Redskins Ingredients for Improvement: Clean slate needed in Week 3
By Ian Cummings
No. 2 – Jay Gruden must make better in-game adjustments
In Week 1, Jay Gruden formulated a plan to involve Adrian Peterson and Chris Thompson in a two-headed rushing attack. It worked. And so, in Week 2, he tried it again. It didn’t.
No one should be surprised. The Colts saw what the Redskins did in Week 1, and they prepared for it. Jay Gruden didn’t do enough to change the game plan to keep Frank Reich on his toes, and when the game started off on a sour note, little changed.
Execution of Gruden’s plans proved to be just as big a problem as Gruden’s plans themselves on Sunday. The players, particularly on offense, were sloppy, and consistency was a hard sell. One must not pin this entirely on Gruden; the players have a degree of responsibility, just as the coach. They’re grown men, and they should know better than to grow complacent after a win. It’s the coach’s duty to steer them straight. But who says he didn’t? Very few people have sources at practices.
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Whatever the case, and whatever the cause, Gruden needs to improve his game planning next week. The offense needs to find a balance of new, creative additions to the playbook, and old, reliable strategies that are known to work (Example: Jordan Reed up the middle, etc). Creativity is something that got Gruden his job in D.C. And it’s something he lacked entirely on Sunday.
I’ve been a Jay Gruden guy all year. But if he doesn’t get it together, I won’t be.