Preparation

[EA7649]

All of this is my opinion and listening to interviews and reports throughout the year.

Throughout this season I've noticed that the mental preparation for games have been awful. I'm sure we have all heard that practices have been good, players are just not doing the same thing in the game.
Great job coaches
But how the players have handled themselves after games (win or lose) is the problem. The person to blame for that is the coaches.
Want to hear what I mean with that?

-Week 1 after the loss it was a sense of it was close and it was only the first game no urgency. Just fix the problems (Not too critical on that, but its not a winning mentality)
-Week 2 after the win over the Jags really confident mentality and Cousins can be the answer this guy is AWESOME
-Week 3 close loss to the Eagles good moral victory Cousins is even more AWESOME than we thought, (yes he was awful at the end of the game, lets ignore that and beat the Giants with the Eagles being a much more difficult team.)
-Week 4 embarrassing loss to the Giants kind of take after that sentence before that game^. We just got our a$$ kicked we need to play better! I think we have problems. But lets regroup for the next game.
-Week 5 loss to the defending champs. Cousins played better and we didn't play awful OKAY we got something! We were going to lose anyway.
-Week 6 loss to the Cards. Cousins has turnover problems we should have won (we'll play better with RG3!)
-Week 7 win against the Titan. Cousins you turn it over too much man your yanked. McCoy plays well and get the win at the end. This is good we got the win and McCoy seems good.
-Week 8 win against the Cowboys. WOW we played well defense and offense McCoy is the man on prime time! But, can we be even better with RG3? Lets think about that when the time comes.
-Week 9 loss to the Vikings RG3 its your turn, even though we're divided with wanting McCoy to play since he rocked last week. RG3 wasn't himself with a loss, but he has 2 weeks to prepare against the sorry Bucs. SF is going to be hard...
-Weel 11 loss to the Bucs with being too confident against an easy team and we've done this before in 2012 to make the playoffs blew the game. WTF!!!! Maybe the online does suck kinda agree with Robert. You better play well against the 49ers!
-Week 12 loss to the 49ers played better, should have used this mentality against an easy win. But maybe we are better with McCoy, plus Luck is doing better than RG3.
-Week 13 loss to the Colts they are just a really good team and better then us. That's how it turned out. We're not that good and need to improve.
-Week 14 loss to the Rams lets see how we improve after the Colts, because it needs to be done. Alright McCoy its RG3's turn.
-Week 15 loss to the Giants we need to play better compared to the early week 4 blowout. McCoy are you okay? Trust the coach since he really likes him and played good a few games. McCoy gets hurt and now its RG3's turn, but you didn't come through at the end (sorry us defensive backs kinda dropped the ball)
-Week 16 win against the Eagles. Division game lets knock the Eagles out of the playoffs and play focused! That happens with some luck resulting in a win.
-Week 17 loss to Cowboys. We beat the earlier this season and played good against the Eagles. Hmm. 5-11 sounds better than 4-12 Happy holidays, celebrate! Yeah...wasn't good.

I blame coaches for bad preparation. This never would have happened to the Patriots with Belichick (they struggled early on and all their positions aren't loaded O-line was a joke early on.) Of course there are issues with injuries and talent in positions, most teams have those two problems, its not an excuse. Fixing those issues and having a good leader is the way to the fix the problem.

I don't think Gruden will be gone, but will learn from this and some coordinates should be gone.

What is your opinion!?

[DarthMonk]

Preparation H?

No. When the roids hurt all year it's time for surgery. We need to cut away all things on this team not directed at winning. There needs to be a sense of urgency I have not seen since Seattle in the playoffs. It needs to start with the coach and he has to have the support of management.

Can Jay Gruden bring the attitude? I'm not sure. I fear Snyder hired the wrong guy and that part of the reason is the right one would never sign on here.

Go Pac go.

[SkinsJock]

This season I have come to realize the biggest problem is not the players but the guys in charge ..

Season's grades:

the GM = F

the HC = D

the OC = C

the DC = F

the players = C

any well run organization would start by getting rid of the guys at the top

if we continue with the same guys in charge, we're looking at the same basement dwelling type of play from this franchise

I'm kind of looking forward to the 'optimistic' out look some here will have if we add a great RT + a great DL + a great S

= NO CHANCE for another year if we do not have a real GM

it's not about the indians, people ... it's about the stupid chiefs (dumb and dumber II)

[EA7649]

I mostly agree with you skinsjock. I also don't think they are good leaders and getting them mentally prepared.

[SkinsJock]

I mostly agree with you skinsjock. I also don't think they are good leaders and getting them mentally prepared.

agreed - it's easy to look back at this season and see that there has not seemed to be any sense of urgency at any time - we constantly saw players at the LOS with little time on the play clock and IMO the coaches have not seemed to want to make the players feel that they need to step things up in any phase of the game

preparation has been seriously lacking here and the coaches have in many instances wanted to point to the failures of the players to do what they've been coached to do when in fact it's the coaches job to better prepare the players to execute the plays as designed

Gruden is the HC - it's his job to better prepare the players and the coaches - GRUDEN DID NOT DO THIS WELL AT ALL this season

Gruen needs to be on a need to succeed path very early next season or he should be canned - it's that simple




but

nothing matters at all if we do not have a real GM in charge - we're just kidding ourselves if we think these bozos can fix things here

[EA7649]

I honestly never thought preparation was the problem and then it hit me. I agree with everything you wrote up there. But one can expect that out of a rookie coach.

[SkinsJock]

I honestly never thought preparation was the problem and then it hit me. I agree with everything you wrote up there. But one can expect that out of a rookie coach.

you know what - I understand the thinking but I'm really pissed that Gruden get's a 'pass', if you will, for not doing so well in his first year but none of the players here get a 'pass' for not doing so well under a completely different offensive scheme - that's BS
Gruden needs to step up and take more blame for his 'failures' and not pass those onto his players as he did through this season

Gruden could very well become a good HC but he needs to take most of the blame for the failures here - on both offense and defense
if he doesn't make it much better, very early next season, he should be fired - this is a make it or break it job - he's not 'making it'

[fredp45]

Which Chief do we blame for LB Robinson dropping that pick 6 or CB Amerson looking like Stevie Wonder on 1/2 dozen plays??

The players deserve much worse than a C...getting the 5th pick this year? Would have had the 2nd pick last year...

[fredp45]

forgot to say....

This is a total team cluster. From Danny, to Bruce, to Jay, to his coaches to the players... We suck and unfortunately, this is NOT a quick fix. If we were to be honest with ourselves this is a 3-4 year rebuild, not a quick turn around!

Are there more than 20 guys on this roster you believe are NFL quality players? Maybe some of our starters are ok backups, e.g. RT Compton, SS Thomas, CB Amerson, LB Riley, DL Jenkins. Others aren't even good enough for that, e.g., FS Clark, RG Chester, LG Lauvao, TE Paulsen, DL Bowen, DL Gholston, WR Moss (and I love him...but he's done!)

Then there's Orakpo taking up $11 mil in cap (could be two quality OL) and what do we get from him again this year???

If we don't draft lineman early in the draft, we're doomed. I've seen guys on this board say, draft the Safety from Alabama. NO WAY...that guy will not apply more pressure on the QB and he won't protect our qb's.

[EA7649]

This was pretty much the same what I wrote earlier. I thought it wasn't sent. When I see delete this comment, will do. My bad.

[Irn-Bru]

Then there's Orakpo taking up $11 mil in cap (could be two quality OL) and what do we get from him again this year???

The front office did the smart thing with Orakpo. That $11 million is the franchise tag. We part ways with him this offseason with no dead cap.

It was either that or sign him long-term. We were rightly cautious about that and only kept him because we didn't yet have the depth to replace him. Now we do.

[SkinsJock]

on the 4th down play - Gruden needed to understand he's giving up the 3 - Griffin did not have the option of throwing the ball away if the play was not there because it would have been turned over on downs, so he (Griffin) has to try and throw the ball somewhere and there was only 1 receiver and a bunch of pukes - NOT A GOOD CALL by the HC, the QB did as well as he could on a really bad play call by the HC

the QB is not the problem with the offense not being effective - #1 is the O line and #2 is the HC

Gruden should have a conversation with the GM and beg them to let him try and do better next season - if he does not, can him early

I am really disappointed in how this franchise was handled this season

Gruden let us all down, big time - if Haslett was not doing what Gruden wanted, he should have been canned and if he was then the HC should have been canned - this is why we need to have more accountability here

the HC should be responsible for the failures, if not who is?

Jon Gruden would have kicked his brother's butt if he were the HC - Jay is a wimp

[EA7649]

on the 4th down play - Gruden needed to understand he's giving up the 3 - Griffin did not have the option of throwing the ball away if the play was not there because it would have been turned over on downs, so he (Griffin) has to try and throw the ball somewhere and there was only 1 receiver and a bunch of pukes - NOT A GOOD CALL by the HC, the QB did as well as he could on a really bad play call by the HC

Yes, Robert had to make a throw risky or not. It was 4th down, if you pass it out of bounds its pointless.

[hanburgerheel]

I'm starting to have serious doubt about Jay Gruden as an efficient HEAD coach. I don't think he has it at all. I also don't think many good coach want a job as the Head Coach for the Washington "REDSKINS" either.

[StorminMormon86]

I blame whoever decided to go back to Griffin after the Dallas victory. Not saying McCoy was the answer, I think he's an ok backup, but at that point we were sitting at 3-5 with several winnable games coming up, and McCoy was riding high at that point.

[oj]

I've been hypercritical of Gruden since midseason, when you change players in and out and continue to have the same problem then the problem is the common denominator. Gruden has no clue on how to actually win a football game. He cannot inspire a team, there is no passion. Ever see him get into a refs' face? How often has he thrown a red flag? I guess he waits until he is back at the office to send a scathing memo.
He might be a good tactician, tacticians are hired and fired by the head coach - they never, ever, make a good head coach.

[Neo]

Then there's Orakpo taking up $11 mil in cap (could be two quality OL) and what do we get from him again this year???

The front office did the smart thing with Orakpo. That $11 million is the franchise tag. We part ways with him this offseason with no dead cap.

It was either that or sign him long-term. We were rightly cautious about that and only kept him because we didn't yet have the depth to replace him. Now we do.

Will Rac be a FA or can we trade him? I believe he will be a FA but wanted to sure.

[riggofan]

Which Chief do we blame for LB Robinson dropping that pick 6 or CB Amerson looking like Stevie Wonder on 1/2 dozen plays??

The players deserve much worse than a C...getting the 5th pick this year? Would have had the 2nd pick last year...

Or the horrible tackling in the first half of the game. Gruden apparently went off on them at halftime, and the defense cleaned it up a little in the second half.

Blame the coaches while giving the players a pass is just weak.

[riggofan]

I honestly never thought preparation was the problem and then it hit me. I agree with everything you wrote up there. But one can expect that out of a rookie coach.

you know what - I understand the thinking but I'm really pissed that Gruden get's a 'pass', if you will, for not doing so well in his first year but none of the players here get a 'pass' for not doing so well under a completely different offensive scheme -

I don't think Gruden gets a pass for not doing well. I think he inherited a 3-13 team that we all know is a complete wreck. I think most people realize its idiotic to believe he was going to turn it all around in one year.

As far as offensive scheme, was Gruden running some Chip Kelly exotic thing that nobody was able to grasp? Did anybody honestly watch games this season and feel concerned that players didn't understand the "scheme". lol. Give me a freaking break.

[riggofan]

I've been hypercritical of Gruden since midseason, when you change players in and out and continue to have the same problem then the problem is the common denominator. Gruden has no clue on how to actually win a football game. He cannot inspire a team, there is no passion. Ever see him get into a refs' face? How often has he thrown a red flag? I guess he waits until he is back at the office to send a scathing memo.
He might be a good tactician, tacticians are hired and fired by the head coach - they never, ever, make a good head coach.

Hey here's my vote for worst post of 2014. Just got it in there!

Yes, if only Gruden had yelled at the refs a bit more. Could have been a different season.

[StorminMormon86]

I honestly never thought preparation was the problem and then it hit me. I agree with everything you wrote up there. But one can expect that out of a rookie coach.

you know what - I understand the thinking but I'm really pissed that Gruden get's a 'pass', if you will, for not doing so well in his first year but none of the players here get a 'pass' for not doing so well under a completely different offensive scheme -

I don't think Gruden gets a pass for not doing well. I think he inherited a 3-13 team that we all know is a complete wreck. I think most people realize its idiotic to believe he was going to turn it all around in one year.

As far as offensive scheme, was Gruden running some Chip Kelly exotic thing that nobody was able to grasp? Did anybody honestly watch games this season and feel concerned that players didn't understand the "scheme". lol. Give me a freaking break.

+1

[riggofan]

+1

Right???

I have to say the one thing I've liked about Gruden personally is how he's dealt with the RGIII thing this year for the most part. I think we needed somebody to come clean and be honest about where the QB is. I don't know whether he wants to continue with Griffin or not, but he hasn't coddled him, hasn't kissed his butt and hasn't annointed him the savior.

There's a case to be made for breaking a player down to build him back up. Whether RGIII is going to respond to that... who knows.