Redskins big picture Ingredients for Improvement after 0-3 start
By Ian Cummings
No. 5 – Fire Jay Gruden after the Giants game
He’s probably going to lose. But if he wins? Don’t fool yourself. The Redskins aren’t winning with Jay Gruden at the helm. In fact, they’re not even moving forward.
Maybe wait until after the Patriots game, just to get the timing right. But Jay Gruden has been given enough time, to the point where he doesn’t even seem to want to be the coach anymore. To Gruden’s credit, he was dealing with an unwindable situation from the start. The front office doesn’t give coaches enough autonomy, and yet they draw out lame duck years in a futile attempt to provide more freedom.
The odds were always stacked against Gruden. But as I’ve written many times before, two truths can co-exist. The front office is insufferable, but Jay Gruden has also displayed flaws that would prevent him from winning consistently. From his inability to establish a culture, to his complete lack of in-game adaptability, Gruden simply isn’t the guy. And if he’s not the guy, the team shouldn’t wait to make a change. They should use the rest of the lost season to survey future options, and experiment.
In a short week, firing a coach makes little sense, because the new coach would have little time to get ready. But after the Giants game, the Redskins will have a full seven days to prepare for the New England Patriots, and after that, they’ll have another seven days to prepare for the Miami Dolphins. Somewhere in that time range, Jay Gruden should be let go, and the front office should conclude a painfully mediocre tenure.