Fansided

The Redskins are the epitome of ineptitude

By Matt Verderame

Dec 14, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden talks with quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) during the third quarter of a game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 14, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden talks with quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) during the third quarter of a game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Washington Redskins are an uncontrollable grease fire. They have become a five-alarm raging inferno, and the hoses from every engine in the city are not enough. At this point, the helicopters full of fire retardant are being called in, only for owner Dan Snyder to wave off the sweet relief, telling everyone it’s alright while embers fall around him.

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There seems to be no fix for a team that has been owned by an incompetent clown for 16 years. Hope has been lost, along with legions of games. The only option at this point is full-blown contraction, because it is the only thing to ease the pain of the Redskins faithful.

Washington has won seven games over the last two seasons, and somehow we are still approaching rock bottom. The Redskins looked poised for a good run in 2012 when they won the NFC East in Robert Griffin III’s rookie year, only to watch him crumble to the ground with a torn ACL in the playoffs. Everyone watching knew Griffin was seriously hurt earlier in the game, everyone except for head coach Mike Shanahan and the Washington medical team.

Since that afternoon, Griffin has been atrocious. Shanahan was mercifully fired after the 2013 season, in which he benched Griffin the last three games of the season in favor of Kirk Cousins. Jay Gruden was then brought in to run the show after being the Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator from 2011-13. In that time, Cincinnati’s offense ranked 20th, 22nd and 10th. Any time you can bring in somebody with that resume, you absolutely have to do it.

Predictably, Gruden was a blight on NFL coaching in 2014, guiding Washington to a 4-12 record while stirring up multiple controversies with Griffin through the media. Then the 2015 preseason arrived, and with it more controversy. Last week, Gruden started Griffin and watched as the Heisman Trophy winner was beamed on six of eight dropbacks, with the final shot knocking him out with a shoulder injury and a concussion.

Griffin was tattooed all night behind an offensive line that couldn’t block tackling dummies. Yet Gruden left him in the game and didn’t waver afterwards. Then, this week, Griffin was cleared for activity by team personnel before an independent neurologist stepped in and banned him from playing this weekend against the Baltimore Ravens.

Gruden’s biggest concern? People are calling him fat, and that is not nice. This is the same guy who excused DeSean Jackson from OTAs so he could go to a Cleveland Cavaliers game. This is real life.

This team needs the death penalty. Remember how SMU was given that harsh punishment in 1986 by the NCAA, forcing it to miss two seasons before coming back? That is what Washington needs right now. Commissioner Roger Goodell needs to get on the steps of the Capitol building and free the fans from more suffering. The idea is insane, and yet humane at the same time.

In all seriousness, Washington has become a disgraceful franchise. The name is incredibly offensive to anybody with a working brain, further proof Snyder is exactly who we think he is. In addition, the product on the field stinks, the quarterback wants out in the worst way, and the coach is better suited for an assistant manager position at McDonald’s.

It has not always been this way. The Redskins used to be about excellence. This is a franchise that won three Super Bowls during the Joe Gibbs era, and was almost always competitive from 1971-92. Washington also had the greatest football player to ever live in Sammy Baugh from 1937-52, winning two championships in that period. However, there has always been the ugly side too, including the government needing to step in and force former owner George Preston Marshall to integrate the team in the 1960s.

Currently? Everything is wrong. The owner needs to sell, the coach needs to be fired and the quarterback needs to move on. Don’t be shocked if Griffin becomes a star once he finds a stable franchise. Gruden will go back to being a mediocre assistant and Snyder can count his billions, somewhere far away from FedEx Field.

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