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Washington Redskins: Why Jay Gruden deserves more respect

By Ian Cummings

NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 19: Head coach Jay Gruden of the Washington Redskins ooks on as his team takes on the New Orleans Saints during the first half at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on November 19, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 19: Head coach Jay Gruden of the Washington Redskins ooks on as his team takes on the New Orleans Saints during the first half at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on November 19, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
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LANDOVER, MD – NOVEMBER 12: Running back Rob Kelley #20 of the Washington Redskins lays on the field injured during the second quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at FedExField on November 12, 2017 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – NOVEMBER 12: Running back Rob Kelley #20 of the Washington Redskins lays on the field injured during the second quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at FedExField on November 12, 2017 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /

Withstanding Adversity

So, you like stats. Let’s take a look at some stats from last year.

Twenty-four Washington Redskins players ended the 2017 season on injured reserve. Fourteen of those players were starters at one point in 2017. In addition to that number, Dustin Hopkins spent half of the season on injured reserve, before returning to the active roster in Week 15. The team also lost Su’a Cravens before the start of the season, due to a temporary retirement.

In addition to the injured reserve numbers, seventeen players, excluding those on injured reserve, missed at least one game over the course of the season, including Martrell Spaight, Quinton Dunbar, Jamison Crowder, and Bashaud Breeland.

It doesn’t matter how good a head coach is; If your roster gets hit this hard by injuries, and if that roster is not yet well-equipped enough to withstand those injuries, then bad things will happen. It will be much harder to compete. In the NFL, it’s important to maintain cohesion and continuity. With injury numbers of this magnitude, it’s utterly impossible.

But despite these injuries, which flared after the Washington Redskins’ Week 6 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, Jay Gruden kept the Washington Redskins respectable. In a brutal twelve-game stretch to end the season, Gruden went 5-7 with a roster severely weakened by injuries.

By midseason, the Washington Redskins were signing players off the street. And still, Gruden kept them from nose-diving. He helped them win on the road in Seattle. That’s not even easy to do when healthy. He kept them close in games against the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings, two teams who would eventually face each other to decide who went to the NFC Championship. On paper, 7-9 isn’t impressive. With context, it suddenly is. It’s a magical thing.

The only other NFL teams who even compared to the Washington Redskins last year, in terms of injuries, were the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans. The Texans went 4-12 in a weaker division than the NFC East, and the Chargers barely missed the playoffs in a weak AFC West. Both of them kept their coaches. The Washington Redskins were right to do the same.

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