You can feel it coming. The painful, and possibly defining moment, of Jay Gruden's tenure as the head coach of the Washington Redskins. Though Gruden hasn't even coached his first regular season game for the Redskins, the clock is already ticking toward a major crisis. And how he handles it, could determine whether there is a Gruden era in Washington.
After seeing his 1st team inept offense performance against the Baltimore Ravens Saturday evening, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to imagine that around 4:00 P.M. on September 14th, Gruden and his team being escorted from FedEx Field by what's left of an angry and frustrated home crowd after losing a sloppy game to the less than stout team from Jacksonville. And if this follows an opening weekend loss in Houston, Gruden will then face a stream of media questions as a winless head coach with a major quarterback controversy on his hands.
Against the Ravens, Washington's face-of-the-franchise quarterback was awful, overseeing an offense that produce almost as many turnovers (2) as it did points (3) in a little more than a half of play. And this doesn't count RGIII's flub of simple and accurate shotgun snap that robbed his team of the chance to keep a promising drive going.
For the evening, Griffin's quarterback rating of 27.1 was a good indication of how badly he and his offense mates played. At least on this night, he and his mates looked like a team that will struggle to win a game, any game, let alone deserve to be in the playoff conversation.
Last year, Griffin was obviously struggling physically with his knee - never displaying with the speed and explosiveness that had marked his successful rookie campaign in 2012. So far this preseason, his speed seems to have returned, and he has thrown a few really crisp, accurate passes.
But he hasn't shown any ability to throw under pass-rush pressure, or to quickly diagnose defenses and respond with a quick release. And even when he has plenty of time in the pocket, it too often appears that he just doesn't see the field very well.
A prime example of this was the disaterous first play from scrimmage to open the second half against the Ravens. The offense line did a good job on this occasion, giving Griffin plenty of time to survey the field. And, even on TV, it was obvious that tight end Jordan Reed was running virtually uncovered up the left seem. Surely, with time, Griffen would spot him and make a fairly routine throw for a big gain.
Instead, after seemingly taking a glance in Reed's direction, Griffen held the ball for an extra count before dumping it off to Alfred Morris, who had swung out of the backfield while tracked by two Ravens. As the ball arrived, Morris was sandwiched, popping it up into the air for an easy interception.
The fact that Kirk Cousins entered the game on the next series looking sharp and decisive, making quick reads and mostly accurate throws will undoubtedly put extra stress on Gruden if Griffin and the offense doesn't perform considerably better once the regular season gets underway.
And by around 4:00 on September 14th, if the Redskins are 0-2, and the offense is largely to blame, Gruden will be holding perhaps the most uncomfortable, and the most important media session of his entire life.
Gruden was brought to Washington to win with Griffin, and it will be very interesting to see if circumstances and performance allow him to stick with that plan past the first two games of his head coaching career.
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