Jay Gruden Initial Hype

When Jay Gruden arrived in Washington D.C. he was billed as a offensive guru for his days as an arena football head coach and he made smart hires by hiring Kyle Shanahan. It seemed as if when they got RG3 and designed and offense around him they were going to be the class of the NFC east. Then RG3 got hurt and never learned how to take what the defense gave him. Luckily for Jay he also had another QB from the same draft class in Kirk Cousins that was ready to take over the QB mantle and provide solid play which resulted in another playoff berth but never elevated the Redskins out of mediocre territory. The problem with Kirk Cousins is he is a John Kitna, Andy Dalton level quarterback that can put up exceptional stats but never makes the big plays and needs a great supporting cast I. Order to advance in the playoffs. Kirk was getting top 5 QBs money which took away from the Redskins ability to surround him with the supporting cast he needed. Still Kirk was a good enough QB to bring stability to the Reskins like they haven’t had in the past. Unfortunately, Kirk never committed to the Redskins opting to sign in Minnesota which left the Redskins scrambling. Surprisingly they were able to get Alex Smith who by most accounts is a better version of Kirk Cousins. This led to the Redskins starting off last year 6-3 and looking like they were set to win the division.

Failed Expectations

After last year’s hot start the Redskins got his with a major string of injuries. Not only was Alex Smith knocked out for the season he suffered what seems to be a possible career ending injury. Fast forward to present day and the Redskins are back to the building blocks drafting a QB of the future while they employ a stop gap QB. To start of the season as usual the Redskins come out hot out the gates to a 20-7 halftime lead only to lose the game to the Eagles. Under Jay Gruden the Redskins have failed on numerous occasions to close games. If they finished games half as well as they started, then this would be a perennial playoff team. While Jay has had a string of bad luck the Redskins organization has been doing the best it can to rebound from catastrophic injuries and personnel losses. One thing is for certain if the Redskins don’t win this year this could be Jay Grudens last stand.