Carroll, O’Brien, Gruden – How three NFL coach’s egos have sunk their teams

Week 6 of the NFL season is almost wrapped, and we’ve got a great idea of where most teams are in the grand scheme of things. For some teams, the playoffs seem a sure thing. For others, the season already looks lost.

Most of the time, when a team falls in the latter category, it’s because they just don’t have the talent. In the case of three teams who will likely be left out of the dance this year, it isn’t just a lack of talent—it’s the unrestrained ego of the coach.

The Seattle Seahawks’ Pete Carroll, the Houston Texans’ Bill O’Brien and Washington’s Jay Gruden have each made disastrous decisions over the past 10 months, the repercussions of which have been disastrous.

Perhaps even more disastrous than the Colts’ abysmal ‘Muddle’ fake punt.

In the case of Pete Carroll, he’s had some help from offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Between the two of them, they’ve completely messed up the offense. Acquiring Jimmy Graham might have seemed like a fantastic idea at the time, but the ripple effect has been terrible.

Since Carroll called the much-maligned pass in the Super Bowl, his decisions have understandably been under scrutiny. Graham is a dynamic tight end, so there shouldn’t be a complaint.

Save for the fact that 1) the team doesn’t use him the way he is most effective (or didn’t before Sunday) and 2) they traded the only good offensive linemen they had (and a first round pick, though how much that really matters is debatable).

Keep in mind that No. 2 impacts No. 1 as well. By not having a stable center on the line, quarterback Russell Wilson doesn’t have the time to let Graham get open, much less deliver the ball. It also kills Marshawn Lynch’s ability to gain yards, which also has the net effect of limiting what the offense can do.

Worse, Bevell and Carroll have decided that now would be a good time to turn Graham into a blocking tight end, While Graham might be willing, it’s an enormous waste and something that won’t happen overnight, which means the offense still lacks consistent blocking.

You could have gotten a tight end on the cheap who was a great blocker. You could have found a pass-catching tight end who didn’t cost you the best player on your line.

The simple fact is, like with that play in the Super Bowl, Carroll got too cute. He thought he could scheme around the offensive line issues, as they had previously but overestimated his ability to do so, while underestimating what it means to have a good center. He also brought a piece in which, for the first five weeks at least, he then didn’t use properly.

The Seahawks have a tremendously talented defense, and some very nice pieces on offense. However, the decision to trade Max Unger without a serviceable replacement has derailed the season. Maybe they can pull themselves out of the 2-4 hole they dug, but it seems as though it’s unlikely.

Ditto Bill O’Brien. The Houston Texans have a very good running back, one of the best young receivers in the NFL and a very solid defense which features arguably the best defensive player in the NFL. All they needed was a quarterback, but for the second offseason in a row, O’Brien settled for castoffs.

O’Brien clearly felt that any quarterback could succeed in his system. It wasn’t true last season with a hodge podge of Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett and Tom Savage and it hasn’t been true this season with Savage, Mallett and Brian Hoyer.

Given how mediocre Hoyer was last season, it’s hard to fathom how anyone thought he was really an upgrade over Ryan Fitzpatrick, but even if he was, that’s not exactly in the realm of franchise quarterbacks.

O’Brien ignored the quarterback position back when he drafted Jadeveon Clowney first overall in 2014 and even if you think that was a good pick – certainly the jury is still out – he and the franchise could have moved back into the first like the Minnesota Vikings did to grab Teddy Bridgewater. Instead, they waited until round four for a project quarterback who is still a year or two away from maybe being a solid backup.

While you might be able to forgive O’Brien ignoring quarterback in 2014—maybe he didn’t want to sacrifice picks to get Bridgewater or didn’t believe in Derek Carr—the result is a team which doesn’t have a future at quarterback. This past draft wasn’t even half as good (or deep) as the 2014 one, so they were backed into a corner. They didn’t try to make a trade that we’re aware of and they settled for Hoyer, who has been OK at the best of times.

The result is a team which is stagnant and what’s maddening is the fact that with a real quarterback, this team could be leading a weak AFC South. The Indianapolis Colts are vulnerable, and the Texans cannot really take advantage of that without a signal caller they can count on.

O’Brien thought he could make anything work under center and that could be costing this team a shot at the playoffs and maybe even more.

Finally there’s Jay Gruden. Washington is still in the hunt because like Houston, the division they play in is bad. After a loss to the New York Jets, they sit at 2-4 which, depending on the outcome of the Eagles-Giants game on Monday night, is dead last in the NFC East. And yet even then they are just two games out of contention.

Gruden has hitched their wagon to a dying star in Kirk Cousins though. And before you start with the “oh, give Cousins a chance” nonsense, go look at the statistical output for this season as well as his game film.

Cousins has more interceptions (8) than touchdowns (6) and is averaging just 6.2 yards a throw. His decision-making is atrocious at critical moments and he is wholly unable to be consistent.

And yet, Gruden is still ‘all in’ on Cousins, per John Keim of ESPN.

The quotes in the article are a litany of excuses:

"“I’ll have to look at the film,” Gruden said, “[but] it was a little windy. He had a lot of pressure on him, really. There were a lot of things going on pre-snap that he’s got to deal with, getting the formations, the protections and all that. … Overall you hate to pin this game on Kirk. I know he could have played better, but we had no running game whatsoever and Kirk’s not in that stage of his career right now, nor is anybody on our roster, to carry our team throwing the ball as much as we had to.”"

If this had been Robert Griffin III, Gruden would have been throwing him under the bus and then backing the bus over him again, so he could run him over one more time.

And lest you think this is about to be a screed about getting Griffin under center again, it isn’t. Because Gruden doesn’t know what to do with him, so it’s a waste. Or rather, Gruden should know what to do with him, but instead insists on trying to turn him into something he is not—also known as Andy Dalton.

I don’t think Gruden had a plan for Griffin when he sold Dan Snyder on giving him a shot. I don’t know what he told Snyder, but from the moment he got in Washington, Gruden very clearly had “his way” of doing things and that was that.

It continues now when clearly Cousins isn’t able to get the job done. In fact, this is the exact same result we saw last season when Cousins struggled. In reality, Colt McCoy is the only guy who has played well in this scheme, but Gruden won’t pull the trigger on that for the same reason he would never go to Griffin again.

He can’t be wrong. He has gone all in on Cousins and every time he gives Cousins more rope, he digs that hole a little deeper until he can’t climb out of it without admitting he made a mistake.

Gruden has long seemed like a guy who has his way and no other way will do. It’s kept Cousins under center all season, despite bad performances and middling at best work. In a division as disheveled as the NFC East is, Washington could be contending. Instead they are anchored to a quarterback who will weigh them down all season long.

And they’re stuck with a coach who clearly cannot see that admitting to mistakes—and adjusting so you can overcome them—is the only way to succeed.

In the end, all three of these teams will likely miss the playoffs. And while you can pin that on the players to some extent—after all, you have to execute—you can pin it on the egos of the coaches involved as well.