Well, THAT was the most fun to watch Redskins game since last October.
Alfred Morris is on a pace to gain 1,408 yards and to score 16 touchdowns this season while averaging 4.9 yards per carry.
Kudos to Coach Jay Gruden who showed nimble thinking about the offense. Gruden has made plain his disdain for read option. His first call against Jacksonville was a read option with Robert Griffin running for a 12-yard gain. RG closed the play with a perfect slide just after gaining a first down. That was everything Redskins fans wanted to see in one play. What we saw in the Redskins second offensive series was everything we did not want to see.
I hope Gruden shows even more mental nimbleness about read option. That play and the pistol formation are in the NFL to stay and Gruden has the quarterbacks to run it … if he understands that QB running is not the only option.
Colin Kaepernick ran it several times Sunday night. Passing is an option in read option, too. So is tossing the ball to a back. I have concerns about tossing the ball to Alfred Morris, less so if tossing to Roy Helu or perhaps Silas Redd. Kirk Cousins cannot run from the play as well as a healthy RG, but all the other options are there.
Wait. Redskins failed to avoid running up score and killing clock. Redd didn't know is role there. rofl #HTTR
— Anthony Brown, The RedsCommander (@RedsCommanders) September 14, 2014
Griffin’s first pass was a beautifully completed deep pass to DeSean Jackson that game officials called incomplete. We was robbed. None other than officiating expert Mike Carey called game officials wrong in the call. Carey revealed that as a game official, he asked the NFL not to be assigned to Redskins games out of antipathy to the team name.
Had I known, I would have been suspicious about his objectivity calling games. I felt a twinge of that today. I am glad he made the request and that the NFL met his demand.
When Robert dislocated his ankle, I had a flashback to Howard Cosell’s famous call, “Down goes Frazier,” from the Joe Frazier vs. George Foreman heavyweight championship fight in 1973. Yes, I am old enough to have a first-hand memory of both the fight and Cosell’s distinctive blow-by-blow account.
Sometimes, I really hate autocorrect on Twitter.
I hear the voice of Howard Cowell- Down goes Griffin. #Redskins
— Anthony Brown, The RedsCommander (@RedsCommanders) September 14, 2014
Reading the Twitterverse reaction when RGIII went down should be enough to convince thinking people not to take social media seriously about anything. (You can trust Hog Heaven’s tweets.) Fans with doubts about RGIII almost seemed to gloat about his injury so that the Redskins could “move on” from a failed experiment. Kirk Cousin doubters (I hate the word “haters”) lament that the Redskins’ fate is in his hands while pointing to his performance in the last three games of 2013.
The team was a tire fire when Mike Shanahan tossed Cousins in the middle of it in the midst of his “fire me” campaign. Alfred Morris was the only player who looked good and even he saw the imperfections in his performance.
Know that cliche, 'If you have 2 QBs, you don't have any?' Well @RGIII and @KirkCousins8 turned that on its head today. Hail #Redskins
— Anthony Brown, The RedsCommander (@RedsCommanders) September 14, 2014
Can fans be happy that there is depth at the position. Griffin isn’t going anywhere and neither is Cousins. Griffin was on his way to an impressive day, too.
Cousins and Griffin both end game with 109 passer rating. #Redskins #HTTR
— Anthony Brown, The RedsCommander (@RedsCommanders) September 14, 2014
Griffin rolled his ankle on the Redskins’ eighth offensive play. Already I’ve heard the “Griffin is fragile like Jordan Reed” refrain. It goes with the territory, I suppose.
If Cousins were injured during the Jacksonville game, Andre Roberts would have stepped in at quarterback. Then we would have expected him to complete his passes to himself.
Next game and for however long Griffin is out, Colt McCoy is your back up. If something happens to Cousins and McCoy, well, Rex Grossman is out there.
We do not have a quarterback controversy. The Shanahans developed Cousins to be a back up because of the talent glut at the top. Teams allocate first team practice and game reps like gold. The bullion went to Griffin. Cousins needs about eight straight weeks of first team reps to round into a starter.
That could happen now. If the Redskins win seven or eight games guided by good performances by Cousins, then we will have a genuine quarterback controversy, along with genuine trade inquiries from other teams. It is way too early to think about that now.
The question of the moment is how are we going to beat them Eagles?
This is a Redskins blog, but I feel for Jaguars fans. Jacksonville rivals Washington, Dallas and Oakland as the NFL’s worst managed franchise over 10 years or so. They have a new owner, now management, new coaches and are rebuilding with young talent. They are as hungry for playoff appearances as Redskins (Cowboys and Raiders) fans.
The Jags must have entered the game thinking they had a chance to win against a 2013 three-win team that showed nothing against the Texans. Instead, a team angry at their own performance against the Texans blew them out. How will the Jaguars offensive line stand up to J.J. Watt, twice?
first downs: Redskins 27, Jaguars 5
yards: Redskins 411, Jaguars 75— Ryan O'Halloran (@ryanohalloran) September 14, 2014
Empathy. I get what Jags fans must be feeling now. “We want Bortles.” Now THAT’S a controversy.
Image credit: The Washington Paper.
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