Redskins Lose to Patriots 33 – 7, Predictably Fire Gruden

In a move that surprised precisely no one, the Redskins fired Jay Gruden in Monday’s wee morning hours after their embarrassing 33 – 7 loss to the Patriots. The Redskins are 0 – 5 on the season and capable of losing to anyone. The offense is anemic, the defense a mysterious talent-eating black hole. Heads roll in a winless seasons, and the Redskins look destined for something damn close. Gruden departs Washington with a 2015 9-7 record and playoff loss as his crowning achievement. It doesn’t quite equal the best records Shanahan and Gibbs were able to produce in the post-2000 era of Redskins football, though, similar to Shanahan, Gruden’s tenure is marked by regression.

The outlook for Washington’s interim head Coach, Bill Callahan, is not good. If his play calling is less anti-run and checkdown-based than Gruden’s, he stands a shot of putting some wins on the board this year. Still, it looks more and more like a long shot every week, outside of the lightweight matches, such as next week’s bout vs. Miami. To make matters worse, Callahan will have to command this team with the specter of a new coach looming over a roster that is underperforming…and knows it. This season is on the express train to nowhere, much like yesterday’s game, which hardly feels worthy of recapping.

The Redskins elected to receive first on Sunday. McCoy zipped a pass to McLaurin for 12 yards and handed off once to Peterson before eating an 8-yard sack and calling for the punter. The defense held on the Patriots’ first drive, and then a miracle happened. Steven Sims Jr. bounced a run to the outside and scampered 65 yards for a Washington TD. I can hardly make sense of this play. Sims is enveloped by defenders at the 50 yard line, yet still manages to break through to the end zone. Beautiful. Unfortunately, the Redskins would punt, fumble, and throw interceptions throughout the next three quarters. They’d end with 119 yard through the air and a misleading 145 on the ground, much of which came off Sims’ miracle run. They would not sustain a drive longer than 25 yards for the rest of the game.

Colt McCoy was long rumored to be Jay’s guy. I doubt the next coach will share the same affinity for him. McCoy lacks the arm strength to force the ball downfield, makes too many mistakes, gets hurt too easily. He was sacked 6 times for 44 yard against the Patriots, threw an interception, and fumbled the ball twice. He is the same Colt McCoy you know well. Still, assign blame wherever you want, be it the shallow receiving corps, injured TEs, ramshackle O-line, or underwhelming QBs. There’s no shortage of options.

Washington’s defense produced 4 sacks against the Patriots, which nearly doubles their total this year. Unfortunately, pressure on Brady still wasn’t consistent enough, and coverage was abysmal as always. Between Allen, Iaonnidis, Norman, Collins, Payne, etc, we have legitimate talent on defense. Something’s lacking in cohesion and execution here; defenders were repeatedly waving to each other and adjusting their positions pre-snap in a way that made them look lost. Julian Edelman put up the best day for a receiver vs. Washington since DJax carved the Skins for 154 yards in week 1. This is the Patriots we’re talking about, but still.

The Pats scored two straight TDs to start the second half, punted, then scored again after managing just 12 points in the first half. In short, they made adjustments. The Redskins did not. This is the sort of thing Jay Gruden never grasped or learned to counter in his time as Redskins head coach, regardless of how bad the roster situation got at times. I wish him well, but if his time as a coach here is any indication of his overall abilities (and it may not be), I give him middling grades. We’ll see. Hindsight is 2020, and I’m sure we’ll be debating his impact on the team for months to come.

The Redskins face a potential layup opponent next week in the Dolphins. That said, everything’s uncertain after a major shakeup like this. For fans across the DMV area, it’s time to settle into the rebuild and relieve yourself of stress for the rest of the year. As always, disregard Bruce Allen’s empty prognostications about winning now. Next year will be different; new coach, new draft picks, new era. I hope you can still find some excitement in that.