Washington Redskins Need A Strong Defense For Offensive Genius Jay Gruden
By Steve Herl
The Washington Redskins have to build up their defense. Jay Gruden can make the most of any offensive attack given his strong knowledge on that side of the ball.
Jay Gruden is an offensive genius. He played quarterback. He was hired because of his success as an offensive coordinator in Cincinnati and his brother is a quarterback guru who won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay. Bill Callahan is considered one of the finest offensive line coaches in the NFL. Interestingly, Callahan was the losing coach in Super Bowl XXXVII to Jon Gruden.
Must Read: Kirk Cousins Meets Williams Shatner, The Real Captain Kirk
It is obvious that the strength of the Redskins coaching staff is on the offensive side of the ball. No one on the defensive side of the ball has the credentials of Gruden or Callahan. Therefore, the talent on the team has to be tilted decisively to the defense. As counter-intuitive as it may sound, an offensive coach needs to have a physically strong and talented defense and a defensive coach needs a physically gifted and exceptional offense. An offensive coach can scheme to cover weaknesses on that side of the ball but his defense has to give him a chance. Defensive minds need just the opposite.
A perfect example of this concept involves the other Gruden. When Jon Gruden was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the Oakland Raiders in 2002, he inherited a team that would be ranked No. 1 in defense and win the Super Bowl in his first year. Gruden was able to figure out a way to make a physically limited offense efficient enough to take advantage of the Bucs great defense. That defense had been constructed under the defensive genius of Tony Dungy.
Dungy was fired in Tampa Bay because he failed to design the Buccaneers to the strengths of the coaching staff. Dungy kept improving the defense with more and more talent, but he could not scheme on offense enough to succeed. Jon Gruden was the perfect man for the job.
When Dungy was hired by the Indianapolis Colts, he inherited the perfect team for him. Peyton Manning and the offense were exciting and explosive which allowed Tony Dungy to scheme on defense and use the Colt’s limited defensive talent efficiently and effectively. The coach that was fired in Tampa Bay in spite of having the league’s best defense became a Super Bowl winning coach when united with a great offense.
Just like his brother, Jay Gruden can scheme on offense and move the ball against anyone. They have proven that. The reason that Gruden has not begged to re-sign Kirk Cousins is that he believes he can move the ball with Colt McCoy. He knows his own strengths. But he cannot scheme offensively well enough to succeed without a defense who can get him the ball. The defense must be able to keep keep the other team from dominating the time of possession.
Next: Washington Redskins Must Not Reach For Needs In Draft
In order to do that the Redskins need to concentrate on building a physically imposing and talented defense. Washington needs to spend the money in Free Agency on defense. They need to use their draft picks to supplement and build a consistently good defense. The Redskins need to build to their strengths and resist making decisions that are glitzy and glamorous. Let Gruden do what he does best and give him a defense that allows him to operate.