Lets credit Jay Gruden for one thing. He seems determined not to repeat a four-win season with the same set of Redskins coaches. EDIT: Yesterday we heard the Redskins are eyeing Nate Hackett to be quarterback coach.
Hackett was the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills for two seasons. We asked Joe Pinzone, our Bloguin colleague at Buffalo Wins blog, for a scouting report on Hackett.
“If you just look at the stats, the Bills offense has been below average over the past two seasons. This past season, they scored two offensive TDs or fewer in 12 of their games. EJ Manuel was benched and Kyle Orton was ordinary. Now, in terms of Hackett, there’s a narrative that he was held down by Doug Marrone who is very old school and isn’t exactly known for forward thinking.
“When Hackett got here, they were going to employ a no-huddle offense. He talked a lot of junk about being aggressive. They weren’t aggressive. In fact, they regressed. So, if you want to believe Hackett was held down by Marrone which some have thought, then he’d be a good fit.
“He’s young & is a son of Paul Hackett (Veteran OC & QB coach). But if you just look at the Bills offense the last two years, you are left underwhelmed.”
Bills running back Fred Jackson praised Hackett in a Buffalo area radio interview. Then he ruined it for Redskins fans by saying Hackett was held back by head coach Doug Marrone.
Oh no. Not another one. Not another Haslett excuse.
Fans do not get an inside look at the candidates for these openings. We cannot be won over by how well they interview. We judge results. We are won over by how well players relate.
That was the strongest argument for keeping Raheem Morris. It remains to be seen for Joe Barry, Bill Callahan and Hackett, if he joins us.
The Jaguars and Rams are also looking at Hackett for the offensive coordinator position. If an OC job opens, you won’t see Hackett at Redskins Park.
Help for Gruden
The real news is that the Redskins are looking for a quarterback coach at all. Jay Gruden was his own quarterback coach last season. That was too much for a rookie head coach we suspect was over his head and a mismatch for Robert Griffin III.
It’s good news that Gruden is off-loading the task to a well-chosen coach. We applaud.
The problem for Hackett is that E.J. Manuel has not developed as an NFL starter. How does that translate as a solution for the Redskins’ quarterback mess?
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