Redskins Quarter Season Review – Five hard truths

Sep 3, 2015; Landover, MD, USA; Washington Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan (left) talks with Washington Redskins president Bruce Allen before the game between the Washington Redskins and the Jacksonville Jaguars at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Who’s at RB?

Not to answer a question with a question, but was Matt Jones benched because of his fumbles(or another reason) or because Gruden didn’t feel that he could run the power running offense without Lauvao?

Or did Gruden just want to use an unsubtle way to go from a run heavy offense(which worked in the first two weeks) to his(and McVay’s) preferred pass heavy offense thinking that he could pull it off?

That’s a lot of questions for one question but there’s not enough data for a conclusion yet. But Gruden said on thursday that “Matt Jones isn’t in my doghouse.”

So, it appears that on the surface that this is a function of Lauvao’s injury.

Who sits for Desean Jackson?

Ryan Grant and Jamison Crowder have been doing well replacing DJax, but someone has to sit in 2-4 weeks when Desean returns from injury.

The logical choice would be Grant since Crowder does best in the slot and Grant has to play outside to be more effective.

The further question is if Jackson is ineffective or rather more ineffective than Grant or Crowder, do the Redskins consider benching him?

Can the passing game survive without Jordan Reed?

Stop me when this sounds familiar: Jordan Reed is hurt again. He suffered sprained knee, sprained ankle and a concussion against the Eagles and is out “indefinitely.”

At the minimum, he’s probably out 2-4 weeks maybe as long as 6. Without Niles Paul to pick up the slack from Reed’s annual injuries who will?

Reed, despite his bone headed penalties in most games, had become Cousins’ safety blanket and had a number of third down catches so this loss will sting more than most.

Will the real Ryan Kerrigan show up?

Ryan Kerrigan, somehow, is credited with 1.5 sacks on the season. He’s also credited with 6 hurries. Both figures seem inflated or lacking context.

Kerrigan is now playing almost exclusively in a 3 point stance at right defensive end. This is a big shift for him since he’s always played on the left side in a stand up OLB role.

The transition isn’t going well. Kerrigan just looks out of his depths in this more traditional DE role and offensive tackles have been able to basically squat on him to render him ineffective.

With the Skins now on the hook for 26 million in cap space committed to Kerrigan over the next three seasons, they’re going to need to see some return or Kerrigan will have to return to his traditional position for the Skins to see anything from their investment.

Next: Revised prediction