Jay Gruden is free, but the Redskins are still screwed
By Josh Hill
Jay Gruden is the first head coach to be fired this season, and that may be the best thing that happened to him the last six years.
After an 0-5 start, Jay Gruden has been fired as the Washington Redskins head coach. The firing comes after a 33-7 trouncing by the Patriots and a week removed from Dwayne Haskins debut under center.
It should be said that it’s pretty shady to fire Gruden a week before he’s all but guaranteed to get Washington’s first win of the season. The Miami Dolphins are next up on the schedule and firing Gruden with an 0-5 record as opposed to a 1-5 record really only makes a difference to the man who is making the call.
That being said, Gruden is going to be fine. Firing him now means there’s enough time to wash the stink of his failure off before teams start looking for new head coaches this winter. Gruden’s also been more successful in Washington than he’ll be given credit for this week. As has been established over time, it’s next to impossible to coach for Daniel Snyder and not feel like you’re constantly swimming against the current.
It’s no secret that Washington has been an unmitigated disaster at the top during Synder’s reign. Gruden isn’t a bad coach, but he’s not the type of coach that can outlast the kind of turmoil that exists in Washington — and few can. Not even Washington legend Joe Gibbs was able to withstand Snyder’s ineptitude, so it’s impressive that Gruden was able to survive as long as he did.
Since Snyder bought the team in 1999, he has fired nine head coaches and only Gruden has lasted more than three years. Being the longest-tenured head coach in a Daniel Snyder run organization is right up there with DiMaggio’s hit streak or Richard Petty’s win totals as iconic sports feats that likely will never be topped.
Gruden is going to land on his feet, whether it’s with his older brother for a year in Oakland or somewhere like Atlanta or New York when the Falcons or Jets inevitably follow suit in firing their head coaches after unexpectedly bad seasons. In fact, those already hot seats just got hotter because Gruden is now on the market, and perfectly capable of being a decent coach in an organization that even remotely knows what it’s doing (See: All his years in Cincinnati under Marvin Lewis).
It’s Washington we should be concerned about. Dwayne Haskins needs some positive vibes. Those fans need your happy thoughts and sympathy flowers. They’re the ones who are stuck in the revolving door of Daniel Snyder.
Don’t look at this as Gruden getting fired for doing a bad job in Washington — he escaped and lived to tell the tale.