Heartbreak City: Redskins-Saints Postgame Thread

yea i really would like cousins having much more freedom at the line pre snap in general, and that hand signal shit during a 2 minute is nothing but a hinderance.

Another sign of that limitation - Jay doesn't set teams up in the red zone as a playcaller. Some playcallers, if they have 1st and goal from the 5, will use a certain personnel group and formation for all three plays, and the first two plays if they don't work are intended to, on the third play, get the defense to bite on a fake.

Sean Payton did this on the game-tying two point conversion on Sunday, they had been running right quite a bit so they faked it having the line block to the right and then Kamara countered left as Brees pitched to him. It got one blocker against Preston Smith and all Kamara had to do was outrace D Hall to the corner.

They had been setting that up with tendencies. Gruden's play calling is much more well let's see if this works, OK now let's try this, now let's try this. He's done well with zone read fakes by running Cousins at the goalline but to me that's about the extent of his efforts to set a team up with a strategic sequence.

I think he reacts to what he sees, he doesn't anticipate what he's likely to see and devise a strategy to beat it. He's average.

Yeah this makes absolutely no sense. Sorry.

Any offensive-minded head coach would jump at the opportunity to work with Cousins and an offensive line that features Scherff, Trent, and Morgan Moses.

They look at their chances of being successful before they consider the problems that their bosses would present.

Josh McDaniels had Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow in Denver. You don't think he'd love a shot to work with a proven quarterback? If Hue Jackson gets let go from Cleveland, you don't think he'd jump at a shot to work with Cousins after having to put up with dreck in Cleveland?

But the one part of your point I'll concede is that a major reason not to move on from Gruden is that Bruce will be in charge of the hire, which means he'll most likely focus too narrowly and consider only candidates with whom he's had previous experience.

But that's another reason (of many) to fire Allen, it's not a reason to throw up your hands and say well the average Jay Gruden is the best we're going to do.

McDaniels would never come here, I just don't see that. Sorry but Denver at that time had/has a much more reputable reputation around the league than the Redskins. Jackson would come here, I'll give you that.

Why do people assume the status of the head coach has absolutely no barring on contract negotiations with the quarterback? I believe it absolutely does in this situation. If Cousins re-signs with Washington, what will make it attractive is the fact that he stays within the offense that he has excelled in, and sticks with the head coach who has put trust and faith in him to lead the team. Why is that so hard to understand? Before the season, Cousins was linked to either the LA Rams (McVay), or San Fran (Shanahan.) Why? Because he knows those coaches and knows the system. That would likely be the reason (other than the monetary reason) he stays in Washington. And I would not be surprised in the least that the status of the head coach for future seasons plays a role in contract negotiations with Kirk Cousins. If Cousins thinks Gruden might get canned, he's likely to jump ship.

Personally, I think all of this talk about canning Gruden is nuts. Back when this team was a 5 win team on a regular basis, we dreamed of having a team that could at least be over .500. Now, we want to fire a head coach who still has a chance to lead the team to a third straight winning season, albeit absent of a playoff berth, in spite of the fact that we've lost so many playmakers to IR and playmakers to free agency. To be OK with firing Gruden and not give any shade to Bruce Allen is just mind-boggling to me. Allen fires the best guy we've had at player personnel acquisition over a "personal" thing. Allen screwed up contract negotiations with Kirk Cousins. Allen lets two 1000 yard receivers walk in free agency. Allen doesn't know squat when it comes to player personnel, but wants final say in something he doesn't know. And yet, we all talk about firing the head coach and thinking we'll get the cream of the crop to come in next year and lead this team to the Super Bowl! Madness guys! Madness! Please pass what your puffing!

Only way Cousins signs if is Allen is fired

I'd can Gruden as soon as the season ends and get new HC hired asap. Then Cousins can meet with new HC and his OC. Then if he doesn't want to sign, put the transition tag on him. Then we either get 2 1st round picks, or Cousins gets 1 more year here to see if he likes new situation or he signs a massive extension.

Where is it said that Cousins is married to Gruden? Even if he is, you can't keep a mediocre coach to please a player. Mr. 8-8 just doesn't have "it" as a coach. We completely shit the bed Sunday. That was pathetic. Usually by now, I'm over losses, but I'm still damn pissed off about this one.

Either way, I'll have a huge cauldron of kool-aid made going into the 2018 season. 2018 SB champs!

People had very similar complaints about McVay the last few years as a play caller. To me it’s a seriously overrated complaint. If guys make their blocks we convert that 4th down. If the call was a QB sneak or an up the gut run that got stuffed people would be complaining about that call too. Players have to execute and they simply did not. I’d have to double check but I think it was Paul that blew his assignment on the play.

Paul missed the block. Which brings me to this question. Why is he playing fullback anyway and why isn't there a true fullback on the roster? Which would tell me trying to push guys off the line on a 3rd and short isn't what we do well. Especially when guys are playing hurt. It was just a dumb ass call, there's no defending it. It wasn't even full yard, it was half a yard.

I'd can Gruden as soon as the season ends and get new HC hired asap. Then Cousins can meet with new HC and his OC. Then if he doesn't want to sign him, put the transition tag on him. Then we either get 2 1st round picks, or Cousins gets 1 more year here to see if he likes new situation or he signs a massive extension.

Where is it said that Cousins is married to Gruden? Even if he is, you can't keep a mediocre coach to please a player. Mr. 8-8 just doesn't have "it" as a coach. We completely shit the bed Sunday. That was pathetic. Usually by now, I'm over losses, but I'm still damn pissed off about this one.

Either way, I'll have a huge cauldron of kool-aid made going into the 2018 season. 2018 SB champs!

Coaching changes happen all the time in this league. Cousins would have to get over it like every other QB has had to. It's part of the business.

It's a big 6 games for Gruden. The team has to get better at the last few minutes of each half. This high school nonsense has to stop or he deserves to get fired. Just think how close we were to losing to the 49ers at home and it was really a so so call that helped us win that one.

Agreed. The penalty on the FG, KC's intentional grounding (even it wasn't), all those things are on the players. But at the same token, some coaches struggle more with game management than others, and Gruden will always be one who does. I don't understand wanting him to give up play calling, I mean we put up solid points against top defenses all year long. The question I have is why do the Skins go into brain freeze at the end of half's and games. I just don't understand that at all.

Exactly. He's had 4 years to fix it and he's still screwing it up. It ain't that hard. He has multiple coaches helping, they practice it, he has a vet QB and they still struggle with it.

Paul is more than capable of making that block. Fullback in general has been phased out around the league not just here.