Redskins miss Sean McVay more than they’d like to admit

Jacob Camenker

LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 10: Head Coach Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams looks on during the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 10, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

The Washington Redskins lost both of their coordinators this offseason. As of right now, the Redskins are definitely missing former offensive coordinator Sean McVay.

One of the biggest storylines of the offseason for the Redskins has been their complete regression on the offensive side of the ball. Despite sporting a widely improved defense in 2017, the Redskins do not have the look of a playoff caliber team. The unit to blame for this is certainly the offense.

At first, it wasn’t exactly clear why the Redskins weren’t able to repeat their success. Sure, they had suffered losses on the field, but they were supposed to be able to fill those in with other players. But the bigger issue came as a result of the departure of Sean McVay.

Back in the winter, McVay agreed to become the youngest head coach in NFL history when he joined the Los Angeles Rams. Just 31, McVay was sent in to jumpstart the stagnant Rams offense and thus far, he has done great work in a short period of time. McVay surrounded himself with knowledgeable veterans and that has allowed the Rams to rebuild themselves quickly.

The departure of McVay was written off as not a big deal by Washington. After all, they still had Jay Gruden, who was a smart offensive mind in his own right. But thus far this season, the Redskins look far worse off without the wunderkind on the sideline.

With all of that said, it is clear that the Redskins made a mistake by letting McVay depart. Granted, they couldn’t do much to keep him away from the Rams once the head coaching offer was made, but still. Not having their offensive guru has hurt, especially after seeing what he accomplished in Week 1 in L.A.

THOUSAND OAKS, CA – JANUARY 13: The Los Angeles Rams announce today in a press conference the hiring of new head coach Sean McVay on January 13, 2017 in Thousand Oaks, California. McVay is the youngest head coach in NFL history. (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

McVay has already done incredible work in Los Angeles

In just one game as the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, McVay has worked wonders with their team. Last year, the Redskins offense was anemic for the most part, and struggled to move the ball. Jared Goff looked absolutely terrible and was well on his way to being a bust. In the first week of the 2017 season, McVay’s squad looked completely transformed.

Goff looked much more comfortable and confident in the pocket, and put up what was easily the best stat line of his career. Going 21-for-29 with 306 yards and a touchdown, Goff helped lead the offense to the 46-9 victory. Granted, the Colts are not looking like a very good team at the moment, but the Rams offense moved at will for most of the day. Most importantly, there was marked growth between the 2016 version of Goff and the 2017 version of him.

McVay absolutely has to be credited with Goff’s growth. The young head coach put an offensive scheme into effect that fits Goff’s skill set. Additionally, McVay brought it well known quarterback guru Greg Olson into the fold to help Goff grow. The coaching duo looks to be a great fit with the rookie, and that will allow the Rams to be competitive this year.

Kirk Cousins, Jay Gruden look weaker without McVay

The Redskins were absolutely terrible on offense in the season opener, continuing a trend that same mediocre outputs in the four preseason games they played. Kirk Cousins struggled. Rob Kelley couldn’t gain any positive yardage. The receivers aside from Terrelle Pryor were unable to do much. Many fans wondered what was wrong with the offense after the opener.

Well, one theory is that Jay Gruden isn’t quite the offensive guru that some thought he was. In three years with the Redskins, Gruden’s offense was run by McVay, his offensive coordinator. Without McVay, some of Gruden’s deficiencies have been exposed.

Gruden’s play calling on Sunday seemed to lack creativity, and he really wasn’t able to address the issues that plagued the team. Jamison Crowder was unable to get involved. Morgan Moses looked like a turnstile at points, but Gruden didn’t adjust to help him. These were two controllable issues that Gruden could have addressed, but he chose to largely stick with the ineffective plan that wasn’t working. That is not the mark of a high quality offensive mind.

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Another major issue is that Cousins has not looked comfortable in the offense. The Redskins did lose their top two receivers, DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, during the offseason, but that wasn’t the major problem for Cousins. If Cousins was missing Jackson and Garcon, there would have been many more communication errors on Sunday. Instead, it looks like he just isn’t quite right.

Cousins struggled with his accuracy and ball placement for a good portion of Sunday’s game. He just didn’t look sharp as he had in the previous seasons. While Cousins has been a slow starter in the past, this was supposed to be the season where he would fix that. Instead, he has regressed once again, and had another crippling interception that really killed all the momentum that the Redskins had. And this definitely has to do with missing McVay.

If McVay was still there, he would be able to help Cousins make the small mechanical changes necessary to succeed. Without him, the Redskins are forced to rely on new offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, the former quarterbacks coach who has worked with Cousins in the past. If Cavanaugh can’t fix Cousins, then it is going to be a very up and down season for the quarterback.

LANDOVER, MD – JANUARY 01: Head coach Jay Gruden of the Washington Redskins looks on against the New York Giants in the third quarter at FedExField on January 1, 2017 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Overall

Like I said earlier, there’s not much that the Redskins could have done to keep McVay. The only possibility they could have considered would have been to part with Jay Gruden and promote McVay to the head coaching slot. We’ve seen this in the past with Tom Coughlin and Ben McAdoo in New York, and Lovie Smith and Dirk Koetter in Tampa Bay. But still, that would have been a major risk.

The real issue that the Redskins have suffered is too much turnover all-around. Had the Redskins lost just McVay and not their top two receivers, they could have been in better shape. Had they lost the receivers and not McVay, the transition may have gone smoother.

However, getting a new play-caller in Gruden and a couple of new top options has clearly been too tough for Cousins to figure out. The Redskins should have done more to try and retain some of their talent, and definitely made a mistake relying on unproven players like Josh Doctson to make an impact.

Next: Redskins ingredients for improvement post Week 1

As the Redskins travel to Los Angeles in Week 2, it will be interesting to see if their offense improves. If they go into L.A. and have a poor offensive performance, the team is going to have to re-evaluate themselves before a primetime game in Week 3 against the Raiders.

Jacob Camenker