Predictions: End of year thoughts on Jay Gruden Year 1

[HtownRocks111]

Regardless of what you think about the job he has done thus far, what's your end of year predictions on the job Jay Gruden will accomplish as a coach his first year?

 

I've always been an optimistic guy but I try to be fair when I see it.  After 4 games we've had the opportunity to watch our boys play the Texans, Jaguars, Eagles, and Giants.  Through most of the season (first 3 games), our players were just as competitive as anyone in the league.

 

Texans game:  We fought, clawed, while our offense and special teams struggled, our defense stood strong.

 

Jaguars game:  We dominated from start to finish.  Our offense won the battle, our defense won the battle, our special teams won the battle, and even our coaching won the battle.

 

Eagles game:  When most of the nation, even most of our fan base besides us "glass half-full guys" wrote the Redskins off before the coin toss of this game, one more play on special teams or one more stop on defense could've put us on the winning side the scoreboard.  If you could hand out "Draws" purely off of amount of effort from both teams, that's what would've been handed out for this game.

 

Giants game:  All teams, and I will repeat ALL teams sometimes have a game like we witnessed that Thursday night.  It was a short week in which the Giants looked better prepared, better rested, they wanted that win more then we did, that's all there was to it.

 

One thing that is common through most of this season is that our guys show fight.  From listening to Jay Gruden it seems he is enforcing players to be more accountable.  He says Orakpo makes a difference on defense that can not be seen with stats, but he is too good of a pass rusher to only have half of a sack thus far.  He shakes his head when he sees the talent we have on offense and the great offensive weapons we have and will expect every game to see 24+ points on our side of the scoreboard.  The penalties are bad right now, but they are fixable.  Give our guys more time with Jay Gruden and they too will develop the no nonsense mentality that he brings to work everyday.

 

My prediction after week 17 is that despite the record, we will all respect the change instilled in our players and appreciate the effort and hustle they put in to each game.  Like all "rookies", there is a learning curve and that applies to coaches as well.  Look at Chip Kelly, after seeing what his mesmerizing offense did last year and his "HOF-lite" caliber QB did and it appears they are struggling a bit.  Without their strong special teams unit, I don't think they win 2 out of the 3 they've won.  Jay Gruden will learn a lot from this first year of experience, but not as much as our players will learn from him.   He's the right man for the job.

[Riggo-toni]

My prediction is that Snyder will insist on a new defensive coordinator, and for the first time, part of his meddling may be right on.