Gruden gets his wish, starts Colt McCoy at QB vs New England. Is this his last game as Head Coach?

The Washington Redskins are WINLESS. At 0-4, and 0-3 in the NFC East, things don’t get any easier as the undefeated New England Patriots come into FedEx Sunday primed to embarrass the Redskins beyond what they have already experienced this season.

The Patriots are the opposite of everything the Redskins are. They have a cohesive front office and coaching staff, a winning pedigree, and they are the model of consistency. All of these attributes have helped build an NFL dynasty and a championship culture. What do the Redskins bring to the table? They bring drama, storylines, mediocrity as a standard, dissention, and a winless record with no chance of redemption in sight. Tomorrow’s game is about Redskins coaches and players finally saying “enough is enough”. I have a minimal amount of confidence that the Redskins can accomplish that this Sunday. With all of the Redskins’ distractions and negative energy, the Patriots aren’t the team to not be completely focused on football against. They have to play a perfect game in order to have a chance this Sunday. They are going up against not only arguably the best mind in NFL history in head coach Bill Belichick, but they will also be up against six-time Super Bowl Champion Quarterback, Tom Brady.

This week, Redskins head coach Jay Gruden will get his wish of Colt McCoy taking snaps as the starting quarterback this Sunday. At 0-4, and his job on the line, I’m not upset at Jay for starting who HE thinks will give the Redskins their best chance to win. The question is, does it really make a difference? Colt McCoy is coming into this game having not taken a preseason or regular season snap since December 3, 2018 against the Philadelphia Eagles, where he fractured his leg. Jay has decided in Colt’s first game back to throw him out as the starter against the number one defense in the NFL and the defending Super Bowl Champions. At this point, it really doesn’t matter who they throw out there at quarterback because whoever it is looks to be a proverbial sacrificial lamb to opposing defenses.

The Redskin offensive line is beat up with starting left guard Brandon Scherff out another week and center Chase Roullier possibly out. Their best receiver this season, rookie Terry McLaurin, may be out his second game in a row with a lingering hamstring. The Patriot defense should be like piranhas in bloody water. This Redskin offense is wounded, basic, and limited. I’m happy for Colt in that he is allegedly healthy again and able to play. I’m not so sure I wouldn’t have taken one more week off and rested my leg to go against the Miami Dolphins. If the Redskins lose Sunday, Jay is gone Monday morning or maybe even Sunday postgame, and Dwayne Haskins will start the remainder of the year. Sunday could be Colt’s last opportunity to start with the Washington Redskins and most likely with any other team. Hell, he may not even be one hundred percent going into Sunday, and he is going to do his best Cap Rooney impersonation (see Any Given Sunday for those who don’t get the reference), and we all know how that turned out.

Last week, the defense got four turnovers for the offense, and they still managed only three points total for the game. Simply put, the Redskins will need EVERYBODY to play their best on Sunday, and Greg Manusky will have to call a perfect game in order to have anything resembling a chance to win against the Patriots. Tom Brady and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels are too smart to allow a plain and uninspired Redskins defense give them problems. It may sound like I’m not giving the defense much of a chance and that’s because I’m not. They let a rookie quarterback off the hook last week, so what makes anybody think that they will suddenly have a change in approach to dominate a 20-year veteran and six-time Super Bowl Champion? Quite honestly, it’s deflating watching this defense operate weekly.

I want to hear “Redskin player goes off on the media”, or “Redskin players have a brawl at practice”. I want to see the players as pissed off as the loyal fans are. The product on the field is a representation of the team itself, indicative of the leadership that put this product out there, and a sign of the culture that has been established within the organization. These are truly the dark days of Redskins’ football and there has been one common denominator throughout all the years of obscurity. Something needs to change IMMEDIATELY. The question is, where do you start?

They need to stop prolonging the inevitable. Start cleaning house within management and on the coaching staff, because currently the Redskins are the running joke around the league. Nobody is going to want to play for an organization without a strong foundation and healthy culture. This week, I’m not going to insult the intelligence of you loyal Washington Redskins fans by picking them to win as I normally would. I’m not going to disregard your common sense. I will simply say, I hope the team shows up, that they play with some pride, and like they are trying to put food on their families’ tables on Sunday. As you were…

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Gail Burton