Don’t even think about calling this post a criticism of Alfred Morris. It is about the Redskins brain trust.
Tonight’s Cowboys at Bears game brings the remarkable Matt Forte to mind. Mid-Atlantic football fans tend to focus on LeSean McCoy who has similar talent, but Forte is a stud that has been more consistently versatile.
Hog Heaven suspects that Redskins Head Coach Jay Gruden would rather swap Alfred Morris for Forte than to trade RGIII for a third-round pick.
Gruden’s offense demands a versatile back that is a credible receiving target. The West Coast Offense demands it, too. That skill is not on the Redskins.
Twenty-five percent of Bengals RB Giovani Bernard’s touches in 2013 were receptions for 514 yards and three touchdowns. Gruden was Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator who called that run-catch mix for Bernard.
Forte is more of a beast. Twenty-eight percent of his touches this year are receptions for 650 yards and three scores.
Researching a story and, geez, RB Matt Forte has more catches & yards than Pierre Garcon. I don't blame Garcon for that. #Redskins
— Anthony Brown, The RedsCommander (@RedsCommanders) December 4, 2014
Ground-pounder Morris has always been a cutback rusher ideally suited for Mike Shanahan’s offense. Mike isn’t here anymore. Morris has 14 receptions this year under Gruden. He is well ahead of last season when he caught a total of nine balls on 12 targets.
When Gruden got the job, he marveled that he never had a back quite like Morris. We saw that as a good thing. Perhaps it was not the compliment we assumed it to be. Gruden could have thought, ”Holy cow pie! How can I win without a feature back that catches like Matt Forte, or Giovani Bernard?”
Hog Heaven believes that the thought process to bring Gruden to Washington was a shortsighted focus on Robert Griffin III. We suspect these guys did not think through the implications on the rest of the offense. They were tactical to fix a specific issue when they should have thought strategically about Gruden’s effect on the entire offense. Shortcuts are a thing with the Redskins.
Who’s with me on that?
Here are the boring details.
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