Jay Gruden may have bitten off more than he can chew in DC. (Getty Images)
Thirteen games into the season and the dysfunction in Washington has already exceeded Jay Gruden's expectations. Robert Griffin III has been benched, the entire defense should be, and there's no reason to think this gets any better in the coming months.
Griffin watched from the sidelines in Week 13 as Colt McCoy got the start, but the former first-round pick made a brief appearance last Sunday after McCoy suffered a neck injury. Gruden says that McCoy will start this week if he's healthy, which again makes you wonder about Griffin's future in Washington.
Griffin's struggles have been well documented -- and can be summed up in this one screen shot, when he had five (!) open receivers and a clean pocket and managed to find none of them.
Robert Griffin III somehow missed all five open receivers vs. Tampa Bay. (FOX)
But there must be an offensive system in which RG3 can survive, right? If there is, Gruden has yet to find it.
“I don't know what offense they are talking about,” Gruden said, via the Washington Post. “As far as offenses that I have studied in the National Football League, we all run similar dropback concepts. Not everybody runs the zone read.
“We run the zone read to try to help him out. We run a lot more play-actions and bootlegs than most teams. ...If you play quarterback in the National Football League, you're going to have to drop back and throw it.”
We'll mention again what we said 11 months ago when Gruden was hired: Back in 2011, when Gruden was the Bengals' offensive coordinator, he had a chance to take Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback whose style is similar to Griffin's, but went with Andy Dalton instead.
Dalton had success in Gruden's scheme, one that relied on getting the ball out quickly and letting his playmakers, well, make plays. That's not Griffin's style, though he struggled prior to Gruden's arrival.
The Post's Jason Reid encapsulates Gruden's predicament in just two sentences: "(Redskins owner Dan) Snyder and (general manager Bruce) Allen want to see (Griffin become a dropback passer), and those are the right people to have in your corner. Gruden is merely the coach. And at soul-crushing Redskins Park, that's one of the worst jobs to have."
NFL Hot News
Giants RB Rashad Jennings to see full workload in Week 15
One week after being limited to three touches due to an ankle injury Giants RB Rashad Jennings is not listed on the Week 15 injury report. When asked about Jennings' status, head coach Tom Coughlin said his lead running back should be able to handle a full workload in Sunday's divisional matchup against the Redskins. Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USJAX-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
Jennings has been solid all year when healthy. Not seeing his name on the injury report should bring a sigh of relief to all owners who made it through Round 1 of the fantasy playoffs. The matchup will limit the veteran's value to RB2 status, as Washington has been formidable against the run all year. With fellow RB Andre Williams coming off of his best game as a professional, rushing for 131 yards and a touchdown, it's hard not to see him in the mix as well. Fantasy owners should expect decent overall production out of Jennings since he is always a threat as a receiver out of the backfield and should once again get the bulk of the carries. Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USJAX-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
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