the next week we go back to seeing the same old pass happy offense instead of the smash mouth style that just won the week before. I also previously wrote a article on the 2/3 TE formations and how successful it has been for the team, yet Jay doesn't utilize it as he should. The team can run, pass, play action pass and even some zone/read option out of it with a mobile QB like Case Keenum. The old standby excuse he uses is getting old and tired, "we weren't having success running the ball and then we fell behind so we had to start trying to move the ball through the air". There is some validity to that statement but as we've seen against the Redskins defense many, many times before. The running game gets shut down in the first half but in the second half, by sticking with the run eventually you wear down the Redskins defense and get that big gain or start getting decent yards per carry. It's amazing that we as fans see the same thing happen to the Washington defense week in and week out........yet Jay doesn't incorporate it into his offensive game plan.

Courtesy: www.Pro-football-reference.com

No Team Identity:

  As I mentioned in the section above Jay wants a pass heavy offense which is all well in good, but the teams strength isn't passing but it can be if you can run the ball and keep the balance. The team has the talent at WR to stretch the field but when the DC on the other sideline knows this also it helps them and hinders the Redskins. When the times get hard on the field and the momentum is slipping to the other sideline there needs to be a play or formation that he can go to that will help the team get back on track. One of the drawbacks of a pass heavy offense is you don't convert, you're playing right into the other teams hands. We all know back in the day when things got hectic on the field the offense would strap it up and go out there and impose their will through the running game and the other team knew that but it still didn't make a difference. That hasn't happened here once in Jay's tenure, at least that I can remember. The fact that teams can routinely take away what works in the first half or sometimes the first quarter and Jay has nothing to go to that will swing momentum or try to make the defense change what they are doing to stop the offense. Too many three and outs, slow starts or stretches in the game when the offense can't get out of its own way. Just an example was last weeks game Vs Dallas in week 2. In the first quarter we saw jet sweeps with the WR, saw players in motion and shifting yet we saw it no more the rest of the game. It's like he goes away from what working because it doesn't fit what he wants to do or how he "wants" to win.

The look of not knowing what your doing but have a job because of your
last name.

Not Sticking With What's Working:
    I mentioned and have spoke on several occasions about how this coach has the knack for going away from what works, in the game or week to week. I can't speak for this season as much as for previous seasons this happens but in Week 2 Vs Dallas we did see some of that in most of the second half. Last year we saw this team put up over 150 yards on the ground and 35 rushing attempts and defeat Green Bay then the  following week we see the team throw 35 times and only run the ball 14 and end up losing to New Orleans the following week by 24.  This bipolar approach to coaching is killing this team, the young talent on this team and the fan base. That's just one example of many of Gruden and his inconsistent ways as a coordinator/coach, it's time for a change. So far this season the starting running back in each of the two games only have 10 carries a piece. This has to change in order for this team to be successful and that means.....time for a change. I've asked the question several times, who would you get to coach this team going forward if they fired Gruden. I still go with Bill Callahan as the Head Coach and allow Kevin O'Connell to fully coach the offense and get some experience then when it's time, he takes over the head coaching job and a seamless transition. We've seen all we need to see and know all we need to know about Jay Gruden. I've tried to be optimistic about his coaching and being able to adapt and develop into a solid coach but his ego is writing checks this teams talent can't cash.


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